You’re a salesperson, whether you think you are or not, sales are the bloodline of your business. And let me tell you know, SALES will be the only reason a business will fail. It’s not because the demand for the product wasn’t there, or that the product wasn’t any good, it’s simply down to the fact that you didn’t get enough sales. FACT!
So get your mindset set to sales mode, because you now have less that 5 months left to get to your targets for 2015.. Yup, 20 or so weeks.. 20 more Fridays, and only 4 more pay days.
I decided to relive my youth and look back to the days when I was in the field, door to door sales. I let me tell you if you’re serious about wanting to get the best training and life experience in sales, then you need to spend at least 12 months (probably 2 or 3 years to be more precise in the field) doing door to door sales.
Door to door sales will really condition you for the traits required to make a success, so I decided to create a list of the biggest problems I found sales people face each day.
1. Fear of rejection.
Some people really hate being told NO, not that I have really come across anyone whom really loves being told NO, but if you are really offended by the word NO. Then you’re going to find sales a hard task. Get used to the fact that NO, will happen, and probably quite a lot. A great technique that I used, and still do to this day is: remember that each NO, bring you closer to a yes. Back in my door to door days, I knew that 1 in 10 prospects that I carried out a full presentation too would buy, so rather than counting sales, I counted the number of knows. Actually, I went out looking for NO’s because I knew more NO’s meant more YES’s!
2. Attitude.
It’s hard being told NO, it’s even harder when it’s your own business because it feels much more personal. When you’re faced with days upon days of objections, NO’s, and others that are just damn right rude, your attitude seriously takes a bashing. The trick is not trying to maintain that 100% attitude all day long, it’s about how fast you can get it back. If you feel attitude is becoming an issue, take some time out, phone someone who makes you smile, do something fun, get out of the place thats giving you an attitude beating until its restored to full vitality. The trick is getting it back, not keeping it full all day.
3. Scared to ask for the deal.
This is probably the biggest reason sales people struggle, they are scared to ask for the business, they carry out a beautiful presentation, hit all the emotional senses, turn all the objections, but fail to ask for the business. You can usually identify when you haven’t asked for the business when you’re told they need to think about it. Another common trait I find sales people struggle with is, they think they are closing/asking for the business when selling the benefits. A sales and a close are two different things, you should sell the benefits, then close the deal.
4. Fail to listen (selectively).
Lots of sales people have all the blurb they want to say, but rarely listen to what the customer really wants, you’re trying to sell them a product, rather than selling them a solution to their problem. You need to listen to the prospect, but do so selectively, not everything they say is going to be true. They may say, we can’t afford it, or its outside of our budget, you need to be able to identify when they are saying something meaningful or something that has no meaning whatsoever.
5. Pressure & Persistence is bad
You need to understand that pressure and persistence is a great thing, a great saying I have lived by is ‘Persistence overcomes resistance’. You need to pressure people to make a decision, and you definitely need to be persistant. 48% of businesses never follow up with prospects, and only 10% continue to chase prospects 3 times. But heres the thing, 80% of sales are made join the 5th to 12th contact. Show pressure and be persistent and your sales will rocket.
So to wrap things up, you have less than 5 months to make some big money before the year grinds to a halt! So, stop being fearful of the NO’s, Learn how to get your attitude back, FAST, make sure you ask for the deal after presenting and don’t be scared of being persistence and applying pressure to get a decision.
Is sales something that you find challenging, my sales training business offers a FREE Sales 101 training course designed to get you to the next level in your sales journey. TRY IT 100% FREE HERE – CLICK HERE