NZ Sales Manager Issue 43

NZSALES August 18TH 2010 / Issue 43

4

Identifying the

Main Causes Poor sales results of Call may not just be

because of Reluctance the economy!

Time

to go online?

We ask an expert for some of the benefits of online training.

Optimising Performance of

Customer Relationships Get Disciplined To Get More Sales!

Are you one of this week’s winners? SEE INSIDE!

NZ’s e-mag for sales leaders

CONTENTS AUgust 18 th / Issue 43 6

6

10

ARE YOU ONE OF THIS WEEK'S WINNERS? SEE INSIDE!

19

THIS WEEK'S MUST READ IDENTIFYING THE FOUR MAIN CAUSES OF CALL RELUCTANCES Poor sales results may not be just because of the economy.

10

TIME TO GO ONLINE Online sales training has come a long way.

12

NZSM CALENDAR

13

SALES TRAINING DIRECTORY

14

OPTIMISING THE PERFORMANCE OF CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS A sales industry research project.

16

TWO MINUTE TOP-UP GET MORE DISCIPLINED TO GET MORE SALES How to learn from your successes - and your failures.

18

RESOURCE CORNER THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SALES CALL RELUCTANCE - EARNING WHAT YOU'RE WORTH IN SALES

19

Quick Fix It’s not what you sell, it’s how you sell.

21

THE CLOSE

MID STRENGTH FULL FLAVOUR FULL LIFE

From the Editor

I

t is several years since I last did any on-line training.

Reading page after page of script on the screen was pretty tedious to say the least, perhaps because much of the content was written by subject experts without much assistance from learning and development experts. People learn when training is fun, and I do not remember having any fun!

It seems on-line training has come a long way over the past 5 years or so, so I asked expert Anya Anderson to bring us up to date. The capability for interactive training brought about by the advancements in technology, now makes on-line sales training a very different proposition and viable alternative or addition to the training solution.

The potential value of customer relationships is often never achieved. The interesting research being undertaken by AUT University, and described in the article Optimising Performance of Customer Relationships, aims to give valuable insight into where to place your sales effort for the greatest effect on relationship outcomes.

ABOUT / Short and sharp, New Zealand Sales Manager is a free e-magazine delivering thought provoking and enlightening articles, and industry news and information to forwardthinking sales managers, business owners and sales professionals.

EDITOR / Paul Newsom ART DIRECTOR / Jodi Olsson GROUP EDITOR / Trudi Caffell CONTENT ENQUIRIES / Phone Paul on 04 586 4733 or email pauln@nzsalesmanager.co.nz ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES / Phone Richard on 09 309 0522 or email richardl@nzsalesmanager.co.nz ADDRESS / NZ Sales Manager, C/- Espire Media, PO Box 137162, Parnell, Auckland 1151, New Zealand WEBSITE / www.nzsalesmanager.co.nz

Please take a moment to complete the on-line survey and we can look forward to seeing the results of the research in future issues of NZ Sales Manager.!

Happy Selling!

Paul

NZ Sales Manager is a GREEN MAG, created and distributed without the use of paper so it's environmentally friendly.

Please think before you print. Thank you!

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www.ibexmarketing.co.nz 4 / APR 7th 2010 / NZSM

NZSM / AUGUST 18th 2010 / 4

The Rev Sales Network invites you to join us for

“The 6 Fundamental Principles of Influence” With Rob McKay, Influence Expert, MD of AssessSystems Aust/NZ RSN Rev-Up Series AUCKLAND 2010

The Topic With thanks to

Yes… It’s a beautiful word.

Now you can hear it more often!

Did you know that an entire science is devoted to how people are persuaded?

It's a science that has discovered how to increase your likelihood of hearing "yes," sometimes as much as 300% or 400%, by merely adding a word or phrase, or changing the sequence of your request.

Our approach to the influence process is based on the research and evidence of the internationally renowned influence expert, author and psychologist, Dr. Robert Cialdini. His seminal research into the six fundamental principles of influence forms the cornerstone of this RSN seminar.

At this seminar, Rob will give you the context of Cialdini’s research.

• The 6 powerful principles of persuasion and how

to ethically apply them to produce change • How you can be honourably persuasive and

develop trusted relationships • How recent social science research can be

applied to improve your sales outcomes

The Details RSN Rev-Up Series 2010 “The 6 Fundamental Principles of Influence” With Rob McKay 12pm—1.30pm, Thursday 19 August 2010 OfficeMax Training Centre 30 Sir Woolf Fisher Drive, Highbrook, East Tamaki Auckland Rev Sales Network Members: Free Non-members: $49 + gst pp Includes light lunch

The Presenter Rob has 25 plus years in the broadcasting industry and in the ‘80s, he pioneered commercial FM radio in both Australia and New Zealand.

After selling his radio interests in the ‘90s, Rob went back to school! Over 5 years of full-time study he gained a BA in Business Psychology and a MA(Hons) in Industrial & Organisational Psychology from Massey University – specialising in workplace personality.

His interests lie in assessment for employee selection, development and performance management (especially sales people) and the psychology of influence and Persuasion. He is an accomplished seminar and conference speaker and author of the eBook “Hire the Best – Avoid the Rest”

How To Register To register your attendance click here to go to our Event Registration page, or just go to our events page at www.rsn.co.nz and complete the registration form before Friday 13 August.

Hurry! This fascinating seminar will fill fast!

Spaces allocated on first reserved, first served basis. Limit 80 attendees only.

Visit us at www.rsn.co.nz

T H I S W EE K ’ S M UST R E A D Ian Segail is a leading authority on sales strategy and sales management, and works as a Strategic Sales Performance Coach with both novice and experienced sales managers across a wide variety of industries and selling disciplines. Find out more at www.iansegail.com

4

Identifying the

Main Causes of Call Reluctance

Poor sales results may not just be because of the economy!

By Ian Segail

D

o your sales people: make excuses instead of getting out and developing new business?

Spend more time “being busy” than making contacts? Always seem to be “putting out fires” rather than prospecting for new business? Do they always have something else to do other than make prospecting calls? Give you a dozen reasons why the market is down?

If these questions ring true for you then your poor sales results may be more a problem of call reluctance than a failing economy!

Has Call Reluctance Reared Its Ugly Head Within Your Sales Team?

“More than competition, price or a failing economy, repeated studies have demonstrated that call reluctance is more responsible for underperformance in sales than any other factor” (Walsh, 2004) In this current economic climate where sales have to be made as opposed to customers just buying, an old sales enemy has reared its ugly head. Call Reluctance!

The truth is that call reluctance has never really gone away, but because, in general, sales have been relatively easy to come by, this curse was able to lurk at the fringes of sales society. Over the past ten years of economic growth, only the heaviest sufferers of this psychological NZSM / AUGUST 18th 2010 / 6

malady were really impacted. Today however, is different.

Call reluctance has become very prevalent within sales teams, especially amongst those teams that have had it relatively easy for a long time.

Did you know that even your top producers and most experienced sellers can struggle with call reluctance?

The phenomenon of call reluctance may very well be killing your sales production right now, much more so than the turbulent economy.

If call reluctance is plaguing your sales team, it can mean the difference between you meeting budget or dropping further behind. So, if you or your sales team are not getting in front of enough new prospects and creating new demand, then keep reading!

“Hundreds of salespeople interviews across many nations and tens of thousands of psychological assessments and a large body of scientific research have conclusively shown that sales call reluctance is not some moralistic protest against the nature of the sales process. It’s the result of fear: physical, personal, career-paralysing fear.” (The Hard Truth About SoftSelling by George W. Dudley and Dr. John F. Tanner.)

The first step in combating this sales destroying roadblock is to firstly diagnose it and then to name it.

In this article I will expose you to a) how to recognize “call

reluctance”, b) how to “call it” and make people aware of their call reluctant behaviours and c) give you some practical ideas around how to get your call reluctant team members to start hitting their sales straps again.

Just What Is Call Reluctance?

Most people who have been in sales have experienced sales call reluctance at one time or another. Sales call aversion is the number one reason people fail at selling.

Call reluctance can even limit the careers of the more experienced and otherwise self motivated, goaldirected sales producers.

There are 2 main reasons for this: Firstly avoiding new business sales calls creates mounting anxiety and pressure which results in immobilisation.

Secondly, they haven’t had to rely on making new

business sales calls to achieve their sales targets.

This has caused them to become complacent about prospecting for new business, effectively choking off their new business pipeline. With no new business coming in, sales pressure mounts and exacerbates call reluctance even further creating a downward spiral of fear and immobilisation.

In 1979, research scientists Dudley and Goodson originated the theory which is technically known as “Inhibited Social Contact Initiation Syndrome” (ISCIS) (Baker, 1998). Many of their findings were published in the 1986 book “The Psychology of Sales Call Reluctance: Earning What You’re Worth in Sales.” The authors called this aberrant cocktail of self defeating thoughts, feelings and behaviours that salespeople use to in order to deal with the strain and anxiety of new business generation, the “fear of self-promotion.”

They also coined the term call reluctance. At its essence, call reluctance is the experience of a heightened level of

"At its essence, call reluctance is the experience of a heightened level of fear which inhibits the number of sales calls a salesperson will make. This intense feeling of apprehension can be so overwhelming that it renders the individual incapable of selling at all."

fear which inhibits the number of sales calls a salesperson will make. This intense feeling of apprehension can be so overwhelming that it renders the individual incapable of selling at all.

What Are The Symptoms Of Call Reluctance?

So, how do you know if your salespeople are struggling with call reluctance? Call reluctance is simply an emotional faltering when it comes to prospecting and selfpromotion. It’s nothing to be ashamed of, and there is no reason that your salespeople or your organization should suffer its ill effects. Sales leaders need to be tuned in to the symptoms of call reluctance so that they can recognize its early warning signs and pro-actively steer their salespeople away from these sales defeating behaviours.

The most common indication that someone is in the grips of the psychological call avoidance syndrome is noticeable by the fact that they’re spending their time on “busy work”, “paper work”, “putting out fires”, “conference calls” and

“in meetings”. They always have something else to do other than make prospecting calls. These salespeople make out that they are busy, busy, busy, but in reality their accomplishments are as limited as their excuses are abundant.

Identifying the four main causes of call reluctance The four most common forms of sales call avoidance manifest themselves as: 1. Analysis paralysis 2. Self image overcompensation 3. Role disapproval 4. “Pushiness” avoidance Analysis paralysis Some salespeople will spend their time analysing rather than doing. These salespeople will do just about anything to avoid making sales calls by preoccupying themselves with computers, reports technical illustrations and so on.

7 / AUGUST 18th 2010 / NZSM

This form of call aversion often occurs in highly educated and professional people. They are the type that will over prepare, but never fire!

Self image-overcompensation The self image-overcompensation form of call aversion is most often found in salespeople who try to overcome their self-doubts and vulnerabilities by bragging and exaggerating their often fictitious sales conquests.

This group of salespeople seem obsessed with image, credibility and the trappings of success.

They will typically have a big “I Know”, where they “know everything” and will often reject training and role-play as being too simple, outdated and beneath them. What they lack in the way of sales results they make up for with bravado and B.S.!

The self image over-compensators will blame others or job requirements for not prospecting. Their complaints are often simply diversionary tactics to deflect attention away from their poor or non-existent new business development responsibilities.

Role disapproval salespeople will do just about anything to avoid the risk of possible humiliation by exposing themselves to prospects who may think less of them for making an unwanted phone call.

“Pushiness” avoidance “Pushiness” avoidance types are those salespeople who fear being thought of as too “pushy” or too aggressive.

They repeatedly postpone making prospecting calls because they are waiting for just the right time. They often require assurance that the potential customer wishes to talk with them before they will make the call. These salespeople will prefer to wait until the customer initiates the sales discussion, rather than instigate the subject.

Pushiness avoidance types are easily intimidated and will view those salespeople who are aggressive as unprofessional and pushy. Lacking basic assertiveness, these salespeople will more often than not have selfesteem issues. They will often take even the slightest NZSM / AUGUST 18th 2010 / 8

Role disapproval Salespeople who suffer from role disapproval are typically embarrassed or apologetic in of the role of salesperson.

They give themselves titles such as “consultants”; “business development manager”; or “sales executive”, anything but salesperson or sales rep!

Role disapproval types actually believe that “sales” will never be more than just a stepping stone to the role they really believe they should be doing. For them, selling is seen as beneath them and not really a genuine career.

Prospecting, for those salespeople who suffer from role disapproval, is seen as just plain undignified and in some cases even humiliating.

Often, role disapproval syndrome can be found in salespeople who have transferred from one location to another or who find themselves having to begin again, starting with a new company. They resent being forced to pay their dues all over again. You will find them whinging to get sympathy and staying in the office, making excuses instead of getting out amongst it making productive sales calls.

criticism personally. For them any rejection from a prospect is personal. This translates into timidity when it comes to closing sales and handling customer resistance.

Being so focused on the opinions of others, time and again they will let the needs of other people take precedence over their own sales goals objectives.

You will find these pushiness call avoidance types working on the computer instead of prospecting on the telephone.

They will spend their time and effort on “safe” activities instead of getting out into the field actioning salesproducing activities. Afraid of being thought of as pushy or intrusive, and because of their low self esteem, they will repeatedly avoid making contact with people in positions of authority or higher socioeconomic levels.

Having identified the four primary call reluctance offenders, in the next issue, Ian will examine how you can combat this sales debilitating disease. 

Enjoy NZ Sales Manager?

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Anya Anderson is Managing Director of RedSeed, an online sales training company.

Visit www.redseed.co.nz to find out more.

Time to go

online?

We asked Anya Anderson to outline some of the benefits of online sales training

O

nline training has come a long way over the last 20 years as technology has overcome many of the challenges faced by its early pioneers. Sales training is a prime example. However, that does not mean that every online product is capable of fulfilling its purpose of equipping businesses with highly effective sales staff.

In the early days of online training, there was no interaction between trainer and student. While there is still a clear difference in this area between face to face and online options, technology has made a significant difference.

In an effective online training environment, students have someone talking directly to them. The only difference is that they are sitting in front of a computer, and the trainer is online. This creates a strong sense of interaction, with the technology almost bringing the trainer into the room.

Students also write answers to questions and read things NZSM / AUGUST 18th 2010 / 10

throughout each session to keep them occupied with a variety of learning processes. This is no different to a classroom situation. They also watch a number of role plays related specifically to their business.

While students are not able to perform role plays in front of the class as they can with face to face training, an effective online training course must involve a coach from the student’s own business. The best person for this is a manager or senior sales person. These role plays should then be performed in-front of the coach after the session. He or she would also assess the student in real practical situations. This option is great for shy people who keep their heads down in classroom sessions, and don’t take away much useful information.

It also allows students to totally focus on their business and their role. This is not always the case in a classroom setting, where students from a number of businesses and roles can

come together for the same training session. This varies significantly from early versions of online training, where students did little more than listen to some audio before writing down answers to some common questions.

This leads to another major difference between effective online training and traditional forms. A good online version is ongoing, lasting for up to three months, whereas the traditional method can be completed in a day or two.

Online students can complete different modules at their leisure and follow this up with the practical work involving the coach. In contrast to this, geographical considerations can restrict the amount of time available for face to face training and it must all be crammed into a short timeframe. It can be expensive to fly trainers into town, or get staff to a particular location at the same time.

For example, if a store in New Plymouth flew in a trainer for the day, some staff would have to mind the shop while the others did the training. Otherwise the owner would have to pay temporary staff, significantly increasing the

cost. These reasons make it difficult for businesses to offer ongoing training. But with the online version, these problems are eliminated.

Students can complete the training in their own time wherever they have access to a computer. It can also be ongoing, because there are no added expenses.

This can be a good option because research shows that those involved in ongoing training retain far more material than those who must take in screeds of information over a short period.

Another major difference between successful online and traditional options is in the consistency of training.

Feedback from face to face sessions often shows that different groups leave with different interpretations. This can depend on the mood of the trainer, or how interactive he or she may have been on a given day. That’s also assuming the same trainer is used.

"Online training has come a long way over the last 20 years" The online model is also effective for businesses that are scattered around the country. This is particularly so for large retail companies. They often have new people starting all the time and it can be impossible to get them all trained the minute they start. Normally a business would wait until it had a number of staff needing training before calling someone in. This can see inexperienced people lose sales opportunities as they wait for their training. The online option eliminates this possibility because all new employees can begin their training as soon as they start work.

While these points suggest the differences are all in favour of online training, there are certainly factors that support traditional techniques. For example, there are benefits in students coming together and sharing their stories with others and feeling like part of a team. This is not achieved online.

But there is no reason both methods can’t continue as viable options. If a business decides to adopt the online

alternative, it doesn’t need to get rid of its trainer.

Some businesses may go online for the basic training and keep their trainer to perform higher end work like management training.

It’s also important that any businesses considering online options have a good look at the alternatives.

While technology has removed many of the earlier challenges, that is only effective if the sales trainers are using that technology. It’s also vital that the programme used has a degree of practically built in such as the role playing with coaches.

At the end of the day, businesses will make up their own minds about what option to choose, or use a combination.

The main point is that with the advent of the internet and the technological advancement of recent years, they now have another viable choice that can significantly improve bottom lines.  11 / AUGUST 18th 2010 / NZSM

NZSM CALENDAR AUGUST - SEPTEMBER 2010

17 August Key Account Management Auckland Sales STAR www.salesstar.trainingplatform.co.nz/courses/8-key-accountmanagement 19 - 20 August Key Account Management Auckland NZIM Northern www.nzimnorthern.co.nz/wa.asp?idWebPage=16885&idDet ails=110 24 August Negotiating Skills (Day 1) Auckland Scotwork www.scotwork.co.nz Business to Business Sales Skills Auckland Zealmark Group Ltd www.zealmarkgroup.co.nz/profile_Business_to_Business.php 25 August Negotiating Skills (Day 2) Auckland Scotwork www.scotwork.co.nz 26 August Negotiating Skills (Day 3) Auckland Scotwork www.scotwork.co.nz Sales Preparation-Reaching Decision makers Auckland DINANMITE www.dinanmite.com/event-registration 1 September Consultative Selling Dunedin Sales STAR www.salesstar.trainingplatform.co.nz/courses/5-consultativeselling 2 September Pitching -Qualifying Auckland DINANMITE www.dinanmite.com/event-registration

Consultative Selling Invercargill Sales STAR www.salesstar.trainingplatform.co.nz/courses/5-consultativeselling 7 September Business to Business Sales Skills Auckland Zealmark Group Ltd www.zealmarkgroup.co.nz/profile_Business_to_Business.php 8 September Sales Dynamics Auckland Sales STAR www.salesstar.trainingplatform.co.nz/courses/9-salesdynamics 10 September Sales Mindset & Motivation Auckland Sales STAR www.salesstar.trainingplatform.co.nz/courses/7-salesmindset-motivation 14 September Consultative Selling Auckland Sales STAR www.salesstar.trainingplatform.co.nz/courses/5-consultative-selling 16 September Overcoming Objections - Closing Auckland DINANMITE www.dinanmite.com/event-registration 22 September Business to Business Sales Skills Auckland Zealmark Group Ltd www.zealmarkgroup.co.nz/profile_Business_to_Business.php 24 September Telephone Selling Auckland Sales STAR www.salesstar.trainingplatform.co.nz/courses/4-telephoneselling-skills 30 September Sales Preparation-Reaching Decision makers Auckland DINANMITE www.dinanmite.com/event-registration

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Article submitted by Roger Baxter, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Business and Law, AUT University

Optimising the Performance

Customer Relationships

of

You are invited to contribute to this sales industry research project

By Roger Baxter

NZSM / AUGUST 18th 2010 / 14

Which activities are most important for salespeople “ to help maximize the performance of a customer relationship by tapping into their customers’ resources?”

A

UT University’s Annie Zhang is working with her PhD supervisor, Roger Baxter, on a project to help answer this question.

Annie’s research recognises that successful salespeople do much more than just get orders. They realise the full value of relationships with customers by managing their relationships and setting strategies to get the full performance from them.

The benefits of relationships with customers go way beyond the simple exchange of goods and services for money.

Relationships provide the conduit for critically important activities and information flows in both directions across the relationship, in both business to consumer (B2C) and business to business (B2B) contexts. These activities lead, for example, to downstream market knowledge and to the development of new products

Finally, coordination is the effort the salesperson devotes to managing the resources and coordinating the activities between the relevant parties to serve the customer’s needs in an effective and efficient manner.

Annie is collecting and analysing survey data to investigate the links between the questions in the survey. The survey report (which will be summarized in NZ Sales Manager) will show which of the types of effort have the most effect on relationship performance and how this might change in different contexts.

This will give you an indication of where to place your sales effort for the greatest effect on relationship outcomes. 

and processes, so they are vitally important to a company to stay ahead of its game by effectively using the resources available from customers.

So far, by analysing interviews with managers of B2B sales professionals, Annie has identified four areas of salesperson’s effort that are important to using customers’ resources and enhancing relationship performance: learning, relationship development, selling, and coordination.

Salespeople’s learning is the effort a salesperson devotes to improving his/her knowledge required to identify business opportunities for the seller firm and solve problems for the customer on a continuous basis.

Relationship development is the effort a salesperson devotes to maintaining and developing the customer relationship.

Salesperson’s selling is the effort a salesperson devotes to identifying a customer’s problem or new business opportunities that would add value to the customer by using the seller’s offerings, identifying solutions, and communicating effectively to the customer.

Annie would really appreciate your input into the survey before 15th of September.

The survey is online at: www.surveymonkey.com/s/salespeople.

It takes under 15 minutes to complete.

Instructions and further information are online and you’ll go in the draw to win a $100 petrol voucher, or donation to your charity of choice.

15 / AUGUST 18th 2010 / NZSM

T W O M I N UTE T O P U P Colleen Francis, Sales Expert, is Founder and President of Engage Selling Solutions www.EngageSelling.com.

Armed with skills developed from years of experience, Colleen helps clients realize immediate results, achieve lasting success and permanently raise their bottom line. Start improving your results today with Engage’s online Newsletter Engaging Ideas and a FREE 7 day intensive sales eCourse: www.EngagingIdeasOnline.com.

Get Disciplined

To Get More How to learn from your successes – and your failures

Sales

By Colleen Francis

I

f I were asked to pick one essential skill that the majority of today’s sales professionals lack, it would have to be discipline.

Discipline impacts almost every aspect of our jobs, from making calls to practicing presentations and incorporating new ideas into our daily routines. For underachievers, a lack of discipline can affect the way they prospect for new business, how they handle their existing customers – and especially their mediocre sales results.

When you’re just starting out, it can sometimes feel like no one wants you to succeed. As a result, it can be tempting to just stop asking for help. Then when you do arrive, offers for all the help you no longer really need suddenly start pouring in whether you asked for them or not!

This irony reflects the nature of reciprocity, in which like attracts like – success brings more success, while failure earns more failure. Put another way, whatever you accept from life, good or bad, will become part of you.

Now, no one is saying that getting disciplined is easy. In fact, discipline can be one of the most challenging skills to master. Then again, maybe that’s why only one in 10 sales people consistently perform above their quota.

Mediocre sales people resist seeking assistance from those who can actually help them realize their goals.

The best sales people, on the other hand, know that the pictures we form in our imagination become our reality.

So ask yourself – is the extra effort it takes to get disciplined worth it, if the reward is earning a place among the Top 10% in your field?

As Napoleon Hill said: “Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe the mind of man can achieve.” Top sales people use this as the inspiration to keep on trying until they succeed.

Step 1: Learn from your mistakes There are two key turning points in every sales person’s career when discipline can make the difference between becoming a star and getting stuck in the middle of the pack: when we succeed and when we fail.

If handled correctly, both success and failure can drive your career to new heights. Handled poorly, they can seriously impede your ability to achieve the results you want and deserve.

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Most highly successful people I’ve met even go so far as to refuse to accept anything from life that they don’t want. Sure, they experience their fair share of defeats.

After all, no one can close 100% of the deals 100% of the time. What sets top performers apart is persistence and a mental attitude that accepts those losses as temporary stepping stones on the way towards improving their situation and growing their sales.

With the right attitude and a little discipline, every failure can be converted into a success. If you want to achieve success faster, reach out to mentors and clients who are already ahead of the game.

In my experience, “help” is one of the most influential words in the English language. Most people love to help and will respond generously if they are approached. Be frank, and ask them for advice, referrals or business ideas.

Their willingness to respond might just surprise you.

Step 2: Build on your triumphs Success!

It is amazing to me how many sales people can be successful in the short term and yet suffer from a serious case of long-term failure. I believe this happens because very few people learn how to be truly gracious about their success. Their ego takes over, and they are unable to “get over themselves” and appreciate what their clients and partners did to contribute to their success in the first place.

It’s fair to say that we all fear ending up living under a bridge. Yet every self-made millionaire I’ve ever met has

Step 3: Make just one more call In my experience studying scores of both mediocre and successful sales people, I have discovered that the most reliable key to enduring success is discipline.

Discipline to provide just a little bit better service than your competitors offer or your clients expect.

Discipline to make one more call, attend one more networking event or block an extra hour in your calendar every day to do business development.

been broke at least once in their lives. Personally, I’m hoping to be the exception that proves that particular rule. Still, there’s no denying that, for many successful people, failure can be much more effective than shortterm success as a driver towards real wealth.

•

Don’t believe me? Just consider the following colossal failures, each of whom clearly never went on to make anything of their lives afterwards…

• Colonel Sanders had 1,005 rejections.

• Thomas Edison went broke four times.

• Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team.

• Walt Disney was fired from a newspaper for having no good ideas.

• Einstein’s parents and teacher urged him to quit school because they felt he would never amount to anything.

• Steven Spielberg dropped out of high school in his sophomore year. When he was persuaded to come back, he was placed in a class for students with learning disabilities. He lasted a month before dropping out of school forever.

Discipline to document the objections you receive and create responses to deal with them consistently and effectively.

And discipline to practice your sales presentation one more time, every time you head out the door to meet a prospect or close a deal.

Discipline is the one sure way by which poverty may be converted into riches, failure into success – and shortterm success into a winning track record that will last throughout your entire career. 17 / AUGUST 18th 2010 / NZSM

R ES O U R C E C O R N E R

The Psychology of Sales

Call Reluctance: Earning What

You’re Worth in Sales Author: Shannon L Goodson and George W Dudley Publisher: Behavioural Science Research Press $49.95 from Fishpond.co.nz

S

ales call reluctance is a condition that causes sales people to limit their achievement levels by limiting their number of sales calls. Shannon L. Goodson and George W. Dudley divide the book into two important sections that are mutually dependent.

The first half of the book diagnoses the root emotional causes of sales

NZSM / AUGUST 18th 2010 / 18

call reluctance and how to identify their symptoms. In the second half of the book, the authors provide the solutions to the various call reluctance problems.

Backed by solid research in the behavioural sciences and real world testing with sales representatives, the book is the definitive text book for recognizing and treating sales call reluctance successfully. ď §

Quick Fix

It's not what you sell, it's how you sell

Say it with pictures Many people are visual learners. They find it easier to understand by looking at things, rather than listening (audio learners), or touching and getting the feel of things (kinaesthetic learners).

When meeting with your clients, don’t assume that because you are well versed at verbally describing your products and services your customer will understand or retain what you are saying.

During customer facing meetings, pull out a sheet of paper and write or draw key facts/figures/ messages as you go. The visual illustration will greatly help with the understanding. If there is a white board in the room, then ask if you can use

it, and do so to reinforce the message. Simply getting up from the meeting table often enhances the energy and influence you can exert and the impression you make.

The great thing too is that if you do this well, you have a ready made summary to use at the end of the meeting.

If you have a favourite ‘quick fix’ that you would like to share with our readers (without giving your winning secrets away!) then email the editor at pauln@nzsalesmanager.co.nz You will be in to win a high powered laser pointer pen, courtesy of the great guys at Brand Storming Promotions.

WIN A LASER POINTER PEN FOR YOUR QUICK FIX! If you have a favorite ‘quick fix’ that you would like to share with our readers (without giving your winning secrets away!) then email the editor at pauln@nzsalesmanager.co.nz. You will be in to win a high-powered laser pointer pen, courtesy of the great guys at Brand Storming Promotions. ,0 * B

MS

J

“ Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths.

When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength -Arnold Schwarzenegger

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Simply visit www.nzsalesmanager.co.nz to get a copy of NZ Sales Manager delivered straight to your inbox monthly on Wednesday!

20 / AUGUST 18th 2010 / NZSM