New year’s resolutions, #6

I will establish and commit to a personal goal that leads me to easily surpass my company quota.

Too many salespeople focus on their company-mandated quotas. They see achieving them as reaching the top of the mountain. But when you can get them to stop and look at their company’s top performers, those individuals are generally performing on an entirely different level. Often four to five times the volume of the average sales professional in their organization.

The key is to establish a personal goal that has nothing to do with your company quota. That personal goal should be based on what you feel you’re truly capable of accomplishing; one that you can fully commit to. It may be difficult to achieve, and it will take daily effort, not occasional effort, but a goal you will be completely pleased with when this time comes around 2006.

Don’t be at the crown of that ugly bell curve. Be on the leading edge. Set a goal for 2006, establish smaller, incremental goals that will get you there, then identify the habits you’ll need to have mastered to reach those goals.

goals, quotas

New year’s resolutions, #5

I will talk in terms of results, not activities.

If you’re a sales professional reporting to someone else, realize how important this is. He or she doesn’t want to hear about all the things you’re doing. Results are what matter first and foremost.

If you’re a sales manager reporting to a sales executive, this is even more crucial. You’d better be able to summarize where your team is at and where it will be over the next 90 days. Don’t even think about talking trends. Most sales executives can smell BS a hundred miles away.

11 bad behaviors of salespeople

As we head into a new year, it’s a good time to reflect on a few behaviors you may have that are actually submarining your sales. Things a sales manager may never point out.

Now, some of you may not like these, but you need to know they’re costing you:

1. Enjoying a cigarette moments before an appointment.
2. Wearing heavy cologne and/or excessive jewelry.
3. Driving a highbrow car in a lowbrow industry.
4. Swearing in front of customers.
5. Talking poorly of your behind-the-scenes support personnel.
6. Interrupting your buyer for any reason.
7. Calling buyers back the next day.
8. Arguing with people for the sake of being right, or worse, for the sake of arguing.
9. Under-dressing for customer contact or looking generally disorganized.
10. Underestimating the smell of coffee breath vs. brushing your teeth and eating a normal breakfast.
11. Calling executives of your customers “the suits” and refusing to get to know them.

You can, of course, ignore these and assume that all is well. And you’ll avoid the pain of knowing that any one of these have cost you a sale in 2006.

Or you can admit that you’ve got shortcomings that may be costing you money.

Speaking of voicemails…

Should you leave voicemail messages when calling potential buyers? Short answer: yes, always. For the longer reason… Read the full post

Save your voicemails

I discovered a free service (for individuals) that allows you to have voicemails to your cell phone or tied to any other phone emailed to you.

It’s called GotVoice and it seems to do what it says it will just fine. Having said that, I’ve been using VoiceFaxEmail for several months and love it. For only $5 per month, I have a local voicemail box my office line forwards to (on no-answers and busy). But the box not only takes voicemails, but also accepts faxes and emails either to me as attachments. Simple and easy.

In sales, I think it’s a good idea to save permanent copies of both voicemails and, especially, faxes. No more storing paper faxes in a manila folder. The less paper, the happier I am. And no more wondering what someone said in a voicemail a week ago that you’ve since deleted.

New year’s resolutions, #4

I’ll leave work at work, as the saying goes.

It’s too easy and tempting to take my Palm everywhere I go, and my ThinkPad T41 nearly everywhere. But in 2006 I’m also going for balance, personally.

With four boys and an amazing wife, I owe them the time they need and deserve. Working from a home office makes that a unique challenge, but I’m also able to start a little earlier each week day and Saturdays to accomplish all of my objectives.

How will spend your off-hours in 2006?

Free teleseminar series…

Lori Richardson’s providing a great service that everyone who’s in outside sales should take advantage of…

Thanks for hosting this, Lori!

Never, ever wing it

Some salespeople like to think they’re extraordinary conversationalists. They think that because they were able to set an appointment, and they know their product or service well (they’ve sold it for years), their charismatic personality will carry the sales call and ultimately win the sale.

Of course, YOU’VE never thought this, but trust me, others have. Read the full post

New year’s resolutions, #3

I won’t waste calls. If an appointment falls through, I will find a way to get to know other individuals in an account.

This means I will do a better job of asking a few situational questions when I set the appointment. I’ll need to ask who else is involved in or has an opinion on what I sell. I’ll need to come prepared to meet someone “above” or “below” my original contact.

“I won’t waste calls” also means I’ll always leave with an agreed-upon next step and timeframe expectations.

What can you do to stop wasting sales calls?

New year’s resolutions, #2

I will return phone calls from customers and my internal support team immediately, always the same day I receive them.

These people are my lifeblood. If I ignore them, my family doesn’t eat. And I know that the biggest frustration for most customers is lack of communication; it’s also a killer for companies, leading to red tape.

What will your standard be?

(See Resolution #1 here; click here to get to all resolutions.)

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