Take talent over experience

I have a lot of experience in throwing a baseball. From three years old until I was 20, I played the game. The last 10 years were at a highly competitive level. But where am I today? Playing professionally? Not even close. My years of experience didn’t automatically translate into “top 1%” success.

See, experience alone doesn’t equal success. Simply doing something over and over again (even thousands of times more than the average person) doesn’t assure anyone of performing at the highest level. It’s talent that matters more. And they’re very different creatures, with one not always leading to the other.

Sales veterans at many organizations will have you think otherwise. As they languish at 68%, 85% or even 96% of quota, they’ll still take over meetings to show their vast knowledge, roll their eyes when hearing newer sales professionals make entry-level mistakes, or rant about what someone really has to do to make it in their industry. Yet, their performance says they’ve lost it. They ignore the fundamentals. And worse, whatever lessons they’ve learned through the years, they’re not applying them any longer either. Pathetic.

Don’t let this happen to you. Make sure your training is spot-on. Continually practice doing things the right way, and look for improvements. Develop rock-solid habits. Prepare ahead of time for sales calls so that you nail them. Only constantly doing the right things will result in high performance.

I will take the four cornerstones of talent/energy/teachability/will over experience every time.

[tags]talent, experience, hiring[/tags]

Are You Cohesive?

We’ve just talked about being adhesive. How about being more cohesive?

(Don’t go to the typical dictionaries to remind yourself what cohesiveness or cohesion is. Go here or here for definitions that fit our context.)

Here’s my definition: you are cohesive if you’ve got your behind-the-scenes colleagues working on your behalf. If your coworkers (sales support personnel, administrative assistants, controllers, general manager, and everyone else who can cut you slack or weigh you down) feel “stuck” to you, if you make them feel a part of your success, you build cohesion between them and you.

Read the full post

Their reasons, not yours

I’m always amazed at how often people who need something fall into the trap of talking in terms of themselves vs. what the other person wants.

Dave Lorenzo must have been reading my mind when he stated as one of his five tips to become a master persuader, “Figure out what he wants, and focus on how you can deliver.”

Despite the multitude of trainers exhorting sales professionals, the books, the articles, the seasoned veterans advising their newcomer-colleagues, we generally stink at talking in terms of the other person instead of ourselves.

Presentations are still full of “me” and “I” and “our company” and “we.” They should be filled with “you” and “your” and “your company.” People don’t care about you unless you care about them first. And if you’re in a position where you need something from the person you’re communicating with, it’s on you to talk in their terms.

Techniques just aren’t enough

What you say, what you ask and how you do both matter in sales. Everyone knows that. But really, at the foundation of success in sales is who you are.

An assertive yet approachable, persistent yet honest professional will have more long-term success that allows him or her to sleep well at night than a technique huckster. A person who demonstrates integrity, patience, and a genuine interest in others will ultimately win. And I think we all know this intuitively. I think most of us are turned off when we detect techniques. And on the other hand we’re intrigued and interested in others who know what they want out of life.

So, I say, stick to principles, values and habits. Don’t write out a hardline script for everything. That doesn’t mean don’t pre-plan or think through what you want to ask or say. It just means, don’t write it out verbatim. In other words, be a person first, a salesperson second.

You’ll enjoy what you do more. You’ll be more real with your customers and prospects. You’ll sell more and build a stronger, wider network for referrals.

Circumstances

Napoleon:

“Circumstances? What circumstances? I make circumstances.”

The other Napoleon:

“Just follow your heart. That’s what I do.”

Strength and struggle

Ralph Parlette:

“Strength and struggle go together. The supreme reward of struggle is strength. Life is a battle and the greatest joy is to overcome. The pursuit of easy things makes people weak. It is following the lines of least resistance that makes rivers and men crooked.”

Getting to the heart of the matter

So you’ve secured the appointment, but it wasn’t easy. Your prospective customer was reluctant about meeting with you, feeling their current way of handling things was working fine. Once you’re in the appointment and gotten past the getting-to-know-you, how do you get them to open up?

Here’s a great question to ask: Read the full post

Managers’ Coaching Log

We’ve added a new, downloadable resource to the Salesteamtools library: the Sales Manager’s Coaching Log.

Let’s face it, you can’t remember every one-on-one conversation you have with the members of your sales team. What did you discuss? What was promised? When does it need to get done by? This is a simple Microsoft Word document that enables a sales manager to log conversations with sales professionals to track progress towards goals to keep both parties accountable for results.

Simply register for free and you’ll gain immediate access!

Daily Download

A crucial component for quality client relationships is staying on top of your commitments.

There are dozens of time management systems, approaches, software and planners out there, but here’s one simple, straightforward habit you can implement immediately to cover your commitments. Read the full post

Asking questions no one else will

A great series of question starters at Nideo Qubein’s website got me thinking about how you can stand out as a professional simply by asking questions no one else will.

Here are a few more questions to start asking your customers or prospects: Read the full post

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