Jim Dunn

The most effective and productive salespeople have processes and systems that they can rely on and hold themselves accountable to consistent behavior. Every great sales person has a sales or opportunity pipeline; a methodology of having enough (quantity) and quality, a systematic process of moving a sales opportunity from one stage to another. You could also say, they have a way of disqualifying the prospect before the prospect uses them for all the information they need and hides. The trap that many sales professionals fall into is they fail to have enough in their pipeline and therefore have a sense of urgency to find opportunities, or they have not been able to objectively move the deal with data that the prospect is providing from the sales persons questions. The result: unpaid consulting, many quotes leading nowhere and sales cycles taking way too long to close if at all. Sound familiar?

Well folks, it happened again, as much as I really did post sell a new client (and I did) two days later he came back and backed out of our deal.  Wow!  Does post sell work?  Yes, it does, but through lessons learned we get better, smarter and work on other obstacles that get in our way.  What did I learn?  There was no financial commitment.  I left that open as this potential client needed to check in with the home office to see if there was enough money in the training account.  Oh yes, we spoke about this issue, yet what was lacking was the personal commitment and conviction to do it now.  Where was the problem?  Me, and it always is, but we understand that we keep our I-10ness and work on our role (our skill to get better).

Ever been in a conversation with someone and you really weren’t sure if they wanted to do something they just said? Or, have they said something and you needed deeper clarification but didn’t know how to ask? How about when someone says they liked something about your product or service (or about you) and you didn’t dive deeper with a question, and they stayed using the same old product or service?

Ask salespeople to list their least favorite selling activities, and you can count on “prospecting” being at the top of the list. And, the least favorite of all prospecting activities is unquestionably making cold calls.

What do you say to yourself when only you are listening? Are you complimentary to yourself? Or is your self-talk negative, degrading and thinking of less than a desirable outcome? Why is 75% of our self talk negative? Where do we get this scripting from? These are questions that many ponder, and frankly cost companies and individuals millions of dollars in lost sales. OK, enough of the negative. Here is the good news: I have 100% control to update my “adult” ego state and influence what I say to myself and how I forecast my future! Wow, are you in?

How well do I summarize what my prospect/client has just said to me? Do I offer back something like “George, may I reflect back to you what I just heard?” Then do I say “what did I miss or fail to understand?” Several weeks ago in PC we discussed the “20 Technique Barriers” (out of No Guts No Gain material) and I discovered a little gem. On the list of barriers number 11, which indiscreetly, is “Summarizing!” Many of us would overlook that one and go on to the next one and the one after that. But, reflecting deeply this is where salespeople miss a huge opportunity in gaining trust. How many times have you been in a conversation with someone and stated something of real importance to you and the other person missed it? Or, you knew they really weren’t listening. How did that make you feel? More valued or less valued? What did this do for your trust level? Google Stephen Covey’s “5 Steps of Listening” and you’ll read from a low of ignoring to the highest of empathic listening. Which one when you’re speaking something of importance do you want your listener to be practicing?

How many times this week has a prospect given you an excuse, biding time or a non- committal response? Why do they do that? Worse, how come you’re taking those excuses and what’s that costing you (money, time and emotional aggravation)? Real world application: do a personal pain funnel. Ask yourself the pain funnel questions and come up with the answers. Are you committed to do things different?

We started President’s Club by playing David Sandler’s classic, “Nancy and the Seagull.” How often do we paint “seagulls”; those features and benefits of our product and service that we think the prospect will want to buy from us? Often this backfires and leads us into unpaid consulting, proposals that waste our time, or worse a total disconnect from our prospect relationship. What’s the solution?

How would you rate your ambition and drive? I guess if all is in your favor pretty well, right? How about when events and circumstances are not to your liking? Of the 19 sales competencies from the Devine Inventory, Ambition and Drive is #1! It’s not just having goals, but a strong vitality and resiliency when sales and outcomes are not turning out as we had forecasted. Take a look at page 5 of your Devine Inventory (if you are my client) and you will see all the competencies listed and how you scored (0-99). If your number is less than 50, that is not a desirable outcome. Our number really needs to be 75 or greater. Why? The higher the number the higher the self-determination and willingness (drive) to do what it takes when adversity strikes, and it will. Studies show the most successful sales people (and all people) are those that have this trait.