Strategic Sales & Marketing Solutions

As you move through the sales process, the prospect begins to weigh the pros and cons of doing business with you. You’ve presented your product or service and it’s now time for them to make a buying decision. If the prospect decides to do business with you, they’re not only making a financial investment but they’re also saying they trust you’ll deliver what you said you would. At this stage in the meeting, they’re likely to ask questions and raise concerns. These questions and concerns are also known as objections.

Objections are a sign that the prospect is interested, not the reverse. Very often raising objections are opportunities to get nearer to closing the sale. Yet many business owners don’t see it this way. They’re uncertain how to respond to the objection, so they come across unsure or end up giving away too much. Sadly, due to lack of preparation, they end up losing the business.

When an objection is raised, it’s not necessarily a stop sign. Prospects may just be saying they’re not convinced yet and they want more information before making a buying decision. By uncovering the real objection, you can then determine how to overcome it and prepare your response.

The most common objections used are:

* “I’m happy with my current vendor.”
* “I want to think about it.”
* “I never make quick decisions.”
* “Call me in several months.”
* “Your price is too high.”

These common objections may sound familiar but often are a disguise for the truth. Many times the prospect will not tell you the true objection for fear of hurting your feelings. When prospects use one of the objections listed above, what they really means is:

* “I don’t have the money.”
* “I think I can get a better deal elsewhere.”
* “I want to shop around.”
* “I don’t think I need your product.”
* “I have something else in mind.”
* “I don’t like, trust or have confidence in your product.”
* “I’m not impressed with your presentation.”
* “I think your price is too high.”

Here are 6 steps to uncover and overcome the REAL objections:

1. Listen carefully to the objection.
Do you feel it is a valid objection or perhaps might be covering up the real objection? Try to find out by using this phrase: “Do you really mean…?” or “Usually when a client tells me that, my experience has shown me they may have a concern about the price. Is that true for you?”
2. Get the prospect to commit to the objection.
Reword the objection as a question. Example: “In other words, if price weren’t an issue, would you be interested in working with me?” This gets the prospect to answer you directly and commit to the objection, so that you can begin to overcome it.
3. Determine whether it is the only stumbling block.
Ask the prospect if the reason they’ve given is the only reason they’re not doing business with you. Example: “If I could resolve this issue, are there any other issues standing in the way of our doing business?”
4. Clarify the objection.
When prospects say, “I think your price is too high,” it’s a vague statement. What does “too high” really mean? Is it a $100 too high or $1,000 too high? Clarify the objection by asking, “What do you mean when you say ‘too high?’” How they answer the question will tell you exactly what they mean. Now you know where they stand and how to respond to the objection.
5. Answer the objection to resolve the issue and get agreement.
Use everything you have in your sales toolbox to answer the prospect’s objection. Show different cost options, prove benefits, present comparison charts, show testimonials, product knowledge, and believe in yourself.
6. Ask a closing question that confirms the sale.
Make a non-pressuring statement that leads to the close. Example: “If I could…, would you be ready to go forward?” Or “If I check with my office and it’s a go, I’m assuming we have a deal. Is that right?” Using “if” when responding to an objection is a magical word. It takes the pressure off the prospect because you’re not asking them to commit.

Rochelle Togo-Figa, The Sales Breakthrough Strategist, is the creator of the Inner Game of Sales™, a proven step-by-step sales process that will help you close more sales, sign on more clients and make more money with ease and velocity. To sign up for her free sales articles and teleclasses on closing more sales, visit www.SalesBreakthroughs.com

Letting Go of the Past and Focusing on NOW

We all have stories from the past we fondly remember. There are memories we want to keep forever and enjoy sharing with others.

A favorite story of mine happened when I was about five years old. Whenever we would have friends and relatives over for dinner, my parents would let me stay up late and sing my favorite songs to them. So there I was standing in the middle of the living room singing my little heart out. I adored the attention, applause and hugs they gave me. This is a story I can still remember so clearly. I think it’s one of the reasons I love speaking to groups.

Then there are the unpleasant stories we carry around with us that we’re unwilling to let go of. An event happens that negatively impacts our thoughts and feelings about ourselves. We hold onto these stories for so long, we believe they’re true. These stories keep us from appreciating what we have in the present because we believe it will happen again. So we stop taking risks for fear that what happened in the past will happen again. It affects how we communicate, relate to others, and even stops us from going after all the things we really want.

I can remember a story I held onto for many years. I grew up in a family of five brothers and sisters. I was the youngest one in the family. I remember having dinner on Sundays and my oldest brother would say, “Keep quiet, eat your dinner, nobody is interested in what you have to say.” I adored my brother, so I believed what he said was the truth. Nobody was really interested in what a little girl had to say. So I stopped speaking up and if I did say something, I spoke very quickly or I’d say what I thought you wanted to hear.

Through the years, not speaking up had a huge impact on my life. I was afraid to say what I thought and ask for what I wanted. In fact, I’d say what I thought you wanted to hear. If someone did something that upset me, I wouldn’t say anything. I would withdraw and be silent. I had no voice.

I was committed to breaking through this barrier. I thought about what my brother said. He had said what he said and nothing more. I had added all the meaning to it. Having this insight was a huge breakthrough for me. I was free again. I had found my voice. I was no longer a five-year old little girl without a voice. I had something to say that mattered.

From that point on, my life changed forever. I left a job I had been at for 10 years, where I did not express myself, and went to work for a training company. There I was trained to lead workshops and help people learn to speak up. I had found my voice and was now fulfilling my dream!

Is there a story that’s been holding you back?

Remember this–Successful people create each day newly. They never allow past events to stop them. And it makes perfect sense. Whatever has happened in the past is over. Just because it may have been a disappointing experience does not mean it will happen again.

When you believe it will happen again, you are sending a message to your subconscious that “I believe I will fail again.” You are giving power to something that happened in the past. And, what you believe will happen, will happen.

People that know they are responsible for creating their own successes will learn from past experiences, make the changes, and get into action.

What do successful people all have in common?

* They left the past in the past.
* They’ve created their lives newly.
* Giving up is not in their vocabulary.
* They live their lives from three words…Yes, I can!
* They’ve had to overcome struggles and adversity throughout their lives but it’s only made them stronger.
* They have a HUGE life purpose.
* They are focused, intentional, and committed.
* They believe in themselves and their purpose.
* They see life as a place where anything is possible rather than impossible.

When you let go of the past, you’re then free to create anything you want. It’s as if you have a clean canvas and from the clean canvas you can paint your life newly. You’re no longer held back by something that happened long ago and is over.

Eckhart Tolle writes in his book, A New Earth, “…nothing ever happened in the past that can prevent you from being present now. We can learn to break the habit of accumulating and perpetuating old emotions regardless of whether something happened yesterday or thirty years ago. We can learn not to keep situations or events alive in our minds but to return our attention continuously to the present.”

The past can only stop you if you choose to allow it to stop you. The past event has nothing to do with who you are in the present. What happened in the past, is over. We only have right now. And, right now, you get to say how you want your life to go.

So, what can you do to let go of the past? You can focus on NOW! What is it that you want to have in your life right now? All we have right now is this moment. Be present to your life right now–this moment. We don’t know what’s in the future. When you create what you want in your life now, you’re creating a new future.

Rochelle Togo-Figa, The Sales Breakthrough Strategist, is the creator of the Inner Game of Sales™, a proven step-by-step sales process that will help you close more sales, sign on more clients and make more money with ease and velocity. To sign up for her free sales articles and teleclasses on closing more sales, visit www.SalesBreakthroughs.com.

A key step to creating success in your life starts with believing in yourself and believing you can do it. When you have a powerful positive belief system, nothing can shake your foundation. It is the core of who you are.

Do you believe in yourself? The best way to answer this question is to look at where your life is right now. Do you have all the things you really want in your life? Are you satisfied with what you’ve accomplished? Do you believe your wishes/dreams will come true?

We may want to believe we can have anything we want, yet something gets in the way of that happening. And that “something” can be limiting thoughts. Those nasty little thoughts sneak in and keep us from feeling good about who we are.

It’s not unusual after you take on something big in your life, like starting your own business or doing something you’ve never done before, to have all your doubts and fears come up. Some familiar thoughts you may have are, “Can I do this?” “What if I fail?” “Am I good enough?”

I can remember when I decided I wanted to take my business to the next level; I was so excited. I knew it was time to play a bigger game but then those nasty thoughts started to creep in. There was always this little voice in my head saying, “You don’t have what it takes. You’re not smart enough. What if you fail?” I knew if things were going to change, it was up to me to make those changes. I then took the steps to shifting my thinking forever.

Here are 5 steps I created to help you to believe you can:

1. Love yourself for who you are. Before you can let love in, you must first learn to love who you are. We are all whole and complete just as we are. We all came into this world as magnificent human beings fully expressed. Sadly, many people walk around feeling there is something wrong with them and with the world. And, they’re never satisfied with what they have or who they are. They never appreciate what they’ve accomplished because they’re always thinking “what’s next?”

The good news is nothing’s wrong, there’s nothing to fix, there is no where to get to because you’re already there. There is nothing you need to do to make yourself better because you’re perfect just as you are.

2. Trust. So often, we walk through life with an expectation that things “should be” a certain way. And, when that doesn’t happen, we’re upset, frustrated, and angry. We then make ourselves and others wrong. We start walking around complaining and blaming others.

There were many times when I was frustrated about my business. I had limiting thoughts like, “Why don’t I have more clients? I’m never going to make the money I want to make.”

I then took on practicing a new way of thinking. I consciously changed my thoughts and focused on trusting it would turn out. And each morning, I would think of what I wanted in my life and business and say, “I trust it will come to me.” When I did that, the door of abundance opened up and new opportunities flowed in.

3. Appreciate your accomplishments. If you want to attract more abundance into your life, slow down and allow yourself to be present to your accomplishments. When we take the time to do this, we’re opening up a space of more of the same to come to us.

Think about it this way. If you spend most of your time thinking about what you don’t have, what do you think you’ll attract the most? That’s right! You attract that which you focus on the most. Most times we rush through life thinking about the next thing rather than appreciating what have right now.

When you take the time to appreciate your accomplishments, you are allowing yourself to bask in the victory of what you have achieved.

4. Be Grateful. Quite often, people dwell on what they don’t have and complain why they don’t have what they want. And the more they do that, the more they perpetuate the same. Remember, like attracts like. They focus on the future and that some day they’ll have more money or more clients.

It’s just as important to your happiness to take time to be grateful for the things you have right now and have already accomplished. When you do that, you’re immersing yourself in the positive energetic forces of life that are around you. And, what you focus your attention on most is what comes to you. The more you are grateful for, the more you open yourself up to attracting more of the same.

Here’s a brief statement taken from Joe Vitale’s book, The Attractor Factor. “Feel thankful for your l ife, your lungs, your home, it doesn’t matter. Once you feel grateful, you are in an energy that can create miracles.”

5. Choices. You are where you are because of choices you made. The choices we make in our lives help to make us who we are today. If you don’t like what you have, you can change it. When you decided to start your business that was a choice you made.

Each day we have thousands and thousands of thoughts. We may not think we can choose our thoughts but that’s because we think we have no say in how we think. However, the truth is, if we don’t like the thoughts we have, we can change them and choose more positive thoughts.

Every day you get to choose how the day is going to go. So why not make it a great one! It’s a conscious choice you make to believe in yourself and you can start today.

This article is reprinted with the kind permission of the author.

Rochelle Togo-Figa, The Sales Breakthrough Expert, is the creator of the Sales Breakthrough System™, a proven step-by-step sales process that will help you close more sales, sign on more clients and make more money with ease and velocity. To sign up for her free sales articles and teleclasses on closing more sales, visit www.SalesBreakthroughs.com.

Sales pipelines everywhere are stuck, not because
of the economy, but due to a decision-maker affliction.

“I’m confused. I’ve had great meetings with the right people in the organization. They said that our product looks terrific…but that was 8 months ago. I’ve continued to call…followed-up by email…still no decision. I know that the competitor hasn’t gotten the business. If they love the product, why aren’t they buying?”

Every sales person can relate to this story. Chances are your pipeline is loaded with these kinds of situations. A tremendous amount of sales time has been spent; the company has invested thousands of dollars in pursuit of this “done deal” prospect, and still, there is no revenue in sight.

Meeting after meeting with your sales manager includes the continued mantra of “where’s the deal?” Then comes the inquisition…”Did you tell them this? Did you tell them that? Did you show them the latest…?” The answer to all of those is, “Yes!” Still, there is no sale.

Now the excuses start…”I’ve called and emailed them, but they haven’t responded. You have to understand…this is a senior-level decision-maker. They are busy, that’s why they haven’t gotten back to me. They have a full plate!”

First, there is some bad news to share about full plate syndrome. This issue has reached epidemic proportions in the sales profession. Decision-maker after decision-maker has come down with this dreaded affliction.

Sales pipelines everywhere have come to a screeching halt as decision-makers fall to this syndrome at record levels. It’s very difficult to identify those who have contracted this syndrome. They meet with sales people and are very friendly. They even give the appearance that the sale is imminent.

Don’t fret! The government has been researching this issue and a solution has been found. As a matter of fact, the White House addressed the full plate syndrome issue late last night at a press conference.

“We are acutely aware of the issues associated with full plate syndrome and recognize the tremendous impact on the sales profession. This matter has been investigated fully and it is with great excitement that we announce a remedy for this syndrome. This remedy will once and for all eradicate full plate syndrome from sales.

“Effective immediately, all decision-making business professionals are being issued a second plate. Thus, the issue of the decision-maker not returning calls to sales people due to their having a full plate has been eliminated. We expect this remedy to open-up sales pipelines everywhere.”

One of the easiest things for sales people to do when they don’t get a return call from their prospect is to explain it away as full plate syndrome. Perhaps, your prospect has a full plate, but the items on their plate can always change if you present the right solution.

Consider this…Just before you go to bed, you check your Blackberry one last time, and it’s a good thing you did. There is an email from the CEO of your company. She wants to meet with you tomorrow at 9:30am to discuss tripling your salary. You read it five times to make sure you read it correctly. In an instant, you reply, “I’ll be there!” In doing so, you didn’t even check your schedule you knew already was booked solid.

After all, who wouldn’t you be at a meeting with their CEO to discuss tripling their income? Whatever is in the 9:30am time slot is being moved because you are going to that meeting and getting that three-fold income jolt. Nothing is going to get in the way of that meeting.

That said, why would you accept this meeting knowing that you already had a full day planned? The answer is obvious! Making more money is high on your priority list. When the call comes for that opportunity, all else goes by the wayside. The CEO has a solution that is aligned with your top priorities.

The same concept holds true in working with your prospects.

If the solution you are presenting to a prospect is aligned with the primary area where they are challenged, full plate syndrome does not afflict your sale. The sale moves readily through the process. If not, the deal languishes in the pipeline. Similar to the old Roach Motel, the deal goes into the pipeline, but it never comes out. No return calls.

If you are in a simple-sales environment (one decision-maker), the process to align the solution with the focal area of the buyer is not overly difficult to do. However, in a complex sales environment (multi-person decision), it can be daunting. Different buying players (those who influence a sales decision) have different priorities.

While cost reduction for the CFO may be a front of mind priority, the plant manager may be focused on quality improvement, and the CIO may be focused on ease of integration. The key is to align the solution for each of the buying players congruent with their priorities. While the product is the same, the positioning with each of the buying players is different.

The question to ask yourself is why should your solution be a priority for each of the heavily influential buying players? Better stated, “Why should they do this now?” Before you can answer that question, some homework is needed to find out where each of these buying players are focused. For example, if the CFO is a heavily influential decision-maker, research CFOs to find out their front of mind issues. With that knowledge, you can ask yourself, “How does my solution solve this primary issue for the CFO?”

The same process is conducted for each of the identified strong buying players. Here is the kicker…If you can’t identify how your product solves the front-of-mind problems for the heavily influential buying players, you will find the sale languishes in the pipeline, forever. Forever is an overstatement. It will stay in the pipeline until your competitor presents a solution that is aligned with their priorities and they will get the business.

Not sure how to align what you sell with your buyer’s priorities, send me an email requesting my buying players worksheet which will help you gather your thoughts.

This article is reprinted with the kind permission of its author.

Lee B. Salz is a sales management strategist who specializes in helping companies build scalable, high-performance sales organizations through hiring the right sales people, on-boarding them effectively and efficiently, and aligning their sales activity with business objectives using his sales architecture® methodology. He is the President of Sales Architects, the C.E.O. of Business Expert Webinars and author of “Soar Despite Your Dodo Sales Manager.” Lee is a columnist and member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Sales and Marketing Management Magazine. Look for Lee’s new book in 2010 titled, “The Sales Marriage” where he shares the secrets to identifying, hiring, and on-boarding the right sales people. He is a results-driven sales management consultant and a passionate, dynamic speaker. Lee can be reached at lsalz@SalesArchitects.net or 763.416.4321.

Understanding the Fear

The underlying reason for poor performance (and low productivity) when setting first appointments on the telephone is a lethal combination of Fear and Pain.

The Primary Fear is one of sounding stupid, or unprofessional, in front of a target when you get them on the phone. You fear that once you have a target on the phone, you will stumble and fail to convert the conversation into an appointment. This is not a fear of rejection: we are sales people and rejection comes with the territory. No, this is a fear that comes from not having mastered the simple, but critical, sales skill of converting a conversation into an appointment.

The Second Fear is that you are not “working” the target correctly; that you are in a random pursuit. A call here, a call there; leave this voicemail and craft an email to say what, exactly. You flail and you fear your results will correspondingly flail: your efforts will be ineffective.

The Third Fear is the dread in starting a process that you inherently believe is unproductive and painful. You have the same hesitation and take the same deep breath you would take before starting to rake leaves with a shovel in a wind storm. Experience says that there is no efficient way to do this task with this tool in this environment.

The Pain in prospecting is entirely mechanical (and, arguably, fosters the third Fear.) The tool kit you currently use to manage your calling, to record results and to generate reports requires a fairly high degree of “software literacy and operation.” You must correctly sequence through multiple screens to operate the correct pursuit process (that you may remember from sales training.) And, it always feels like you spend more time navigating the software than you spend talking on the phone.

OK, now what?

To address and resolve these issues, proper attention must be given to the three (3) core elements for developing an effective calling or business development process and make these elements easy for the caller to execute. These three areas are:

Art (Skills Training): A proven way to improve the ability to control the flow of the conversation, to handle pushbacks and to secure an agreement to meet. The Art defines how to deftly and professionally handle the predictable negative responses to a request for an appointment and still secure an appointment. There is a confidence that comes from being able to control the conversation. Having the skill to turn the “I’m not interested, I’m too busy, Send me something” into conversations and then into appointments.

Best Practice (Methodology): Sets in place the specific pursuit of any group of suspects including how many times to call, the frequency of those calls and the messaging used in voicemails, emails, and/or videos. Developing a Best Practice will eliminate the feeling of flailing or being caught up in a random pursuit going nowhere.

Science (Technology): A proven, specialized process engine that enables callers to execute the pursuit of multiple Best Practices (cycles) very precisely and in the most efficient way. Generate Automatic metric reports so callers can manage their activity and in larger organizations the reported activity will assist first level management in coaching and any level of upper management in forecasting based on previous and predictable activity levels.

A process can now be put in place to improve the process over time and hold everyone in the organization accountable for the business development activity necessary for success.

Further on Reporting and Metrics:

While most sales meeting focus on leveraging success once an opportunity is in the pipeline, proper attention (in sales meetings) should be given to the way sales teams use the telephone to find new business to keep pipelines filled. Accurate and automatic metric reporting facilitates this process but management and callers themselves currently lack this necessary information because it is unavailable to them or is not easy to assimilate with the current available technology.

Also, being able to understand and track information such as how many initial appointments are needed for a sales person or sales team to achieve quota, how many conversations are needed to get those appointments, how many calls are needed to make my conversation goal give a definite purpose, direction and ability to improve the calling process over time.

The solution is to set up a calling process that will automatically report on what a sales rep has done and is generated from a program the sales rep embraces because it works. A good sales rep will adopt any process that works and if that process provides accurate reports as a byproduct, then everyone wins.

Roger Hamilton is Vice President of Sales & Marketing at Contact Science and may be reached at 214-483-5800 or via email at rhamilton@klpz.com. The Cold Calling 101 system combines prospecting effectiveness with prospecting efficiency, creating the first holistic solution that allows companies (and independent professionals) to design a combined and custom solution to their telephone prospecting process that addresses their total sales picture.

More calls in less time, with more conversations converted into appointments and activity reports generated automatically.

As entrepreneurs and business owners, we all have dreams of closing sales beyond our wildest dreams, signing up lots of clients, and making more money than we ever thought possible. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always happen as quickly as we’d like it to.

Many entrepreneurs and business owners come to me frustrated with their lack of sales, hoping to learn specific sales skills to turn around their businesses. They hope by learning new selling techniques, their sales will quickly grow and their businesses will flourish.

Some of my clients quickly apply the sales skills I teach, reaching extraordinary levels of success, while other clients reach minimal sales success. Why was this happening for some and not for the others? Both groups had the same level of experience, yet the level of success was significantly different.

At first, I was puzzled, frustrated, and saddened I could not make a difference for all my clients. Over time, it became clear I could share all my sales knowledge and show my clients everything I knew about sales; however, it was up to them to make it happen. I realized it took more than just learning the right sales skills; it took shifting the mindset.

A crucial key to unlocking unlimited abundance in business and life starts with shifting our inner mindset. Unfortunately, many people work really hard getting minimal sales results because of their mindset. On one hand, they want to break through their barriers. On the other hand, they allow their emotions to keep them from making the changes necessary to expand their businesses.

You can learn all the skills, techniques, and strategies; however, without a positive inner mindset, your financial success is limited. If you want to create an abundance of sales and clients coming to you, it starts with shifting your mindset.

When you shift your inner mindset, you make the decision to rewrite the way you think. By changing the way you think, you’re changing the direction of your life. You’re now becoming the author of your life. Then you’ll begin to attract everything you want with ease.

As a coach and mentor, I am always learning from my clients. I saw in my own business how I would reach a certain level of success and then stop. I knew deep in my heart I could achieve much more, yet I was afraid of taking the leap. So I started studying with the experts, taking personal growth workshops, and reading more self-growth books than I can keep count.

As I made these internal changes to my thinking, something magical began to happen. I began to appreciate what I have, started “being” in my business rather than “doing,” and let go of the worry. I’m now taking bigger steps in my business and following my purpose. New opportunities are coming my way and it’s because I’m letting go of the fear.

From the journey I’ve taken and I’m happily still on, I saw there was a process I followed that opened me up to receiving abundance in my business. I’ve taken what I’ve learned and created 5 key steps to follow that will change how you are being in your business and help you easily attract an abundance of everything you want.

1. Shifting the Mindset. You must first believe you can. As soon as you have a doubt, fear, or worry, those feelings take away from believing. Your thoughts, emotions, and actions must be congruent with your belief so that the universe can give you what you want. Your thoughts and feelings create your reality.

2. The Power of Choice. You get to choose the direction you want your life to go. Through the power of choice, you decide how you want to create your life to be. What occurs in your life is not by accident. It’s a result of the choices you’ve made. Are you choosing to live your life powerfully or are you blaming others? Are you choosing to take responsibility for the growth of your business or are you blaming circumstances?

3. 100% Responsible. Responsibility starts with being accountable for every aspect of your life. When you can recognize, acknowledge, and own that you are responsible for your life, you experience a new level of freedom, power and ease in your life. When you’re being responsible, you’re no longer at the affect of any circumstances that come your way. There’s no complaining or blaming others. You know that the buck stops with you.

4. Moving Beyond What’s Stopping You. What have you been putting up with, tolerating, or trying to change? Whatever you put up with drains your energy and keeps you stuck in the same place. Do you make excuses for not going forward in your business? What’s the excuse really covering up? It’s probably an underlying fear that you’re holding onto. When you make the decision to move past where you’re stopped, all tolerations, excuses and fears will lose their power over you.

5. Letting Go of the Past. Are you letting past experiences keep you from moving forward? Some of our past experiences keep us from appreciating what we have in the present because we believe it will happen again. These experiences affect how we communicate, relate to others, grow our business, and even stop us from going after all the things we really want. By letting go of the past, you’re free to attract anything you want in your life and your business. You now have a blank slate from which to create anything and everything!

I believe by applying these steps to your business, you’ll begin to experience a shift in how you sell and interact with clients. You’re now becoming a master of the inner game of sales. I invite you to follow these steps to opening your mind to unlimited sales success.

Rochelle Togo-Figa, The Sales Breakthrough Expert, is the creator of the Sales Breakthrough System™, a proven step-by-step sales process that will help you close more sales, sign on more clients and make more money with ease and velocity. To sign up for her free sales articles and teleclasses on closing more sales, visit www.SalesBreakthroughs.com.

Up Your Sales with a Simple Strategy

Do you have a sales strategy plan for growing your business and bringing in more sales?

The dictionary’s definition of a “strategy” is a plan of action intended to accomplish a specific goal; a method of making, doing, or accomplishing something.

Your sales strategy plan is a very clear statement of what your business has to do for you to achieve your sales goals. The wonderful thing about having a plan is it gives you a sense of control over the direction of change in your life.

Now, the type of plan I’m talking about is a plan for growing your sales and clients. If you’re serious about doubling your sales and bringing in tons more clients, you have to know how you’re going to do it.

The key is to plan, envision, and articulate what you want, and write it down. If you don’t put it into existence, you don’t own it.

Sadly, most people spend little or no time working on their sales strategy plan. Without a clear plan of what it is you want to accomplish and how you’re going to accomplish it, chances are you won’t reach all your goals.

I recently spoke to a business owner who was struggling closing sales. When I asked her how she sold her services, she said by calling people she knew. She thought if she just reached more people, she’d get more appointments, and make more money.

I asked her what else she’s doing to market her business? She said, “I’m planning to network; however, things keep getting in the way. And, I hope to create my website shortly.” She was vague and unclear about what steps to take, and easily getting sidetracked by other tasks without a clear plan to follow.

Let me share with you the process I followed to create a sales strategy plan for my client, Judy, and the results that followed:

The Situation
Judy is the owner of a tile and stone company. She dreamt of producing a website and creating a brochure; however, without clear steps to follow, she easily became distracted by the daily details of her business. Her dream looked like it was going to remain a dream.

Judy came to me because she lacked focus and direction. Without clarity and a clear sense of how to increase her sales, she was confused and overwhelmed with the responsibility of owning a business. She clearly was not running her business; her business was running her.

The Process
Early on, I had Judy create 3 specific and vivid goals she wanted to achieve in the first 3 months. With each goal she listed the action steps to take and a due date for each step. We divided the goals into business, sales, and marketing categories.

Before Judy got into action, I had her make a list of all the barriers she had that were keeping her from reaching her goals. She saw she had some fears that were keeping her stuck. These same fears were also stopping her in other areas of her life as well. I helped Judy understand these fears were not real and what needed to be done was to take action. The more she moved forward, the less fearful she felt. Judy began to feel freed up and energized about her business!

The Results
Judy now had a clear vision of what she wanted her business to look like. With her renewed energy, she continued to be more productive and in action, and the results happened almost immediately. Her dreams became real. She produced a beautiful brochure to give to her customers, created a website that professionally showcased her company, and designed a new logo. With the new company image, sales increased by 60%! Judy is now running her business; her business is no longer running her.

A clear and concise sales strategy plan provided Judy with a step-by-step process that gave her clarity and direction. She quickly started closing more sales, signing on more clients, and making more money.

With her own sales strategy plan, she mapped a clear pathway to reaching all her dreams and goals.

Rochelle Togo-Figa, The Sales Breakthrough Expert, is the creator of the Sales Breakthrough System™, a proven step-by-step sales process that will help you close more sales, sign on more clients and make more money with ease and velocity. To sign up for her free sales articles and teleclasses on closing more sales, visit www.SalesBreakthroughs.com.

As I think about the incredible workshop I just led, I realize that I manifested this! I had wanted to lead my very own workshop for several years. I wrote a vision of what the workshop would look like and read it daily. When I walked on stage on the first day at the beautiful hotel where the workshop was held and looked out at the amazing people in the audience, this was exactly what I had envisioned.

Several years ago I had no idea what it was to manifest. I didn’t understand that by focusing on what you want, you could attract the things you want into your life. I always thought you had to work hard to make things happen. Or maybe if I was lucky, something good would happen for me. It didn’t seem possible that if I focused on what I want, it could easily come to me.

Manifesting starts with being aligned with “who you really are.” As Jerry and Esther Hicks write in their book Money and the Law of Attraction, “When you are a vibrational match to ‘who you are,’ the Law of Attraction brings to you, surrounds you with, lines up for you, a steady stream of powerful, joyful opportunities and openings that just leads you toward an ever-evolving, always unfolding, joyful life experience.”

What I’ve learned is when you are manifesting, you are attracting to you what it is you want because you know exactly what you want, you are asking for it, believing it is on its way to you, visualizing as if it is already in your life, and being open to receiving it. The magic of manifesting is that it can easily come to you. Here are 5 steps to help you manifest all the things you desire.

1. Be clear about what you desire

You need to be very clear about what you desire. You can’t be fuzzy or indecisive. See yourself enjoying what it is you want and experiencing how good it feels. When you do this, you are making what you desire real.

2. Focus on the “What”

Focus on the “What” not the “How” or the “When.” You don’t have to figure out how or when it’s coming to you. All you need to do is decide what it is you want. Focus on the “what” and the rest will follow.

When I decided to do the workshop, I gave up having to know how it would turn out. I turned myself over to believing it would turn out. This was pretty difficult for me to do at first because it meant I had to give up my control. But when I let go, all the steps fell into place.

3. Expect the best to come to you

Remind yourself that you deserve the best. This is important because it changes your thinking from a low expectation to a high expectation. It helps to expect that everything is going to work out for the best. We need to have trust and faith.

4. Let go of the fear

Don’t back off from what you want because you’re afraid it might not come. The more afraid we are of the past repeating itself and what the future has in store, the more we believe we cannot have what we desire.

5. Open your mind to all possibilities

When we let go of controlling people and situations, and thinking we can force the outcome to happen, possibilities come to us through unexpected channels. Give up holding on so things will turn out a certain way. Instead let it come to you freely and naturally.

This article is © 2009 by Rochelle Togo-Figa, Professional Sales Coach, and is reprinted with the author’s kind permission.

Rochelle Togo-Figa, The Sales Breakthrough Expert, is the creator of the Sales Breakthrough System™, a proven step-by-step sales process that will help you close more sales, sign on more clients and make more money with ease and velocity. To sign up for her free sales articles and teleclasses on closing more sales, visit www.SalesBreakthroughs.com.

When a prospective customer calls you on the phone, and for some reason or another wants to buy — either they heard something good about you, or they read something about you, or they read something that you wrote, or someone referred them to you — the odds are close to 95% in your favor that you can make some sort of sale and build some sort of relationship. Not bad odds.

REASON: The prospective customer called you, seeking information in hopes of making a purchase.

BACK TO REALITY: You come into your office and you sit at your desk. Today’s the day you’re going to (have to) make 100 phone calls (cold calls) to prospective customers. The odds are that 95% of them will end up somewhere between “no” and hang up. Bad odds. And, of the other five people that displayed some form of interest, one may eventually end up buying. The problem is you will have to go through every sales gyration and your entire sales cycle to make that happen. Product offering, appointment, proposals, biddings, follow-up ad nauseam, finding the right decision maker, and other walls of selling that you have erected based on your (or your company’s) inability to be a marketplace value provider.

RECAP: You will make the sale 95% of the time when you RECEIVE an unsolicited call from a prospective customer. You will lose the sale 95% of the time when you MAKE an unsolicited call to a prospective customer. Hello!

YESTERDAY: For the past ten years (yesterday), it’s likely that your business has been winning sales by capturing low-hanging fruit and you, as a salesperson, have thought to yourself, “I’m pretty good. I made president’s club.”

TODAY: All of a sudden you get to today, and you’re looking around for fruit. It’s nowhere to be found.

And now you’re in scramble mode for several reasons:
1. You’ve built no platform.
2. You have no video testimonials to prove your value or the value of purchasing your product.
3. You have little or no reputation built in your marketplace.
4. Your product or your service is highly competitive, and it’s difficult for you to differentiate yourself from the people you hate. Your competition.
4.5 You have no value message that you send to your existing customers week after week.

Read the rest of the article

This article has been reprinted with the author’s kind permission.

Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Little Red Book of Selling and eight other business books on sales, customer loyalty, and personal development. President of Charlotte-based Buy Gitomer, he gives seminars, runs annual sales meetings, and conducts Internet training programs on sales, customer loyalty, and personal development at www.trainone.com. Jeffrey conducts more than 100 personalized, customized seminars and keynotes a year. To find out more, visit www.gitomer.com. Jeffrey can be reached at 704.333.1112 or by e-mail at salesman@gitomer.com

Subscribe to the best weekly sales eZine being published today, Jeffrey Gitomer’s Sales Caffeine. It’s free, and each issue contains powerful and useful articles like the one you’ve just enjoyed.

©2009 All Rights Reserved – Don’t even think about reproducing this document without written permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer, Inc • 704/333-1112

Do you know the feeling of excitement when you make the decision to take on something new in your business? It could be you’ve made the decision to finally do that workshop, or design a new product or program, or write a book. You feel exhilarated because you’re finally fulfilling your life purpose. You’re about to take a quantum leap in your business! You’ve now created a bigger game to play in your business.

As you begin to make changes, you may notice different emotions are beginning to surface. That excitement you’re feeling has changed to fear and you’re beginning to feel very uncomfortable.

You see, the second you leave your comfort zone, it’s likely you may experience discomfort and resistance. Since all positive changes take place outside the comfort zone, change can be painful. The very moment most people feel the pain, they pull back inside the comfort zone. This is the reason why many people fail to improve themselves or create lasting changes in their lives: They are unwilling to put up with the pain of change.

Here are some things to notice about change:

* Some people embrace change and some people resist it.
* Change makes some people feel uncomfortable…so uncomfortable that they may even become ill.
* When thinking about change, the mind automatically thinks what it has to give up to make the change.
* Making changes may bring up fear of losing security and fear of failure.
* People will come up with excuses, reasons and circumstances as to why they cannot change.
* If they feel the pressure, they’ll withdraw and retreat to the way it was before.

And as people about to make the BIG change in their businesses and income, and take on doing something they’ve never done before, many people hit the “Panic Wall.” The Panic Wall is the place a lot of people hit when they’ve taken on a bigger game in their businesses. We call it the “breakdown” before the “breakthrough.” Suddenly you’re flooded with self doubts, the fear of failing, and lots of reasons not to take action.

All of these things happening are not unusual. You’ve made a decision to take a BIG leap in your business and all your fears have surfaced. There’s now a gap between where you are and where you want to be. The structure you had in place no longer supports you in what you’re up to next. Whenever we stretch ourselves and step outside our comfort zone, the “ego” will fight like crazy to keep us playing small, fearing annihilation. The ego is the part of us that wants to protect us from repeating past disappointments; therefore, keeping us from moving forward.

The Panic Wall is when the old paradigm mixes with new beliefs. Part of you really, really wants to make the quantum leap, but the other part of you known as ego is afraid of letting go of what it already knows. This is where successful people feel the discomfort and stay the course while others pull back and retreat.

At this point, many of your limiting thoughts, beliefs, and fears are screaming louder in your head than ever before. Thoughts like:

* I’m just not ready to do this yet.
* I don’t have what it takes.
* I’ll never be successful.
* I’m not smart enough.
* This isn’t going to work.
* There’s too much to do.

These limiting thoughts are not the truth. It’s your ego trying with all it’s might to keep you small. In the short term, you may feel better; however, if you let the ego win, you’ll never experience what’s possible once you get to the other side.

The only way to go from your “breakdown” to your “breakthrough” is to stay in action. Experiencing a breakthrough in your business means stretching yourself beyond your comfort zone.

When I speak about “stretching beyond your comfort zone,” your comfort zone could be the fear of losing your security or losing love. To break through to the other side and make your quantum leap, you have to be willing to be with the discomfort for a brief period of time. It takes being:

* Courageous
* Believing
* Committed
* Persevering
* Staying in action
* Being in communication with others (During this time it’s important to reach out to people you trust such as a mentor, coach, and mastermind group.)

The Panic Wall is strongest the first time you experience it because you’ve never been to this place before. The place you’re in during this time is very uncomfortable and the discomfort can be so intense that many people will give up and retreat to what’s familiar. But if you’re willing to be with the discomfort and follow the steps I mentioned, you will make a quantum leap!

Your Assignment:

How badly do you want to take that quantum leap and be successful? If you’re willing to do what it takes to make the changes, here are some ways to keep moving forward.

* Be courageous, believe in your dream/purpose, make the commitment, stay in action, and be in communication with others.
* When you hit the Panic Wall, recognize the following:
o Understand it is only temporary.
o You’re on the cusp of a HUGE breakthrough.
* Write out a vision of what you want to achieve and how it looks when you do achieve your vision (be vivid and specific).
* Spend some alone time reading your vision daily and visualizing how it feels when you achieve your vision.
* Declare it (write a bold statement declaring your intention, “I declare I will write that book!”).
* Share your Declaration with at least five people you trust and feel safe with. (The more frequently you speak aloud your Declaration, the more you will believe it.)

This article has been reprinted with the author’s kind permission.

Rochelle Togo-Figa, The Sales Breakthrough Expert, is the creator of the Sales Breakthrough System™, a proven step-by-step sales process that will help you close more sales, sign on more clients and make more money with ease and velocity. To sign up for her free sales articles and teleclasses on closing more sales, visit www.SalesBreakthroughs.com.