If you’re in sales and you’re not making all the money you should be, then this post is for you.

If you are in sales, and you sell anything including motorcycles, RV’s, small trucks, big trucks, cars, or boats and you hired me today to help you take your game to the next level, which of the following skills would you say you need improvement on?

Basics, First impressions, Greeting, Building rapport, Interviewing, Presenting, Demonstrating, Front-seat closing, Controlling the process, Getting minor commitments, Selling used, Selling new, Getting the Now commitment, Selling on payment, Getting off price on new, Attacking price on used, Objections, Clarifying, Rephrasing, Closing on objections, Handling buying objections, Up-selling, Asking for the order, Cross selling, Controlling the negotiation, Selling for MSRP, Setting up the negotiation, Tracking, Follow-up by phone, Goal setting, Achieving goals, Closing, Internet leads, Incoming calls, Setting appointments, Follow-up by mail, Follow-up by email, Prospecting by mail, Delivery techniques, Referrals, Service customers, Leasing, Time management, Prospecting in person, Customer Service Index, Management turnover, Business office turnover, Payment questions, Building added value, Personal development, Handling the down-time, Handling the huddle, Service walk, Acquiring customer loyalty, Evidence manuals, Using twitter, Using social networks,  . . . Did I miss anything?  Oh, yeah–Getting things done, Using a personal brochure, Creating a personal contract, Using the personal contract.

Put these skills on a piece of paper and rate yourself on a scale of 1-10.  For each skill that you need improvement with, write a sentence or two describing why you believe that is the case.  Then for each skill you are not at the 10 level, ask yourself the following questions.

If I raised my ___________________ skill by 1 or 2 levels, I could sell __________ more units per month.

If I raised my ____________________________ skill by 1 or 2 levels, I could truly increase my monthly income by $ ______________.

Can you afford not to get better?  How much money are you leaving on the table each month because of a personal failure to get better?  What will you do to get better at each skill set?  Put the results in an email and send it to me.  I will keep it confidential and I will personally respond.  Send it to: roland@rolandsalestraining.com

Are there down-times in your sales career?

If yes, then maybe something here will help you.  Let me tell you what “down-times” mean to you.  You should be positively excited about these current economic times.   Down-times offer you two reasons to be at your best.  First, economic down-times reduce the number of “lookers” or non-buyers depending on how severe the economic downtime is, and secondly; down-times easily differentiate the skills between the trained and the untrained thus accentuating the professional’s results.  You could say that good times have arrived for the professional salesperson.  Let me explain.

If you believe you are selling during rough economic times, you have to be more self-aware and fight the temptation to believe that people aren’t buying.  Usually the first indication of a sales person making this mistake is the quality of her “meet and greet.”  If you’re in the wrong mental space and give people an old tired and boring meet and greet, they will quickly turn you off and go elsewhere.  “May I help you?” just doesn’t cut it.  Every customer is indeed different, however there are basic principles of professional sales that apply to all customers consistently.  Customers are on the go and know what they are looking for.  The number one thing customers are looking for is a professional salesperson.  Your meet and greet is your opportunity to set the stage for a positive successful customer interaction.  Customers expect to be treated with warmth, sincerity, and empathy.  They want to be appreciated.  Nothing says you don’t care more than a same ole boring, “may I help you?”  Not to mention that it begs for the immediate automated customer response of, “No thanks.”  In order to fulfill the customer’s service expectations and make the proper first impression, you have to be on your “A-game.”  Wouldn’t it be nice to go to a retail store and have a sales person (clerk?) meet you with a smile and say something like; “Good morning sir, welcome to XYZ computer store–what brings you in today?”  An interesting but appropriate meet and greet improves the first impression customers have of you.  It also helps you control the process in order to smoothly make the transition to those critically important questions you want to ask.

A professional knows that she is not capable of judging a book by its cover.  She knows that each and every time she prospects or approaches a sales opportunity, she must be on her “A-Game” regardless of what the customer looks like or says.  I have often said, if I ever meet anyone that tell me who’s a buyer and who’s not a buyer, I will gladly pay them a huge amount of money just to stick by me and point them (the buyers) out from the crowd!  Since I have yet to meet anyone with that level of skill and sales discernment, I, like all of you, must assume that everyone is a buyer unless you have first-hand direct irrefutable evidence to the contrary.  I can’t count the number of people that I sold a car to on the very day I met them that initially told me to “never mind, we’re just looking,” or “don’t waste your time on us, we’re not buying.” Get the picture.  During down-times, the percentage of real buyers looking for customer service is greater.  Why would you want to believe anything different?

Let me know how you’re handling these perceived economic tough times.

There are many aspects of sales that people are afraid of.

This post identifies a few reasons why sales people, and people in general, are afraid of sales.  Secondly, I offer constructs on how to conquer some of that fear.

If you’re in sales and have no fear–good for you; however, most people in sales have some fear associated with the various aspects of the job.  If you are suffering fear in dealing with prospects (or customers), the news for you is that you are definitely not alone–no doubt you have plenty of company.  With that said, you should also realize that a little fear can be a good thing.  For example, you might be suffering a little fear of doing some part your job and that fear brought you here.  In other words, you might be here because you need assistance i.e., something to help you overcome.  On the other hand, you might be in a sales management position and suffering a little fear of loosing your job unless you can increase your staff’s performance.  In the latter case, I suppose the first question you have is:  “Can this guy actually help me, or my sales staff, do a better job, make more sales, make more money, and deliver long term results?”  If I can convince you the answer is “Yes,” then you will gladly pay me to do what I do!  Fair enough, because the answer is; “Yes, I can help you or your staff make more sales, more money, and deliver better long term results.”

There’s plenty of fear to go around.  Fear of rejection is huge.  There’s fear of judgment; fear of failure; and fear of what other’s will think is also a big one.  Perhaps the most difficult to recognize is the fear of success.  One or more of these fears create behavioral umbrellas which will affect success in sales.  Although I have always enjoyed a phrase I first heard on a Joyce Meyer audio cassette years ago: ”Recognize the (your) fear–and then do it anyway,” I’m thinking most people reading this would like more than a single axiom.  In reference to the negative aspects of fear in sales, you can and must become fearless.  To become fearless you need to PACE yourself.  PACE is (P) Personal Development; (A) Attitude of Success; (C) Competency; and (E) Enthusiasm.  All four components of PACE are intimately interrelated.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

Success in sales is about positive personal development.  Overcoming fear is also about positive personal development.  Positive personal development is a combination of process, application, and practice.  First, you must be honest with self as to who and where you are versus where and whom you want to be.  What kind of person are you now, and is that the person you want to always be?  You can develop positively or negatively.  Let me give you an example.  If in your psyche you deep down have always believed that sales people are: slick, smooth, liars, con-artists, crooks, not-to-be trusted people and now you are in a sales position–you have a cognitive choice to make.   Either you have to admit that your past beliefs were incorrect or you might have to convince yourself that you will be a different kind of sales person.  Lastly, if you hold those beliefs to be true and you do not choose to be different at all cost, by default, you are convincing your psyche to become a smooth talking, cool walking, liar and cheat.  Get the picture.  There will be some form of personal development in play.

When I talk about personal development in training sessions, I’m referring to the gamut of how you walk, talk, think, and act to yourself and others.  You must first become “self aware” in virtually every aspect of your life and personality. I suggest to you that you can “memorize” how to be successful in sales from various books, compact discs, and other resources found on the internet etc., but, until you make up your mind to “personally develop” the memorization of technique will likely feign over time and/or not sustain you in difficult situations or times. Associate your mind to instructive knowledge.  Associate yourself to successful people or success minded people.  Stay away from all negative microcosms.  Every new sales person that I have trained has gone through a substantive lecture on the importance of personal development as it relates to big-time success in sales.  A person’s success in sales is absolutely directly correlated to their personal development.  From point A, to point B.  Do I teach specifics?  Of course I do.  Simple examples here are as follows.  One person may dress sloppy (loose, and/or badly knotted tie for example).  Another person may dress ostentatiously–too much jewelry as one example.  A person constantly spews negative comments or seems unable to leave his or her personal challenges at home.  Another person hasn’t ever read a self-help book.  Someone else has a fish-like handshake.  There are innumerable examples.  Training is a integral part of personal development.  Personal development overcomes fear!

ATTITUDE

Who can guess the number of books or articles written on attitude?  I’m saying thousands.  Volumes are written about why a person needs the proper attitude in order to be successful in any endeavor.  Obviously, a sales person’s attitude is critical.  However, in training I normally do not find it necessary to repeat the sermons.  However, what I do in training is look for the evidence of a need for attitude adjustment.  My training emphasis on attitude is more subtle than one might expect.  Often examples are the best form of explanation.  Imagine that you’re a car sales person and you are outside on the lot.  You spot a “human being” walking around the inventory looking in the windows of various cars on the lot.  If your reaction (action) is to sort of sneak up on (stealth like movement) the human cautiously (fearfully?) so as to not scare him or her away, I would say there is a strong need for attitude adjustment here.  Your behavior, mannerisms, and body language are tells.  By tells I mean those unconscious behaviors that betray your attempted deception which are in fact indicative of your attitude.  This is but one of many examples of poor attitude in sales that are explored in my sales training.  This one example is not an attitude of professionalism, success, or confidence.  On the contrary, it is indicative of fear, weakness, and possibly even a deceptive mind-set.  Training develops the proper attitude.  The proper attitude kicks sand in the face of fear!

COMPETENCY

Nothing breeds confidence more than competency.  The more competent you are in every aspect of a sales process, the more confident you are.  The more properly confident you are, the more fearless you become.  The more fearless you are become, the more successful you are likely to be.   There is a caveat here.   I have seen many bold and fearless sales people fall flat on their face in terms of performance.  Do not misconstrue what I am saying.  It is not simply enough to be “confident” per se.  Your confidence must be grounded in competency, personal development, and a proper attitude in order to stick.  Over and over, I personally observed phenomenal results from the evolution of an incompetent sales person becoming a competent thus confident sales person.   Competency comes from an in-depth training program.  Competency is a result of a true understanding of the buyer, the process, the product, and a result of hours and hours of practice–with the correct attitude.  Once a sales person is competent–he or she automatically becomes positively confident.  If you’re in sales and not confident; it is likely because you are not yet competent.  Competency expels fear on all levels!

ENTHUSIASM

Enthusiasm displaces fear.  I find it most difficult to imagine a sales situation where there is enthusiasm and fear present at the same time.  True enthusiasm is relatively easy to exude when backed up by personal development, a strong positive attitude, and competency (resulting in confidence).  ”Enthusiasm sells!” Rare that a person would disagree with that statement. I have witnessed the truth of that statement time and time again.  Years ago, I owned a small chain of camera stores.  Many times I watched how enthusiasm contributed to the success of many sales events in my stores.  Enthusiasm actually begat buying frenzies.  Enthusiasm created initial sales during any particular sales event.  The more sales that took place, the easier it became for sales people to land the next sale.  After awhile, everyone in the store seemed to be buying something–often spending more than they originally intended.  Enthusiasm can actually create buying/selling sequences.  When you are enthusiastic, it can often be contagious towards the customer.  People enjoy enthusiasm and thus, love to buy from enthusiastic sales people.  It is often said, “if you’re not enthusiastic about your product or service; how do you expect the customer to be enthusiastic?”   The true professional sales person creates a sale in which the customer leaves the store with a smile on their face!  It’s hard for a customer to be leaving the store with a smile unless there is enthusiasm present.  Some people can fake enthusiasm, for awhile.  Only real enthusiasm is lasting enthusiasm.

The more trained a sales person is the more personal development they have experienced.  On-going personal development creates a lasting success attitude.  The improvement of attitude is also a direct reflection of their competency.  Competency, the right confidence, and attitude all work together.  If you believe enthusiasm is an integral part of being a sales success then you necessarily agree that personal development, attitude, and competency are the prerequisites for enthusiasm.  Just remember one thing, enthusiasm is not enough!  What I demonstrate and coach in my training sessions is how to act (behave) with a controlled enthusiasm which results in more sales.

Get training — PACE yourself.