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, boats, real estate, HVAC equipment and you hired me today to help you take your game to a higher 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?  If you’re not getting better, making more money and having more fun it is a direct result of not acquiring sufficient practical intelligence and/or a failure to apply and/or practice the PI.  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.