Ron maintains a connection to his prospects. “It’s not that they didn’t buy,” he explains; “it’s that they haven’t bought yet.” He sends them cards regularly, keeping in touch and offering information and words of encourage- ment – building the relationship. “To make sure the cards get noticed, I send them on holidays like Thanksgiving, Me- morial Day, and the Fourth of July rather than on Christmas when everything simply gets lost in the crush.” He’s had prospects who, while they didn’t buy initially, returned as much as a year and a half later, smiling and asking for him – and, amazingly enough, still carrying his business card. Still, there is one rejection Ron can’t get over. “I had a
sure sale – a couple who walked in and told me they knew what car they wanted and that they were ready to buy. So I short-circuited the sales process, skipped the test drive, made no presentation at all, and went right for the close. “And I couldn’t close them. Because, when it came right down to the commitment, they weren’t going to spend $30,000 when they didn’t really understand the value and the benefits. The reasons for buying they had when they walked in the door weren’t strong enough. And I hadn’t strengthened those reasons – and I certainly hadn’t given them any additional reasons. They call it selling because you have to sell. Always.”
Maintaining Confidence Sharon Grace, an outgoing call center manager, constantly
strives to help her salespeople deal with rejection. “In some of our toughest campaigns it might take six hours of calling to hear a yes. Our reps needs to understand that to keep from becoming discouraged.”
Power Your Mind ROBERT BOSHNACK
Mental obsessions have physical manifestations: Your body reacts to the thoughts and concerns of the mind. Your thoughts can make you sick or release endorphins (over 50 times more potent than mor- phine), which causes elation and good health. An emotionally upset individual is more prone to accidents and ill health than an emotionally stable individual.
How can we make sure we won’t become victims of our anxieties? Since the mind tells the body how to act, think the highest, most uplifting thoughts you can imagine. Here are some tips to help you use the power of your mind: • Visualize positive situations. • Think and speak well of your health.
To help provide that perspective, Cheryl gives her team goals for the number of contacts they need to make as well as for the number of sales. She frequently structures contests the same way. “Our monitoring process also allows us to examine the types of rejection our reps are getting and when in the sales process it’s occurring. If the problem is with indi- vidual reps, we can uncover their particular training needs; then, we can focus on that need. Knowledge is power. And proper training – providing product and market knowl- edge and knowledge of the sales process – generates self-confidence. And self-confidence provides the strength to deal with rejection. “Or, our monitoring of the campaign might reveal that we may need to fine-tune our approach to the customer or to improve our rebuttal to a particular objection. We con- duct debriefing sessions with our reps to discover if their perceptions are the same as ours. We get their sugges- tions for improvement and, ultimately, their buy-in to any changes in selling strategy that we might feel are needed. That way, changes become team decisions.” Sharon prides herself on her open door policy and
on creating an environment that allows her reps to feel comfortable approaching her when they’re having the occasional “bad confidence day” everyone sometimes go through. “Even the best reps sometimes feel that they ‘just can’t do this anymore,’ that ‘nobody out there is willing to listen.’ When that happens – when rejection is becoming a problem – they need to understand that they’re not in this alone,” Sharon says. “And they need to know exactly where they can go to get help.”
• Use your power of visualization. • Use positive self-talk on a daily basis.
• Don’t dwell on ailments or they will make a habit of recurring.
• Do some type of exercise – any- thing that promotes cardiovascu- lar activity. Regular exercise can add 10 years of healthy living to a person’s life.
• Set goals and use enthusiasm to reach them.
Persistence and determination together are omnipotent. You never fail unless you quit. Success- ful individuals have clearly-defined game plans they review constantly. They know where they are going every day, every month, and every year. Things don’t just happen in their lives: They make them hap- pen. Don’t let anything stand in your way. Your level of persistence in the face of adversity and disap-
pointment will be a measure of belief in yourself. Associate with people who share your goals and work habits. You must follow the leaders who are the best at what they do. Probably the hardest thing is getting started in the right direc- tion. Starting a sales career is like flying a plane. To get off the ground you must have full throttle. You can’t keep it at that speed, though – the engine will burn out. When the plane reaches cruising altitude you pull back a little bit. This is the way our sales careers are. To a certain point, you have to put on full throttle to take off and get to the heights where you can cruise for a while.
Once you have achieved a certain level of success, you can reward yourself with more time for your enjoyment.
SELLING POWER SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020 | 25 © 2020 SELLING POWER. CALL 1-800-752-7355 FOR REPRINT PERMISSION.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29
