At the end of the day sales success boils down to just three things:

1. Message: Have a compelling message

2. Audience: Share that message with a lot of people

3. Proof: Provide proof to back up your claims

Sales success is really not that complicated when you get right down to it. The reason that you are not experiencing the level of success that you want is simply that you are weak in one or more of these three areas.

Two of the most frequent questions that I get are: “what about using questions to advance the sale?” and “what about overcoming objections?” As for overcoming objections, my response is that you cannot and should not attempt to overcome objections. The whole idea of overcoming objections is a myth. I am not saying that you cannot overcome an objection but that in today’s marketplace the cost of overcoming objections is too high to be worthwhile. If you look at your last 100 sales I can guarantee that you did nothing to overcome an objection in 98 of those sales. When you attempt to overcome an objection you create an adversarial relationship that results in alienating the prospect rather than advancing the relationship. In the 21st century advancing the relationship is far more important than attempting to overcome the objection.

As for the use of great questions, my response is this: artful use of questions can definitely result in closing more sales opportunities. But the key is the “artful” use of questions and that takes a lot of practice. Unfortunately, most salespeople will not put the time into becoming skillful in using questions during the sales process. That said if you have a compelling sales message and share it with a large number of qualified prospects you will secure a lot of opportunities to present. If you can then provide proof of your value prior to the first meeting you will close a lot of those opportunities regardless of your skill in using questions.

By now you are probably which of the three components is most important. Quite frankly I would tell you that you have to share your message with a lot of quality prospects. If the only thing that you did was talk to 100 people every day sharing a simple message of: “I sell ‘X’ and would like to tell you about it” you would get several opportunities to present every day. With zero closing skills, you would make sales if only by accident. Early in my career selling life insurance, I read the following:

“Show me a telecom specialist that will go belly to belly with ten people every day and tell his story and I will show you a telecom specialist that cannot fail!”

I have no idea who wrote that but it made a huge impact on my career. From that day onward I knew that I had to focus on telling my story to as many quality prospects as possible.

Are you interested in selling Verizon Wireless services? Call us at (855) SELL-VZW or fill out the form below.  We look forward to talking to you soon!

The post The MAP to More Sales – Part 1 appeared first on ConectUS Wireless.

This is ‘Tip 3’ in a series.

Selling slumps are as perennial as the seasons but they don’t need to destroy your career. Understand that they are part of the marketplace and they always will be. They are caused by a variety of factors but always keep in mind that you didn’t just wake up ‘dumb’ one morning. When you understand that fact, it will be easier to recognize that the situation is temporary. In old writings authors often used the term, “it came to pass”. They didn’t use the term, “it came to stay”.

Tip #3: Intensify your Qualification Process. One of the comments that I have heard many times over the years when dealing with salespeople who encounter slumps during times of abundant leads is that they feel frustrated with investing so much time only to ‘lose the sale’.

It’s hard to imagine a sales slump arriving during times of very high traffic. I assure you it does happen. The reason is quite simple. When there are many people needing service, there is pressure for salespeople to move quickly in order to get to all of the prospects.

When there is abundant traffic, there is also a greater number of people simply ‘looking’. These people may not be ready or able to make a purchase. Yet most will not easily volunteer that information. If you are going to avoid wasting your time and energy, you will need to intensify your qualification process so that you can flush out the real selling opportunities.

This strategy is effective at ‘event sales’ where a sense of urgency can be created in the mind of the customer. However, my general rule of thumb is that speed kills in the selling process. Therefore, this technique should be used only where prospect traffic is well above normal.

Are you interested in selling Verizon Wireless services? Call us at (855) SELL-VZW or fill out the form below.  We look forward to talking to you soon!

The post Selling Slumps, How to Pull Out Before You Crash and Burn – Tip 3 appeared first on ConectUS Wireless.

This is ‘Tip 2’ in a series.

Selling slumps are as perennial as the seasons but they don’t need to destroy your career. Understand that they are part of the marketplace and they always will be. They are caused by a variety of factors but always keep in mind that you didn’t just wake up ‘dumb’ one morning. When you understand that fact, it will be easier to recognize that the situation is temporary. In old writings authors often used the term, “it came to pass”. They didn’t use the term, “it came to stay”.

Tip #2: Do a critical evaluation of your recent sales opportunities that have not gotten the results you wanted. Be careful not to turn this into a self beat-up session. That will not be productive. Rather examine the steps you took at each opportunity to determine what worked and what didn’t. Don’t label things right or wrong, simply did it work properly or didn’t it. Then plan to make the appropriate adjustments.

It is also beneficial to see if you have recently taken a major deviation from your normal selling procedures. In other words, have you swerved off your established gameplan?

Professional athletes have coaches to help them recognize these shifts from their normal routines. Baseball hitters have batting coaches who watch for minor deviations. The greatest golfers have coaches to monitor their swings.

Salespeople usually have managers who observe their performance. It’s a great idea to approach your manager for help rather than to wait for the manager to come to you because of performance issues.

If you don’t have a manager, considering getting a coach, taking a sales course, or reading a sales book. Any of these actions will help you break out of the slump earlier and improve your mental outlook.

Are you interested in selling Verizon Wireless services? Call us at (855) SELL-VZW or fill out the form below.  We look forward to talking to you soon!

The post Selling Slumps, How to Pull Out Before You Crash and Burn – Tip 2 appeared first on ConectUS Wireless.

This is ‘Tip 1’ in a series.

Selling slumps are as perennial as the seasons but they don’t need to destroy your career. Understand that they are part of the marketplace and they always will be. They are caused by a variety of factors but always keep in mind that you didn’t just wake up ‘dumb’ one morning. When you understand that fact, it will be easier to recognize that the situation is temporary. In old writings authors often used the term, “it came to pass”. They didn’t use the term, “it came to stay”.

Tip #1: Kick up your prospecting efforts. This might seem obvious, however for many salespeople who find themselves in a selling slump, the exact opposite occurs. Selling is always a numbers game. Adding more prospects creates more selling opportunities which will give you the chance to end the slump quickly. If you are in a slump and not selling, it stands to reason that you will have more than the normal amount of time on your hands. Use some of that time to find extra opportunities. Not all those opportunities will bear fruit immediately. Many will pay you over the next weeks and months which will lessen the chance that another slump will visit you again in the near term.

When you stay busy you will be less likely to create and revisit those destructive negative mental movies that will drain your emotional energy and hamper your valuable creativity.

Are you interested in selling Verizon Wireless services? Call us at (855) SELL-VZW or fill out the form below.  We look forward to talking to you soon!

The post Selling Slumps, How to Pull Out Before You Crash and Burn – Tip 1 appeared first on ConectUS Wireless.