Real Secrets of the Top 20%

Real Secrets 030:  The Most Important Word in Sales

I was talking to a real estate agent the other day about the importance of disqualifying leads, and he told me an interesting story about their office’s top producer.  He was talking to her one day and asking her what she did that made her so successful.  She said her secret could be summed up with one word.  When he asked what it was she said:

NEXT.

The moment I heard him tell me that I was in total agreement.  I told him that was what I was trying to teach him with my disqualifying method.  The majority of people you speak with, I told him, are never going to be a deal.  The problem 80% of sales reps make is they spend time with them anyway, sending information, making multiple appointments, and begging and chasing the deal.

The Top 20%?  Their attitude is -- NEXT.  And that's when he said something interesting.  He said he was afraid to let go because he didn't want to chance losing a sale. 

"If you don't know after fully qualifying and listening to your prospect what it's going to take to get the sale, and who isn't a real buyer, then you've got problems -- big problems." I told him.

“I guess I kind of know but you can never be sure" he said. 

I'm here to tell you that it's that attitude that separates 80% of sales reps from the Top 20%!  The Top 20% know when to say, and aren’t afraid of say, NEXT.

Real Secrets 029:  How to Save a Sale

Last week I was speaking with a new prospect who had called in to inquire about one of my inside sales training programs.  I went over her needs, matched up my training to fit those needs, gave her the price options and then closed on dates.

And that’s when I got the old stall, “Well, let me run this by my boss, and I still have to hear back from, blah, blah, blah.”  Sound familiar? 

What was worse was that a few days later she stopped returning my calls and didn’t respond to my emails.  Now I can take a hint, and I know that she probably wasn’t going to be a deal.  I’m sure you can relate, and so I want to give you a proven technique that will allow you to:

1) Open up the dialogue again.
2) Find out why your prospect isn’t going with you.
3) Get them to tell you what you can do to save the sale.

It’s called the “I love to learn” technique and here’s what you do:

First, you’re going to have to be persistent and keep calling your prospect until you catch them and they pick up.  Don’t leave any more voice mails.  Once you get them, say the following:

“Hi __________, I’m glad I reached you – how have you been?”  They will likely try to brush you off here, so you say:

“That’s perfectly OK.  I’ve been in sales long enough to know when we might not be a match for a company.  Just a quick question, though.  You know, I love to learn and I’m always trying to improve, what specifically about our (offer, quote, product or service) didn’t seem right for you?”

Now shut up and listen!  If you do this right, your prospect will tell you what was wrong with your proposal, and this will give you a chance to adjust or adapt it to fit their needs.  Will it always work?  Of course not, but if there is still a chance to get a deal, this technique will show you how.

If worked with my prospect, and now her team is in my Inside Sales Training Boot Camp!  Try it for yourself and start saving and closing more deals!

Real Secrets 028:  Practice Doesn’t Make Perfect

You know that saying, “practice make perfect?"  Do you think that's true?  IT’S NOT.  Practice only makes permanent.  Only practice of perfection makes perfect.

This is why 80% of sales reps struggle so much.  They have never learned the proper sales skills, or, if they have, they aren't using them and so day after a day they practice poor techniques and develop habits of selling that don't work.

And after weeks or months or years of selling, they automatically and consistently do and say all the wrong things -- and get poor results because of it.

The Top 20%, on the other hand, are in the habit of learning, using and practicing techniques and skills that work.  They're constantly adjusting, adapting and improving on each call, and they practice proven techniques, skills and methods that keep making them better.

The bottom line is that practice creates habits.  And first we form habits and then they form us.  My question to you is what kind of sales skills are you or your sales team practicing everyday?

My tip for you today is to take one proven sales technique -- either using a script, questioning the red flags, or recording yourself - and commit to practicing it everyday on every call this week.  If you do that, it will become a habit for you and you will quickly see the benefit.

Then do the same thing next week.  Take another Top 20% skill or technique and make it yours and get in the habit of practicing perfection.

If you do this consistently, you'll soon be performing like a Top 20% producer.

I know because this was how I became a Top 20% producer, and I can tell you that it builds on itself -- your closing percentage goes up, your confidence goes up, and soon you’re in the habit of closing like a Top 20% producer.

And it all starts by practicing perfection.  What technique or skill can you incorporate starting today?