|
Gifts for Sales People
As a child I often wondered how Santa found the time to read everyones
Christmas wish list. Can there be anyone in the world with a more pressing work load?
Senior company executives whom you have a need to speak with perhaps. Its all well
and good for the managers to say call high. When a sales person asks to be shown how, most
managers run for cover or fail in the attempt. Of course sales people never ask directly.
That would be like a Jockey admitting ignorance about adjusting a stirrup. Consider how
you react to sales intrusions. Do your callers talk about their issues or yours? Some
sales people seem able to get in front of business executives with ease. Can what they do
be understood and explained to the rest?
Around the time I began
doubting Santas reality, I would ponder how, in the few weeks before the magic
night, one man and a few small people, working from a shed miles from anywhere, could
manufacture all the items on everyones Christmas list. With hindsight it seems he
was ahead of his time. Today every modern business is striving to deliver more with less.
If sales people only used resources for opportunities they won, things might ease a
little. Perhaps Santa had a crystal ball or a pair of Truth Glasses and could tell what
everyone wanted next year, on Boxing day.
I have one pair. What am I bid?
Truth Glasses would be fairly
useful at Christmas, particularly if you are part of a large family and have to thread
your way through the politics of which relatives you visit, when. Sales people might find
them useful too. The echoing excuse, "it was politics" (a.k.a.. "Its
not my fault.") could be consigned to the box store and quietly forgotten.
Another thing that bothered me about Santa or rather his runt of a Deer, Rudolf,
was how he planned the route. I could not swallow the idea that Rudolf led them anywhere,
following the glow of his nose. On the other hand, sales people are renowned for not
planning and still make sales! "In preparing for battle I have found plans are
useless" said Eisenhower, " but planning is indispensable." Truth Glasses
or not, how on earth could Santa squeeze down the chimney of every childs home in
the twenty five thousand or so seconds available to him! Such a challenge would need more
than Time Management. Perhaps he was a master of some exotic eastern discipline, like the
monks in Tibet, who demonstrated their ability to overcome the laws of physics on the
point of a spear, for the BBCs Strange But True program. Theres a
thought. Perhaps Time Management systems only work if you achieve self mastery first!
Sales
Help
Seven Infallible Sales Secrets
-
Plan and prepare in detail.
-
Increase your face to face contact with prospects.
-
Monitor your lead to sale conversion rate.
-
Seek referrals.
-
Sell more to sold customers.
-
Keep your customers.
-
Pay attention to your winning edge.
These simple pointers to sales success were distilled from countless
conversations with top sales people, their managers and their customers. There are many
underlying principles and more complicated maxims, but all learning relies on sound
foundations.
Book
Review
Imagination Engineering
Paul Birch & Brian Clegg
Can a mere book, a business advice book,
actualise use of the principles it promotes? Imagine an aquarium, add
the fish. They are restful if you sit and watch. Now try and conceive
your aquarium as a personal stress manager that intervenes if you edge
into overload. No, I have not been smoking illegal substances. Birch &
Clegg have created a rather different reading experience. Walt Disney
said "I would rather entertain in the hope people will learn, than teach
in the hope people will be entertained." Imagination Engineering
combines both brilliantly.
Articles by Clive Miller
Questions and comments to
clive@salessense.co.uk
|