Want to Become a Sales Superstar?

Our friend, the bestselling author and sales expert, Paul McCord, has a new book out today called SuperStar Selling: 12 Keys to Becoming a Sales Superstar. I encourage you to check it out especially if you're ready to take your career to the next level.

When you buy your copy today at Amazon -- today only -- you will also get over $2,500 worth of bonuses. You can check out your bonuses here.

Here's what people are saying about SuperStar Selling:

"Think top sellers are born, not made? If so, you'll learn otherwise in this straight-shooting book by Paul McCord. He takes the mystique out of their stellar results and shows you exactly what top producers do differently than the Average Joe. Best of all, he shows you how you can replicate their achievements, capitalize on your personal strengths and take charge of your success." - Jill Konrath, best-selling author, Selling to Big Companies
"Paul McCord has written the most complete sales bible for aspiring sales superstars I've ever read! His 12 Keys will become your "Ten Commandments" to both a far more profitable career and fulfilling life!" - Dave Anderson, best-selling author, How to Deal with Difficult Customers
"If you're tired of chasing, pursuing, and begging for sales, read this book immediately. Paul McCord knows what it takes to become a sales superstar and knows how to make you one too. I know because I've seen him do it for countless salespeople firsthand." - Frank Rumbauskas, NY Times Bestselling Author, Never Cold Call Again
SuperStar Selling is the REAL DEAL.

Get real guidance.

Change your career forever.

Buy your copy NOW.
Once you have bought your copy from Amazon, go to: http://www.thetwelvekeys.com/html/register.html to claim all of your bonuses.

In the News

Our publisher, Michael Dalton Johnson, has been featured once again on Salesopedia.com. Check out his article, "It's a Jungle Out There!" for a humorous look at the different types of buyers you'll come across in the concrete jungle.

Quote of the Week

"Let your hook always be cast; in the pool where you least expect it, there will be a fish." - Ovid, Roman Poet

These may be fancy words from an old-world poet, but they ring true in business today. The only way you'll be successful in sales is to be constantly prospecting and finding new ways to reach your customers. Attend a community event, create a business card that expresses your personality, or just hold the door open for someone juggling a tray of Starbucks. You'll be surprised what turns up in your net.

Do you have any stories of unlikely meetings or a method that helped you reach prospects in a new way? We'd love to hear them!

SalesDog Quick Tip

You've finally secured a meeting with an account you've been pursuing for months, only to learn you'll be meeting with a purchasing agent rather than the COO, Manager, etc. Purchasing agents, specifically, are usually interested in one thing - price. So, how do you get them to look beyond the price to the value of your solution? Paul Cherry, a sales training consultant and author, suggests you create value for the purchasing agent by understanding their need to feel appreciated.

"When companies keep a narrow focus on increasing profitability, people can slip below the radar. When the company has a great year, the CEO rarely says, "We owe it all to our purchasing agents toiling down in the basement, saving us 5 cents apiece on widgets," notes Cherry.

He continues, "Many workers you deal with feel overworked and under-respected. All they ask its that you make them look good. Provide them with solutions that'll take paperwork off their desks and keep their bosses happy with them, and they'll be happy with you."

Paul Cherry is the president of Performance Based Results, a sales training and leadership development firm. He has trained and coached over 1,200 organizations in every major industry ranging from family-owned small businesses to leading Fortune 500 companies. He is also the author of the top-selling book, Questions That Sell and the soon-to-be-released Questions That Lead.

Good Prospecting is Boring

I came across this blog post written by Nigel Edelshain over at Sales 2.0 and thought it was a great reminder to all salespeople that success is in the details. It may not be glamorous, but the best way to earn more money (and reach that glamorous lifestyle!) is to spend time scheduling follow-up calls, taking notes, and making lists.

"We had been on quite a 'roll' securing new business and leads all over the place for our clients for a few months," says Edelshain. "Then we relaxed a bit, got a bit less detail-focused and 'voila' things slowed up in the pipeline. So we spent the last couple of weeks looking into what was causing this slow down - what we have found was details. It turned out small differences in how 'type A' we were being really impacted our results."

Some specific areas that we found:

• Scheduling Follow-Up Calls: Some of our sales team got into the habit of scheduling follow-up calls one or several weeks out. But deals have their own tempo and when leads are warm that tempo needs to increase. Follow-up should be sooner for warm leads. We started to shorten our follow-up time, especially on warm leads, and right away our sales pipeline improved. A pretty boring detail.

• Note-taking: CRM systems are pretty boring. But taking good notes on your interactions with prospects is very important if you "team sell." Team selling can be extremely powerful - it lets others come up with ideas you may have missed. But team members can only help you if you take enough notes for them to know what's going on with that contact/account. We started getting "type A" on our notes again and came up with new ideas that caused deals to flow.

• Documenting Best Practices: Another boring one. Who wants to put information into an Intranet when you could be selling? Understood. But we found that some of our sales people were missing details of the sales process for specific products we are selling. They had definitely known the details at some point but had simply forgotten one particular point on one particular project. Big deal? Well it can be because sales is a "real time game," if you don't say the right thing on a prospecting call, you lose your chance. Knowing the details of the sales process is key.

• Lists: Yet another boring one. I believe target lists for prospecting may be the #1 factor in determining sales success. If you call the wrong people, you won't sell anything. We started to lose one name here and one name there, whether from an outside list or a referral that was not well documented in our CRM system (not truly lost but not in the right place). A name here or there does not seem like a "biggie" right? But all this adds up. It's that one missing name that might be a prospect with a burning need.

"I've said before 'sales is just like accounting,'" continues Edelshain. "In prospecting this is so true. The details count a lot. The cliche of salespeople is loud backslappers buying drinks at the gold club. Great characters but lousy at administration...and details. The reality in a 'Sales 2.0 world' is that salespeople need to be 'boring' and not miss a detail - or they will miss a deal."

Paint a Picture to Make the Sale

If a picture really is worth a thousand words, sales trainer and consultant Craig James is right on target when he asks, "Why is it, then, in our conversations, in our written correspondence, and in our presentations, we act as if the opposite is true - that a thousand words will create the picture we want?"

If you're having trouble getting the point across, James suggests you try using a metaphor or analogy to paint a picture in your prospect's mind. By doing this you will "create a visual image of your concept; in doing so, you ensure that it sticks with your prospect better and far longer than would a litany of industry- or product-specific terms," says James. "You can also use these tools when facing objections: the images that metaphors and analogies create cause prospects to pause and think, and to see the situation from a perspective different from their own (yours)."

Wondering how to start using metaphors and analogies in your sales conversations? Try this action tip from James:

Write down the names of three prospects with whom you're currently engaged, or are trying to engage, and who are having difficulty "getting it." Next to each name write down the aspect of your offering that the prospect is having the most difficulty understanding, and hence, buying into.

Then make a list of all the things you know about this person that could serve as the basis for a metaphor or analogy. Your list could include the industry they're in, their personal interests and hobbies, family situation, achievements, challenges, news and facts on them that you might find in trade journals, on blogs, or on social networking sites such as LinkedIn. Pick one of these and relate it to the obstacle you're facing - the concept you're having a tough time getting across.

Craig James is president of Sales Solutions, a sales productivity improvement company. He helps sales organizations get increased production out of their sales people, and entrepreneurs and individual sales people to be more successful at selling. Learn more at http://www.sales-solutions.biz.

Winning Lessons from the Indy 500

Colleen Francis, one of our sales experts, recently had the opportunity to meet racing legend Al Usner Sr. He shared his perspective on winning at the track, and his words were very applicable to the world of sales. His thoughts are below, and the full article (and a picture!) can be found here.

1. Focus. Mr. Usner said that no matter how much noise there was, no matter how many people were at the track and no matter who was approaching him, when he walked onto the Indianapolis speedway all he heard, and all he listened to, was himself. He had tunnel vision focused on finishing the race first.

2. Times change and winners change with the times. His first win came in a car with 1000 horsepower at a top speed close to 125 miles per hour and 1-2 brake changes throughout the race because you needed to brake in the corners due to tire performance. His last race was won in a car with 750 horsepower doing close to 220 miles per hour using one set of brakes because you no longer need to brake because of new tire technology. Conditions change, winners use the new conditions to their advantage, they don't complain about them.

3. Winners want to win. They hate to lose. Winners understand that if they aren't getting the results they want it's up to them - and no one else - to take responsibility and make the changes required to win. Winners hold themselves accountable for their results. No one else.

"Learn from Al Usner Sr.," says Francis. "His family is a dynasty at the track; the best there is with nine Indianapolis 500 wins amassed to their names. That's 10% of all Indianapolis 500 wins ever! What great lessons to implement into our businesses."