Sales Motivation in 2010

Now is the time to get started on making 2010 your best year ever - and one of the ways you can do that is by reflecting on your successes and failures from the previous years. Today sales trainer Mark Hunter shares a way for you to reflect on the past, and use it to your advantage in the coming year.

"Many salespeople take time off this time of year," says Hunter. "It can be a great time to enjoy a break, but I also encourage you to pump up your level of sales motivation. Reflect back on the year by making note of the best successes you've had. Write them down in a notebook you can access throughout the coming year."

"Use your successes of 2009 to drive your sales motivation next year," explains Hunter. "In fact, strive to surpass these successes in 2010. Each week throughout the new year, take a look at last year's successes and challenge yourself as to how you're going to do even better. When you do (and you will!), then celebrate by drawing a big fat "X" through last year's success and entering your new success. A few areas where you can measure your sales motivation may include: best new customer, best single sale, best referral, best example of overcoming an objection, best job in handling a customer issue, etc."

"Identify the key areas in your sales process and make a note. By challenging yourself in the new year, you'll be amazed at what you're able to accomplish and how it can help drive your sales motivation."

Mark Hunter, "The Sales Hunter", is a sales expert who speaks to thousands each year on how to increase their sales profitability. For more information, to receive a free weekly email sales tip, or to read his Sales Motivation Blog, visit www.TheSalesHunter.com

The SalesDog blog will be quiet tomorrow, New Year’'s Day. See you in 2010!

Looking Down on Your Meeting

The problem posed by The Whetstone Group is a common one - I know I've experienced it before! Read on for their solution to the problem - it's a great one to keep in mind!

Problem: In the parking lot on the way out of the sales meeting, Sid shook his head and said to his manager, "If I would have only asked about...the call would have taken a favorable turn. Why can't I think of those things while I am in the middle of the meeting?"

Assessment: Salespeople get emotionally "hooked" by reacting to what a prospect says during a meeting. The emotions could be anything from despair ("I'm losing this") to exhilaration ("things are going great"). For example: a prospect denies that they have a problem that you may be able to solve or challenges your credibility. This triggers an unconscious thought pattern that generates a feeling of frustration or defensiveness. This emotional response happens unconsciously and occupies our thoughts for a period of time. During that period we can't ask questions, listen properly or be objective. When a salesperson becomes emotionally involved in a meeting, they have lost control and will not be able to function effectively.

Prescription: Visualize yourself looking down on your meeting. There is a scientific term for this called dissociation. Dissociation can be learned and it starts long before you show up for the sales meeting. First, learn a system that will provide you with an overall strategy and set of tactics to handle any selling situation in an optimal way. Practice, rehearse and review it so you can follow it faithfully (like you would any other skill or sport). This gives you the ability to focus on the process of the meeting rather than the outcome - a key element of dissociation. Secondly, build your conviction and understanding by affirming these key concepts:

--Approach a sales call as if you had just won a million and you don't need the business.

--Remember that people buy things for their reasons and not for your reasons, so find out what their reasons are.

--"No" is an acceptable result of a sales call (provided you have qualified properly).

--Selling is no place to get your emotional needs met - get your emotional needs met from those who love you and support you.

Whetstone Group is a sales process improvement company that focuses on helping companies implement a proven sales process that will increase sales, shorten the selling cycle, increase closing rates, and improve margins. Learn more at www.whetstonegroup.com

How to Attract Your Prospect's Attention via Email...and then Lose It

Email prospecting is growing in popularity, and we think using it in combination with phone prospecting and face-to-face meetings is one of the best ways to grow your business in 2010. The problem is, you can't just send an email with a snappy subject line and forget about the rest of it. Every part of your email prospecting needs to be direct and focused on the customer. Take this story from sales expert Jill Konrath to heart when working on your email prospecting.

The subject line of his email caught my attention right away: "Hi Jill, was hoping we may be able to help each other."

His message continued in that theme. It was gracious, non-pretentious and curiosity-evoking. He pulled me in...

Hi Jill I was hoping we may be able to help each other. We're currently first level contacts on Linkedin and I hope you don't mind my reaching out to you.

I'm interested in exploring mutually beneficial business alliances with you which may allow us to help each other build more business. And, I'd like to offer you 20% of the gross margin of any business you refer to me. Or, if this would be a conflict of interest, I'd be glad to make a donation in your name to your favorite charity.

He then went on to explain the details of how that would work (which was unnecessary since I can do the math) and gave me a short overview of his company.

And then he totally blew it when he said:

Now that was my pitch :) If you have a product or service that I can help you sell, please let me know. I'd be glad to partner with you to help you sell your products or services to our client base if it looks like a good fit.

Excuse me! I thought he was writing me a personal note. When I realized it was a canned email and he hadn't ever bothered looking at my website, I deleted him as fast as I could.

I'm sure he thought he was being nice. I thought he was stupid. Don't make the same mistakes in your email prospecting.

Jill Konrath, author of Selling to Big Companies and founder of the Sales Shebang, is a frequent speaker at national sales meetings and industry events. For more articles like this, visit www.SellingtoBigCompanies.com. Sign up for the newsletter and get a bonus Sales Call Planning Guide.

Quote of the Week

"We can't think narrowly. We have to think in the biggest possible way." -- Alice Waters

It's that time again - time to be thinking about your goals and aspirations for the coming year. How high have you set the bar? Have you set a goal of just meeting your quota? What about exceeding your quota by ten percent, or twenty-five percent?

If you don't think in the biggest possible way, you'll never make the money you'd like to make. Set a high goal, and then break it down by month to figure out how much your monthly quota should be to hit your goal for the year. Then, only think about that number - NOT what you need to hit your company quota! This will allow you to work towards your goal in a systematic, manageable way - and make it more likely you'll attain it!

Getting Dressed Up? May as Well Take Your Business Cards

The holidays are full of parties just waiting to be turned into networking opportunities. Today sales trainer Renee Walkup shows you how!

Last evening I attended an incredibly fun networking event, disguised as a holiday party. The invitations went out early. There were no typos regarding the date, the time, or the address. Not only that, the event looked like loads of fun. The only sentence that made me ponder was this: This is not a business event. Please do not solicit new clients.

I paused and thought about that sentence. After all, wasn't half of the intent to network and make business contacts? The other half was to let our hair down and have some fun. Then I invited my networking and all-around-event-buddy.

I sent her the invitation with a note: "Amy, do you want to go to this with me?" She replied: "Renee, it looks great. But what do they mean by 'Do not solicit new clients?' Isn't this a networking thing?"

After arriving and grabbing a bite, I saw business cards being passed all over the place. It was like a feeding frenzy of fun, food and...you got it...networking!

Now, what about your parties this month? Do you want to do some double dipping fun and networking? Here are a few tips to get you started:

First, survey the room and approach someone who seems like you in terms of personality, age, attire, etc. Find the person you'll have something in common with to immediately put you at ease. If this takes a few minutes after arriving - so be it. You'll find this a valuable networking tool in all situations because people do business with people who are like them.

Next, open the conversation with a question such as: what brought you to the event, how do you know the hosts, and other connection topics that break the ice, and get your new contacts talking.

Also, avoid mundane or controversial topics such as the weather, politics, and religion. Think of creative topics to ask about before attending the event, so that when you meet someone new, there's interesting and stimulating conversation.

How about practicing active listening skills in the conversation? Make good eye contact, avoid distractions, and listen to the deeper meanings while your new contact talks. You will learn more than expected if you just pay closer attention and focus on the individual - not on who else is walking into the room.

Last, send a hand-written follow-up note telling the person how much you enjoyed meeting them, and if possible, include something slightly personal in the note to differentiate that this new contact made a positive impression on you. If this is a good networking prospect for you, invite him or her to lunch, coffee, breakfast, or even another event!

Renee Walkup is president of SalesPEAK, a national sales performance company, as well as a well-recognized keynote speaker, sales coach, and author, with a 25-year background in sales, sales team management and training. Learn more at www.salespeak.com

The SalesDog blog will be quiet tomorrow and Friday as we take time off to relax and celebrate the holidays with our families. Best wishes to you and yours!

How to Fail Forward

I've never heard of failing forward, but I like the idea of anything that makes me feel better when I fail at something. Today sales trainer Tom Reilly shares how you can find power in failure and use it to your advantage. There is a right way to fail and a wrong way to fail. The one thing you do not want to fail at is failure. Consider the following:

--In a study of more then 1,000 successful people, the researchers found that successful people failed more than twice as often as less successful people.

--In our Best Sales Practices Study, we found that top-achieving salespeople do not quit on a piece of business until they receive on average 5.3 rejections from the customer. The rest of the sales population quites after 3.7 rejections.

--Michael Jordan said this about failure: "I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times, I've been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed."

Here are some tips for failing forward - extracting value from failure:

--Always view failure in the short term and success in the long term. You are on a path of long-term success, littered with short-term failures.

--The sale is never over until you or the customer call it quits. Sometimes, the customer may quit before you do, but don't let that slow you down.

--Treat failure as feedback. It teaches you what not to do. If you quit too early, you lose the benefit of learning what did not work.

--Failure holds no power over humility. A humble person says, "Look what I learned."

--Feel the sting of defeat and use it positively to prepare for your next opportunity.

Failure need not be final. It need not describe you as a person. It is commentary on your outcome in a specific area.

Tom Reilly is the president of Tom Reilly Training. He is an authority on value-added selling, and speaks to thousands of salespeople and managers annually on increasing their value to their company and customers.

Quote of the Week

"Patience is necessary...one cannot reap immediately where one has sown." -- Soren Kierkegaardy

This time of the year is often tough for the dedicated salesperson - you're still working hard, making calls, prospecting, and doing your best - but still feeling the holiday slow-down. If you're working hard and not seeing the results don't worry - you are planting the seeds for success in Q1. Come February and March when others are scrambling you'll be doing well off of the relationships you're building now.