Would YOU buy from YOUR salesman?

This is a great question.

Let’s say you were shopping for a significant thing.  Let’s say you were getting three estimates.

Let’s say that three of your salespeople were the ones you were talking to.

Which of the three would YOU buy from?

Which one would you NOT buy from (unless he was the only option and you were in a hurry)?

Hmmmm. Interesting. 

If you have more salespeople that, consider a group of another three.

Who would you not buy from?

Ok, so your customers are thinking the same thing.

Close More Deals

Today I’m going to cut and paste words from my awesome friend and sales trainer Jim Burlison (that is him in the picture) – 

Who is better to do this than me?

Your to do list is not things that YOU have to do, they are just things you need to see get done.

Who is better to do this than you?

Get clear on what you are asking them to do.  Keep it simple.

Pick the team, group or person to get the project/change done.

Have a huddle and empower them to get the result.

Give them what they need to succeed.  Put up a public scoreboard as appropriate.

Check in at appropriate intervals.  Follow up.

Celebrate when it gets done.  Thank them.

Simplicity scales

Simplicity scales.  Complexity does not scale well or at all.

What are you asking your people to do?

Salespeople give excuses they actually believe

A poor salesperson gets lots of objections and rejections.  For them, it’s all true.

A salesperson with better skills gets fewer objections (they can’t overcome) and more success.

Same business, same leads – different truth.

Train.  And have the right training with the right answers.  Innovate if you can to win.

Then get the salespeople with the best skills (and discipline).

Call your office

Recently my friend Aaron had a great idea.  He sets a reminder to call his own office once a month.

He sees how they are handling the calls.

Great idea.

Priorities

Top people don’t get it ALL done.  

They get the RIGHT THINGS done.

What are the RIGHT THINGS for you?

Don’t hire yourself for everything

I always love this idea when I think about it.  It’s liberating.

You ready?

“Every item on your TO-DO list does not have YOUR name on it.”

There are things you need to make sure get done.  Maybe lots of them.  But they don’t all need to be done BY YOU.

Use your team.  They want to help you.  

Instead of doing it yourself, decide who the right person for the job is, and have a little meeting with them or a call.  Tell them the context, the goal, the resources available, and ask them to take care of it, and how/when to report results.

Then move on to the next thing.

You are no “doer-in chief”.  You are the leader of a team.

When trust is high, resistance is low.

If your people don’t trust you, they will fight, resist, argue, talk behind your back, and even work to show that your ideas will not work.

Build trust.  Keep trust.

Everything will be easier that way.

If the horse is dead, get off.

“Try, try, and try again.  Then quit.  There is no use being a damn fool about it.” – W. C. Fields

Is there something you should quit to focus your resources on something more workable?