Check out my video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1Voey4twvA&feature=player_embedded

What are the true traits of successfully sales people; and can you develop those traits?

This entry will help you discover the way to improve your sales for 2012.

1. Sales people have energy. They get up every morning with a renewed felling of being; excited about what they are doing and what they will accomplish during the day.

2. Sales people feel that they are helping people accomplish their goals. When you help someone reach their goal, you will find and complete yours too.

3. Sales people know and understand that they have to prospect on a regular basis; every day, all the time, no matter what happens during the course of the day.

4. Sales people are visionaries. They see and seize the opportunity. They have the ability to see beyond the immediacy of the situation and project out from there.

5. Sales people may be shy, but they overcome that feeling by appearing and becoming outgoing. They are interested in what others have to say, and are truly inquisitive. They like solving problems if presented in the sales situation.

Take this test, and see how you do.

Good Selling,

Steve Schiffman

Although the calendar says that 2011 is over, it isn’t time to scrap the old calendar and begin the new one.

NOW is the time for all sales people to take stock of what they have done over the past 12 months, and plan out what they will do differently.

You have been very successful, moderately successful, or poorly successful this year. We need to first determine why that is for each of these categories.

You can blame the “economy” but that doesn’t pay the bills. As a professional you need to evaluate what you have done this year, and correct course.

Here are some simple things to do:

1. How many appointments did you do on this past year, and use that number to divide it into your income? You will have an average of what each meeting was worth to you whether you made sales or not.

2. What was each sales worth to you. Take your income and dive it by the number of sales and determine which deals made the most sense for you.

3. Can you up sell existing clients? If so, which ones, and how do you know that they have an “appetite” for additional business?

4. Start to prospect now for the success that you expect in the next three months. Nothing happens if you don’t work now for tomorrow.

5. Plan your time differently. Like most of use these is unused time that can be captured. Use that new found time wisely.

Finally, don’t beat yourself up over last year; just make this one even better.

Good selling,

Steve

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Good afternoon:

I recently asked a sales group why customers continued to buy from them. Most of them were seasoned reps, and felt that they had established an especially good relationship with their customers. The relationship was what mattered they said, without that; there might never be a purchase.

Is that true?

OR: is possible that the PRODUCT is so good, and in such high demand that even without the sales person, it would continue to sell.  In the business to consumer world, let’s take the Apple iPad; the product or the rep? Once stationery company’s supplies were sold to companies by outside sales people; but they have disappeared and we now have the box stores selling the paper, pencils and clips

In the B2B sales world is it the rep that makes the difference when selling a commodity where the price point is so sensitive? And if that is the case why is there such a struggle over price every time?

.

In fact, the group told me that the price was the number one objection! If that is so, then how does the relationship play into the sale if you don’t or will not or can not give a discount. Still get the deal?

There are four levels of relationships within the sales arena. You are either seen as a “seller”, a “supplier”, a “vendor” or a “trusted advisor”; the last being the most difficult to obtain.

Here is what we really know; most sales people forgot why their customer bought from them in the first place. They are content in not shaking the “so-called” relationship, and they go home at night hoping that the same buyer will stay with that same company until they, the sales person, retires!

Yes, we really have good relationships.

On the other hand, there are those reps who think they understand the need to be customer centric in their approach (if only they knew what that meant). In essence it suggests that you are sharing the vision of the buying company. You understand if they have an appetite for more product or service, and finally, you know who really does make the decision and why.

Can you really predict if the customer will continue to buy from you; are they really that happy with the service and product that you provide? Are they really happy with you? I’ll bet you can’t.

It’s all guess work…now, isn’t it?

Good selling,

Steve

At the end of each year, it is a good idea to rethink the past 12 months. Almost everyone has some retrospective on the past year, but few put into practice what they have learned.

As a sales person you really should follow through with the items of improvement that strike you as to be valid. After all, if you proceed with the New Year in the same way that you did this year, the results will be the same!

1. What did you do right is 2011, make a list and be happy that you know what you did.
2. What did you do wrong in 2011; make another list and be sad that you did these items. But eliminate them from your mind; do not rehash them over again and again.
3. What are the five things that if you did would bring you additional sales? (I’ll bet there are more than five!) But pick only five and then chose the one that you are likely to do, and do it.
4. Which clients or customers came through for you, and how will you be able to repeat it again.
5. Finally, and not so finally, reinvent yourself for the New Year. You don’t have to be the same person that you were. You can change the way you act, dress, and even address your colleagues. You can improve on behaviors that go in the way of closing the “big deals”, and you can take classes that will improve the way you are in all sales situations.

Good Selling in 2012:

Steve

Check out a few of my latest videos:

25 Toughest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRQg6Vck1Ew

Make the Sale Happen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEDCqL6Hqxs

Power of Positive Selling: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1Voey4twvA

If you haven’t already, check out my videos on Ustream:

http://www.ustream.tv/discovery/recorded/all?q=steve+schiffman

I recently did a video interview with Kersten Kloss, discussing several aspects of the 25 Toughest Sales Objections and other sales related topics. In this Video you will see:

1. The 3 Things that ever objection has in a sales call
2. The #1 Competitor that every salesperson faces today
3. Several things that you need to find out about your prospect prior to a meeting

To view the video, click here.