There have been many times in my writing career
when I've thought "hmmm MG, maybe you shouldn't
write that down". I do the lack the self edit feature that
many successful writers have and usually wind up
saying "Oh, just go for it....you're nothing if not honest".
This will be one of those times. So here we go.........
In general.....I hate salespeople. Despise them....hate
them.
As I've been looking around at some new cars, I've
had the opportunity to meet some interesting
salespeople in the past few weeks. It's amazing to me
that in this day and age, with all of the information we
have available to us on just about any product or
service we might buy, we still have most salespeople
selling like it was 1982 all over again. "Just tell
me what I need to do to get you to buy this or that today
and we'll run it by my sales manager". Just
writing that I begin to feel ill.
Yesterday afternoon I went out for a run and decided
on the title of my next book.....are you ready?
"You Suck At Sales, But I Can Make
You Better"
Pretty catchy...huh?
Now don't get me wrong, it won't be a
homecare specific book...it will deal with salespeople
in all industries. In all honesty, I believe that I'm talking
to 95% of salespeople with that title.....so I'm not
limiting my audience. The thing is......the 5% that are
great....are probably the ones that will buy it.
That's why they are great.
It takes so little for a sales rep to set themselves apart
from the field. In coaching people I introduce them to
the concept of "incremental change". That is, making
one tiny change (a positive one) at a time and making
sure it works, then...making another and another and
so on. You can do this with your diet, your
relationships, your education....and your sales career.
Since so many sales people are barely on the first
rung of the ladder, if you take just ONE step up,
imagine how easy it is to be seen (and to see sales
opportunities)?
What does 95% of your sales force look and act like?
If you had to pick just ONE item of incremental change
for each of them....what would it be?
I've created a list of examples for you.....see if you don't
pick something out for each person on your team.
- Show up for work on time every day
- Dress neatly and professionally
- Return all calls within one hour (or 30 minutes....or
2 hours....)
- Show up at all appointments 5 minutes early
- Always have appropriate sales materials for each
call
- Be a better listener during sales appointments
- Take notes during sales appointments
- Send thank you notes after each new
appointment
- Understand the 3 levels of Sales Emotion (and
know how to reach the next level in each account)
- Submit all sales reports on time (no excuses!)
Do you get the idea? Do your salespeople do all of
these things all the time? Are these items such a
burden that doing them will prevent them from
effective selling? Is there anything on this list (or the
list you've created for yourself) that YOU wouldn't want
from a sales rep that was selling to you?
Just one of these things probably sets your sales rep
apart from most of their competitors. If they do them
all, they are automatically in the top 5% nationwide (by
my unscientific judgement). If they do all of these
things and actually have some sales talent? Watch
out....you've got one of the premier homecare sales
reps ON THE PLANET on your team.
Is it really this simple to be great Michael?
Yes, it is.
I remember the first time I
met Stephen Tweed in Denver some 4 years ago. As
we shared a ride back to the airport I hesitated to bring
this subject up...since Stephen was (and is) THE
voice of homecare marketing and strategic planning. I
finally decided to "go for it" and told him about my
perceptions of salespeople in general and homecare
salespeople specifically. I was surprised that Stephen
agreed.....the level of professionalism and
salesmanship in this industry was exceedingly low.
From that conversation was born the seeds of our
current sales training and coaching services and I'm
happy to report, hundreds of homecare sales rep are
better today than they were yesterday. But, there is only
so much we can do.
YOU can take the lead with your sales team. YOU can
set the example of how you want your team to look
and sound and YOU can make sure that YOUR team
is in the top 5% of sales teams nationwide...in any
industry.
I'm going to have some buttons made for my clients
and attendees at our sales certification workshops
this year. They're going to say "I'm a 5 percenter!"
Many
people will look and wonder what that means....but
you and I won't....we already know.
So tell me, how many buttons should I order for YOUR
sales team?
