I'm a big fan of Jeffery Gitomer who taught me that sales are made emotionally and justified logically.  This simple yet power statement had a profound effect on the way I sell and this episode speak to the reasons why.  We''l talk about the importance of building an emotional connection, the reasons why, and also explore some the recommended best practices to help you build that connection.    

If we want to sell our price, we need to stop looking for excuses and start looking for results.  Your sales success is not a function of your selling price, the market, the competition, or the customer.  Your sales success is a of YOU and your commitment to the activities.  You can continue to make excuses and blame the things you can’t control, or you can focus on you and identify your best next steps to overcome those challenges.   

So, with this podcast, we're going to shift gears a little bit.  I normally speak about sales and selling but during a recent training session, I had a few salespeople tell me they needed some help managing their time - and this actually comes up alot.  So here's my take time management and what it takes to gain control over your life. 

I was recently asked if I had any training that speaks to the basics – they wanted me to try and break the training down to sales 100, sales 200 and sales 300 level course.  I’ve got to be honest that I struggled with the idea because I think sales success comes when you master the fundamentals. That being said, I do believe there’s a few things beginner salespeople must master if they want to put themselves in the best position for sales success.  So, with this podcast, I'm going to highlight the 11 sales training basics that beginners must master if they want to be successful in sales. 

Salespeople are the engine that drives the business, and the business cannot survive without them.  They are the hunters who seek out and bring back the revenue the company needs to survive and grow.  They are the farmers who cultivate and nurture the customer relationships we all depend on.This is why I’ve said, there is no place in today’s selling world for anyone who is too timid to provide his customers with obvious and beneficial solutions.  This podcast speaks to the mindset of salespeople and challenges us to reshape our beliefs about what a salesperson does and more importantly how they do it.   This podcast is sponsored by The Limitless Roofing Group.  Their goal is simple: They want to make you more profitable. So be sure to go to limitlessroofinggroup.com or if you’re on Facebook, search The Limitless Roofing Group to learn more.  Your business will thank you.    

Research suggests that more than 60% of sales people will cut their price if the prospect requests it – even if the prospect acknowledges the solution is better and worth more.  Think about that.  In our world, this equates to the prospect telling you they believe you’re the better choice and you deciding to give them a discount anyway.  And to be clear, the prospect knows this will happen – that’s why they ask for the discount.   Experience has taught them to apply pressure because when they do, the salesperson will cave.  It’s as simple as that.So why do salespeople cave?   That is exactly what I’m going to talk about on this podcast.  I’m going to shine a light on the reasons we gives discounts and hopefully - more importantly – get you thinking about what you should be doing to eliminate this problem.  

Stop spending money on sales training.  It's a complete waste of money and time.Study suggest that 90% of sales training has no lasting impact on professional behavior.  The data tells us that salespeople forget at least 50% of what they learned within the first five weeks and 87% of the new skills are lost within 90 days of receiving the sales training.  The reason is doesn't work is because there's no one holding the team accountable to applying what they've been taught. Who wants to guess the biggest reason why this happens? 

In today's podcast, we highlight a very simple way contractors can grow their sales, shorten the sales cycle, improve the buying experience for their prospect, and protect their profitability.  I’ve been working with home improvement professionals for more than 20 years and I can honestly say that this topic is arguably one of the single greatest opportunities for contractors to move the sales and profit needle.  

Some salespeople will be quick to lower their price because it's easy to do and they don't have to feel guilty about doing it.  Some salespeople feel guilty about selling because they have a negative image of sales and they've been conditioned to believe that selling is dirty and to be successful, salespeople need to lie or use tricks to make the sale.   By doing or saying anything that would be said or done by a salesperson, the salesperson believes he or she is guilty by association – so they distance themselves from sales and they take the path of least resistance – which  erodes the company's profits.

If you’re in sales, you’ve probably heard people tell you that sales is a numbers game.  They try to support this claim by telling you how every “no” you hear brings you one-step closer to a “yes”.  And while that may be true on some level, I want you to know that sales is not a numbers game – sales is a performance game.    The “numbers game” myth was probably started by amateur salespeople who lacked the skills necessary to close the deal.  Or maybe it was offered by an inexperienced sales manager who didn’t want their unskilled salesperson to get discouraged.  Regardless, those with the numbers game mindset are relying too heavily on luck and circumstance and not enough on skill and discipline.