فصل 22 بخش 2

FILL THE PIPELINE

Sales is a numbers game to some degree. If you have a 100 percent closing ratio and only call on one person in your career, then you can only be so successful. Keeping the pipeline full at all times is vital to success.

Most salespeople only measure who they recently sold, but you should value and measure all activities that fill the pipeline: Sold, unsold, lost to competitor, orders, not ready to buy until next quarter, referrals, second sales, etc.

One of the common mistakes I see from salespeople and sales organizations is that they celebrate sales and don’t keep loading up the pipeline.

One of the negatives of selling a client is that you lose the client and then have to start the cycle again with someone else. This is what I mean about keeping the pipeline full.

It takes a lot of work to sell someone and immediately replace him or her with someone else. I talk a lot in my book The 10X Rule about the fact that people underestimate the amount of energy and effort necessary to create success, and then to maintain that success.

Conquering something is one thing; keeping it is another thing entirely. In sales, you want a full pipeline of possibilities so you aren’t dependent on the success of any one thing. Salespeople without full pipelines become desperate and easily shaken.

A guy who works with me called and was complaining about a prospect who canceled an appointment, and I told him, “If your pipeline was full, you would be happy he canceled, not upset.

You are upset not because he canceled, but because you failed to fill up your pipeline!” Fill up your pipeline, keep it full, overrun it if you choose, and never think you have enough in it.

CLOSING THE DEAL

Negotiating and closing the transaction can be a trouble spot for salespeople. I believe this to be the case mostly because closing is not selling. Closing has been taught as though it is a sales technique, but it is only an extension of selling and is, in actuality, a completely different art.

Selling is identifying needs, selecting the right solution, and then demonstrating how your product or service solves the problem. Closing is getting the buyer to take action and agree to exchange something of value for what it is you offer; that is, close on your offer and solution.

I have met professional salespeople who were good at building rapport and getting people to like them, good at getting people excited about their product/service, and good at follow-up, and while all those skills are important, if they couldn’t close they weren’t successful.

Great salespeople know that all it takes to be great at selling is to take the time to become pros at negotiating and closing so they can take advantage of the investments made in the selling process prior to closing the transaction. Just because someone can wrestle doesn’t mean they can box or fight in the UFC.

Closing is an art, and anyone can learn it. Closing requires a tremendous arsenal of techniques, transitions, responses, counters, and strategies.

The single most productive decision I made in selling was my commitment to master the close. I have created numerous tools that people can use to make themselves masters at this thing called closing.

Check out our app at www.CloseTheSaleApp.com. Also check into my Closer’s Survival Guide: Volume I, which includes 126 closes. This work is being followed up with two more volumes.

Another effective closing education tool, if you like to learn visually, is my virtual training site, which delivers more than 300 closes in full-motion videos on demand.

CALLS NOT RETURNED

In my career, more people have not returned my call than have taken my call. You need to understand that when people do not call you back, it does not mean they are not interested in you or your product.

It could mean that, but it doesn’t have to mean that. Maybe they didn’t get your message, perhaps they got overwhelmed with other things, or maybe they just don’t feel a sense of manners that requires them to return phone calls.

I personally make an effort to respond to all calls made to me regardless of my interest in the call or caller. And if I can’t get to the call, then I will have my assistant respond, requesting either more information or informing the person that I am not interested.

I just think it’s important for me to keep the flow of communication open from others to me and then from me to others. If I stop communicating either way, I think I might stop other flows that are necessary.

Now, just because I take people’s calls and respond to calls and e-mails doesn’t mean other people do or should. I never take it personally when people don’t call me back.

I always, always, always leave a message when I call someone. And then I keep calling them back regardless of whether I get a response from them or not. When someone doesn’t call you back, don’t try to calculate what their lack of response means.

CALL CLIENT + LEFT MESSAGE + NO RETURN CALL = ?????????

You don’t know what it means when a client does not call you back, but what it should mean is that you need to continue to make calls, contacts, e-mails, or personal visits until you find out what it means!

Just because the client is not interested in you today doesn’t mean he will not be interested in you tomorrow. Just because you are not a priority this week or this afternoon doesn’t mean you should quit calling.

Never bring up unreturned previous calls and never make the client wrong for not calling you back. It’s not his or her job, responsibility, or agreement to call you back. It is your job to do the follow-up, and the more creative and persistent you can be the better.

Vary the types of communications and vary the messages—keep it creative. If e-mails aren’t working, try postage. If that doesn’t work, try calls and then personal visits. If none of that works, I always put clients on a “help-list” and then ask other clients if they can help me with anyone on the list.

Sometimes it’s just a matter of getting the right person at the right time. Remember, quitting can’t be an option, and making the client wrong is just you not taking responsibility. Nothing is happening to you; it is happening because of you.

FEAR

The great thing about fear is that it isn’t real. I know that when you are experiencing fear it might feel real, but it actually does not exist in the physical universe. This unseen, intangible factor called fear does so much to motivate some, yet it also immobilizes millions of people every day from taking the actions they need to take. Pretty powerful stuff, right?

With sales, fear can kill your chances of success, but here’s the secret: The way to kill fear is by taking action. There’s nothing like an unshakable, winning flurry of action to absolutely extinguish that monster called fear (that, and a great sense of humor).

I use fear every day as my inspiration—as an indicator of those things I have to confront. Catch my phrasing: “I use fear.” It’s not the other way around. Fear, although not a real thing, is very powerful, and I’m big enough to admit to feeling it. My success is that I then use it to move—in fact, to move toward exactly that thing of which I am the most afraid. This is an existential exercise you can do by first asking yourself, “Can I face my fears?”

The more you practice moving in the direction of that which you fear, the more it becomes a habit, second nature in fact. You could even start your day by asking, “Who or what do I most fear calling on today?”

The answer should give you direction in which to move. Taking action on those things you fear is how you build courage. Courage is an exercise in action, it’s not just a trait. Everyone has the ability to be courageous; you just have to take action. Do this and you will get to the point where you start looking around for more things that you fear. Because, hey, doing them is actually a lot of fun and there is a payoff in both confidence and success.

When I turned forty-five, my wife, who was my fiancé at the time, thought she would surprise me by taking me skydiving for the first time. She had jumped three times and was going to try to scare me by giving me a surprise jump for my birthday. I didn’t know the first thing about jumping, and she wanted to see me get scared. Was I scared? Yeah, of course, but I kept telling myself, “

Getting overwhelmed won’t open your chute.” The hardest part was the ascent 10,000 feet into the air, anticipating the jump to my possible death. The list of all the things that could go wrong filled my mind during that twenty-minute ride up, but I kept telling myself, “The more you do that which you fear, the more courageous you become. Being scared won’t open the chute.”

I looked over and saw my beautiful, confident fiancé by my side, looking at me, waiting for me to show fear, but I refused to do so. I gave her a look that I thought suggested, “I am scared of nothing,” even though I was.

She reached over to see if my heart was pounding, hoping to get a reaction. Not until they opened the door of the plane and people started jumping did it really hit me.

Elena looked at me as she approached the opening, “See you on the ground, Sexy,” she said, and she jumped out before me. That was when I really got scared because there was nothing I could do for her.

As I watched her fly through the sky, I really got it: I was about to jump. Rather than trying to process this, I elected to eat the fear and take action. I refused to be paralyzed by fear. I refused to be the slave of fear. I refused to let fear master me. Instead, I used fear to take action, and I rolled out of the plane.

It was the decision to use fear that allowed me to take action. Not to mention the fact that my girl jumped; what was I going to do, puss out? When you do what you fear, you experience such gratification. As I fell through the sky, I was freed from any ideas of being held back by the boogeyman.

Later, when I married that beautiful woman, I promised her I would always keep moving through those things I feared the most in order to provide us with a great future together.

Fear in your sales career and in life should be an indicator and motivator of what you need to do and must do! Overcoming your fear is just an exercise in doing something that will allow you to increase confidence in yourself and take your career to another level. Handling fear is merely a decision.

So start building up this habit of identifying what you fear doing and who you fear calling on, and make those your first actions. I assure you that you will quickly build the confidence that is so critical for a sales professional to have.

Like consistently working out in a gym, you will suddenly find your “fear-busting” muscle is really powerful, and taking actions in spite of your fear will no longer immobilize you. Instead, it will motivate you.

PEOPLE’S EMOTIONS

When you are faced with a prospect or client who gets emotional and demonstrates an emotional outburst with you, know that you are getting close to making the sale. Never take it personally, never react to it, and never become emotional, as a response. You must know that when people get highly emotional, typically they are getting close to completing the transaction.

The key is to stay rational, calm, and collected when others get emotional, and persist no matter what is thrown your way. Emotions are one of the most overrated things there are. A guy gets angry because your proposal is double his budget. “I TOLD YOU I COULD ONLY AFFORD —!”

Is he upset with you or himself? If double the budget is the best solution, then don’t react to his outburst, just rationally handle it: “John, I am aware that this is double your budget. Allow me to share with you why I am showing you this option despite the fact that you made it clear to me you could only spend —” Stay calm. Stay cool.

Stay rational, and know that the outburst will pass once your client comes to his senses.

Every person wants to make the best decision possible, so when you get him to face up to making a decision to buy your product, know that you are stirring up within him all the fears, failures, and frustrations of the past.

You might be hitting up against his own sense of dissatisfaction with that idea that he can’t easily afford this. Just because he shares his outburst with you and even directs it at you doesn’t mean he is actually upset with you. Outbursts are usually not at all personal; they’re just something that every person goes through. Some people just express themselves a bit more vocally than others, and they may go through a range of emotions in the process.

You cannot stop your pursuit of closing the sale every time someone gets upset. You must consistently and persistently help them because you are like their expert guide along a tumultuous river.

You would of course not stop guiding them through the most dramatic rapids just because you hit white water and everyone started to freak.

You would keep everyone calm, knowing that the white water doesn’t last forever and soon you will be on the other side, where things are calm. Likewise, you want to guide your prospect through the sales process, through the dramatic, tough, emotional waters into the calm, happy state of him getting to have your product.

It is your duty to help your prospects in this way! Don’t get emotional when they do. Practice, drill, and rehearse staying calm when others start freaking.

This is a skill that can be developed but does take some drilling. The biggest problem for most people is when they experience someone getting highly emotional today, they are thrown back into some unresolved issue of the past when others were emotional with them, and it might have turned out badly.

It is important that you are able to stay in the present when this happens; otherwise, you aren’t going to be operating rationally, and if you aren’t rational, you won’t come up with solutions. Emotions are overrated, and the past is useless to you when creating a future. Stay calm, be cool, and learn how to stay rational when prospects get emotional.

NEGATIVE CONNOTATIONS OF SALES

The only reason that the subject of sales or salespeople has ever carried a negative connotation is because of inept salespeople who never took the time to become true professionals and master their craft. This lack of self-esteem about the career of sales comes from a lack of understanding about how vital salespeople are to economies and how different a SALES PRO is from a salesperson.

A true professional salesperson is impervious to any negativity because he is a pro and is operating at levels far beyond the average player of the game.

That professional knows that to sell is to serve, and he or she believes so strongly in his product, service, company, and him- or herself that the motives that drive that individual are not just about “getting the commission.”

A true professional salesperson is motivated by truly helping others. A true professional salesperson is actually admired by all who he or she comes in contact with and is often celebrated by customers and colleagues alike.

If you feel yourself stymied by the negative connotation of being in sales, you simply need to reconnect to the purpose of what you’re doing and the importance of selling as a career and to the development of entire economies. Reread the introduction and Chapter One of this book to enlighten your sense of purpose!

I personally feel that selling is one of the noblest of professions because when done correctly and with the right intentions, it engenders a very independent, self-reliant, strong, helpful, and extroverted individual who is, indeed, at a higher level than most.

A true professional salesperson is able to step into any circumstance and make friends, help others, calm the chaos, and get people to take action. Great salespeople are leaders and people who make sense of situations and inspire others to do the right thing!

Think of a person who has really helped you in your life, really positively affected you and made you feel good about yourself. Write down the five qualities that person had that made you feel good. Now write about how each of those qualities would make you a better salesperson.

In my life I have met some unbelievably exceptional salespeople, and I never cease to be enamored by them. Their persistence, positive attitudes, listening skills, genuine interest, willingness to accept responsibility, desire to learn, and so many other attractive attributes are inspirational to me.

Gavin, for instance, whom I mentioned previously, is a real pro and an exceptional master of his trade. He is always professionally dressed, and always positive, patient, persistent, understanding, and empathetic.

He is a great listener, duplicates communication extremely well without buying into it completely, acknowledges me even when I am not making any sense, knows how to use humor, and is tremendously determined and focused on his mission of getting his deal done.

These qualities make any individual attractive and separate Gavin from any negative connotations associated with salespeople. Because of these differences, he can pressure me without the “pressure” leaving a negative experience.

Become a pro in sales and people will have not disdain for you, but respect and admiration. No one dislikes a professional; it is the amateur who is resented in every field.

NOT HAVING THE RIGHT RESPONSE

In sales it is good to know what to say. Let’s face it, a salesperson’s number one tool is his ability to communicate. This is the same reason people are so concerned about public speaking.

Look, no one wants to stammer, hem and haw, freeze up, and not know what to say or do during their presentation. Communication and the ability to know the right thing to say at the right time is a definite point that counts to your overall professionalism and your success.

These days, your customer can be just as informed as you are—sometimes even more so—and expects you to know what you are talking about. Also, your client is likely to have many choices that he may compare to your offer, as well as financial concerns that you will have to handle in your value proposition.

There will be times when you don’t have the answer to your client’s question. That’s OK. How you answer is the key. If you don’t know something, you could say, “I don’t know,” or you could say, “Great question.

Let me get that information for you.” Which one is more effective? You might think there is not much difference, but I assure you they are completely different. One communicates that you don’t know the answer, and you lose credibility.

The other acknowledges the communication and shows your willingness to serve! Being in a position to know how to respond to anything requires that you continue to brush up constantly on your communication skills and maintain a positive attitude and your product knowledge.

Selling does have a similar requirement to public speaking. If you don’t know what to say, it won’t go well! Know your presentation, work it out, and know it so well that you can handle any situation. Also be prepared for EVERY possible question, objection, stall, obstacle, delay, and customer question possible.

Every time I hear something new from a client that I have not heard before or was not prepared for, I write it down, and then in my private time I prepare a number of responses that I can use in the future to help me handle that situation the next time I hear it.

Remember—you are in a business where communication is your number one weapon. You can’t help anyone if you can’t effectively communicate with them. This requires that you are prepared for anything and everything and have a sensible and logical response that furthers your cause and makes you, your product, and your company look good.

I’ll never forget a kid who came door-to-door in my neighborhood to sell some kind of supposed amazing organic cleaner. I was busy with calls and projects at my home office one morning, and the front buzzer started ringing. Frustrated, I stopped what I was doing and answered the door.

This kid is cold-calling the neighborhood, pitching household cleaners—tough gig! I have a special admiration for anyone who sells door-to-door, especially the young kids, but I was busy and didn’t have any interest. I told him I had no interest. As I was shutting the door on him, he looked at me, smiled, and said, “I understand, Boss. Just give me sixty seconds to show you what it can do.”

As he’s telling me this he drops to his knees and starts to apply the cleaner to a stain on the stone at the door. He looks at me and says, “I’m out here getting doors slammed in my face just hoping that if I work hard enough I can live like you one day!” The next thing you know, I was paying him $200 for a product I had no interest in five minutes earlier.

He had me at “Boss” and a smile when I tried to shut the door in his face, but he closed me because he was prepared, which allowed him to move into his presentation, demonstrate his product, and then close. Be prepared so that you ALWAYS have a response for every situation.

OVERWHELMED BY CUSTOMER OBJECTIONS

Objections can take place in lots of different places for a salesperson: When you are trying to get the appointment with the decision maker, while presenting your product, in the negotiations, and in the close. You are always going to feel weak or fearful of being overwhelmed by objections so long as you fail to practice handling them.

There’s no substitute for being a ninja-assassin closing machine. Literally, you need to drill, drill, drill on your down time. This should be something you prepare for constantly. Make a list of every objection you hear so that you are cognizant of what you might hear, and then practice handling them all in a manner that will assist you in making the sale.

The Closer’s Survival Guide is a great resource for providing salespeople with ways to overcome objections. That one publication has more than 126 different closes and responses to objections that will prepare you to handle almost any situation. You really have no excuse.

If you refuse to invest the time to prepare, I assure you that you will invest time in missing deals unnecessarily. It’s really silly when a salesperson says, “I don’t have time for training, reading books, or going to seminars — I’m busy selling!” In reality, is he or she busy selling successfully or just selling and missing?!

Regardless of how good you are, you still want the best equipment. If your profession were cutting trees, wouldn’t you want to take time to sharpen your saw? Of course you would.

If you want to close more deals, make more money, and create more sales success for yourself and your company, then there’s no substitute for preparing like you would if you were a third-degree black-belt ninja assassin closing machine.

Keep a diary of every objection you hear and immediately work out how you would handle a similar objection in the future, or refer to The Closer’s Survival Guide to find an appropriate response. Then drill that response in until you know it cold. Suppose you hear the objection, “I need to check with my wife.” Write it down, look for a solution, and drill it until you own it!

For example, if a customer says, “I need to talk to my spouse,” my response would be, “I understand, but if your marriage is anything like my marriage, she knows you are here and you guys already discussed this. Let’s get this done.

Sign here, please.” Maybe you think that’s too much, too strong, or too pushy. The only reason you are thinking that is because you haven’t made this response your own yet, and you have never been successful with it. Had you used it a hundred times and had it work fifty, you would not have the “no way” response.

I am assuming that you believe in your product, your company, and yourself, and that you know all the value and benefits of it. Here’s the deal—your prospect is there in front of you for a reason. He’s looking to solve his problems with your product.

When you don’t know what to say to any objection, you are going to retreat, and then you fail to seize the situation and help your client. Anyone who needs to talk to his wife to make a decision, talks to his wife to consider one.

(Sorry if I offended you!) If you experience getting overwhelmed by the prospect’s problems, situations, and objections, it is because you are not preparing yourself for the close well enough.

FEELING LIKE AN IDIOT

If you’ve ever had any version of the dream of being in front of a group of people and then realizing you are naked, then you know what it is like to feel like an idiot. You’re caught, pants down. People are laughing at you and you feel frozen. Here’s the good news: Everyone fears that they will be exposed, caught, and shown to be inadequate or unprepared.

The word “idiot” comes from Latin. It was used to describe a common person who was not educated and not worldly. It is a word used to make a person feel bad, feel like he is missing out on something that “everyone else knows!” Feeling like an idiot is just the feeling of not knowing something.

Oftentimes, we even intuitively DO know something, but we don’t act on it for whatever reason. You KNEW you shouldn’t have gone out to the bar that night, but you did anyway, and when you wound up in a bar fight, you felt like an idiot because you didn’t listen to your own instincts. The degree to which you fear feeling like an idiot is the degree to which you look to others for your self-worth. If you do something that is idiotic, the best thing you can do is quickly admit it and learn from it so you can move forward the next time.

Look, what I’m saying here is that being an idiot and the fear of being an idiot are two separate things. Everyone is an idiot at some point and in some endeavor, meaning you have to become educated and worldly—you’re not born that way.

Great men of ability started out as idiots before they learned, practiced, and became great. But your fear of being an idiot will keep you from learning, practicing, and eventually becoming great. So go ahead, be an idiot and make mistakes.

Free yourself from the fear of this by pursuing your ambitions and being willing to be an idiot. In this way, you will have the rare freedom of being able to stand naked in the face of judgment, and you will have a good time.