52 Weeks of Sales Success

America's #1 Salesman Shows You How to Send Sales Soaring

Ralph R. Roberts

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2008
• ISBN:
  9780470475492
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Negocios y empresa
• Subtopic: Ventas

52 Weeks of Sales Success, 2nd edition is based on Roberts' series of popular weekly sales seminars originally offered to his staff. Ralph now delivers the same energy and sales-generating wisdom and closing tools to everyone who is committed to achieving his or her full potential. In this second edition, Ralph has expanded and updated the material to address issues important to today's salespeople and reveals his field-proven strategies for selling in the 21st Century:

• Stop thinking like an employee and start thinking like an entrepreneur
• Surround yourself with positive people
• Develop systems and procedures
• Hire an assistant, so you can concentrate on clients
• Know your product, yourself, and your client
• Under-promise, over-deliver
• Turn problems into opportunities

WEEK 1

START NOW

Whenever I coach or mentor a salesperson following my 52 Weeks of Sales Success approach, I’m invariable asked, “So, when do we get started?” And I invariably answer, “Now.”

Prior to implementing any self-improvement program—weight loss, smoking cessation, whatever—many people give themselves a grace period to indulge their cravings. They’ll start dieting after Thanksgiving, for example, or stop smoking on Monday.

For some people, this approach might work, but for many people, when that date finally arrives, they simply bump out the date. They still have half a box of candy or a few cigarettes left that they don’t want to waste, so they put it off until they’ve depleted their supply. In the meantime, they buy some more candy or cigarettes, and end up never getting around to following up on their good intentions.

If you are serious about boosting sales and profits, start making changes today, right now. As soon as you have a plan in place, start working the plan immediately. Why wait? Seize the opportunity now!

DO THE HARDEST THING FIRST

What keeps most people from getting started at the beginning of the day is that they wake up facing a difficult or distasteful task that they do not even want to think about. Ironically, this becomes all they think about, and then they look for any distraction they can think of to avoid performing that task.

To start your day right, tackle the task you find most difficult or unpleasant first. If you hate making phone calls, do it early in the morning rather than waiting until the end of the day. If you plan on having a difficult encounter with a colleague or one of your assistants, deal with it immediately rather than letting it ruin your entire day. Get it out of the way, so you can start to look forward to what you truly love about your work and to your dollar-productive activities—tasks that carry the promise of generating revenue.

If “Do the Hardest Thing First” doesn’t quite work for you, consider some variations on this approach. The key is to become productive as early as possible in the day. Here are some other suggestions for starting your day off right:

• Take a step-by-step approach. Jot down a list of everything you need to get done today and prioritize items on the list.

• Perform the most profitable tasks first. Focus on dollar-productive (revenue-generating) tasks first.

• Perform the easiest tasks first. If tackling the most difficult task is just too overwhelming, consider dealing with something easy to work up some momentum.

• Perform the most obvious tasks first. If a task obviously needs to be accomplished before you can perform other tasks, tackle the obvious task first.

I generally tackle the most difficult tasks first. I call the people I don’t want to talk to, address any problems that cross my desk, and immediately tend to the task I am most strongly inclined to avoid. Then, I focus on the most profitable (dollar-productive or revenue-generating) activities. I learned about dollar-productive activities from the “Condo King,” Allen Domb, while shadowing him. If I have any time left near the end of the day, I deal with the remaining items on my list in their order of importance.

TELL EVERYONE YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DO

If you have just launched your career in sales, the very first step you need to take to be successful is to tell everyone you know about your job, and I mean everybody—friends, family members, neighbors, acquaintances, and even your old friends from high school. Develop a list and mail out something, then give them a quick call. Maybe you’re a travel agent or you’re selling cars or computers or home furnishings or stocks and bonds—things that everyone needs and everyone buys sooner or later. Family and friends become the first customers for many salespeople and you build from there.

But even if you are selling jet airplanes or complex software, let everyone know what you do. Just because you are selling something your friends and family know nothing about or have no direct connection to does not mean they cannot introduce you to people they know who need your products or services.

REMAIN POSITIVE

Positive people generate positive energy, which ultimately attracts customers, colleagues, and opportunities. Negativity bogs people down, saps their energy, and drives people away. Stay away from negative people. They have no value in your life.

With customers, you should always be positive. If someone asks how your business is going, say it is unbelievable. You could be just steps away from bankruptcy, but you have to present a positive outlook. This extends to your competition. Never badmouth your rivals. Mudslinging will never help you win your customer. It probably will only backfire.

If you’re having trouble maintaining a positive outlook, you can find plenty of inspirational books, audio recordings, and web sites to improve your outlook. For starters, visit Mr. Positive himself, my friend and colleague Dave Boufford at www.mrpositive.com. SimpleTruths also offers some inspirational movies, including 212^◦ The Extra Degree, which you can check out at www.simpletruths.com/movies. Get yourself pumped up and stay that way! This can make a huge difference in your career.

WORK FOR TODAY, TOMORROW, AND YOUR FUTURE

As a salesperson, you are probably very busy attending to today’s business, but if that is all you are attending to, then you are merely doing business, not building a business. This is a common trap, and it often results in a sales career that is less successful and more stressful than it really needs to be. You end up constantly chasing your tail—hunting for new clients one day, serving them the next, and starting the whole cycle over again the following day. Every month, it’s either feast or famine.

To avoid having a sales career marked with slumps and spikes that burns you out long before you hit your stride, always be working on today’s business, tomorrow’s business, and future business. Take some time every day to sow the seeds of tomorrow’s and your future business, so you will always have plenty of business to harvest. This will take you off the sales roller coaster that destroys both the personal and professional lives of so many salespeople.

By taking this approach, you can flatten out the hills and valleys and establish a steady flow of business and revenue. You can plan your business and scale your workforce more effectively, so you are not in a constant cycle of hiring people and then laying them off. You and your team will be much happier and more productive.

Tip: Remember your ABCs and Ds. A projects are those that need immediate attention and that are very close to generating revenue. B projects are in the works. C projects are in the planning stage. And D projects are those you have just begun considering. Keep clearing those As off your plate, moving Bs to As, Cs to Bs, and Ds to Cs (or delete the Ds that are not worth pursuing or that you know will never move up the ladder). With this system in place, you can always be sure that you are working on today’s business, tomorrow’s business, and future business.

STICK TO IT

Very likely you have heard the expression: It is always darkest before the dawn. Everybody knows that expression, yet it fails to encourage many people to stick with it. Time and time again, I see very skilled professionals give up just before they are about to achieve success. They get discouraged, run out of steam, and collapse right before they cross the finish line.

Remember: If you keep working hard, things will improve.

I coined a word for this: sticktoitism. You’re probably already familiar with the word stick-to-itiveness. That is the official word—the one you will find in most dictionaries. I prefer my version, and I prefer it so much that I am determined it will earn its place in the dictionary some day. In short, sticktoitism is the dogged determination required to get something done in the face of adversity.

You need to make a commitment to yourself, right here and right now to be a successful salesperson. Promise yourself that no obstacle will block you from your goal and that you will continue to pursue your goal regardless of how impossible the odds of success seem to be. If you honor that commitment, I can guarantee that you will achieve whatever level of success you are capable of dreaming for yourself because you will not let up until you have achieved it.

My friend John Vigi became one of the nation’s top stockbrokers, but when he started out, he had no clients and no commissions. John remembers cold-calling as many as 300 people in a row without a single sale. Talk about discouraging! His secret of success, however, is no secret. He had the sticktoitism required to succeed, and succeed he did.

His determination and sticktoitism brought the attention of Merrill Lynch leadership and he was promoted and celebrated by his company many times over. During his time at Merrill Lynch, his portfolio of clients kept him busy enough to be among Merrill Lynch’s top brokers nationwide. For me it’s the same. I don’t have to work nearly as hard at selling as I once did. I’ve established my customer base and hired great assistants. Now I have an ever-growing business along with more time to pursue my professional and personal goals, more time for family and community and myself.

Stick to it, and you will succeed.

Ralph’s Rule: If you are a novice, remember this: Even the most successful producers started out alone and afraid, but you can overcome this with natural curiosity, hard work, and savvy marketing. Ask questions, work hard, and let everyone know who you are, what you do, and what you sell.

WEEK 2

STAY PUT

High turnover among staff can kill any business, from fast food to the biggest corporations. I believe it is especially damaging to sales organizations. Believe me, I tried it both ways—jumping from job to job and staying put—and I know from experience that staying put definitely is better for me, my customers, and my company.

I have observed that most salespeople jump from company to company hoping for a better commission split or a nicer boss or better hours. I did that myself when I was younger. I changed real estate firms seven or eight times, always hoping for a better arrangement, before I finally opened my own company. I realize now how silly I was to think all that moving around would have done me any good.

It is clear to me now that the perfect boss, the perfect company, and the ideal marketplace are nothing more than seductive illusions. You make money by digging deep where you are right now and making it happen here and now. The only thing that switching from firm to firm accomplishes is to waste your time, energy, and resources and significantly damage your bottom line and the bottom line of the company whose products you have been selling.

Just imagine how much burden the departure of a skilled and experienced salesperson can place on a company. New salespeople are not nearly as productive. In addition, the company now needs to invest more resources training someone new, and the new person is much more likely to make costly mistakes. Of course, when you are a disgruntled salesperson, the damage that your departure does to the company is no concern of yours—in fact, their loss can make you feel even better about leaving.

However, when you choose to leave, you experience similar setbacks. You lose some of your business contacts and support from colleagues. You are not nearly as productive learning new products and new systems as you would be selling for a company where you already know the ropes. And in your new position, you are more likely to commit costly mistakes. Bottom line: You will have fewer transactions, and each transaction will take you longer to process, at least until you can get up to speed. One more thing to consider: There is no guarantee that you will be treated any better or have better opportunities at this new company.

In contrast, an experienced staff requires much less supervision. In auto sales, veterans often perform double the number of transactions per month as their novice counterparts, and top producers may do 30 or more transactions a month—a sale a day! Veterans also need only one hour per deal instead of the four hours a transaction typically takes a novice to process. Quite a savings for the dealership, and quite a boost in earnings potential for salespeople who stay put.

Every time I moved to a new company, I had to start over. Every time I switched real estate firms, I had to buy new business cards and let my clients know where they could find me. I had to create new stationery. I had to develop new marketing materials. Each time, I lost a lot of momentum. And, of course, I had to learn a whole new system with each new company.

Was it worth it? No, it wasn’t. In hindsight I think it’s clear that all those moves cost me more money than they made me.

Sometimes you’ll have a serious disagreement with your boss. You may have different goals for yourself than your boss does. If these disagreements are serious enough, then, yes perhaps you ought to make a move. But don’t give in to that temptation to move every time you run into a routine disappointment at the office. Instead, take some of that energy and put it into making things better where you are.

Perhaps you can negotiate a different commission split or get your boss to pay for new marketing material for you. Maybe your company will pay to get you some additional training or to send you to your industry’s annual convention. Any of these steps would make you a more professional salesperson and probably a happier person. ...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• WEEK 1 - START NOW
• WEEK 2 - STAY PUT
• WEEK 3 - CULTIVATE AN ENTREPRENEURIAL MINDSET
• WEEK 4 - PROJECT A POSITIVE ATTITUDE
• WEEK 5 - SET GOALS
• WEEK 6 - DEVISE A PLAN
• WEEK 7 - DEVELOP SYSTEMS AND PROCEDURES
• WEEK 8 - HIRE AN ASSISTANT
• WEEK 9 - PRIORITIZE
• WEEK 10 - KNOW YOUR PRODUCT
• WEEK 11 - KNOW YOUR CLIENTS
• WEEK 12 - RECOGNIZE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CUSTOMERS AND CLIENTS
• WEEK 13 - UNDER-PROMISE, OVER-DELIVER
• WEEK 14 - LEVERAGE THE POWER OF YOUR DISABILITIES
• WEEK 15 - TURN PROBLEMS INTO OPPORTUNITIES
• WEEK 16 - BRAND YOURSELF: YOU, INC.
• WEEK 17 - ENGAGE IN SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION
• WEEK 18 - SEE BUSINESS WHERE IT ISN’T
• WEEK 19 - BRAINSTORM PROBLEM SOLVING WITH YOUR STAFF
• WEEK 20 - FOCUS ON YOUR CLIENTS’ SUCCESS
• WEEK 21 - WRITE NOTES TO YOUR CLIENTS
• WEEK 22 - LAUNCH YOUR WEEKLY HOUR OF POWER—100 CALLS IN 60 MINUTES
• WEEK 23 - MASTER THE 10-10-20 TECHNIQUE
• WEEK 24 - HONE YOUR NETWORKING SKILLS
• WEEK 25 - MARKET YOUR HOME-BASED BUSINESS
• WEEK 26 - MASTER A NEW TECHNOLOGY
• WEEK 27 - EXPLORE MARKETING OPPORTUNITIES ON THE INTERNET
• WEEK 28 - REWARD YOURSELF
• WEEK 29 - FIND A BETTER PLACE TO MEET YOUR CLIENTS
• WEEK 30 - IMPROVE THE WAY YOU ASK AND ANSWER QUESTIONS
• WEEK 31 - PERFECT YOUR TELE-SALES SKILLS
• WEEK 32 - SHADOW A TOP-PRODUCING SALESPERSON
• WEEK 33 - TEAM UP WITH A PERSONAL PARTNER
• WEEK 34 - HOOK UP WITH A MENTOR
• WEEK 35 - JOT DOWN IDEAS FOR NEW OPPORTUNITIES
• WEEK 36 - NURTURE RELATIONSHIPS
• WEEK 37 - LAUNCH YOUR OWN BLOG
• WEEK 38 - TRY AN INTERNET LEAD GENERATION SERVICE
• WEEK 39 - DATE YOUR LEADS . . . OR SOMEONE ELSE WILL
• WEEK 40 - BUILD TRUST IN ONLINE COMMUNITIES
• WEEK 41 - FIRE YOUR WORST CLIENTS
• WEEK 42 - ATTEND A CONVENTION OR SEMINAR
• WEEK 43 - HOST A SEMINAR OR WORKSHOP
• WEEK 44 - MASTER THE PLATINUM RULE
• WEEK 45 - EXPAND INTO MULTICULTURAL MARKETS
• WEEK 46 - AVOID OR RECOVER FROM A SALES SLUMP
• WEEK 47 - BUILD YOUR OWN SALES TEAM
• WEEK 48 - SHARPEN YOUR TEAM MANAGEMENT SKILLS
• WEEK 49 - CLOSE A SALE THE RIGHT WAY: SIX FOLLOW-UP STEPS
• WEEK 50 - BECOME A LIFELONG LEARNER
• WEEK 51 - JUST DO IT!
• WEEK 52 - FINAL THOUGHTS
• About the Authors
• Index