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Sales training: Habits for Success
By Karl Goldfield | January 4, 2008
Before you teach someone the steps involved in a process. Prior to delegating the methods in which to perform a certain task, it is important to work with teams on their habits. Whether you have acquired a team from another, built one from the ground up, or land somewhere in between, training to healthy work habits will enable your team to further garner success.
So what on earth did I just say? In a nutshell, get your reps to:
1. Be open to new challenges
a. One way to do this is a reward system
b. Another and more long lasting way is to pave the way by example
c. Encourage your team to take risks that have big rewards and compliment them for trying not just success
2. Listen
a. To your prospects
b. To your opportunities
c. To your customers
d. To your peers
e. To your bosses
f. To your friends and family
3. REALLY LISTEN! – Do not just sit silently waiting for your turn to think.
a. Take what you have heard and translate it into meaningful data
b. Take notes and repeat what you have heard for recognition
c. Apply what you have heard and transform it into knowledge
d. Plan accordingly
4. Segment activity into clusters
a. There is a reason that Henry Ford became an industrial legend and it was not just because he built cars. It is that he designed a methodology that when utilized makes any repetitive process, AND I MEAN ANY, more efficient. Assembly lines work, whether you are making planes or appointments. If you are making calls, MAKE CALLS! Do not stop to send an e-mail or a fax. Do not walk around to talk to people or find someone in support. If you are going out on appointments, BOOK 6 in a day. Do not drive half way across town to see one client
b. Do your mindless tasks at the end of the day. After a long day of prospecting, objection handling, closing, and delegating, you are mentally spent. This is the time to send faxes, write intro e-mails, send out mailers, and clean up databases. If you segment these activities into clusters, you can do more.
5. Learn from everyone
a. Listen to what is working for your peers.
b. Listen to your bosses
c. Listen to engineering
d. Listen to the smart prospect or customer
e. Study your competitors
f. Learn from your partners
6. Hold yourself accountable
a. Do not blame others
b. Set realistic expectations and execute
c. Ask for help when you need it
This basic recipe of habits will help any professional, but especially that sales representative. Why? It is hard enough to maintain a competitive advantage in the industry and the workplace when everyone in your field is hungry to be #1. If as a sales rep you can maximize your listening skills, time management, knowledge, skill set, and all the while hold yourself up to the highest of manageable expectations, you will be successful. I have yet to meet anyone who is not.
Sales people love to talk about a lucky sale, but if they dive into what made the sale, it is usually a compilation of what is noted above. To me the following quotes sum it up:
I never knew an early-rising, hard-working, prudent man, careful of his earnings, and strictly honest who complained of bad luck. (Henry Ward Beecher)
I’m a great believer in luck and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it. (Thomas Jefferson)
It’s hard to detect good luck - it looks so much like something you’ve earned. (Frank A. Clark)
I’ve found that luck is quite predictable. If you want more luck, take more chances. Be more active. Show up more often. (Brian Tracy)
Luck is a dividend of sweat. The more you sweat, the luckier you get. (Ray A. Kroc)
My quote: “To constantly have good luck you must constantly practice good habits.”
Topics: Sales Training |
January 4th, 2008 at 10:12 pm
One of my favorite quotes is similar:
“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity”
Most people’s will to win is greater than their will to prepare to win. Luck is always around the corner waiting to jump all over us, but we have to do the work to recognize it when it comes along.
Great and inspiration entry, Karl!
===============================
William Mitchell, CPRW
The Resume Clinic
http://www.theresumeclinic.com
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(Don’t forget to leave a comment!)
January 4th, 2008 at 11:23 pm
Another fantastic quote. Preparation is an important tool for success. I do find that in sales, preparation, as we will discuss in the following trainings is not always research. It is more taking the opportunity to learn who you are dealing with and how they do the things that are neccessary for them to achieve their goals. If you prepare for your presentation/value proposition/pitch with education from the prospect, you will find yourself very “lucky” indeed.
Thank you William, and we hope to hear from you again!
January 5th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
Hi Karl,
In response to your request for favorite “prospecting” books, the book that has been more valuable to me than any other is “Customer Centric Sellling.” It meshes marketing and sales. It is a no-pressure approach that requires a lot of thought and preparation, and that enables high-level conversations that are real conversations. I recommend it most highly.
January 6th, 2008 at 10:34 am
Hey Karl,
I find your blog very interesting, I have worked in the Music Industry for 16 years…In my line of work there are traditional methods of productivity in which even the hardest worker with the most dedicated tactics still can’t find a lucky break…Or at least that’s how the story goes.
I personally felt this way during several points of my career, watching the rise and fall of my peers, yet I some how managed to fly under the “radar” and stay in the game.
Wanting to achieve more then just longevity I realized that in an industry of over night successes I have been developing 16 year strategy…Last year I took my own ideas out to play and this year I will create History in the Music Industry!
“Passion and Dedication create opportunity, an opportunity taken can lead you to success, Last week I lost a $20 dollar bill somewhere in my house, the day I find it that will be luck!” lol
Happy New Years Man!
jnichols@wiretappublicity.com
Good Stuff!
January 6th, 2008 at 7:17 pm
Music Man,
As another long time band member and guitar player I was on the other side of the coin. What I can tell you is that I resented when my music career became a tedious chore of tenaciously trying to succeed. Because of this disdain, I did not put as much effort into as I could. Whenever I worked hard, we got gigs, people came, and we had fun/made a little money. If we skipped any part of this, the gig failed or we did not have enough. One particular necessity for a good music group is that people like what they do. Our music was not great, therefore we struggled to carve out a niche.
Persistence can absolutely help a musician looking for a career, it is the “rock star” opportunity that takes luck.
January 16th, 2008 at 8:14 am
As far as segmenting your day: one of my great sales mentors
once taught me to take the excitement of closing a deal and instead of using that energy to tell everyone about it, MAKE MORE CALLS! This tactic works very well as the excitement, courage, and confidence carries through over the phone to the next prospect.
March 30th, 2008 at 11:54 am
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