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What's the one thing I can start doing TODAY to improve my sales performance?
Best Answer
- Recommended by:
- Kevin Gaither,
- Kim Kempke
Ask before telling and learn before selling.
- Recommended by:
- John Bozarjian
Lack of Commitment To Yourself Leads To Procrastination! Right On Anthony!
The points you mentioned all have a recurring theme (or nightmare!), "...They Know They Need..." As you point out the WHY is the key...
I have found the WHY can be several reasons:
Lack of Faith In Their Ability Produces Fear of The Unknown
A Lack of Knowledge - how many sales people are hired because they have great discipline, strong business sense, an understanding of running a business (having a plan)...or are they hired because they can pick up a phone and dial a #! (Which leads to another subject - EVALUATING SKILLS - HIRING THE RIGHT TALENT)
Disengaged Salesperson
Poor Leadership - Have they been taught the need to do the points provided above? Has a leader taking the time to help them develop a plan? Reinforced a daily discipline? Followed up on the daily accomplishments? Held them accountable? I do believe that for many salespeople (especially those who are hired with no experience), they don't know the WHY, because no one every told them the importance of the points you posted... They are hired for the wrong reasons, or poor leadership has failed to demonstrate the NEED to: Prepare, Plan, Commit, Execute, etc
These are just a few reasons....
Funny, as you point out...you know what you need to do to be successful, yet, you don't take the necessary steps to do it...
Thanks For The Wake Up Call...
SPGonz
- Recommended by:
- Chris Snell
It seems simple, but make the extra effort to stay late and make a few extra sales calls after 5:30pm. I work closely with a business development rep that stayed late last week even though she was above her numbers and could have easily gone home. She made a few extra dials and instantly uncovered a great qualified lead with a C level contact. This is a simple, quick way to improve your sales performance today!
The single most important thing you can do today, and everyday, is improve your attitude. When I began my sales career, attitude was all I had; optimism, enthusiasm, determination, persistence, humility and more.
Great sales process and product expertise cannot overcome a bad attitude.
Record your calls and set up 30 minutes each day to review your call recordings. A call recorder can cost as little as $75 from Amazon. If NFL teams place a high value on reviewing game film each and every day, YOU can review your own game film and improve on each and every call.
INVEST time each day or each week to review, analyze and improve your sales process. That extra email template you create, that new resource that you add to your pdf information library or that tweak in your sales process will return itself to you in improved productivity every week thereafter.
Kevin Gaither made a GREAT suggestion to audio record your phone sales calls. Even better than that is to video record your phone sales calls. Then replay first with your eyes closed to hear what your client heard, and then, with your eyes opened to check your posture, smile and body language.
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Related Activity
The one thing you can do today to improve your sales performance is to honestly answer the question "what haven't I been doing that, if done, would produce better sales results and why haven't I been doing it?"
There aren't many salespeople who aren't painfully aware of what they need to do improve their sales performance.
They know with a absolute certainty that they need to prospect more. They know they need to make cold calls to open the opportunities that would improve their results. Yet the prospecting isn't done and the calls are not made.
They know that need to improve their sales call planning. They know that their preparation will help them create more value for their prospect and lead to future calls. Yet they are unprepared.
They know they need to write and develop better questions for their discovery sales calls. Instead, they wing it and hope they can achieve the outcome they need.
They know they need to ask their prospects for commitments that will advance their opportunities, but they leave their sales call without any commitment that moves their deal forward.
They know they need to read and study to improve their business acumen. The books are never read, and the knowledge that would help the salesperson help their clients sits trapped between the covers.
It's the second part of my question that has to be answered in order to improve your sales results: "Why haven't you been doing it?" When you face the "why" you can start to honestly address what you need to do to improve; you can begin to work on it.