The Most Important Skill Needed to Advance and Conquer

ovens, and warmers.

When things are tough, you and your company need? more than anything else?organizational, management, and planning skills and the ability to sell your products and services. You could fail as a manager, but if you were able to sell enough of your products and smartly control your money, you could still be successful. You can plan and orga- nize until you?re blue in the face, but if you can?t sell your products, what does it matter how organized you are?

Most of us don?t have a line of people waiting for our products; we actually have to generate interest, sell our product, and close the deal. The lifeblood of every company is revenue, and revenue is generated by sales. Therefore, every organization?s most necessary assets?that

alone can determine its success (or lack thereof )?are the sales skills of its employees.

Developing sales skills involves communication, moti- vation, belief in your product, a great attitude, presentation skills, the ability to negotiate and close the deal, follow-up, and the creation of new and qualified opportunities. Sell- ing is to an organization what food, water, and oxygen are to the body. Businesspeople sometimes exhibit a disdain at the notion of being labeled a salesperson, but this is a criti- cal error. This disdain is a result of never taking the time to learn the mechanics and true art of selling. Many people were able to avoid selling due to demand for their product or because of a period of time of careless spending and free credit. But there comes a time in every person?s career where you will either learn the skill of selling or give up any hope of ever being first. Even those who consider themselves to be professional salespeople usually only learn a few basics about their craft and never perfect all the tools available to them. I am not talking about selling as an activity here, but the ultimate way to dominate and ensure yourself the top seat in the marketplace.

Most salespeople typically learn a few fundamental skills in the first 90 days or so?and then spend the rest of their careers operating under this initial, foundational knowledge. If a boxer took that approach, he would never make it to a paid fight, regardless of his natural abilities. Despite the myth, no one is ?born a salesman.? I am an expert in sales, but trust me I was not born a salesperson. I was born a baby like everyone else and have the photos

to prove it. No one I have ever met has been instilled with closing skills?these are developed. While some people have a natural ability to build a rapport that lends itself to the profession of selling, they won?t become masters at the art of bringing in revenue unless they develop a full set of skills. A lot of salespeople become good enough to call them- selves professionals but avoid spending the time to become experts?and that is a big mistake. Even professionals can spend a career destroying opportunities and then go home and complain about how tough selling is. And that is during good times! When the economy gets tough, the complain- ing gets louder, the pain becomes intensified, and many salespeople become statistics?and only after it is too late, they wish they would have prepared more.

A daunting economic situation usually means too much time and not enough sales. Those who really understand selling as a science and a technology?and who spend time to develop and perfect their entire set of sales skills?are the people who will realize success. Salespeople of this cal- iber stand to benefit from contracting markets; there will be more business for them as their competition falls by the wayside. Consistent sales results will not go to the medio- cre, the average, the weak, or the order takers. Business ends up in the hands of the professional or those willing to give their products and services away, and the latter clearly won?t be around for long. Mediocre salespeople always face chal- lenges during periods of contraction.

So wake up and realize that you cannot survive and pros- per if you don?t learn to sell yourself, your products, services,

ideas, and dreams. This holds true for everyone, regardless of his or her position. Selling is not a job; it?s something you do in order to make things happen for yourself.

Now is the time to hammer down and work daily on training, education, and improving your sales skills. I suggest that you do this no matter what position you have in your organization. People who can generate or assist in the gener- ation of sales and revenue will never be without work, money, or opportunity. You must commit to understanding selling as a technology, a system, and an art and commit to becoming an expert as a way to the top not approach it merely as a job. Take every opportunity and free moment you have to learn the art of selling. Use the time you spend commuting to and from work each day to listen to material on generat- ing revenue for yourself and your company. Call my office and let us show you how to turn your car or computer into a schoolhouse on learning to close deals. We can hook into your computer and stream virtual sales motivation, solu- tions, coaching, and training to you 24/7. Call my office for a free demonstration of our virtual sales training. I assure you it will blow your mind. Start focusing your attention on growing your business, using objections as a way to close more deals, negotiating strategies that will double your gross selling volumes, and how to leave your competitors in the dust. Every action that precedes this chapter is depen- dent upon your understanding and confidence in your ability to sell. There is no skill set more vital to ensuring

that you advance and conquer.

Visit www.virtualsalestraining.com to find out more.

Remember that after long periods of prosperity, busi- nesses get used to taking orders and tend to forget about selling. Any weaknesses in this most necessary skill?and even the company?s sales processes?are easy to over- look during periods of economic expansion. Some level of success is always achieved due to the ease with which people spend and invest. During periods of contraction, however, every shortcoming is magnified and results in lost opportunities and vital revenue. Starting in the mid- 1980s, companies, entire industries, and sales ventures began to depend on mass marketing in order to drive traf- fic and produce sales. But extensive advertising budgets aren?t cost effective during contractions, so it?s back to a period of a smaller number of opportunities. And you had better make the most of each one because you need the revenue. This is when it?s absolutely critical to learn (maybe relearn) everything there is to know about creat- ing selling opportunities, determining your prospects? motives, getting agreement, presenting, negotiating, and closing. Periods of slowdown are the time to train, not the time to complain.

For 25 years, I have made myself a student of sell- ing. I?ve tried to learn everything I can about selling as a technology and an art, not just a position. Because of that commitment, I ended up with a career instead of a job?and there is a great deal of difference between the two. Through my personal research, I have determined that there has been very little written on selling over the past 50 years that is different or unique. I therefore came

up with Information-Assisted SellingTM. There are new advances in sales today that I have validated in the market- place and proved to be more effective than many of yester- day?s worn-out strategies. These improvements have been used to revolutionize entire industries, revitalize thousands of businesses, and energize hundreds of thousands of indi- viduals. There is not an industry on this planet that does not change in some way or another, and those that don?t change simply cease to exist. I broke the selling code in the twenty-first century by creating new ways to handle people in order to get your products sold?no matter what is going on with the economy. These breakthroughs have not just augmented sales results; they?ve increased cus- tomer satisfaction, shortened sales cycles, and improved employee retention. I have been personally contacted by thousands of people who once thought that after spending a career in selling, going to seminars, and reading books, they knew it all?but have been blown away by these new developments. My books, audio and video programs, sales training virtual technology, online programs, schools, and seminars will make you a master at the art of selling? despite the economy, competition, or what personality type you have.

Vincent Van Gogh?one of the greatest artists who ever lived?sold only a single painting of the hundreds he painted during his lifetime. This was an individual who produced some of the greatest art in the last 2,000 years, but because of his inability or unwillingness to sell, his brilliance didn?t generate any revenue until long after his

death. This goes to show you that no matter how excep- tional your product, you won?t benefit financially if you can?t sell it.

Because of the increased competition that has accom- panied the Information Age, the twenty-first-century buyer is much more knowledgeable, educated, selective, and cer- tainly resistant to old-school approaches. Combine all of that with a contracting economy and lowest-price competi- tors who are ?selling scared,? and your job of advancing your products and ideas in the marketplace becomes even more challenging.

As I mentioned previously, I began my first sales job in 1983 during a period of massive economic contraction. I was working in a highly competitive industry selling prod- ucts that were not, for the most part, ?must-have? items. Most of the individuals and companies either couldn?t afford my product or had reasons to delay purchasing it. But because I trained daily?even fanatically?to improve my skills, I would sometimes outsell the entire sales staff. In just one year, I had actually reached the top 1 percent in the entire industry in which I worked. Why? Not because I was a born salesperson but because I prepared daily on how to make the most of every opportunity in which I was engaged. Sales training, or what we like to call sales effectiveness, does not cost money; it connects you with the money you need during tough times in order to advance and conquer. You cannot afford to miss opportunities now; you have to be in perfect shape to take advantage of every day and every opportunity and be able to close every sale.

A lot of people worry about how to spend their money. However, they would be better served if they focused on improving their skills in order to earn more money and take advantage of every opportunity. The most successful people I?ve encountered concentrate on making the most of every opportunity they have to produce money. Advance and conquer; don?t retreat and save. You will waste more money in your lifetime on missed opportunities than you will ever spend. Investing in your education, learning how to com- municate, and negotiating and closing transactions are the only ways to move forward.

Remember the rule of no. Whenever you say no to something in life, there is usually a lack of know. If you have no money, there is something you don?t know about money. If you have no prospects, there is something you don?t know about prospecting. If you find yourself with no closes, there is something you don?t know about closing.

The degree to which you know how to sell encompasses your ability to effectively communicate, attain an agree- ment, handle objections, be likeable, generate opportuni- ties, give great product demonstrations, negotiate, and know how to close. It is naïve to think that you can train someone who doesn?t know how to sell, communicate, negotiate, and close deals. Why would a person pursue prospects when he or she doesn?t know what to do with them?

If you have not read my book Sell to Survive (www

.selltosurvive.com), get it immediately. It will rehabilitate your skills as a salesperson and emphasizes the importance of selling to your future and your survival regardless of

the economy or your title. No dream, idea, product, or service?no matter how good it is?will make it to the marketplace without someone to sell it. Your future, finan- cial well-being and even job security are determined by your ability to create opportunities for your company and drive revenue through selling. Anyone who cannot gener- ate opportunities or directly bring revenue to the company during periods of downturn will be the first to lose his or her job. The most needed and protected people in the workforce are those who can sell and bring in the money.

Despite what you may have been told, everyone sells at one time or another. Even A-list movie stars who are at the very top of their careers have to assist in selling their movies; if no one buys tickets, the studios will quit making movies with them. The president of the United States sells his or her way to the White House and, once there, must continue to sell in order to get his programs in place and get reelected.

Business schools state that the number one reason why companies and individuals fail is because they are undercapi- talized; in other words, they don?t have cash. I don?t believe this to be true. People and organizations fail because they aren?t able to effectively sell their products and services in quantities great enough?and at prices high enough?to remain viable.

So whatever your job title or position may be, I plead with you to learn everything you can about this great lost art. It is the only way you?ll advance and conquer and never be stopped by something as trivial as the condition of the economy.

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Date: 2016-06-12; view: 109