Professional Selling Skills Training: The Power of Your Network

Long-term success does not come from one-time, single-shot sales. Long-term success in sales comes from what you do day in and day out and is impacted in a huge way by who you associate with. I've recently spent time with several different sales people and I've been amazed at how each of them view success and how they determine their goals. In each case, their frame of reference had a direct correlation on who they network with and the frame of reference the other people had. I hate to say it, but narrow-minded people have narrow-minded goals. Big thinkers have big goals.

I'm fortunate enough to have two kids (or I should say young adults as they are both in college). When they were little kids, we always monitored their friendships. As parents, this is natural because we wanted our kids to not be hanging out with others who were bent on causing trouble. In the same way, adults have to monitor who we allow ourselves to be influenced by. Is their any wonder why successful people associate with successful people?

A challenge I push myself to do is to ensure my network, my friends, and the people I come in contact with are big thinkers with big goals. The last thing I want to do is to be bogged down by people who could negatively impact my goals, the quality of my thinking, and, ultimately, what I accomplish.

A final comment: I was just in a sales office where the entire sales team was having a blow-out month. It seemed as if everything they were touching was turning into a sale. In talking with them, they had a level of energy and drive that permeated every corner of their office and every corner of their brains. Great sales people were hanging out with great sales people.

Contact Mark Hunter, "The Sales Hunter" for your next Conference or Sales Meeting. To see and hear Mark Hunter now, visit www.TheSalesHunter.com.

Professional Selling Skills Training: Don't Leave Your Personality at Home

Selling is, without a doubt, the greatest profession there is. For people who are pumped, engaged, and intelligent, the potential is unlimited. What I find amazing is the number of people in sales who do not have personality, or, if they do, they leave it at home.

Unless you're harboring some strange tendencies or bizarre thinkings, there's no reason to not let your personality come through on the job. Let your personality come out and get to know people! It's amazing how much more business can be had when we allow our personal side to be exposed. However, I do have one word of caution. This is not a license to become egotistical, but to become full of others you come in contact with.

Contact Mark Hunter, The Sales Hunter for your next Conference or Sales Meeting. To see and hear Mark Hunter now visit www.TheSalesHunter.com

Professional Selling Skills Training: Networking with Linkedin

Networking is a fundamental part of building sales. I've been blitzing my networking lately with Linkedin.com and I've been blown away with it. If you're not already part of it, go to www.Linkedin.com and get registered right now! Although some may say that it isn't worth their time, I'm here to refute that statement. If you're willing to use Linkedin as a tool to help locate people who have fallen off of your radar screen, then this is the tool for you. This is exactly what Linkedin is best at: helping you connect with people you've lost touch with. The power comes from hooking back up with people from your past and using them to help introduce you to new contacts. For me, with just a few hours of work, I've developed several new strong business leads and a large number of leads with long-term potential.
By the way, be sure to reach out to me on Linkedin and together we'll both expand our networks!


Contact Mark Hunter, The Sales Hunter for your next Conference or Sales Meeting. To see and hear Mark Hunter now visit www.TheSalesHunter.com

Sales Training Tip #195: A Great USP

Before your next sales call, consider the following three points that make a great Unique Selling Proposition (USP):

1. Does it matter to the customer?
2. Is it different from the competition?
3. Is it explicitly defined with a sense of urgency and need?

Sales Training Tip #194: Avoid the Light

When making a sales call, avoid sitting with your back to a window. The bright, outdoor light can often make it hard for the customer / prospect to focus on you.

Contact Mark Hunter, The Sales Hunter, for your next Conference or Sales Meeting. To see and hear Mark Hunter now visit www.TheSalesHunter.com

Sales Tip: Phone Sales Tips

This past week, I was working with a salesperson who was trying to break into a major account without much luck. All he had was a single phone number of the "point" person for his company. After trying to reach the person on numerous occasions, he shared with me his frustration. My solution? Instead of calling the same number, try changing the last digit by one, either higher or lower. Doing so would give him a pretty good shot at reaching the person who might be in the office next door or an administrative assistant. In either case, it would increase his chance of getting to talk to someone and could help him determine if the person he had been trying to call was in fact the correct person. Although this is a simple selling skills technique, it's very effective when used properly.

Sales Training Tip #192: PMOC

Do you know your customer's PMOC - Preferred Method of Communication? Every client and prospect has one. By using their PMOC (email, voice, voice- mail, telephone, in-person, etc.), you will undoubtedly become more valuable to them.

Professional Selling Skills Training: Sales Office Politics

Selling Tips and Sales Advice Reader Feedback:

Readers of Selling Tips From The Sales Hunter are always sending in questions about sales. I'm not able to reprint most of the questions. However, here is one that I'm sure is of interest to a number of readers:

"I am a top-performing sales person who recently changed companies and in the new organization, I'm having to deal with a lot of office politics arising from lower-level sales people shooting arrows at me. How should I respond?"

Answer:
(Before you read the ideas below, never forget your skill set that got you to where you are or allow yourself to do anything to diminish your selling skills as a way of trying to get other sales people to like you.)

1. First, don't expect to be able to quickly change people's attitudes. Rather, your best approach is to befriend one of the sales people and, as your relationship with them grows, they will convey to others the fact that you're a great person and a team player.

2. Spend as much time as possible away from the office. It's hard for people to shoot arrows at somebody if they don't see them. Don't take this to an extreme and never show up, but pace yourself to be in the office less time than the others.

3. Food / drink: It's amazing how a little food or drink can change another person's opinion. Bring in some doughnuts on occasion or have some candy at your desk. It will often soften things up.

4. Offer to be a sales coach to the newest person in the office. But when you do this, don't allow your ego to get in the way. Rather, convey your skills with an incredible sense of humility. A key thing to keep in mind when coaching somebody is if you have to tell somebody how good you are, you're really not very good. People should know your skills simply through the results you obtain. (Donald Trump never has to tell anyone how rich he is...his problem is he has an ego.)

5. In sales meetings, avoid dominating any discussions. Take a more quiet approach and when asked your opinion, answer humbly by stating something like, "Well, an idea that may work might be something like....."

6. Become a cheerleader to the office. Anytime somebody else in the office does something, be sure to compliment them and ask them how they did it. If they're looking at you as a super sales person and you take the time to ask them how they did something, it will elevate their thinking about themselves. (The key is to bring the others up to you, rather than you dropping down to them.)