The Sales Experiment

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February 19, 2015 by Brett Leave a Comment

Sales Requires Boldness

While sales doesn’t require that we be obnoxious, sales does require boldness.

We must gain commitments regularly.  We have to stand firm in our convictions about our product or service and not always compromise on price because we get caught up in the emotions of the buying process.

We have to be confident that selling is, in and of itself, a service. We are helping people find solutions to problems they have, even problems they might not realize they have.

Here are a few ways that we can increase our winsome boldness:

  1. Continual improvement: We must grow as salespersons and experts in our product. The more we know and understand, the more we realize we have something of value people need to know about.
  2. Understanding our customers: In order to be bolder, we must learn about our clients. Niche out and go deep into understanding the needs of your clients and their day-to-day problems. If we can contextualize our offerings into our clients goals, then we can be more confident.
  3. Practice gaining commitments: Gaining understanding at the end of each interaction as to next steps is imperative. Guiding our clients along a sales process until they either realize they don’t need what we offer or can make a confident decision to purchase is a huge help. Learning how to help them clarify their next decision is huge. Learning to ask for those next decisions will grow our boldness.

Salespeople get a bad rap for being too pushy and smarmy and sleazy. My experience is that many salespeople have gone the other direction. They’re too scared to ask for the next ‘yes’ or ‘no’.  They’re too worried to put clients on the spot.

While we don’t need to pressure, we do need to make decisions clear for our clients. Offering prospects clear choices requires boldness.  They want clarity. We need to confidently give them that clarity.

 

Filed Under: Mindset Experiments, Sales Experiments Tagged With: clarity, gaining commitments, mindset, sales experiments

January 22, 2015 by Brett 2 Comments

What Are You All About?

I just edited the About page on this website.

As I tweaked the page (something I should probably do every week), I thought about what potential clients understand about me when I go visit them.

  • What do they think I’m all about?
  • Am I about using them to support my family?
  • Am I about helping them build their business or protect their nonprofit?
  • Am I desperate to make a sale out of fear?
  • Am I about creating value?
  • Do I need their business or do I understand the world’s a pretty huge place and there’s plenty of business to go around?
  • Do I know my product and what change I can bring about in my client’s world?
  • Why am I selling them what I’m selling?

What is the one goal that you have with each client?

Where is your heart in the situation? What do you hope to accomplish?

One thing I’m sure of: If I’m not clear on what I’m about, then their assumptions are going to be correct regardless of what those assumptions are.

[Tweet “If you don’t determine your purpose, your clients will make their own assumptions”]

While the application of your products and services might be different for various clients, you still can develop one clear idea that defines what you are all about as a consultative, value-providing, salesperson.

Get clear on what you’re about and why you do what you do. Eventually, your clients will become clear on it to.

 

Filed Under: Mindset Experiments, Sales Experiments Tagged With: about, mindset, perspective, sales

January 20, 2015 by Brett Leave a Comment

Why Gratitude is Important in Sales

Gratitude Gives Us an Abundance Mindset

When we are full of gratitude, we are full in general and we believe the world is full.

When we are not thankful and do not see the good gifts around us, we are fearful that what we do have will be taken from us and there are precious few morsels to go around. We’re like rats waiting outside the restaurant back door in hopes for a busted black garbage bag.

But practicing gratitude opens our eyes to possibilities, regardless of the area in life.

[Tweet “Practicing gratitude opens our eyes to possibilities”]

For sales professionals, this is especially true as prospects can smell desperation a mile away. If we are, in the words of Bill Caskey from the Advanced Selling Podcast, “detached from the outcome”, then we have a more open-handed approach to any of our sales relationships.

It is my humble but accurate opinion (apologies to Ben Settle for using his phrase, but when you power listen to a podcast, terminology finds its ways into ones psyche) that learning to walk in gratitude has a direct correlation to being detached from outcomes.

If there are any attachments to outcomes, it’s less about needing the sale from a fearful, panicky mindset and more about feeling strongly about the change you can bring about in your potential client’s organization.

In other words, you might want the sale, but you want it out of a desire to create value more than a desire to grab value from the prospect.

So… Gratitude

  • What are you thankful for?
  • What individuals make your life sweeter?
  • What hobbies do you live for?
  • How about your spiritual life? Are you thankful for any life change you’ve experienced?
  • Are you thankful for where you live, who you live with, or your friends?

Consider reviewing James Altucher’s mental discipline of coming up with 10 ideas a day, but do it for the next 10 days, listing out 10 things you’re grateful for each day. Don’t repeat. That would give you 100 things you’re thankful for.

Here’s a short list from my world…

  • My wife
  • My kids
  • The Bible
  • My job
  • Long time friends from college and graduate school
  • My failures
  • My faith
  • Writing
  • My parents
  • The opportunity to work with nonprofits in my sales position

Now you… What are you grateful for?

This post is part of the free 10 Days to a Better Blog online workshop. You can click here to read more about it.

Filed Under: Mindset Experiments, Sales Experiments Tagged With: abundance, attitude, ben settle, bill caskey, gratitude, james altucher, john saddington, mindset, sales experiment, sales mindset

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Hello!

Brett the sales experimenter and the challenge accepter Brett - Sales and Marketing Experimenter. I'm a reluctant sales professional. I didn't start out my career in sales and marketing, but I've grown to enjoy it. Here I discuss marketing, sales, productivity, and mindset experiments that will hopefully yield greater results and a more deeply satisfying sales career.

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