Have you already committed
to yourself that this year is going to be your
strongest year of sales ever? It's a pretty common goal for most of us. Most sales people want to get
better each and every year. But what's crazy is that
the data actually suggests that sales people are heading in two very distinct directions. The top reps are dramatically
increasing their sales while the vast majority of
sales people are stagnant or actually in decline. And as the world of selling
just changes all around us, there are two approaches to adapting. First, is we can make the
necessary changes to thrive, or secondly, we can do
nothing and just fail. Those are really our only two choices. And what's incredible is that
even just some minor tweaks to what your doing on a daily basis can have a huge impact on your sales. This really can be your best year ever. But for many, it may
actually be the worst, and it's your choice. In this video, I'm going
to show you 13 sales tips to make this your best year ever. Check it out. Number one, commit to learning
one new sales idea each week. Now I have interviewed some of the best sales people in the world. I've worked very closely
with many of these people, and one common trait to almost
all of them is that they are committed to always
be on the cutting edge of what's working in sales. By you personally committing to learn just one new sales idea each week. Well when you think about
how many weeks are in a year, that's 52 new ideas over
the course of a year. The traditional idea of sales training, or the traditional idea
of self help is to learn lots of information in
a short period of time. But actually what I find is
that most successful people just find a simple and easy
pace that they can stick to. And by just committing to learning one new sales idea each week,
very easy to do of course, you're going to find that
over the course of the year you have amassed a huge
wealth of information. And by just going to one idea, it's really easy to implement that idea rather trying to learn 50 ideas over the course of the next week, just one idea each week is
going to have a huge impact over the next year for you. Number two, stop worrying about the no's. Now the word no, I find is
the word that most salespeople will do anything in their
power to avoid at all costs. And it's so painful to get that no. It sucks, we hate hearing it. But the reality is that no is actually not a bad outcome to a sale. What we really want to avoid is that; hey Mark, that sounds
great but I really need to think this over. Or; I'm just not sure
if we could move forward at the moment but maybe down the road. It's those wishy washy answers
that we really want to avoid. If you're hearing no's, that means that you're also going
to be hearing yes's. But if you're hearing a lot
of; hey, let me think about it, it probably means that you're
applying too much pressure. And so when we stop
worrying about the no's, what actually happens is that
it lifts this burden off of us and suddenly we don't care as much about the specific outcome
of any specific sale. And when that happens,
prospects suddenly feel a lot more comfortable
around us, and ultimately, tell us yes far more. So stop worrying about those no's. Just focus on going through
the right sales process and you'll be in good shape. Number three, take more
risks with prospects. It's amazing because if you
think of sales in general, sales people are probably
far more risk seeking overall than the rest of the population. Yet still, I work with thousands
of sales people ever year and I find that they're
pretty risk adverse. They're pretty uncomfortable with taking risks with prospects. It's like we're walking on eggshells when we're around the prospect. But the most successful
sales people are willing to take risks when they're with prospects. Wen a prospect seems unengaged,
most sales people are just gonna plow through and ignore
that piece of information. But really good sales
people are gonna be willing to take a risk and say; you know what George, I get
the sense maybe this doesn't seem like a great fit, if
that's what's happening here. By doing that, you're
going to actually encourage the prospect by being
willing to take that risk. You're going to encourage
the prospect to say; oh no, no, no, this makes a lot of sense. Sorry, I was just distracted by something. Right, you're gonna
get them back on track. Be willing to take risks with prospects, whether it means being
on the phone, presenting, face to face, whatever
it is, take those risks and it really pays off in a big way. Number four, be your prospects peer. I can't tell you the number of
times that I hear salespeople talking to prospects like
the prospect is some God. I was recently talking to
a salesperson the other day and they were calling
on the CEO of a company and they're saying; oh this person, mister so and so, is so busy because he's a CEO
and he's a pretty amazing guy. I can already tell you
that that salesperson is not going to close that sale with that particular prospect. Because the salesperson put
the prospect up on a pedestal. And being up on a pedestal means that that sale aint gonna happen. Be your prospects peer. Look them in the eye
like you're one to one. I don't care if you're the
lowest level salesperson in your organization and
you're talking to the CEO of a fortune 500 company. Talk to them like a peer. You don't have to use casual language. You're not gonna say guy and
chief, and hey bro, of course. But you want to talk to
them like they're just a normal human being
who puts their pants on one leg at a time. When you act like you
are your prospects peer, what happens is immediately
you're showing your prospect respectfully, but nonetheless
you're showing your prospect that you're not intimidated. Because when people feel like
you're intimidated by them, they're immediately gonna
be a little turned off. Be your prospects peer. Number five, sell higher up the ladder. This builds off of the last
idea that we just talked about, but really goes more deeply
and specifically to this idea that most salespeople are very comfortable around low level prospects. Their comfortable around
prospects with a title of buyer, or operations manager. But once they start to get into upper VP, or even that C suite, suddenly
salespeople tend to clam up. They get uncomfortable, and
they don't really want to call on people that high up. And so we all build these excuses like; oh, it doesn't make sense to call on the chief operations
officer in this organization. They're too high up. I'm better off selling down low. But that simply is not true. And the data does not suggest that. I hear people sometimes say; oh, the data suggest now that
we should be calling lower in the organization. That's not true. It's simply not true. What the data shows over
and over, and over again is that we want to be calling
on the true decision maker. And chances are the true decision maker is going to be higher up. Does that mean that they're
going to sometimes collaborate with people who are lower
in the organization? Absolutely, but starting
with the true decision maker is going to allow you to
make sure that you get the decision maker on board. And then once the
decision maker's on board, it's a lot easier to get buy in from all other levels of the organization. Sell higher up the ladder, and
you're gonna close more sales because it takes just as much time to sell to that chief operations officer as it does to sell to
that operations manager. And by focusing higher up, you're gonna close a lot more sales and they're going to be bigger solutions. Number six, get face to face
with clients more often. Now, people probably say all the time; oh getting face to
face, that's old school. That simply, it just doesn't make sense. It's not worth the time anymore. When I hear that, I want to
squeeze people by the neck. Because getting face to
face with your client is going to be money in your wallet. The more you are face to
face with your clients, the more money you're going to make. The more you're getting face to face with those high end prospects, the more money you're gonna make as well. By building relationships,
and relationships are never going to get better than
when you're face to face, by building those relationships
you are going to ultimately close far more sales. You're going to sell much more deeply because you're going to
become that trusted advisor. If you're only ever that
person who's calling by phone, they can't build that relationship. There's not going to be that customer or that client loyalty. Get face to face with clients more often. Number seven, ask for one
introduction each week. Now this is actually a
paired down challenge of what I call my introduction challenge. And so first, let me explain
what an introduction is. Introduction is simply, you
may use the term referral but I hate the word referrals specifically because it's very vague. I use the word introduction
because we want person A, lets say it's your client,
introducing you to person B, who is their friend or
someone that they know. We want them to actually
make the introduction. So the introduction
challenge has always been for salespeople to ask for
one introduction each day. Now that's an aggressive challenge. Even though it only
takes 15 minutes a day, I find that most salespeople
really struggle with that particular challenge. But asking for one introduction
each week is unquestionably, undeniably easy to do. Right, it's 15 in your week to ask for just one introduction. But even so, if all you do is
ask for just one introduction each week, that's still 50
introduction asks every year. 50 per year, think about that. If you're asking for 50
introductions every year, assuming you're selling high ticket items, man I can't tell you how much business is going to come from that. If you're selling smaller
items, or smaller services then you should be asking for
introductions all day long. But if you're in the
space where you're selling big solutions, one introduction each week is gonna have a massive
impact on this year. Number eight, understand
your client's business goals. Now of course this is a B to B example, but even if you're in the
business to consumer side, if you're selling to consumers. Let's say you're selling
renovation services to home owners, the same idea still holds. What we want to do is understand our clients big picture goals. Business to business example first. Lets say you sell consulting
services to you clients, and it's a very particular
consulting service. Lets say it's operational
consulting services. If we don't understand our
clients big picture goals, the big business goals, what they're really looking
to accomplish this year, and by that I mean what kind of revenues, what kind of profitability, what are some of their
big KPIs, key indicators, if we don't understand
that then when we're having conversations about the operations, we're going to be very much in the weeds. We wanna understand our clients
big picture business goals. Now when we're talking
about in the consumer space, we're not necessarily gonna
be talking about those key performance indicators. But what we do wanna understand, lets say you're selling
renovation services to homeowners. And by understanding what
their picture goal is with their house, how are they
planning to use the house, are they going to sell
it in a couple of years, or are they planning to
have this to be a house that they want to have
their kids grow up in. Understanding those big picture goals is going to help you be
so much more informed on what your clients are
really looking to accomplish. And where you fit into that. So by understanding, regardless
of whether we're selling in the consumer space
or the business space, the big picture goals, we are
going to suddenly be able to seem so much more relevant,
and thus providing much more value. And knowing the value that
we're providing to ultimately accomplishing those big picture goals. So understand your clients business goals. Number nine, know the upside. I cannot empathize enough
how important understanding the upside to solving
your clients challenges is to making big sales. And to closing a lot of them. Every client that you have, or every prospect that you
talk to has challenges. And so we all talk about, we've talked a lot about
this idea of understanding your clients challenges,
understanding their goals. But so often the conversation stops there. But when we know the upside
of actually accomplishing those goals, or we know
the upside of actually solving those challenges,
now we're actually putting a dollar figure on what the value that you provide actually is. So let me give you an example. If I'm selling to you and
I determine that your sales challenges are this and that,
and you tell me that you're not closing as many sales. And I say; George, if you were
able to solve the challenges that you just mentioned, what would it mean in additional revenue? And you say to me; oh man, it
would be millions of dollars in additional revenue. And I say; oh okay, I appreciate that. And so millions of dollars, what would that mean in
profitability or in commissions. And you say; It could
mean at least $100,000 in profitability or commission. Now I know that the actual
value of solving your challenges is lets say $100,000 in
profitability or commission, whatever it is. Number doesn't matter. And so now if I come in with
a solution that's lets say $10,000, you're thinking to yourself; wow, it's a ten to one ratio. It's so valuable. Understanding the upside of
what your prospect challenges are is going to be a difference between making lots of little sales
that just little singles verses just absolute grand slam home runs. Know your prospects upside. Number 10, dig into their
decision making process. This cannot be empathized enough. Understanding your prospects
decision making process is one of the easiest ways
to make sure that a sale doesn't fall off track. In fact, buyers often lament
in a lot of studies that salespeople didn't fully
understand or respect their decision making
process, and as a result that sale fell apart. So when we truly understand our buyers decision making process, we're
making sure that the sale stays on track. And so decision making
process isn't just about who's making the decision,
although that's important, but it's also abut things
like what does that process actually look like? Who do they have to talk to
and when do those conversations have to be had? What does that look like? Understanding the whole
process is going to give you so much valuable insight. Don't be afraid to ask those questions. Prospects want to share that information because it's actually helping
them in a lot of cases by also helping you. Dig into their decision making process. Number 11, make this the year of clear and scheduled next steps. There are very few things
that are going to have a more dramatic and immediate
impact on your sales while also being something
that takes almost no time. It's so simple to change,
to make sure that you have clear and scheduled
next steps all the time. I am meticulous, I am fastidious
about making sure that every conversation that
I have with a prospect always ends in a very clear
and scheduled next step. In fact my clients, I do
it with my clients as well. I always make sure that
anytime we're on the phone, that we're always scheduling a next call. Even if it's months out. I make sure that I'm
on the phone with them to schedule that next step and we're putting it in the calendar, and so a calendar invite
literally goes out. Same goes for prospects. When you are on the phone with a prospect, and we're talking about
making that next step, make sure that it's scheduled where a calendar invite actually goes out. The most recent data
shows that top performers are consistently scheduling next steps, whereas average and bottom performers are much more loose with those next steps. Make sure that this is the year of clear and scheduled next steps. Number 12, get feedback loops. Now if you followed me for long enough, you know what I mean by feedback loops. But if anyone who doesn't, that's fine. Feedback loop is simply a small
question to engage prospects or clients into a conversation. And what I find is that they're totally
irresistible to respond to. For example, if I say something like; what I find is that a program like this can really help your salespeople
completely differentiate themselves from the competition. Does that make sense? And what they're inclined
to do is to nod their head and say; yeah, that does make sense. And so little questions
like; does that make sense, or does that work for
you, or is that cool, or whatever it is, if you
ask it in an intentional way after you've made a statement
or you've share a benefit, or you've shared some kind of
an idea, what you're doing is your forcing the to engage with
that idea in a visceral way. Whether they respond verbally
or they just nod their head, what you're going to do is you're gonna be constantly engaging them. And if you're doing this,
lets say during the course of a presentation, I would
do it let's say 50 times during the course of the presentation. That means that I've basically
made 50 little baby closes throughout the presentation. And assuming that they've responded affirmatively throughout,
you're going to at the end, you're going to have completely
engaged them throughout that entire presentation. Use those feedback loops throughout your entire presentation. But more importantly, even
when you're just talking to people get their buy in by asking those little questions throughout any type of a conversation, and
you're gonna suck them in. Number 13, commit to
taking constant action. I think I'd be remiss if I didn't mention and idea like this. Which is that I've just shared
with you 12 great ideas. And the key to having a successful year, or having a successful sales career, having successful anything, is about taking constant action. There are people that I find follow me, respond to my blog
post, post in my forums, but what they miss is
just really taking action. They love the ideas,
but they don't actually do anything with it. And what the winners do, is that they're getting ideas and then they're taking
action as a result. Make this year about the year of committing to consistent action. What are you going to be doing that's going to be
different from last year? Now what are just the ideas
that you're going to be consuming and taking in, but
what are you actually going to do different as a result of these ideas? Make this year different by taking action. Albert Einstein once famously said; nothing happens until something moves. It's so true, right? Nothing happens until something moves. So what are you going to do
that's going to be different? So even just thinking about this video, what are three of the ideas
that you can commit to right now to implement as result of
what we've talked about? What are you going to implement, and what are you going to do, and how's that going to
have a positive effect on your selling? Commit to taking constant action. So there are the 13 sales
tips to make this year your best year ever. I wanna hear from you which of these ideas did you find most useful? Be sure to share below
in the comments section to get involved in the conversation. And if you enjoyed this
video, then I have an awesome free ebook on 25 tips to
crush your sales goals. Just click right here to get it instantly. Seriously, just click right here. Also, if you got some value, please like this video below on youtube. And be sure to subscribe to my channel by clicking right here, my little face, to get access to a new
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