Sales Life : A simple way to succeed

Success is not a destination, but a continuous process!! The day you decide you are successful, you can become complacent. With every moment of success, you start getting a grip of your sales career and you become more confident and the journey towards success starts.

I have seen many successful sales and marketing professionals rise and fall from a very good position at the beginning of their peak. These are the ones who are following success but success never follows them. Some good achievements make them supermen and they live in these fantasies and become junk within no time. They too have defining and glorious moments in their early stages however, the problem starts when they rate themselves too big and fall prey too quickly on offers that are mainly meant for using them. Result is that these so called self-successful people have limited life in their new ventures and most often exposed on their limitations. Their career ends too early and are known to only those who experienced their success in those early days.

Look around and you will find many such good professionals whom you had rated very high but are lost somewhere in the No Mans world. Success is an addiction for some and things start becoming ugly when they self rate themselves higher than their current profile.

Their is no harm in aspiring for bigger positions or bigger packages in your early stages. Rather, one should have such ambitions that motivates him to perform and grow. As a professional myself, I would suggest the following key points that can lead to a stable an successful career at the very beginning of your sales career;

• Right Field : Choose the right field. It means the right products, right company irrelevant of what is offered. If you are good, you will get more than what you expected in a very short time.
• Be Present : Make sure you are visible. By visible, I mean in every sense. Make sure you report every move you take in the interest of your company. Try to put forth some new ideas which you think are new and do not ignore such inner qualities within yourself thinking that the company must have already tried such things. Make sure you speak out. Let the message get passed that you are the new contributor to ideas. 
• Clear your Basics : Maybe you have the best technical brain or maybe you had a good academic career still in the sales front, before you apply yourself on the field, make sure your basic queries are cleared. Do not hesitate to ask any silly question to your superior or colleague or even your friend who is working in similar fields. The better your basics, the best is your chance to make a mark on your customer. In the end, you have to sell yourself first to sell your product, although not literally.In other words, a customer will buy your product  only when he trusts you. 
• Have a vision : Make sure you have a vision for your professional life. A vision is a light house in your professional career and guides you at your target every time you loose your focus. Without a vision, you will make mistakes and loose important time.
• Job Changes : Never compare yourself with your friends, colleagues, neighbors or relatives when it comes to your job. You are precious and you know this better than anyone in this entire world. But for that you have to have patience. Just because someone else grows with a change in job, it doesn't make you small in front of them. You should grow at your pace. Change the job if you are having problems that cannot be solved. Most of the time, problems are self created and the solution also lies with ourselves. In my view, change the job if you are not being recognized, or if the company has no vision, or you are uncomfortable with the solutions or products offered or your growth is very less. Salary is important but should never be the deciding factor in changing the job. If you feel you are the best and doing a great job, be sure, the company has the same view, and they will ensure maximum that you are always comfortable. If they don't, they are sure that they will loose you. Also, make sure your needs are proportionate to the company's growth. A growing company will always give a stable income growth than a stable or saturated company which offers high income added with extra stress ;) Even if you are successful, if your company and you yourself have a definite vision, the combination can do wonders.
• Team Player : Even if you have played an anchor innings in the successful deal or project order, make sure you share the achievements. Nothing can be achieved solo in this career. Its all a team game. Be on ground always and make sure you praise everyone who are involved in your achievements. It will make a good character of you and you will always be a man which every team will need. 

In short, in the fast paced sales career, make sure you make it simple and successful. In the long run, those who went faster in front of you, will never even scale heights that you reach with this. Be a role model and a guide to all those who might get lost mid way in their early stages of professional sales life!!!

Sales Talk : Competition Story

Fighting Competition!!!

Recently in one of my half yearly review meetings, I came across one of my team members that they are being disturbed unnecessarily by a competitor in most of the major enquiries they come across for the company we work for. The major issue here was that more than half of  employees working with this competitor are our ex-employees, and they have similar product with around 75 percent similar advantages like our products. The company, they work for, is not bad, although the activities on marketing needs a lot of questions.

Instead of merits on their products, the competition here was promoting products as " Similar to our Products" and using every negative marketing strategy you could think of. Most of the time, they work on the enquiries generated for our products and throw prices to somehow spoil or grab our orders. Result was always discouraging to our team members as they would loose out on margins on orders. To some extent, a couple of orders have also gone where the purchase guys had no option but to place an order on the low pricing.

Our team members even tried to help customers in understanding the features and prompting them on benefits when the competition had counter offered. However, some of these steps were fruitful and some were not.

As I knew many of our employees, rather our ex-employees, I decided to check how they respond to enquiries when they get. The ex-engineer in question here in this region, who is a regional Manager with this competitor, knew me as the others and I decided to check on their strategy. Since my team member had this ex-engineers mobile number, i decided to make a surprise call to him. ( He didnt had my number so could not have known that it was me)

Following conversation took place between us; ( Here I will mention him as a EX  and for the record.. he still uses the same number for this competitor when he was working with us)

Call got connected...

Me : Hello!!  Is it Ex?
Ex : Yes, who is it? ( Obviously he didnt recognise me)
Me :  I need a Hensel ( My company) Junction Box. Can you please help me?
Ex :  Yes sir, but I am not working with Hensel ( I was relieved to hear that he was truthful). I can give similar product from another German company.
Me : No, but I like Hensel and I need only that product.
Ex : Sir, my product is better than Hensel. It is also Polycarbonate ( Generally, we stress on the material properties and he used the same here with the competiton)
Me : No, But the temperature range is better with Hensel. I know your company doesnt has such a good rating. ( I wanted to test him on some features of our products)
Ex : No sir, We offer a range that can sustain upto 80 degrees Celcius.
Me : But Hensel is better, it is upto 120 degrees.
Ex : ( Confused) No sir. we offer Ambient temperature upto 80 deg. We have 130 degrees fire retardant.
Me : ( Trying to show as if Iam not convinced) What? What are you talking about? What is the temperature resistance? Iam asking temperature resistance and you are talking on flame retardant features..
Ex :  ( Confused again ) Sir, Ambient is 80 deg and glow wire test 130 deg
Me : ( Angry on him as Iam more technically sound as a customer) How can you say this? If you dont know correctly, you should say, I dont know sir and I will let you know. Do you know the meaning of Ambient?
Ex : ( This time he is more angry on me.. and remember Iam actually a customer to him ) Sir who gave you my number???
Me : Why? I have your name card with me? Iam new in this company but it seems when you were working in Hensel, you had visited us and given your visiting card. Why are you getting angry? In fact I need to now speak to someone superior in your company? ( I was a bit harsh this time)
Ex : Iam not angry but you are not understanding. ( Confused, and angry tone)
Me : Do you know what standard is referred for Flame / Fire retardant?  You dont know what is Ambient? How can you suggest me such a product when iam asking for something which i know and iam aware of.?         ( Loud Voice and Angry tone )
Ex : ( Angry again) I told you 130 degrees. you only called me and now why are you shouting.
Me : GIVE ME YOUR SUPERIORS NAME!! ( Real good angry tone this time)
Ex : Why should I give. Iam keeping the phone. If you dont want, you can hang up. ( He was about to disconnect the call this time)

The next instant, I introduced myself to him and told him to calm down. I told him who he was actually speaking to. Also laughed about this entire episode loudly so that he takes it in a lighter vein. But he was totally shaken.I told him how can he forget my voice. He replied that he really could not recognise me. I apologised him and told him that I got his number and remembered him as I came to know that he is able to take away some of our orders. He tried to tell me that he doesnt but confirmed that he tries quite hard. I jovially scolded him as an ex boss that he forgot everything that we trained him on. Simple features, he was not able to explain. After clearing a couple of doubts for him, I hung up.

All my team members were laughing on the entire telephonic conversation and they all took one point very nicely from this episode. They have concluded that next time, if they find such competitors ( Mainly followers of our success ),they will simply ask the customers to call them face to face and ask any technical questions on the product to both, us and them. They are confident that they can definitely have an upper edge always.

With due apologies to my ex-sales engineer and ex-managers, doing favors to competition, the above experience for me was quite entertaining and hence thought of sharing it here. I could only take one more important lesson, that if your roots are strong, ethics are in place, you need not worry about fighting competition. Leaders will always lead... others will follow!!

  

Sales Talk : Product knowledge

Product Knowledge : Most Important tool for the key to success!!

You finish your education with a high and land up in to the sales job that you thought would be the right one for you. You finish a great induction programme, by the company you were hired, that gave you the minute details that you required for the product to gain confidence on the field. Now its time for the real action!!

You start with a high and decide that you will excel in this new sales job and prove you were the right man for the right job. You start meeting new customers, interact with them and manage to stay on board by generating good enquiries from them. Couple of months down the line, you realize the efforts are not getting converted into success and most of the time you end up with just making offers.

Result is frustration!! You start thinking if you did a mistake by opting for this job. To an extent you start blaming yourself as you also know that your colleagues are successful and are ahead of you. It comes to a stage where you even start thinking if you have chosen the right career.

It’s a common story for most of the starters in Sales or marketing career. One of the prime reasons of an initial failure for many new sales engineers is the lack of product knowledge and approach on the field.

Even though you had the best of education, add a management degree to it, if you don’t have the right product knowledge, you are done. The induction training programme, even if it covers the entire range of products, is not sufficient to survive in this demanding and result oriented sales career. The sales engineer takes the training programme very seriously however doesn’t brush up his knowledge on the product regularly. There are always some points which he doesn’t understand which makes it difficult for him while introducing the product range to the customers he meets. Most of the time, things are stuck for basic information and the result is ignorance of key points in the introduction. Whenever he makes the introduction, he tries to stay in his comfort zones and introduce only those products for which he is comfortable with. The customer is most of the times not appraised with the right information and with whatever little information, manages to cooperate with the engineer and suggests to get enquiries from his purchase department. Sometimes, it is just a curious enquiry to get a price even when he doesn’t need the product. Finally, the sales guy makes an offer for which he never knows if he can get an order. If the product is high priced, the case doesn’t even make for a negotiation, as the USPs( Unique Selling Points) were totally absent.

Things could have improved, if the Sales engineer had brushed up his product knowledge regularly. The best way to execute it, is to read the product catalog and ask questions to himself from the customers point of view. Be in the customers shoe, think the way he might think. Understand from his point of view on the benefit he can have by using the product that you offer. Try to gather information on the most difficult questions and write the answers of these in your sales workbook. Always, ensure to be ahead with information that even your colleagues might not have, whether its relevant or not, but make an attempt. The most difficult questions to answers are the most basic ones which most of the time, you as a fresh sales engineer pretend to be very silly ones. Never be ashamed to ask your superiors such questions time to time. Every successful sales person has a similar story when he starts and only learns after years of experience. To shorten this period, you need to work hard on self education on the products and success stories from your colleagues. Learn from their mistakes and develop yourself to handle simple as well as difficult questions. A thorough knowledge on the products do wonders to your personality as a sales professional as you gain confidence within a very short time and your successful journey begins your way.

Sales Talk!

How to Overcome “Brush Off” Objections with the 1QQ Techniques
Written by Jim Domanski

Are you frustrated with prospects that shut you down and brush you off after you’ve finished your opening statement?

You know the type of objection I am talking about: you barely utter your name and the prospect says, “We’re happy with our present supplier,” or “I’m in a meeting,” or “I am busy right now,” or “Just send me something in the mail,” or any number of other brush offs. And just like that, the call is over.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. You can reduce the impact of brush off objections and speak to more decision makers if you apply a smart little technique called “1 Quick Question” (1QQ).

Brush Off Objections

As the name implies, a brush off objection is a reflexive objection that typically occurs at the beginning of a call. They occur because the prospect was not expecting your call and the automatic response is to toss out an objection. They do so out of the compelling need to protect themselves “from being sold” and out of the desire to get rid of you as soon as possible. Most tele-sales reps oblige them by lamely mumbling an apology and hanging up.

Sound familiar? Don’t be a victim.

How to Deal With the Brush Off

Three are three steps to dealing with the brush off objections.

Step #1: Empathize

When you hear a brush off your first step is to empathize with the client. Say something like, “I understand,” or “I appreciate that.” This does two things. First, it acknowledges the prospect’s objection. It shows you have listened to the remark and that you understand. Second, it buys you a second or two to collect your thoughts and respond.

Step #2: Ignore the Objection

Ignore what you hear. Don’t fall for the objection. It’s a mistruth. You know it’s a brush off and so does the prospect. Responding to the stated objection is therefore a waste of time. So don’t honor it with a retort. Ignore it.

Step #3: Ask “1 Quick Question”

Apply the 1 Quick Question (1QQ) technique. The 1QQ is simply a way to forge ahead with the call before the prospect hangs up. It is extremely easy to apply. Here are some examples to give you a feel for how it works:

Example #1:

Prospect: “I’m in a meeting right now!”

Rep: “I understand completely. Just one quick question before I go…”

Example #2:

Prospect: “I’m happy with our present supplier.”

Rep: “I’m happy to hear that. Jeff, one quick question if you don’t mind…”

Example #3:

Prospect: “We don’t need anything right now.”

Rep: “I appreciate that. Before I go one quick question.”

You can see the pattern. The rep empathizes but does not directly respond to the objection. Instead he uses the 1QQ technique. It works because the majority of prospects realize that they have been a bit dismissive and possibly rude. By politely asking ‘one quick question’, many prospects feel the need to soften up a bit and give you a quick answer before they terminate the call.

Now here’s the interesting thing. Depending on the nature of your question, one quick question often leads to two or three or more questions. Think of it as a wedge in the door. The better your question, the greater the opportunity to get your prospect to open up further.

How to Create Your 1QQ

The key to making the 1QQ work for you is your question. Your first step to developing 1QQ is to identify a pain, a problem or a predicament that the prospect typically experiences and that you can solve. You only have one shot at getting the wedge in the door so your question has to go directly to an issue that is significant to the average prospect.

Developing your 1QQ will take some time and thought but once you have it you’ll be able to use it with virtually every call. So think hard: what is the number one problem your clients experience?

For example, suppose you sell magazine subscriptions to educators that help the teachers plan their curriculum. The problem that many teachers experience is time and it takes to develop new, creative and effective class plans. Here’s one quick question that might work.

“Mr. Gunderson, one quick question before I go: do you find it frustrating and time consuming to prepare a daily curriculum for your classes?”

The second step is to have another question prepared. If possible, create a question that quantifies the problem. For instance, if Gunderson does find it frustrating and time consuming to prepare a daily curriculum your next question might be:

“If I may, roughly how much time do you spend preparing…say, on a daily basis?”

By doing so, the prospect begins to see the magnitude of their problem and may get curious enough to let you continue.

The third step is to pursue your line of questioning, identify the need and proceed as you normally would.

Summary

The 1QQ technique gives you an edge by helping to create an opportunity. While not every client will answer your one quick question some will and that’s the strength of the technique.

Basics

" You never know your true potential or true value unless explored "

Middle Wife :))

The 'Middle Wife' by an Anonymous 2nd grade teacher

I've been teaching now for about fifteen years. I have two kids myself, but the best birth story I know is the one I saw in my own second grade classroom a few years back.

When I was a kid, I loved show-and-tell. So I always have a few sessions with my students. It helps them get over shyness and usually, show-and-tell is pretty tame. Kids bring in pet turtles, model airplanes, pictures of fish they catch, stuff like that. And I never, ever place any boundaries or limitations on them. If they want to lug it in to school and talk about it, they're welcome.

Well, one day this little girl, Erica, a very bright, very outgoing kid, takes her turn and waddles up to the front of the class with a pillow stuffed under her sweater. She holds up a snapshot of an infant. 'This is Luke, my baby brother, and I'm going to tell you about his birthday.'

‘First,  Mom and Dad made him as a symbol of their love, and then Dad put a seed in my  Mom's stomach, and Luke grew in there. He ate for nine months through an umbrella cord.'

She's standing there with her hands on the pillow, and I'm trying not to laugh and wishing I had my camcorder with me. The kids are watching her in amazement.

 'Then, about two Saturdays ago, my   Mom starts saying and going, 'Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh!' Erica puts a hand behind her back and groans. 'She walked around the house for, like an hour, 'Oh, oh, oh!' (Now this kid is doing a hysterical duck walk and groaning.)

 ' My Dad called the middle wife. She delivers babies, but she doesn't have a sign on the car like the Domino's man. They got my  Mom to lie down in bed like this.' (Then Erica lies down with her back against the wall.)

 'And then, pop!  My  Mom had this bag of  water she kept in there in case he got thirsty, and it just blew up and spilled all over the bed, like psshhheew!' (This kid has her legs spread with her little hands mimicking water flowing away. It was too much!)

'Then the middle wife starts saying 'push, push,' and 'breathe, breathe.

They started counting, but never even got past ten. Then, all of a sudden, out comes my brother. He was covered in yucky stuff that they all said it was from  Mom's play-center, (placenta) so there must be a lot of toys inside there. When he got out, the middle wife spanked him for crawling up in there..'

Then Erica stood up, took a big theatrical bow and returned to her seat.

I'm sure I applauded the loudest. Ever since then, when it's show-and-tell day, I bring my camcorder, just in case another ' Middle Wife' comes along.

Experience counts ;)

" When a lady asks to choose between two things, the correct answer is the one that she has pre-decided "