Like any other profession, sales requires certain rules and guidelines that must be used in order to be successful.
I recently read an article by Bill Brooks of the Brooks Group that estimates that more than 85 percent of customers have a negative view of all salespeople. Why is this? Because 85% of all sales people are amateurs without the required training and feedback to have them ever reach professional incomes. The amount of time or effort as a sales person doesn’t make you a professional, only your training does! These are the 10 commandments of Sales Success that should be practiced and get feedback on daily.
Commandment of Sales Success #1: Be Proud
Nothing happens until something is sold and sales people are responsible for the creation of entire economies. Nothing happens without sales people. What people don’t like are ‘bad’ sales people. Untrained and unprofessional sales people waste customers’ time and don’t provide them with an opportunity to do something positive. Dress like you’re proud, act like you’re proud, and be the most positive person your customer will ever meet.
Commandment of Sales Success #2: See the Sale
Customers don’t make sales, the sales person does. If you leave it up to the customer, nothing will happen. You must see the sale before it actually takes place. You have to know that you can get the sale done and see the customer owning your product and going to the register or into ownership with you. If you don’t see it, it will not happen.
Commandment of Sales Success #3: Be Sold on Your Offer
This is the most important of all sales. I know sales people that sell products they don’t even own. How can you do this and expect to sell your products? If you sell a certain mattress, phone, TV, insurance or whatever, then own it! If you won’t pay for it, YOU aren’t sold on it! Each week I write a list of ‘why’s’ people should own my products and why they are worth the investment. Get my book Sell to Survive to show you exactly how to make the most important sales of your life.
Commandment of Sales Success #4: Determine the Value Proposition
Forget about trying to “sell” your product or service without first knowing what it is your customer values. What you think is great about your product means nothing. Find out what’s of value to them. What would you have to see that would cause you to take action?
Commandment of Sales Success #5: Assume the Sale
All actions and communication should move toward a sale and ownership. Act and speak as though a sale will be made and assume your buyer will make a decision. “When you take delivery…”, “When we ship it out…”, “Upon installation this is what will happen…”
Commandment of Sales Success #6: Always Agree
When you hear something you object to or disagree with, just go along with it. This rule is violated so often with sales people telling customers that they are wrong. Even if the customer is wrong about something, there is no value in telling them so. Always, Always, ALWAYS agree with your client. “You are right”, “I agree”, “I am with you!” It’s often better to just acknowledge your client than try to handle them.
Commandment of Sales Success #7: Double Dollar Demonstration
If the product or service you sell is $20,000, make sure you double that value through your demonstration of the product. No one spends $20,000 on something that’s worth $20,000. They only spend that much when they believe they’re getting something of value in excess of what they’re spending. Super freak your presentation so that people can’t live without your offer and make that sale.
Commandment of Sales Success #8: Be Time Efficient
The 21st century buyer is in a hurry. My goal is to do as much selling as I can in the shortest period of time possible. I make the buyer aware of how much time I’ll be spending with them. I also bring price up in the first 20% of my presentation so that I don’t spend 90% of my time selling and then bring price up only to be out of time to justify my price. Contrary to what most teach, I’ve found my method to be a lot more successful. Spending more time with the buyer will NOT ensure a sale but in fact, negatively impact your closing ratio and gross profits.
Commandment of Sales Success #9: Assume the Close (and always move into a proposal.)
“Follow me and I will show you how easy it is to own your new _______.” Make it difficult to say no by not asking a question and just moving forward. “Follow me” and ‘Sign here” are two of the most powerful phrases to a sales person. While surveys suggest sales people aren’t liked, it’s because they waste so much time with customers and then never ask the customer to do anything. My company just did a nationwide “mystery shopper” campaign of over 500 businesses. 63% of the companies shopped at never even offered to show the buyer what it would cost to own their product!
Commandment of Sales Success #10: Always Go for the Close
Until a transaction is closed, you’ve provided no value to your client. Most sales people never attempt to close once much less persist enough times to get the sale. Being able to handle all the stalls and objections that surface is what determines whether you will be successful or not! We surveyed over 1,000 sales people to find out that what they requested help in was not the selling process but how to close the deal.
As a result, I created a program that actually assists sales people in having closes for every possible objection in the close that you will ever hear, and I assist you in the close. Check out my on-demand sales training site and download “Close the Sale App” on your iPhone or Android. The latter is based on my best selling book, the Closers Survival Guide
The next time you see one of these surveys that say sales is a despised profession remember that everyone loves the confident, positive, and well-trained sales professional that knows his product and how to close a deal. People despise anyone that doesn’t know what they are doing, aren’t prepared and waste a client’s time. Great sales people are not born. They learn new ways to impress their customers and they practice, drill, and rehearse until they KNOW how to handle every type of buyer and every type of situation.
Take the first step to becoming the top sales person and practice these 10 commandments of sales success.
