Attitude & Belief Systems

Posted on February 18, 2016 by Adam Kash

Is your team made up of go-getters who believe that nothing will hold them back? Or is your team made up of people who have the ability to only find why something won’t work?

What gives the go-getters this seemingly boundless energy to get the job done?
We have studied the need for Empowering Beliefs (enduring, constantly recurring, positive, and present) to be in CONTROL.

We reviewed several key elements to having Empowering beliefs!
1. It means being different…different in attitude, image, methods and results!
2. It means being persistent.
3. It means…having a mission: to sell with a singular focus.
4. Empowered Salespeople eliminate flattery (which looks insincere and makes them seem like “Mr. /Ms.” Nice guy” and a push over). They have an assured demeanor and presence. No need to be liked!
5. They don’t assume the biggest and best prospects are sold ONLY by certain competitors. (Who are some major competitors YOU haven’t sold? What will you DO to get them?)
6. They find SOLUTIONS TO PROBLEMS. They tell prospects “It costs $ to do nothing”…and then ask “WHY?” They are tenacious about fixing problems.
7. No is not No. They realize that real selling starts after the prospect says “NO”. They tell customers, “You need me BECAUSE I’m tenacious and don’t give up”
8. They “own” their customers…they constantly get repeat orders AND referrals from their customers.
9. They go the “extra mile” and do more than is expected.
10. They are accountable and accept responsibility…they do not make excuses.

Sales people with strong, confidence and Empowering Beliefs also have a CODE Of CONDUCT that they advocate and apply with their customers:

INTEGRITY is their most important asset…their word is their bond.

FOLLOW UP AND FOLLOW THROUGH They do what they say…they must, it’s their reputation. They are a decision maker in every instance/on every call!

ALWAYS BE PREPARED Customers expect it. It is unprofessional to be unprepared; under no circumstances is it acceptable. Prepared to control the call!

TACKLE PROBLEMS HEAD ON A prompt response is valued and helps continue to establish a long-term relationship. They don’t wimp or become a victim to prospect “games.” They confront when necessary.

ADMIT WHEN YOU ERRED Inform the customer about a mistake before he/she brings it to your attention. They face problems and are not prisoners to the problem.

NEVER HIDE BEHIND COMPANY POLICY This can antagonize people…always provide a good explanation. They do not exhibit FEAR.

AVOID BAD HABITS Demonstrate discipline, good behaviors and empowering beliefs. They hold themselves to a Higher Standard!

BE SINGLE MINDED Your single purpose is to qualify opportunities and then close business. Once that is accomplished, your single purpose is to service and profitably grow the business.

ALWAYS STRIVE FOR EXCELLENCE This is the foundation to insure that success is imminent. They develop as sales professionals through Continuous Improvement and rewriting any remaining limiting beliefs.

BE TOTALLY COMMITTED There is no room for compromise.

Words = Beliefs = Patterns = Habits

Build good habits…one at a time.

Summary:
• Hold yourself to a higher standard!
• Fix Your Limiting Beliefs
• Focus on Outcomes
• Rewrite Beliefs: a. In the Present b. “As if” they already exist
• Affirm your empowering beliefs daily
• Track Daily: Journal
• Work every day on improving habits
• Take ACTION instead of being stopped by FEAR

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Sales Leadership – what’s your personal plan for 2016?

Posted on January 5, 2016 by Adam Kash

Finishing out the year and planning for 2016 gives us time to pause and reflect on how we can improve in our role as Sales Leaders. Here is a list of questions that beg to be answered…completely and honestly in planning for 2016.

1. How does your company compare to other high performing organizations in your market/industry? What are 3 things that are mandatory to improve?

2. What areas are you personally good at and what areas do you really need to work on?

3. How effectively has the company been achieving its goals on a consistent basis?

4. Where do you stand (at this point in time) versus your plan for Q4 and 2015?

5. What are the real changes that you must implement to succeed in 2016?

6. What are the real reasons for your success or failure?

7. How do you plan to compete in the future; by being: better, faster or smarter?

8. If you examine the key components for company growth; do they center on: strategy, people, process, or other?

9. Your sales and management teams are two of the most visible images of your company, “what message do you think they are sending your customers?”

10. Are YOU motivated to make the tough people decisions heading in to 2016 and UPGRADE your sales team?

11. Many things drive the successful Sales Leaders but we’ve determined three that are very important:

Outlook – your beliefs

Desire – your passion

Commitment – your drive

What are your thoughts on each and how do you translate and inspire your sales people in each area? What will you do in the coming year to raise expectations in each area?

What are you committed to do to personally impact change and growth for yourself, your organization and with each salesperson as you head in to 2016?

Remember the words of a philosopher, “It takes less time to do a thing right than it does to explain why you did it wrong”.

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“Play The Game By The Rules… The New Rules” Strategic Selling For Profitability

Posted on December 18, 2015 by Adam Kash

Strategic Selling For Profitability

Let’s face the facts. Selling has changed dramatically since the Recession of 2008. People have less time, do not want to see sales people, and have access to more information than ever before. Some accounts will never be good ones because their interests in buying are so different from yours in selling. Possibly there is a poor fit, different operating styles or other business inconsistencies. Whatever the cause, the buyer and seller should not do business. Too often your sales people want to sell anyone at any price. Unfortunately, salespeople waste a tremendous amount of time and effort trying to sell accounts that will never buy, or if they do, will never be profitable. “More of the same” won’t take you or them to where you need to go. You must implement strategic selling strategies.

As Sales Managers, you must have your sales force identify profitable opportunities and customers. The old “traditional” salesforce and sales approach is generally not up to the challenge. New approaches to profitably sell and manage accounts is critical. Look at the “old” and new approaches; Ask yourself, “Where is my organization?”

Old Approach:
1. Get new accounts At Any Cost
2. Get the order Be A Vendor
3. Cut Price Become A Commodity
4. Manage accounts the same Make My Job Easy
5. Sell to anyone Qualifying Takes Work

Necessary New Sales Approaches
1. Retain existing accounts; get profitable new accounts
2. Become the Preferred Supplier Business Partner
3. Price For Profit Value Orientation
4. Manage each account individually for maximum long term profitability (Understand Cost and their implications)
5. Concentrate on High Potential/Higher Profit Accounts

The challenge for us as Sales Managers is to not only make the Sales Plan but also direct our salespeople strategically. It is our job to grow the business through our people. In reality we must focus on developing clients by directing our salespeople to build, manage and protect long-term business relationships.

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Are sales people working on a Symptom or a Problem?

Posted on November 13, 2015 by Adam Kash

We have often found in working with our clients that their sales people are working on a “symptom” vs. the “problem”. Unfortunately, as long as you are working on a symptom it will be difficult to get your prospect to identify whether or not they are someone you can do business with. Right now, you have deals in process where you may be stalled because you are working on the “symptom” and not the “problem”.

We find the issue that follows is a good examples of the symptom vs. problem dilemma:
Symptom: ”We need more time to think this through”. Most salespeople, thinking the problem is they need more time, respond with “when should we get back to you? ”This response addresses the symptom… Not the problem.

Problem: The “symptom” need more time is driven by the problem which is: they are not 100% convinced that they need or can benefit from what you have. Letting the prospect have more time is the strategy that deals with the symptom and not the problem.

Needing more time can also be driven by one of these problems:
They are not the real decision maker and can’t say yes.
They don’t feel like what you have proposed is the right solution.
They are not good at selling internally to their people and can’t justify the purchase.
They can’t go to their current vendor and tell him he’s been replaced.
They don’t have a compelling reason to make a change

A typical sales response like “why do you hesitate?” will often put pressure on your prospect. A good response that will help you get to the real problem might be “maybe you shouldn’t do this at all?

This negative reverse response is contrary to what they are expecting and takes the pressure away. Now they might actually reveal the problem by saying…
“Yes, we’ve decided not to buy… Or, we’re just not sure it’s the right decision for us.” Either one is O.K., because now we can decide how best to proceed. Finding the real problems will give you the ability to move forward in the selling process
Some other examples of symptoms vs. problems are:
“Your price is too high” is never the problem. The problem is your prospect “doesn’t believe you are worth what you are asking” .
“Timing is not right” is never the problem. “I don’t have the belief that I pay a penalty not to buy from you” is always the problem
“My people want to wait on this” is never the problem. “I didn’t have the conviction when I presented it to our people” is the problem.

Don’t let prospects fool you by their excuses. As a sales professional, you have to take the responsibility to insure that you are both working on the problem. You can’t help your prospect by working on the symptom!

http://www.kashdev.com/contact-us/

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Time Management: The Key to Improving Sales Productivity

Posted on October 15, 2015 by Adam Kash

Time Management:
The Key to Improving Sales Productivity

Time management is an OXYMORON. You cannot manage time, but you can manage YOURSELF through a disciplined process of maximizing your time by prioritizing activities which will help you achieve…your sales goals. This discipline must be ongoing…not something you do once or occasionally.

How do you self-manage activities? First, identify time wasters, then, identify the source of time wasters and finally, change your behavior pattern.

Example: You spend 1 hour socializing each morning before you make calls. Who is the source? You… Does this really create personal procrastinating, because you don’t want to face a prospect saying, “no”? How could you change behavior? Perhaps plan your call schedule the night before? Establish daily activity/performance goals e.g. Make “x” number of calls before 9:30am…every day. In order to manage activities you need to evaluate, track, and measure what you do. Develop a checklist in terms of…

Organization
What activities can you prioritize in order to reach personal sales/income goals? Number of completed phone calls, number of appointments, number of closed sales at $x? What need to be accomplished weekly…and daily in terms of behavior? Do you track and measure it? What keeps you from achieving goals? What must you stop, or start doing to achieve your goals?

Action
What behaviors must you focus on to produce results? What distractions or low priorities can be eliminated? Set specific daily, weekly, monthly activity goals. What activities make money?

Evaluate
What goals did you achieve? What problems or setbacks did you encounter? Did you make the right choices? What did you learn from this? Do you know your “metrics”? How many calls to appointments? How many appointments to proposals? Closing x% of proposals?

Remember: Time is a depleting asset which cannot be recovered. By priority planning you will be able to concentrate daily on important things first. So what are your priorities (or what should they be) in sales to help manage your time?
DO IT NOW!

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Attitude Is Everything

Posted on September 14, 2015 by Adam Kash

Attitude is Everything

Henry Ford said “whether you think you can or can’t…you’re right”.

Our attitude or mind set is so crucial for success is sales that we as professionals must continuously refocus, remember what we are wanting to accomplish while casting out weak or limiting beliefs that can hold us back, create doubt or fear and force us to settle for less than we can truly become!

It is a psychological fact that we move in the direction of our most dominant thoughts. So ask yourself, “What have you been thinking about most?”

Thoughts and beliefs drive our actions. Behind every decision, activity, or inaction there is a belief that put it into action. If you are not getting the results that you want right now there is some belief that is preventing you from obtaining it! What beliefs are preventing you from taking the actions you need to be taking? What beliefs are causing you to create roadblocks in communications, in sales activity, in closing business, in getting commitments? These beliefs require immediate attention…in fact these beliefs must be change or rewritten! Awareness of your beliefs is a powerful first step.

We need to rewrite our beliefs or refocus on what we think about. Everyday pick one new strong, positive empowering belief to concentrate on. Write it down in your planner. This is the critical element to focus on. Next rate yourself on a 1 to 10 scale (and what you need to improve or do better) at the end of the day as to how well you did “acquiring” this new belief. For example, “Strangers cannot personally reject me…they can only reject my offer.” Rate yourself on this one (especially if you suffer from call reluctance or getting people to make decisions). If the rating is less than 9 or 10…put it BACK on the list tomorrow learn why and how this happens so you can correct it. We don’t want to live in a trance…Take control, improve your attitude and put good beliefs to work for you!

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Sales Manager’s Corner: How to Get the Most from Sales Training

Posted on August 14, 2015 by Adam Kash

Sales Manager’s Corner: How to Get the Most from Sales Training

Good training will accomplish three goals: First, it will teach skills that develop efficient work habits (behavior). Second, it will form positive attitudes that promote healthy self-esteem and belief systems. Third, it will build salespeople’s knowledge of techniques which will allow for qualifying, closing and developing relationships.

Get the most out of your Sales Training.
Let salespeople know what you expect of them.
Let them know you are willing to help.
Give positive recognition for skills learned and results achieved.
Track activity and results.
Keep salespeople informed on how to help each other. Provide an environment that allows people to break through comfort zones, take calculated risks, and tolerate failure (if there is learning).Don’t assume everyone learns at the same pace.

Be patient: some skills may require multiple demonstrations to be learned.Don’t expect everything to work the first time. Just because it looks easy, it may not. We all find certain skills difficult to learn or master.Don’t assume everyone will continue to practice a skill or strategy. Re-enforcement is needed. It’s an on-going process.Don’t believe a salesperson knows how because they have prior experience. They may have inherited bad habits or incorrect methods that need to change.Don’t expect perfection too soon. It takes time to develop good skills and habits. Be patient
and supportive. Don’t ridicule salespeople for making mistakes. We’ve all learned that mistakes become learning experiences. Some mistakes have been our greatest “teachers”.

Remember learning takes place in small steps. Focus on results, with gradual improvements. Make immediate feedback (pro’s & con’s) the norm.

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The Sales team: Being Better than Average

Posted on July 13, 2015 by Adam Kash

The Sales team: Being Better than Average

The key to becoming better than average is to “Raise Your Expectations and your Sales Peoples Expectations. Next hold people accountable. To accomplish this there are a few key elements to drive home to help make this a reality.

Watch the numbers

The single best predictor of sales success is individual pipeline reviews.

1. What new accounts are they calling on (getting appointments?)
2. Is there a real opportunity discovered after they meet?
3. Did they qualify the account properly? Example:

 Quote for the decision maker?

 Decision upon quoting?

 Will it be profitable/acceptable?

 No potential headaches?

 Funding Exists?

 Customer knows the price range?

 Dissatisfied with current vendor?

 Will leave incumbent vendor?

 Timeframe is appropriate?

 We have a solution?

 Competitive issues handled?

4. Can we FORECAST this business (close-able?)

To raise expectations and help your people be more accountable follow the process on a regular basis (weekly?) Remember, the pipeline is the single most predictor for sales success!

Remember: Activity without results is useless!
AXIOM: “Don’t listen to what they say…watch and inspect what they do!”

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Keeping the pipeline full: “ Back to Basics”

Posted on June 12, 2015 by Adam Kash

Keeping the pipeline full: “ Back to Basics”

Most poor sales months can be traced back to a lack of activity, especially in new business generation with the cause being…lack of consistent calling as part of your prospecting plan. If your business is slow…you need to step up and increase you calling efforts! No matter how many emails, e-brochures, letters or line cards you send out, it
still gets back to basics…making calls! There is no mystery to it.

You must also track and measure your effectiveness and results in calling.

Dials 100 200 400
Contacts 30 60 120
Appointments 15 30 60
Proposals 9 18 36
Sales 5 10 20

Sales$ $25K $50K $100K

If you don’t know your KPI’s or metrics (ratios) it will always be a challenge to get better. Start to day; track and measure your activities and results. You’ll know where to increase, what you need to improve on and what will be necessary to write more business. This is why it is said, “SALES IS A NUMBERS GAME”.

Do you know your numbers and how to keep the pipeline full?

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The Goal Directed Sales Person

Posted on May 18, 2015 by Adam Kash

The Goal Directed Sales Person

Sales People will not “buy in” to the company sales goal until you first establish personal goals with each sales person. You must have this conversation and do this exercise!
• What do they want to earn in the current year?
• What possession goals do they want for themselves and their family?
• What do they have to sell annually to achieve these goals?
• What is the monthly sales target?
• What must they have in the pipeline (based on sales cycle and closing percentage) on a monthly basis?
• What activity must happen on a consistent basis (daily, weekly, monthly) to support the pipeline?

When you tie the results of a sales person’s activities to a specific personal goal, they have a purpose (and a clearly defined goal) for which they are working. Ultimately, they are more likely to accomplish their sales numbers than a sales person who does not have any specific personal goals.

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