SALES PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICAL APPLICATION

     The keys and principles covered in the previous chapter will assist you in charting your own personal course to success. If you have faithfully applied them to your personal life, you should have identified that you have a burning desire to succeed in this endeavor with a detailed vision and very specific goal in mind. You have absorbed the power of belief and have stocked your mind with an attitude of persistence. Now it is time to arm yourself with the tools that will make it happen.

A CONSULTATIVE APPROACH TO SALES

     A true sales professional will always be a consultant first and a salespeople second. In a consultative approach, we lead a prospective customer toward the close of a sale. A typical sales approach will push a customer there. While both types of approaches may get the desired results, a consultative attitude will yield more longevity to the relationship with the customer and at the same time build a larger client base. You must remember that it is not just closing the prospective customer on the initial sale that will get the best return, it's the servicing of that customer's account in the future.

     Taking a consultative approach to sales will defuse the knee jerk reaction most people have when it comes to salespeople. When we approach a prospective customer from a consultative point of view, we are letting him know we have his best interest in mind when offering a product or service. Our attitude will be one of service to the customer. When a salespeople approaches, the customer tends to brace himself for an anticipated sales pitch. This is where objections are formed as part of a defense mechanism. A consultative approach is more permissive. It identifies the needs of the customer, then offers solutions based on sound logic.

     Below you will find six of the most important sales principles that when put into practical application work with mathematical precision. They are essential to your success. Each principle has been proven to work along the firing line of sales and has withstood the test of time.

SIX SALES PRINCIPLES

     ENTHUSIASM

     There is never a substitute for an enthusiastic positive attitude. It is conta­gious. Enthusiasm is a common denominator among all successful sales pro­fessionals.

     It powerfully transcends to those who come in contact with it. No matter how good your product or service, if you pitch the idea in low monotone delivery with low energy, you will find it difficult to close a sale. Enthusiasm is some­thing you have to learn to activate, even when you don't necessarily feel enthu­siastic. This can be very advantageous when you begin to feel defeated or depressed. Many times, simply by acting enthusiastic, you become it.

     Have you ever noticed in basketball, the effects of a home court advantage on a team's play? The shouts and screams of the roaring crowd charges the team with enthusiasm and gets the momentum rolling in their favor. Everything seems to go their way. They get all of the lucky bounces and breaks as the team is subconsciously fed enthusiasm from the crowd.

     Your presentation to prospective customers must be the same way. As you exude enthusiasm, they can't help but get caught up in the momentum. Enthusiasm builds your credibility. People become excited and enthusiastic about what they believe in. This is essential to gaining a prospective customer's trust.

     INTEGRITY AND ETHICS OF SELLING

     Your integrity must be genuine and sincere. You must always be striving to consummate sales that you know are in the best interest of your customers. If you properly qualify people, you will learn whether or not they truly have a need or desire for your services. If you have genuinely determined that their lives or businesses will be better for accepting your proposal, you should always do your best to persuade them. Let's face it, we all need a little coaxing making decisions from time to time. All of us have had a profes­sional salesperson convince us of buying something at one time or another in our lives. If it was something you needed, were you not happy to recommend them to a friend? People rarely buy things they really don't want.

     Your attitude must always be consultative toward your customers, placing their needs ahead of your own paycheck. If you cause someone to achieve their goals financially, then the effect back to you is that you will achieve your goals. That is the law of cause and effect. Remember, a good deal is one wherein both parties will benefit.

     PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE

     The importance of expanding your product knowledge can never be overstated. No one will look to you as a consultant unless you are knowledgeable about the product or service you are offering. In order to communicate with customers on a professional level, you must be well educated on the industry you are servicing. Read as much as possible. The knowledge you acquire will transcend and help you develop into a first class professional. You will also need to keep on top of the ever changing market you are dealing with. Changes and advances can often happen over night. Many times books become outdated shortly after they are first published. A good way to keep abreast of these new advances would be to read the newspaper every day with an eye for any event that would effect your industry. Another way to stay on top would be to subscribe to magazines that focus on your industry as well as related industries. The more frequently they are issued, the better.

     Acquiring a solid base of product knowledge will also serve to build confidence in you as a professional consultant equipped to meet the customer's needs and concerns. You could really lose prime opportunities for success if you become lazy in this category. The more you properly prepare yourself for your offering, the less worry you experience when you meet the customer.

     An equally important component of product knowledge is knowing the competition. When you know you are up on the competition, your confi­dence builds which in turn translates to the customer. This in turn makes you more confident about your own product or services features.

     Being well informed on the competition enables you to better deal with the customer's objections about the possible weaknesses of your product or services. If you do not know all you can about the features being offered by the competition, you will be handicapped in your negotiations.

     PROPER SALES TRAINING

     Every individual who has a serious interest in attaining success in the field of professional sales must commit to doing their homework when it comes to sales training. From sales professionals like Zig Ziglar to Tom Hopkins, proper sales training is essential to success. Familiarize yourself with their names. Read their books and learn from them. They can provide invaluable insight into the art and science of handling people.

     At the conclusion of this book, you will find a list of publications for recommended reading. Every great sales professional is a perpetual student of his craft, which in reality is an art form. In actuality, selling products and services to businesses and consumers is really about people skills.

     To be successful in sales, you must invest a considerable amount of time in the study of basic human nature. What drives people to make a decision? Why do so many people fear making decisions? How do you overcome objection? The study of human nature, which is always a part of a complete sales training program, will help you deal in this arena.

     Learn to be a good listener. Listen with your eyes and your entire body. Lean forward, look the prospective customer in the eyes, and listen intently for the valuable information he is giving you.

     GOOD ADVERTISING

     If people do not know who you are or where you are, and what you have to offer, there is little chance that you will sell anything. If you are to succeed as an entrepreneur, you must invest and continue to reinvest in advertising.

     We all know how effective mass media advertising on radio and television can be. The advertising industry is one of the largest and most successful industries in the world. No successful corporation in the world could survive without a huge advertising budget to support it.

     A primary example would be Coca Cola. You may not even drink it, but I would bet you could hum their commercial. If a friend were to ask you to pick up a six pack at the store, you probably would know right where to find it. Partially because it has premium shelf space, but mainly because you recognize the packaging.

     Granted, when you start your business, it is unlikely that your advertising budget will rival that of Coca Cola. But it is important to have some budget in place for advertising and to stick with it. Proper money management is equally important. You must be willing to reinvest into your company. If you invest one thousand dollars into advertising and get a return of four thousand dollars on your investment in the form of sales, you should be will­ing to reinvest a portion of those profits back into your business. That is how you increase your advertising budget.

A Typical Advertising Budget With Breakdown

Product/service: business marketing systems.
You invest $500 in print ads.
You get 100 calls; you have paid $5/inquiry.
Which is typical in direct response advertising.
You should close 20% of them.

Now you reinvest into advertising:
You invest $1,500 in print ads
You get 300 calls

     To mention all the different advertising methods available is beyond the scope of this book. However, a few of the most popular are: billboards, display, print ads, and direct mail. We'll leave agencies and mass media out of it just for now. You must decide on a budget that is right for you. But once established, you must commit to it for a predetermined period of time. Remember, we are trying to build a business. There are no hit and runs.

     PERSISTENCE IN SALES

     Perhaps the most common principle separating those who succeed in sales from those who don't is persistence. Often, when we become discouraged, our reservoir of persistence becomes drained. A lack of persistence almost always precedes failure. There is one fact you must learn to accept if you are ever going to succeed in sales: rejection is inevitable. What will separate you from the others who get sidetracked is your attitude toward it.

     There are six motivators that will help you deal with rejection which will in turn reaffirm your persistence. Go through the list and see what motivators trigger you. When you become discouraged, focus on that motivator and persistence will often be restored.

MONEY
Money will often be the prime motivator of most sales professionals. Top producers look at the amount of money they make as a reflection of the high sales standards they maintain.

SECURITY
People will often say that the reason they work is to have security. Security is what allows you peace of mind. To feel confident that you will have a means to support yourself and your family.

ACHIEVEMENT
Everyone wants to achieve something in life. Some strive for modest goals, while others shoot for the stars. Few people wander through life without a desire to achieve.

RECOGNITION
The need for recognition for our achievements goes back to our childhood. Think of all the little things you did as a child to get attention. It is remarkable what lengths some people will go to receive recognition.

ACCEPTANCE FROM OTHERS
You must remember that as you rise above your peers as a top producer, others stop trying to climb to your level. Now they try to pull you down. If this is your motivator, you should try to surround yourself with positive people who support your efforts toward success. Keep company with people who have similar goals as yours and are good for you. Avoid those who are not.

SELF ACCEPTANCE
When you can accept yourself and be happy, you experience freedom never thought possible. Here you are free to challenge life on your own terms without the negative effects of rejection and failure. The only catch with this motivator is that you must have all the other motivators in place first.

     When you reach a point in your development to the extent that you can trigger such prime motivators at the first signs of discouragement, you will find persistence restored. You must realize that this process will be ongoing. Rejection and discouragement must be dealt with on a continuous basis. As sales professionals, we are constantly subjecting ourselves to all of the negative forces that tend to be the opposite of everything we are trying to be. It is important that we reaffirm our principles from time to time in order to protect that positive attitude we have fought so hard to maintain.

     For those individuals who refuse to give up, success is Inevitable. Remember the phrase, "Winners never quit and quitters never win"? Professional sports figures know this philosophy quite well. A player may come up to bat ten times before he gets three hits. Until Hank Aaron arrived, Babe Ruth was the home run king of all time. But he was also the strikeout king.

     A classic example of a persistent salesman is the story of a young trainee and his manager at an auto dealership.

     Both the manager and the trainee, Don, had tried to close the sale with a stubborn customer at least five times over as many hours. The outlook for closing the sale seemed dismal, so the manager gave up and went home. The stubborn customer soon followed. The persistent trainee decided to hang around a while. After about an hour, he decided to call the stubborn cus­tomer.

The conversation went something like this.
Trainee: Hi, Mr. Borgman?
Customer: Yes.
Trainee: Dave Carter from Pack Toyota. Did I take you away from anything important?
Customer: No not really.
Trainee: I just wanted to ask you a couple of questions if I may.
Customer: Sure.
Trainee: Have you visited our competition?
Customer: Why, yes I have.
Trainee: Did you purchase yet?
Customer: No, I didn't.
Trainee: Were they able to offer you a deal you really liked?
Customer: No, not really.
Trainee: Pretty expensive over there aren't they?
Customer: Yes they are.
Trainee: John, may I ask a couple more questions?
Customer: No.
Trainee: Great.
Trainee: Where are you going to take your first trip in that Camary you were looking at over here?
After a pause, the customer responds.
Customer: Florida.
The two have just made a bond.
Trainee: Great. Come on back. I'm sure we can arrive at a fair price.
Customer: I'm on my way, Dave.

     Initially, the two were about two thousand dollars apart in making a deal. But it was the trainee's enthusiasm, creative, courteous, and, most importantly, persistent approach that made all the difference. This, combined with his understanding of the prospect, getting him emotionally involved, and asking for the sale just one more time, made the sale happen.

     ADOPT A SUPER SERVICE PHILOSOPHY

     A super service philosophy places the customer's needs ahead of your own. Having this attitude toward your customers will not only increase their numbers but, more importantly, help you to maintain them. An excellent model for super service is the Lexis Corporation. When the company was first founded in 1989, they made a commitment to provide the best service possible ahead of growth. Their goal the first year was not to become the largest car manufacturer in the country. Their goal was to become the nation's leader in customer satisfaction. Today, Lexis is one of the fastest growing and most successful manufacturers in the auto industry. The principle here is that if you provide the best service, people will buy.

     Below, you will find some of the key principles characteristic of a super service organization.

     PRINCIPLE CHARACTERISTICS OF A SUPER SERVICE ORGANIZATION
• Don't drive promises down, drive delivery up.
• Be consistent. Let the customer know that he can count on you time and time again.
• Listen to the customer's concerns. By not listening to his concerns, you are telling him his thoughts have no value.
• Realize that customers have needs beyond the product.
• Build a relationship with the customer.
• Have flexibility.

     In other words, while it is important to exceed a customer's expectations, it is equally important to meet those expectations on a consistent basis. The worst thing we can do is to meet a customer's expectations one time, then fail to meet them on another, and exceed them every once in while.

     The way one becomes consistent is with a system to keep it in place. A system is a specific predetermined method to achieve a result. Always strive to be consistent with an effort towards ongoing improvement in this category.

     Flexibility is equally important. Without flexibility, super service is not pos­sible. The owner of a movie theater talks about how one night the audience is too cold, another night too hot. The theater manager dealt with the problem by setting the thermostat in the middle and keeping it there. Instead of a solution, it created more of a problem. Everyone complained about the temperature now. A super service provider will adjust the thermostat on a night by night basis so everyone is happy.

     A classic success story is that of Stu Leanard. Stu Leanard operated a tiny dairy stand in a small Connecticut town. He primarily sold typical dairy products; milk, eggs, butter, and ice cream. He noticed that a lot of his customers brought kids with them when they shopped who often become unruly. Stu had an idea. He installed a corral and set up a petting zoo. The zoo was such a hit with the locals that people were found standing in line with their kids on a Saturday afternoon. Another idea popped into mind. Perhaps, if he were to start to carry more of a variety of food items, people would buy while they waited in line and wouldn't have to make so many stops.

     If the elderly or handicapped couldn't get to his store, he would arrange to have an employee deliver. Sometimes the employee would be himself. Next an amazing thing started to happen. People from far away were visiting his tiny store, which by now was not so tiny. They had heard about the service that was provided to some of their elderly and handicapped relatives.

     Today, Stu Leanard's supermarket is one of the greatest success stories ever told. The market still sits on its original site in that small Connecticut town. The store now occupies more than half an acre of ground and is legendary in over five states in the northeast. Many times, Stu had the option of taking his store to a national level, but every time he refused. Stu's priority is super service. Today a plaque stands boldly by the entrance to his store that reads:

OUR TWO RULES TO CUSTOMER SERVICE
RULE #1 THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT.
RULE #2 IF YOU THINK THE CUSTOMER IS WRONG, REFER TO RULE #1.

    When thinking customer service, think super service. Serve the customer. Serve the customer better than anyone else and you will never lose him. Word of mouth will increase your business.

     LOOKING AND ACTING LIKE A WINNER

     This is perhaps one of the most neglected considerations when discussing proper sales training. Always remember that you have only one opportunity to give a first impression. Your appearance is extremely important. How well you carry yourself, your speech, and your attire should all project success. People, by their nature, are more inclined to do business with someone who is successful. In other words, dress like the people they would turn to for advice. A prospective customer must feel that he can relate to you as a professional in your field. This starts with first impressions. Give off a bad first impression and you will always be operating from a defensive position during presentation. Carry yourself into the presentation alert and with confidence. You are in control. You are the expert.

     You must be aware of your speech. Never use foul language or slang in a pre­sentation to your prospective customer. Be aware of your speech patterns, pace, pitch, and modulation. Avoid talking fast or loud. Think more like a consultant and less like a salesperson when you speak and your end result will usually be more sales. Use language that is appropriate for the individual you are speaking to. Try not to sound condescending. While it is important to sound informed, you must also be aware of the level of vocabulary you are using and whether or not the prospective customer can relate to it. If he can't relate to the way you talk, it will be difficult for him to relate to you.

     You must be well dressed. You must look like a professional. Studies have shown that being dressed to the level of the prospective customer will significantly increase closing ratios when other factors are equal. Wear a nice suit with matching accessories. If you don't own one at this time, invest in one. The key word in the statement is invest.

     Whatever the cost, the money you spend on proper attire will be an investment and will come back to you many times over in the form of sales. A customer will have a difficult time doing business with you if you don't look like a professional.

     You also will need basic business stationery, business cards, and a professional looking briefcase. Avoid hard cover briefcases, if possible. Soft covered is preferred. The larger hard cover briefcases can sometimes be intimidating to customers. A hard cover briefcase almost always signals that you are carrying contracts which represent commitment.

     True, as a sales professional and as a consultant, it will be our goal to make a sale with every prospective customer we come in contact with. However, we want to make that offering at the appropriate time. How effective would you be if you walked into a presentation, opened your briefcase, pulled out a con­tract agreement, laid it out and then introduced yourself? The customer would be defensive right from the start. We want to be in control of every presentation we make.

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