see in nearly every top producer, in every company, that I have coached and consulted with over the past 25 years.
As you read through the list, look at the top producers at your company (you may even be one of the top reps already), and ask yourself how many of them are doing these things. Look at your own behavior and ask yourself how many of these things you are doing, and how many of them you can begin practicing right now.
I guarantee that the more of these characteristics you adopt, the more successful you will be.
So if you're ready, then let's get started.
Top Characteristic #1: Make a Commitment
Let me ask you this: Are you willing to make an intensive, 90‐day commitment to transforming your sales career? Would you be willing if I told you that by diligently following the proven techniques and scripts you will learn in this book, you would make a dramatic improvement in how you prospect and qualify new business, how you conduct your sales presentation, and how you deal with objections and close business? If I told you that you could move into the Top 20 Percent of the producers in your company and even double your income in just 90 days, would you be willing to make the commitment to do what is necessary?
If your answer is yes, then get ready to radically change many of your habits, and get ready to put in the time it's going to take to completely change the way you sell over the phone. As you will continue to read in this section of 10 characteristics, there are many things you are going to be doing differently, but if you make the commitment now to adopting and incorporating these techniques into your selling career, then the results can and will be life changing. But it is all going to start with making that commitment.
The best way to think about this is like making a commitment to getting an A in a college course that is run on the quarter system. If any of you have attended a quarter course in college before, then you know how much is packed into each weekly session. I remember that on the first day of class at UCLA, the instructor went through the first three chapters of the textbook. By the end of the one‐and‐a‐half‐hour class, I was already behind three chapters. And that was one of only five classes I was taking that quarter! What I had to do was seriously commit to studying, drilling, and rehearsing the material over and over again. With a lot of hard work and effort, I did ace the class, but it took a total commitment at the very beginning.
The same thing will be true for you in learning a new set of skills, habits, and techniques to help you sell over the phone. In fact, one of the most difficult things you will have to do is to “unlearn” the way you do things now. Right now, you probably do things automatically – and incorrectly. Learning a new way of responding to the objections you get over and over again will be a challenge, and you'll have to practice, drill, rehearse, and record yourself relentlessly to change those old habits, but once you do, something magical happens.
Once you start diligently working to change, improve, and adopt new ways of qualifying, dealing with stalls, and closing sales, your results begin to dramatically change. Suddenly, situations that used to frustrate you begin to get easier to handle, and soon you find yourself winning more and more sales. As you do, your confidence goes up, and so does your paycheck! At the end of each month, there is actually money left over, and suddenly you can begin saving for and buying the things that matter to you and your family. No more struggling because you don't have enough money. How will that feel?
All of this begins affecting you differently outside of the office as well. Suddenly, you begin sleeping better, no longer worrying about money and bills. You wake up with a new energy (rather than dread), and Mondays are positively transformed! Your spouse and kids begin noticing a difference, and you soon start seeing the world as a place of opportunity rather than one of closed‐ended traps. Literally, your world changes. You can achieve all this if you are simply willing to make that 90‐day commitment to get started.
In addition to the immediate changes, though, what making the commitment also does for you is alter the future of your career. That's because once you learn proven and effective skills for selling over the phone, your results change not only for the next 90 days, but for the rest of this year, and all the ones that follow. As soon as you adopt a new, successful way of selling, everything becomes easier for you. New opportunities in management open up, your career path changes, and your confidence and enthusiasm for the profession of sales completely transforms. All of a sudden, sales becomes the greatest of professions, and your choices of what to sell, and where, are unlimited. And all you have to do is make a commitment today to putting in the time and effort required to get there.
For everything you will gain, 90 days of intense study and practice are well worth the effort. In essence, all you are doing is developing new habits that will become your new, automatic way of doing things. I heard a saying years ago that I still repeat today:
“First we form habits, and then they form us.”
Once you form your new, more effective selling habits, they will transform you into a top producer at your company, and in your industry. Once again, I know because it happened for me. I still fondly look back on the 90 days I took to script out and memorize more effective responses. I still remember sitting in the conference room at lunchtime listening to my recordings with a buddy and critiquing each other's calls. I remember the determination I had as I got back on the phone that afternoon – determined not to make the same mistakes, to mute myself and listen to what my prospect was telling me.
Most of all, I remembered what that sales trainer told us the month before: “if you are willing to do the things that most sales reps aren't willing to do, then you will soon be able to have and enjoy the things that most sales reps will never be able to have.” Soon I was driving a better car, buying my first house, and winning the trip to Hawaii at the end of the year. I still remember the feeling I had being picked up in a limousine (paid for by the company) in Maui and driven along the coastline to my hotel on the beach. I can't tell you how grateful I am that I was willing to make that commitment to myself!
So if you are willing to make that commitment to have a better sales career and life, then read on and get ready to make the changes that will have an enduring effect on everything you do from here on out.
Top Characteristic #2: Be Prepared for Recurring Selling Situations
This is absolutely huge. The strange thing is that 80 percent of salespeople (and sales teams) simply don't take the time or make the effort to do it. Now that you have made the commitment, this one tip will catapult your sales and your confidence.
Remember what I said earlier: one of the most important things you will ever learn about sales is that 80 to 90 percent of the objections, stalls, put‐offs, and sales situations you run into day after day are the same. The blow‐offs you got yesterday are the same ones you got last month and that you'll get next month and next year. Think about it: How many times do you hear this when you prospect or cold call?
From the gatekeeper:
“Will he know what this call is regarding?”
From the prospect:
“I wouldn't be interested.”
“We already have someone who handles that.”
“Just email me something.”
Do any of these sound familiar? Of course they do! And I will bet you could add another four or five, couldn't you?
And how about the objections and stalls you get when you close a sale? How about these:
“We just aren't ready to make a decision yet.”
“I'm going to have to talk to my partner/boss/spouse/committee.”
“Your price isn't in our budget.”
Are these sounding familiar? Of course they are! Once again, you could easily come up with about five or seven more, couldn't you?
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