Secrets of Today’s Sales Stars

I have just completed a 360 assessment for one of my clients which required me to interview almost 100 salespeople. I was struck by the number of them that were on a “personal best” pace. Many told me that they would earn from 10% to 90% more this year
than last year. What? How can that be? I thought everyone was having a terrible year. Grab your Tums because I am going to regurgitate some things you have heard so many times, that it may make you sick:

• Attitude
• Refusing to participate in this recession
• Working smarter
• Working harder
• Improving your sales skills
• Attack while others are in survival mode
• Asking for help
• Leveraging relationships
• Looking for the opportunities created by the recession

On my way to Dubai, I met an old client that is GM of a BMW dealership and I asked him how he was doing, fully expecting to hear of how rotten sales were. Instead, he told me that January was a great month and February was even better. Astonished, I asked
him why his dealership was so successful while others were preparing funeral arrangements. He said it was attitude. They made it a point to keep energy levels high and every time a customer came in to the show room, they were treated with smiles, high energy, and a group of salespeople that did not have commission breath. His salespeople were not hanging around the water cooler lamenting and bitching about the economy. They were in their offices calling their old customers and telling them of the great deals. Michelle, one of the salespeople that attended my class last year in Dubai, said she was on a roll and expected to hit superstar status this year, even though she sold to the construction industry, which even in Dubai, has slowed dramatically. And yes, she was back for a refresher course to help her achieve that goal. Others choose not to attend because they were in the class last year… Hmmm! The top salesperson was back for more, but the ones that needed it most were MIA. There is a lesson there. My business is at an all time high. All of my clients are in the attack mode and see this economy as an opportunity to increase market share.

What can you do to achieve similar results? All of the above and go back and re-read all of Ray’s Rules. I do it and am always reminded of something that I should be doing that I am not doing. If you sell B2B, find the critical business issue and link your solution to that issue and put a dollar amount on the value of that solution. Yesterday, I was speaking with a client that said a one percent gain, in account retention, equates to $20 million. If my training can increase his account retention by 5%, then they would save $100 million. Cut off the zeroes and the principle still applies. If you sell advertising and it takes ten leads for your customer to make a sale worth $10,000 and the profit is $1000, then each lead is worth $100. If your ads generate 100 leads, then the ad campaign will generate $10,000 profit. If the ad campaign cost $1000 then the ROI is 1000%!!!!

If you think life is bad and your mountain is too high to climb, go see Slumdog Millionaire and thank God that you live in a place where you can still attain the American dream. Get going! There is opportunity out there waiting for you to find it.