Salespeople have rights and it is about time you exercise them. First thing you must do is establish equal business stature. You need to see yourself as an equal in the relationship and professionally assert your right to have open and honest communication. You must reframe your attitude and develop an abundance mentality. Success is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Remember, you get paid to be a professional salesperson. Your prospect is not compensated for working with you.
- You have the right to your dreams, desires, and expectations. Salespeople are professionals. Allow yourself to aspire. Understand that you will encounter a lot of failure and that is expected and acceptable. Do not let fear, doubt and worry interfere with your chosen journey. Plan, execute your plan and win. Hall of fame baseball players fail offensively almost 70% of the time. So do the best salespeople.
- You have the right to what you want. Do not feel guilty for wanting more, use it as motivation to work hard and achieve your dreams. Respect your time. If you do not, how do you expect your prospects too? Do not settle for anything less than gathering the pertinent information you need for an opportunity to move forward. It is not your job to only educate the prospect and share your expertise. Controlling the selling process is a function of asking the right question at the right time to the right people.
- You have the right to like yourself as you are. Your trash is part of the human condition – we all have psychological trash. Head trash is ok as long as you don’t let it paralyze you. Fight through it. Reframe your attitude and create a new self-fulfilling prophecy with an outlook of possibility.
- You have the right to change. Personal growth requires you to break out of your comfort zone - embrace being uncomfortable as it will lead to the formation of new habits and behaviors that yield the results you crave. Don’t stick to the status quo and expect different results.
- You have the right to fail. No need for excuses for attempts and failures, you have the right to them. Go for it! You have to fail to win and the only way to fail at something is if you don’t attempt it. There are 3 types of people out there. Those who watch it happen, those who wonder what happened and those who make it happen. Set your course to make it happen.
- You have the right to be imperfect. There will be times when your performance is less than brilliant, don’t be so hard on yourself it turns into self-limiting beliefs and despair. Practice practice, practice. Set up role plays with your managers and teammates. Take responsibility for your actions and get comfortable being uncomfortable.
- You have the right to choose. Choose what company you work for, what prospects you want to quote, when to disqualify a prospective customer, etc. The prospect must qualify for your time and efforts. Some prospects will not qualify for your time and that is ok.
- You have the right to ask. Expect some rejection – it will help you grow. Ask, never beg. And keep asking. You have the right to ask questions and gather information to determine if the prospect is a good fit for you. You have the right to talk about budget, not only money, but time and resources involved and if the prospect is willing and able. You have the right to find out about the decision-making process, who else is involved, when will the decision be made and why? You have the right to ask for a yes or no, so you can close the sale or close the file. You have the right to ask for referrals. You have the right to not let stalls and objections be part of the selling process.
- You have the right to decide how you will use your time and energy. Never give anything without getting something of equal or better value in return. It is not your job just to educate or share your expertise.
- You have the right to lunch . . . Once you have paid the price. Nothing is free, but anything can be earned. Reward yourself for following your system. You develop opportunities in a systematic way, with a start and finish to every selling opportunity.
The Sandler System is a better way to restore your sales edge in a no-nonsense approach that frames the sales call as a business meeting among equals.
You differentiate yourself by offering an honest and non-manipulative exchange of information. The effect is both refreshing and disarming.
Learn how to:
- Make the prospect comfortable with you throughout the entire selling relationship
- Set the ground rules up front by establishing a clear understanding about mutual expectations
- Sell Solutions to Problems, not products. Learn how to ask questions and uncover pain
- Get comfortable asking questions around budget (money, time, resources) and decision making processes
- Present Solutions that will solve your prospects pain
- Reinforce the sale to avoid buyers remorse
Scott Bliss
President | Maximum Performance Management, LLC Scott's mission is to help sales leaders and other business professionals improve performance as they lead, communicate and sell more effectively and persuasively. Contact him at scott.biss@sandler.com or 732-255-6672.
