Top Ten Tips for Sales Pros
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Top Ten Tips For Sales Pros
1) The purpose of business is to create and keep a client. Ted Leavitt from Harvard made this observation in his book entitled The Marketing Imagination. Making a profit is important. But, eating is not the purpose of life, and making a profit is not the purpose of business.
2) Focus on a niche. There are riches in niches. It is counter-intuitive but it is better to be a meaningful specific than a wandering generality. In marketing abundance comes from subtraction and division, not addition and multiplication.
3) Successful sales pros form the habit of doing those things unsuccessful people don't like to do. The common denominator of success was defined by Albert E.N. Gray. Google his short speech, it is amazing! Find a purpose and passion greater than yourself. That was Mother Teresa's and Dave Lininger's secret.
4) Differentiate yourself. Many consumers believe all salespeople are the same. What is your USP (unique selling proposition)? Do you have an IPOD (individual point of differentiation)? How about a short 'elevator speech'?
5) Education is a process, not an event. School is never over for the sales pro. Education begins when formal schooling stops. The average agent with a CRS designation earns four times the gross commissions of an average agent.
6) Customize your presentations. One size does not fit all. Remember that dress you bought your spouse and your mother? That was a bad idea. Learn the different personalities called DISC quadrant analysis.
7) Track everything. It's easy to rest on your laurels. When you coast on a bicycle you can only go in one direction. What was your sales price vs. list price ratio last year, or days on the market? How did it compare to your MLS average?
8) Persistence pays dividends. Most average salespeople don't ask a seller to sign an agreement on a listing appointment. A sales pro has several trial closes. It's better to close to soon and too frequently rather than raise skinny kids because the competition had the courage to ask for the order.
9) Stop doing that. Anything that doesn't work is not worth doing any more. Jim Collins challenges clients to make a stop doing list. Some salespeople clutch the past so tightly, that they cannot embrace the future.
10) Double what works. Call more clients. Prospect more. Be willing to take more rejection. Hand out more cards. Eat lunch with more clients. Join more groups. Take more classes. Network more. Get back to the basics.
1) The purpose of business is to create and keep a client. Ted Leavitt from Harvard made this observation in his book entitled The Marketing Imagination. Making a profit is important. But, eating is not the purpose of life, and making a profit is not the purpose of business.
2) Focus on a niche. There are riches in niches. It is counter-intuitive but it is better to be a meaningful specific than a wandering generality. In marketing abundance comes from subtraction and division, not addition and multiplication.
3) Successful sales pros form the habit of doing those things unsuccessful people don't like to do. The common denominator of success was defined by Albert E.N. Gray. Google his short speech, it is amazing! Find a purpose and passion greater than yourself. That was Mother Teresa's and Dave Lininger's secret.
4) Differentiate yourself. Many consumers believe all salespeople are the same. What is your USP (unique selling proposition)? Do you have an IPOD (individual point of differentiation)? How about a short 'elevator speech'?
5) Education is a process, not an event. School is never over for the sales pro. Education begins when formal schooling stops. The average agent with a CRS designation earns four times the gross commissions of an average agent.
6) Customize your presentations. One size does not fit all. Remember that dress you bought your spouse and your mother? That was a bad idea. Learn the different personalities called DISC quadrant analysis.
7) Track everything. It's easy to rest on your laurels. When you coast on a bicycle you can only go in one direction. What was your sales price vs. list price ratio last year, or days on the market? How did it compare to your MLS average?
8) Persistence pays dividends. Most average salespeople don't ask a seller to sign an agreement on a listing appointment. A sales pro has several trial closes. It's better to close to soon and too frequently rather than raise skinny kids because the competition had the courage to ask for the order.
9) Stop doing that. Anything that doesn't work is not worth doing any more. Jim Collins challenges clients to make a stop doing list. Some salespeople clutch the past so tightly, that they cannot embrace the future.
10) Double what works. Call more clients. Prospect more. Be willing to take more rejection. Hand out more cards. Eat lunch with more clients. Join more groups. Take more classes. Network more. Get back to the basics.
