How many chances at a first impression do you get?

3 Principles That Lead To An Effective Initial Contact

 

1)  Clearly understand how important a 1st impression is to this process.

2)  Create a strong and effective 30 second introduction of you and your product.

3)  You must have an expert knowledge of your product and how it benefits your customers.

I have been told that a visual first impression takes less than 3 seconds.  That really is a scary thought.  In that 3 second period of time people form an indelible impression of us.  What is unfair is that they don't even know us.  It sounds very shallow doesn't it?  However, it is reality in the profession of selling. You must address the following 5 keys in order to make the best first impression possible:

• Appearance
• Body Language
• Facial Expressions
• Tone of Voice
• What is said

Our appearance is vital to making a great first impression.  This includes your clothing, your hair, makeup for women, and shaven or groomed for men.  Let me just ask you; if you saw someone who looked exactly like you, dressed like you dress, everything just like you do when you are doing business and approaching people, what would your honest first impression be?  Compare that snapshot of you with a person who is very successful doing what you do.  If you are honest about these two questions, and the answer is yes,  "I compare the same or better", then you are probably doing well.  If the honest answer is "I wouldn't respect or want to do business with someone who looks like that" and "that snapshot doesn't look anything like that very successful person I know", then you should make some very serious changes right now!

You body language signals confidence or the lack thereof.  I didn't say arrogance but confidence.  Hands in your pockets or slumped stance signify I don't know and I don't care.  However, a strong walk, straight shoulders and ready hands makes a statement of professionalism.  

The key to facial expressions is to realize that people want to do business with someone who enjoys what they do and life in general.  If you are not smiling when you are trying to make a great first impression then you are wasting your time.  Intentionally, put a smile on your face.  The smile should be the first thing that you put on everyday when you get ready to do business. 

When you speak do you sound confident and competent?  I didn't ask about what you said, but how you sound.  Does your tone of voice lead someone to believe your are decisive and sure of what you are saying or does it bring the notion that you are meek and lack conviction?  I am not looking for loud here, but distinct and clear tone.  When you hear someone speak who knows what they are talking about, that is how your tone must be.  You have got to practice this and it is good to do that with someone so they can hear you.  Also, it is very effective to use a voice recorder so that you can listen back to yourself both practicing and in real time, so that you can consciously change your tone if you need to.

A first impression most always includes words, but very few.  In most cases, it includes a "hello" or "welcome".  Most importantly it must be polite and if known you must use their name.  A polite tone with "Hello Mr Doe, it a pleasure to meet you" is a few words but very impactful.  The key is to be business friendly with a polite greeting.  

It is very hard to overcome a bad first impression.  Your attention to the 5 keys above will prevent you from making a bad first impression.  Put your focus onto how you look, both with how your dress and how you carry yourself.  Do you habitually smile or least have a very pleasant expression on your face?  Intentionally work on your tone of voice and what you say when greeting a new prospect.  This takes commitment and dedication to do well all the time.  

If you think about it anything you do well takes commitment and dedication, if you do anything as an after thought you usually fail.  Take the first impression seriously and you will succeed.

Expect to Win!

--Jim

How are you doing with people?

A Sales Professional has to know that their success or failure depends upon their ability to deal with lots of people.  Refer back to the following blog posts as we address applying our ability to deal with lots of people.

9/12/14  Secret Formula for Sales Success Part I

9/23/14  People Skills

Our attempts to contact a prospect and our ultimately being able to contact the prospect and get that appointment for a presentation, is based upon our knowledge of these 3 principles:

1)  Clearly understand how important a 1st impression is to this process.

2)  Create a strong and effective 30 second introduction of you and your product.

3)  You must have an expert knowledge of your product and how it benefits your customers.

I will address these 3 Principles That Lead To An Effective Initial Contact with a prospect, in the next 3 blog posts.

As we contact people that we may have never met before, we need to consider how that attempt will be made.  In person, by telephone or email.  If it is in person, do you portray confidence and competence?  What about on the telephone?  The same two qualities are important.   If the attempt to contact is by email, it should be clean, uncluttered, direct and also portray confidence and competence.  

Do you have a written strategy and word track for this initial contact?  If not, why not and if you do is it effective?  We will begin with tomorrow's post about principle #1.

Expect to Win!

--Jim

Building a Referral Business - Step 2

How do you build a referral business? 

(1) You start with knowing your product at a very high level. 

(2) You must understand exactly how, with specificity, it benefits a customer. 

(3) Then you must provide a tremendously high level of customer service.  

Last week I introduced the 3 step process to building a referral business.  A referral business is what allows you to become as efficient as possilbe when it comes to the quality of prospect you primarily work with.  I also posted about step one last week.  Step 2 addresses how you present your product knowledge to your customer.

Becoming an expert on your product is the goal.  However, if you recite your knowledge to the customer you really haven't accomplished anything.  Does the feature of your product benefit your propect by improving their quality of life, give them peace of mind, make using it more convenient, save them money?  Do you get the idea?  If a salesperson is selling a car that has cruise control and they tell them that it has cruise and the controls are on the steering wheel.  That shows their product knowledge.  But, when he or she tells them that this feature makes driving more comfortable because it sets the speed and they don't have to keep pressure on the gas pedal for miles and miles and it makes the vehicle operation less costly because it keeps the speed consistent.  The salesperson shows their knowledge not only of the product but also exactly how it benefits the customer.  This step takes study of the product specifications but also the benefits of each and every feature.  Also, to truly embrace this means that you must talk to other salespeople about their experiences with the product and how it benefits their customers.  Then you need to aks questions of your customers about their experience with the product.  To truly become a professional in this area, you have got to continue this process.  You must be relentless in your pursuit of understanding exactly how your product benefits a customer.  If present the benefits to a customer after you have studied and researched the benefits, then their experience will be just as you told them.  Then they will tell everyone how much of a professional you are.

If you commit to Steps 1 and 2 of this process your will be in the top 5% of all salespeople.  You must remember, that these steps never end.  You must consistently, continually and relentlessly practice them in order to be effective in building a referral business. 

Expect to Win!

--Jim

Can You Improve Your Prospect Quality?

When a sales professional considers how to become more efficient with their time, the first area that they must look at is their mix of prospects.  If you are only cold calling and randomly choosing who you call on, then you are selecting the most inefficient prospecting strategy available.  You are not only having to introduce yourself, your company and your product, but you may be having to develop the need for your product or service as well.  This process is very time consuming.

The most efficient prospect is a referral.  This is a person or company that a current or former customer has referred to you.  In most cases this serves as a partial introduction to you and your company as well as your product.  The need for your product or service is normally addressed as well. This makes for a very efficient use of your time.  These prospects sometimes come from people that you know and that know what you do and may not do business with you.  The key is the introduction.

How do you build a referral business? 

(1) You start with knowing your product at a very high level. 

(2) You must understand exactly how, with specificity, it benefits a customer. 

(3) Then you must provide a tremendously high level of customer service.  

Once  you master these 3 key areas of professionalism, then you can ask for referrals and expect your customers to send people to you.  It takes a concerted effort to master these 3 areas.  Some salespeople ask for referrals without earning the right to ask someone to send the people they know to do business with them..  You got to earn the right to ask.  If you master these 3 areas, people want to send people to you.  They will feel like they are benefiting their family or friend more than they do you.  When that happens you will definetly have success with referrals.

Expect to Win!

--Jim

Commitment to Success

Are you committed to your own success?  How much time did you spend this week developing your skills?  If  you aren't growing and getting better then are you really serious about your own success? 

We are about ready to start a new month and it is a great time to begin some new habits.

First thing, complete the Sales Success Formula that I have detailed in this blog, in order to come up with your daily target for attempts.  Then commit to your attempt number.

2.  Read a non fiction book related to the sales profession or personal growth, for 30 minutes each day. 

3.  Find someone you know that is successful doing what you are doing and spend some meaningful quality time with them.  Find out what has been effective for them.  What is their daily routine and what habits have they developed that have contributed to their success.

4.  Everyday begin the day with a review of your income goal and your gameplan for hitting your attempt number for the day.  Review the previous days activities and indentify opportunities.

5.  Identify one skill you are going to work on this month.  Research industry information to help you improve that skill.

Commit to these 5 things and you will notice immediate progress on your quest to get better.  

Expect to Win!

--Jim

Success is a choice: Hard Right or Easy Wrong?

In his book, Take the Stairs: 7 steps to achieving true success, Rory Vaden writes:  "It’s the habit that’s important. Success is often not the result of our major decisions, but more deceptively it is the aggregate sum total of all our small and seemingly insignificant ones. Success comes down to choosing the hard right over the easy wrong. Consistently."
This excerpt from this great book reminds me that all of my decisions count.  Whether they are small or large, it is the aggregate sum total of the decisions I make that lead to success or failure.  What do you focus on each day? The hard right or the easy wrong?  Do you avoid negative conversations with colleagues or do you just jump in because it is easy and there is no pressure?  Do you work on your people skills by engaging a stranger or do you just go ahead and stay with those colleagues and discuss all that is wrong with management?  Do you focus on hitting your attempt number for the day (#A)? Or, do you blow off part of the day and get back to it tomorrow?
So, the question today is "hard right" or "easy wrong"?  Your success hangs in the balance waiting for your answer, not just today but every day.

Expect to win!

--Jim

Secret Formula for Sales Success Part VI

I / $S= #S
#S X #P/S = #P
#P X #C /P = #C
#C X #A /C= #A 
#A / WORKING DAYS = #A/DAY
I / #A = VALUE OF EACH A

You are now to the step that determines the number that guides and directs your days. It is the number that requires moment to moment decision making. The decision that says I am going to hit my number no matter what.
You have determined how many sales contacts you need to make in order to make the required number of presentations necessary to close the number of sales required to hit your income goal. The question is how many attempts to make contact with a prospect is required in order to make that contact.  How many dials or texts or emails or facebook messages does it take to make one contact.  Do not count email blasts, text campaigns or attempts that are not targeted at a specific prospect in this number.  You must know this number and your manager will not be able to help you.  You need to live with a sheet that has 4 column headings: Dials, Emails, Text messages, Other. The rows are the working days.  You will make a mark for every dial, email, text message and any other contact method used.  At the end of each day you total your attempts.  If you have 40 attempts in a day & you made 10 contacts then you know that it takes you 4 attempts to make 1 contact. The best number to use is your rolling 30 day total of attempts and contacts.  This keeps you with a large enough and current set of results to make your number work.
Attempts require effort and a lot of attempts require a lot of effort.  This is where we begin to pay the price for success or as Zig Ziglar said "We enjoy the price of success!". Our two last calculations make this manageable and puts motivation behind the attempts.  Take the number of attempts required to make the contacts needed.  Now, divide that number by the working days in the time frame you are working with.  If it is monthly then the typical number we would use for working days is 20.  Take the total number of attempts (#A) and divide it by 20, if you are working on a monthly time frame, that gives you one of the 2 most important numbers in your formula. This is the number of attempts you must make every day to reach your goal. This is your number, it may be 20, 50 or 100 but it is your number. You didn't pull it out of the air it was statistically calculated with your income goal as the target.  This number will change as your numbers change and as you improve.  It could be that you raise your income goal and because you are improving your skills you won't need to increase your daily attempt number.
The second most important number in the formula is determined by taking your income goal and dividing it by the number of contacts required for that period of time.  The best way to do this is to break down your income goal to a monthly income goal. Then take your daily attempt number x the number if working days in the month.  Take your income goal and divide it by the number of attempts required in that month. This gives you the value of each attempt to contact you make. This boils it down to the fact that every effective attempt to contact that you make is worth $10, $20, $50 whatever your number is.  Don't waste your time or you will be losing money.
Use these 2 numbers to fuel your success. Success is about creating daily habits that work.  You now know exactly how many attempts you must make every day to have the success that you desire. No more blowing in the wind or floundering without direction.  You also know exactly how much every attempt is worth to you in dollars and cents.  What are you waiting on ? Make it happen NOW!!

Expect to Win!
--Jim

Secret Formula for Sales Success Part V

I / $S= #S
#S X #P/S = #P
#P X #C /P = #C
#C X #A /C= #A 
#A / WORKING DAYS = #A/DAY
I / #A = VALUE OF EACH A

In the last 4 steps of the Secret Formula for Sales Success you have established your Income Goal (I), the number of sales you need to reach that income goal (#S), and the number of presentations you need to make to reach your sales number and income goal (#P). The next step is to determine how many sales contacts you must make in order to make one presentation (#C/P). This then allows you to solve for the total number of contacts you need to make to reach your presentation and sales numbers and ultimately your income goal.
First, let's define exactly what a contact is and how you should be tracking them.  A sales contact is :
1). Face to face contact with someone where what you sell is discussed.
2).  Telephone contact with someone where what you sell is discussed.
3).  Email conversation with someone where what you sell is discussed.
4).  Text message conversation with someone where what you sell is discussed.
5).  Social Media conversation with someone where what you sell is discussed.
The source of these contacts varies by industry and salesperson.  They could be a referral, lead, previous customer, call in to your business, walk in to your business, inquiry from your website, message or comment on a social media site etc. The typical outcome of these contacts is an appointment to make a presentation.  However, it could be a face to face contact  or telephone contact that leads directly into a presentation.  For example, at a car dealership a sales person greets a person on the lot for the first time and this leads directly to a walk around presentation, demo ride, write up and sale.  This scenario acheived 1 contact to 1 presentation to 1 sale. 
What we want to determine is how many of these contacts does it take to get to a presentation which includes telling them how they can own your product or in other words asking for the deal right now.  Again, you must know your numbers.  It is vital to your success that you document on paper or electronically how many people you are making contact with and how many presentations you are making.  Go back through your calendar for the last 90 days if possible and total the number of contacts you have made from the 5 sources above.  Then total the number of presentations you made in that same timeframe. Then divide your number of contacts by your number of presentations (#C/P). This gives your number of contacts needed for 1 presentation and then we take that number of contacts X our presentation number (#P) that we established yesterday.  This gives you your contact number (#C) required to reach your numbers and ultimately your income goal.
If you don't know your contact and presentation numbers, consult with your management.  But, I cannot stress enough that you must know your numbers.  The numbers don't lie!
Now that you have your (#C) you can move onto the next step.

Expect to Win!

--Jim

Secret Formula for Sales Success Part IV

I / $S= #S
#S X #P/S = #P
#P X #C /P = #C
#C X #A /C= #A 
#A / WORKING DAYS = #A/DAY
I / #A = VALUE OF EACH A

You now have determined what your I (Income goal) is and you have calculated your earnings per sale.  When you divide your income goal by your average earnings per sale you get the total number of sales required to achieve your goal for income for the year or month(#S), whatever period of time you used. This is clear and established in fact.  No winging it or floundering.  You know without a doubt that if you want to earn the income that motivates and excited you and your family, you must commit to making the number of sales identified in Your Formula for Sales Success.
The next step in the formula is to solve for #P (number of presentations required to reach your income goal).  In order to solve for this you must determine how many product presentations you make for every sale you close (#P/S).  Every product or industry has a different "closing ratio".  This should be your average and it means you must, without any question, know your numbers. Let's look back to last week. First of all, how many sales did you make? Next, how many presentations did you make last week? Divide the number of presentations by the number of sales and you have your #P. If you are just starting in this profession or this is a new position, you should get with management and get the staff's number of presentations made in order to close a sale.  
Presentations could include the writeup of an offer or not.  A Presentation is typically proceeded by a meet and greet of the prospect and a qualification step.  But, what you need here is the number of times that you make a thorough and complete presentation of your product and tell the customer what it takes to own it.
Once you calculate and get the #P/S, then divide your I by #P/S you will get your personal #P. This number is extremely important to your success. If you want to earn the income that you spent time and effort to determine, you must hit your #P. This is an area that you can target for improvement as well.  You want to make more money?  You want to make more money without working any harder or longer? Get better at your presentation!  We will discuss this at length in future posts.
Calculate your personal #P and then you can move on to the next step.

Expect to Win!
--Jim

Secret Formula for Sales Success Part III

I / $S= #S
#S X #P/S = #P
#P X #C /P = #C
#C X #A /C= #A 
#A / WORKING DAYS = #A/DAY
I / #A = VALUE OF EACH A

The next step is calculating the $S in order to determine the #S.  You must know your average commission or earnings per sale ($S).  If this is a varying number, in other words you are paid a commission and the amount of the sale is different from customer to customer then you need to do at least a 90 day look back and come up with your average earnings per sale. The best way to do this is to take your total earnings over the last 90 days.  Include commission, bonuses, renewal income and any other income generated by selling your product. Divide this total income number by the total number of sales made during this 90 day period.  This gives you your true average earnings per sale.  If you are paid a flat amount for every new sale then this calculation is easy.  If you are new to the profession of selling or you are new to your current position, ask management to give you a average earnings per sale for the entire sales staff for the last 90 days. I'm fact, this is a good number to have even if you are not  new to the profession or have been in your position for awhile. It would allow you to compare and gauge how you are doing against "average".   Do you need to step it up? Are you under achieving? 

Your average earnings per sale or $S then allows you to determine in your formula how many sales you need to make in order to achieve your income goal.  Take your income goal and divide it by the $S and that will give you the number of sales you need in order to reach your income goal (#S).

Once you have the #S (number of sales needed to reach your income goal) you can move on to the next step.

Expect to win!

--Jim

Secret Formula for Sales Success Part II

I / $S= #S
#S X #P/S = #P
#P X #C /P = #C
#C X #A /C= #A
#A / WORKING DAYS = #A/DAY
I / #A = VALUE OF EACH A

Let's begin at the beginning. Your Income Goal is where the formula starts.  Establishing your income goal is not a thoughtless task done with little planning.  I have witnessed many sales people just throw a figure out there in order to complete the formula.  I feel strongly that if your attitude towards the profession of selling is that flippant you should find something else to do.  Your income goal is the fuel behind your self motivation, self discipline and enthusiasm.
It is vital to your sales success to follow these 3 principles when setting your income goal.
1.  Include everything and everybody
     Consider all aspects of your financial life.  Your monthly bills, your               investment plan, your dreams and all that is involved in these areas should be considered when establishing your income goal.
Who is effected or involved in your financial life? Some of you have spouses or partners in life, others are single and it will not be necessary to communicate with anyone during this process.  However, if you do have someone that is effected by your income goal, you should at the very minimum explain the process and what is involved in the goal. It is very important that you allow this person to also use your income goal as their fuel for motivation and enthusiasm for your success.
2.  Stretch yourself
      It is extremely important that your income goal be exciting to consider.  It may be an amount that you have never considered to be possible.  It should be a goal that you will have to work hard for.  That you will have to grow and intentionally get better to achieve.  It should give you pride in what you do, your business, your profession.  Scare yourself, stretch yourself, make a statement to yourself, make a forever impact on your financial future.
3.  Take ownership of YOUR income goal
       This is your goal.  This is your income and your financial plan.  You say I just want to get by.  I say look at principles 1 and 2 and if you can't embrace those... never mind.  This is a goal that you never never never give up on.  If life happens and challenges come your way, you adjust and do whatever necessary but you never never never give up on achieving this goal.  The income goal is the fuel that gets you up early and stay late.  It is the motivation to do what others won't!  It is the discipline to hit your numbers.  But you have to take ownership of it first.
Embrace these 3 principles and go to work to establish your income goal.  Set it annually or monthly it doesn't matter.  Once you finish this vital first step then you can move onto step 2.

Expect to win!
--Jim

Secret Formula for Sales Success Part I

When you ask a typical salesperson what there plan is today ... The answer usually is "sell something, duh". Its amazing that they cannot give you a formula or plan to get that done.

Here is the secret formula to sales success:

I / $ PER SALE = # SALES
# SALES X # P/WU PER SALE = # P/WU
# P/WU X #C PER P/WU = #C
#C X #A PER C = #A
#A / WORKING DAYS = #A PER DAY
I / #A = VALUE OF EACH A

It doesn't appear to be simple but I assure you it is very simple.  It allows you to boil your success down to a very simple and basic formula.  It helps you to devise a very simple daily game plan to achieve whatever level of success you desire.
Here is the detailed description of this formula:

Income goal / $$ earned per sale = # of sales needed
# sales needed x # presentations / write ups needed to make 1 sale = # presentations / write ups required to reach income goal
# presentations/ write ups  required x contacts required to make 1 presentation / writeup = # of contacts needed to reach income goal
# of contacts needed x # attempts to contact needed to make a contact = # attempts needed to reach income goal
If your income goal is annual!, monthly or weekly - determine how many working days are that time frame.  Divide the total number of attempts by working days.  Also, take your income goal & divide it by the total number of required attempts. That gives you 1) how many attempts to contact you should make EVERY working day 2) how much each attempt is worth to you.

The first step is to determine your Income Goal. Annual, monthly or weekly it doesn't matter.  What do you need, want and desire?  How much do you want to give or invest? How much are your bills each month?  You do the calculation.  Spend the time and make sure you take ownership of this number and commit to your income goal.  We will then plug it in and get started on your formula.

Expect to Win!

--JW

Conquering Change

Yesterday's post on change was met with a vast range of response.  From those that embrace change to those that say with force "I HATE CHANGE".  It really doesn't matter how we feel about it, we have to deal with it.   How do we conquer change?  From my experience it takes a 2 phased attack - Plan and Execute.

Plan - Planning takes thought and research.  In order for a plan to be effective, it must come together with the end in mind.  What outcome do I want and why? Where am I at now? How do I get from now to the desired outome?  What new knowledge or skill will it take? Then build the plan step by step from where you are now to the desired outcome.

Execute - Action - Take the plan and put it into action.  Discpline, dedication and effort. Gain the knowledge and skill necessary to execute the plan.  Motivation comes from the passion to be successful in making whatever change and or achieving the goal you are trying to reach. 

Today conquer the changing landscape in your life, your family and your business by planning and execution.  Expect to Win!