Two Facts about Quota
1. Every year quota will go up, just like your pay if you are doing the right things. 2. Increase in quota is not a punishment for success; rather it allows companies and teams to grow and be successful.
Michael Jordan on Failures and Success
Do your failures get you down or make you feel that long-term success is out of reach? Consider what basketball legend Michael Jordan had to say about his own failures: “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot…
Marketing Manager Joke
A software manager, a hardware manager, and a marketing manager are driving to a meeting when a tire blows. They get out of the car and look at the problem. The software manager says, “I can’t do anything about this – it’s a hardware problem.” The hardware manager says, “Maybe if we turned the car…
Asking for the Sale Throughout
If your product or service is right for the prospective customer, then don’t hesitate to ask for the sale. Really, though, you should be implicitly asking for the sale throughout. How so? Because you’re helping the prospect through the process of consideration, i.e., considering whether or not to buy from you. If you’re acting as…
Be Part of the Decision
The job of the sales professional is to help each prospective customer make the decision about what is best for him or her. You’re not to leave the choice to them, and you’re not to take the decision out of their hands with some manipulative trick. You’re there to help the prospect through the process…
Sales Joke: The Unbreakable Comb
A salesman was demonstrating unbreakable combs in a department store. He was impressing the people who stopped by to look by putting the comb through all sorts of torture and stress. Finally to impress even the skeptics in the crowd, he bent the comb completely in half, and it snapped with a loud crack. Without…
Your Interactions with Customers Form Relationships
Therefore, it’s a good idea to remember the sound advice of Stephen R. Covey when speaking with your prospects: “The little kindnesses and courtesies are so important. Small discourtesies, little unkindnessess, little forms of disrespect make large withdrawals. In relationships, the little things are the big things.” As I like to say, treat every prospect…
Peyton Manning on Following the Coach
An important lesson for any sales professional is to be coachable. If you refuse to follow the coach’s leadership, then you can’t function as the member of a team, the team can’t function, and no one can win long term. Take it from Peyton Manning: “The head coach tells us what to do, and we…
Unhelpful Truths
Few things irritate me more than hearing managers spout truisms like “sales is a numbers game” or “this is a people business.” Well, duh. Football is a game of yard lines and turf. Saying so doesn’t tell you anything helpful. Pithy words of wisdom can be beneficial, but too much of what you hear about…
So What If You Were Born to Win?
Zig Zigler said the following: “You were born to win, but to be a winner, you must plan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win.” How true. It’s not enough to have the attributes that point you in the direction of success. It’s not even enough to have the talents and skills that…