Author: mike

The iPhone App I’d Like to Own

by mike

Your results in sales – and all of life – are completely dependent on what you think about all day long. Your thoughts lead to your actions, and it is your actions that determine your results. But everything starts by your mental attitude, by what you dwell on all day long.

I’m sure that you’ve heard this before, and you may even believe it’s true, but if you do not act on it, then you’re no better off than if you’d never heard this before. I once heard that someone who doesn’t read is no better off than someone who can’t read. In fact, if you’re like most people, much of your self-talk and attitude, through most of the day, would indicate that you don’t know the law of the mind, or that you don’t really believe in it.

Most people’s thinking is really negative. It is pervasive and happens so quickly, that most people don’t even realize how bad it really is. And because we’re talking to ourselves at a rate of about 60,000 thoughts a day, we receive a lot of negative input from our own minds. Even our conversation is often negative, and I’m sure you’ve caught yourself or others complaining about the economy, the government, the leads, the weather, etc…

Imagine now that there was an application available for your iPhone (or other device you have) that would begin recording every thought and word you had and said from the moment you woke up in the morning to the moment you went to sleep that night. Imagine that it kept a perfect record of everything and that the next day you could hear it all, word for word, thought for thought. How scary would that be?

Now imagine this: You have such a device with you at all times and it is called your subconscious mind. It not only records everything you say and think, but it also records every feeling and emotion you feel and it believes it as if it was the truth. It then makes sure that you act in direct accordance with the truth as you believe it to be and that becomes your experience and your results in life.

This is the great law of being (some call it the law of attraction), and it is the most important concept you can learn and apply in your life. Just remember this great truth: You future is being shaped right now by the thoughts and feelings you hold in your consciousness today. So if you bought that new iPhone app, what would it be recording?

What Kind of Closer are You?

by mike

There are two kinds of sales philosophies out there and while they both accomplish the same thing – closed deals – they go about it in very different ways and with very different consequences to the closer. I’m very familiar with these approaches because I’ve practiced both of them, and in my consulting and coaching I constantly run into both attitudes.

On the one hand is what I’ll call the serious closer. I used to be this kind of closer, and, when I was, the only thing that mattered was how many deals I closed and how big my paycheck was at the end of the week. Now don’t get me wrong – I’m not saying this is a bad thing and I can tell you that I sure made a lot of money. But there was a downside to it.

The main downside was that I based my entire self-esteem on how well I did as a closer. If I had a good month then I felt good about myself, but when I didn’t do well I tended to get anxious and depressed. I could be moody, and I often projected my attitude and self-esteem on others. I looked down on those who didn’t perform at the top and after a while I lost my empathy for others and eventually for myself.

Another problem was that I was driven to succeed all the time. While this might sound like a good thing, the flip side of it was fear. There were many evenings and mornings I would wake up in fear of not making or exceeding my quotas. This fear drove me close sales at all costs, and in the end I cared more about closing sales than I did about what was in the best interests of my clients.

While this may seem like an extreme attitude, the push for profits, for making quotas and for succeeding in business often supports and rewards this kind of a sales mentality.

After years of pursuing sales in this way, a slow transformation took place and I developed into what I now refer to as an “of service” sales professional. While I’m still all about closing deals, today I go about it in a very different way. Today I’m more concerned with finding people and companies I’m a good fit for and then looking for the maximum ways of being of service to them. I’m more interested in helping today than I am in closing at any expense.

There are many benefits to this new attitude and one is that today I don’t have the kind of financial fear that I used live with. These days when I wake up in the morning I have a ritual of meditation where I now ask the spirit of the universe to put me in the position to be of maximum benefit to the people I encounter. As in all my meditation and affirmation sessions, I always end with a visualization of many companies and people contacting me with the specific needs that I am uniquely qualified to help with.

After many years of practicing this kind of sales philosophy, I can tell you that as long as I continue to take action, remain positive, and stay focused on being of service, I have all the business I can handle. I also have a peace of mind and a calmness that sees me through times when the economy changes or the seasons change. For that I’m truly grateful.

Today when I work with clients in a coaching relationship, the one common thing theme I find is a constant worry and anxiousness about not having enough money or not being successful enough. The answer to that, I’ve found, is to examine their core sales philosophy. “Are you trying to get or to give?” I ask them. Once we get straight on fundamental question, the business flows in a much easier and enjoyable way.

Stop Worrying About Sales

by mike

Someone once said that worrying is praying for things you don’t want to happen.  What a great saying, and, like all sayings, there’s a lot of truth in it.  When you think about it, praying is when you concentrate on one thing and then you meditate or "pray" on it to the exclusion of all else.  Usually, too, when you pray you put a lot of emotion into it and, of course, you have a lot of faith in what you are praying about.  When you think about it, isn’t that what you do when you worry about something as well?

Think about all the time you spend worrying about not making enough sales.  Usually what happens is that you begin to concentrate on all the reasons why you’re not closing enough deals – the economy, lack of good leads, competition, deficiencies in your product or service, etc. – and then you start dwelling on all the negative consequences of not making sales – not having enough money to pay your bills, then losing your job, not finding another, etc..  

After a while, all these thoughts add up and before you know it you’ve invested a lot of energy and emotion into the horrible outcomes you’ve made up and within a few days or weeks you’ve built up enough evidence to support the faith you’ve developed that things just aren’t going to work out.  When you look at it this way, worrying really is similar to praying for the things you don’t want to have happen!

There is a better way.  What all top producers do is have an unyielding faith that things are going to work out as long as they keep taking action, change their actions as their results dictate, and  most of all, they know they must stay focused on the results they do want to happen.  You see, they know that whatever they dwell on long enough eventually manifests itself, and they know the key to their success starts with visualizing their goals as already having been accomplished, and they then just keep working towards them until they are.  

I found one of the best examples of this attitude in the book "Siddhartha" by Hermann Hesse.  The book is about the Buddha and his journey to enlightenment.  Before he became the Buddha, Siddhartha (as he was known) was successful at anything he undertook, and his close friend, Govinda, once asked him how he was able to so easily manifest any result he set his mind to.  Siddhartha’s answer was beautiful in its simplicity, and powerful in its wisdom.  

He simply responded, "It is easy.  I simply do not allow any thought that is contrary to what I want to enter into my head."  

That is the essence of spiritual power, and it is the antithesis of worrying.  All strong leaders, top performers, and great achievers share that kind of attitude on one level or another.  I suspect that the closer to that ideal you can get, the faster and easier your manifestations are.  It’s simply the law of universe.

The wonderful thing for all of us is that while we may not be able to act with the faith of the emerging Buddha at all times, we can recognize when we are worrying or being negative, and we all have the power to switch our thinking to the positive outcomes we know are possible.  And the more we do this, the better actions we will take and the better results we will get.  In this way life is a self-fulfilling prophesy and our destinies truly are in our own hands.  And when we have this kind of knowledge, what is there really to worry about?

What Are You Worth?

by mike

The other day I saw an interview with T. Harv Eker, author of the best selling book, "Secrets of the Millionaire Mind."  He said something that I thought was amazing.  He said that he could speak with anyone for 10 minutes, and in that time he could predict their entire financial future.  When I heard this, I thought about all the sales reps I have worked with in my 27 year career, and I immediately realized how true this is.

I’ve always thought that sales reps have an invisible dollar sign $ above their heads with a number that represents how much money they think they are worth.  It is this financial image that determines how they perform more than any other single factor.  It’s more important than what the economy is doing, or how their leads are, or what their territory is like or anything else. 

This financial self-worth image is so reliable that I used to rely on it to predict a sales rep’s future performance.  When I used to hire and mange sales reps I only had to ask them one question if I wanted to get an accurate idea of how they would do working for me.  And that question was, "How much money did you earn at your last job?"  Chances were 90% that they would do the same at their new job as well.

While 90% of sales reps tend to remain stuck working within and producing up to (or more likely down to) their invisible dollar sign, the good news is that about 10% of sales reps find ways to raise the number that follows their dollar sign, and they are able to earn a lot more money and enjoy the perks and benefits that come from their increased success.  They have found the secret to all top performance and it’s very different than how most people go about making changes and achieving different results.  

You see, the key to making more money and easily sustaining this performance, is to first change the number that follows the dollar sign above your head.  In other words, until you change your financial self-worth image, any changes you’re able to force yourself to make to please your new sales manager or spouse, or whomever else, will be temporary, and soon you’ll go right back to producing down to your old dollar sign. 

If you want changes in your performance to be permanent, you have to make the changes in your consciousness first.  There are many ways to do this and some of the best methods include setting realistic goals and writing affirmation cards that reinforce what it feels like to have already achieved those goals.  The key with this is to pick goals that you can actually believe in because if they are too high, your subconscious mind will reject them before you even start. 

Just remember the real secret to life – whatever you hold in your consciousness will always find a way to manifest itself in your life.  So if you want to change what you’re worth, then you first have to change what you think you’re worth.  And you can begin changing that today!

5 Mental Attitudes of Winners

by mike

Success in sales, as in all of life, starts by first developing and maintaining an expectant attitude of success. Simply put, all top performers expect that they are going to succeed, and because of this they consistently take the actions that lead them to achieve their goals and become successful.

It is their mental attitudes that allow them to meet obstacles, set backs and temporary failures with a new resolve to keep trying, or to try something different, until they succeed.  That?s what makes them top 20% producers. 

The other 80%, on the other hand, expect things to be difficult, have already accepted that they might not succeed, and they are easily discouraged when things don’t go their way.  This attitude allows them to justify and accept the results they get.

If you are serious about changing your career and your life, then get in the practice of working on your mental attitude first.  Adopt these 5 mental attitudes of winners to powerfully change your ways of thinking and to permanently change your results.

1)      Understand the law.  There are many absolute laws in the universe – the law of gravity, the laws of mathematics, etc.  The most powerful law in terms of your success is the law of attraction.  In short, whatever you hold in your consciousness you will manifest in your life. 

So if you don’t like your results, then look at their source (your thoughts, expectations and beliefs), and work on changing those first. Once you do, your results will automatically change.

2)      Stop blaming.  So many people blame the economy, the leads, their territory, their boss, their family, etc., for their failure.  But the truth is this:  You are 100% responsible for your life and your results.  Winners accept this and that’s where their power comes from.  When you accept 100% responsibility you then gain access to 100% of the solutions. 

3)      Stop struggling.  Success is easy because all results are simply an out picturing (a physical manifestation) of what we hold in our consciousness (our beliefs).  The reason most people struggle (and fail) is because they try to achieve something without first changing their mental attitudes. 

Winners recognize and work on changing their attitudes and beliefs and expectations first, and then they easily and naturally take the actions that lead to the achievement of their goals.

4)      Live life’s formula.  Most people live under the false belief that if they HAVE a lot of money, then they would DO the things that would allow them to BE happy.  This is totally backward.

The real formula for success is to first "BE" – act, feel and live in your mind as if you had already achieved your goal – and then you will naturally DO the things (take the actions) that will enable you to HAVE what you want.  This is life?s true formula and the sooner you live it, the sooner you’ll experience success. 

5)      Stop worrying.  All thoughts turn into things.  If you constantly worry about not having enough money, you will never have enough money.  If instead you develop a money consciousness (click here for MP3 hypnosis recordings to help you do this), then you will attract all the money you need.  Believe me, there is enough money in the world for you to have the things you want!

Carefully monitor your thoughts right before you fall asleep at night and first thing in the morning.  Then ask yourself, "What am I asking from the universe every single day?"  Chances are, what you are dwelling on has already shown up in your life.

I hope these 5 mental attitudes of winners resonated with you.  Like gravity, they work in and on your life whether you consciously practice them or not.  The key is to understand and use them purposefully to achieve the results you want.  Once you do, you will manifest success just like the top 20% do.

How To Make Your Sales Manager Better

by mike

I consult with a lot of business owners, and I hear a common complaint: “The sales team isn’t making their revenue numbers and my sales manager doesn’t seem to know what to do to get them to improve.  What should I do?”

After reviewing their sales processes, their training program, sales scripts, etc., I always ask the same question: “How much production is your sales manager generating per month?”  And I almost always get the same answer – “My manager doesn’t sell.”

That’s not good.

The problem with many sales managers is that they aren’t expected to get on the phone and sell.  And the problem with that is how can they teach and coach something they aren’t doing themselves (or worse, that they can’t do)?

Now I know there are differing opinions on this – some say managers need to manage from the sidelines (like coaches), need to be involved in higher level responsibilities, need to attend endless meetings, and need to be able to set revenue goals and get their team to achieve them.

I agree with some of this (except the endless meetings part!), but the most effective and respected sales managers and V. P.’s I work with all lead by example.  They have a personal quota and they keep their skills sharp and refined because they are on the phones closing prospects and clients every day.

Because of this, they have a real understanding of what it takes to get the job done, and so they are in the best position to teach this to others.

Here are the top 5 benefits of having a selling sales manager:

1)      Sales managers who actively sell have an up to date, intimate understanding of what techniques, skills and strategies work in your selling environment.  And having this first-hand knowledge means they can teach it to others.

2)      Because a selling sales manager has this immediate experience of closing sales, they are in a much better position to help their team members close business as well.  They can easily do a TO (take over) when a sales rep needs help.  This not only teaches the rep how to handle selling situations, but it often saves a sale as well.  This is what your sales manager must be able to do, and it is a crucial part of their job.

3)      A selling sales manager commands the immediate respect and confidence of his/her sales team.  A sales manager is a leader of his team, and the best way to lead is by example.  Sales reps respect and follow a leader who can help them close sales and achieve their goals.  They’ll also work harder for them.

4)      A confident sales manager grows a confident and productive team.  Nothing is better for a sales manager than to have him/her demonstrate, to themselves and others that they have what it takes to successfully close sales.  A successful selling manager isn’t afraid of setting production goals because he knows he can achieve them (and he knows what it’s going to take).

5)      As a business owner, you must have the confidence that your manager knows exactly how to accomplish your company’s revenue goals.  The most accurate way to determine this is by having the sure knowledge that he knows how to do it himself.  This experience is invaluable and will ensure that the goals you set are reasonable and reachable.

A common problem I run across when working with companies is an unreachable, unrealistic revenue goal set by the owner that has no real buy in by the sales manager.  It is this disconnect that causes friction, undermines morale, and often leads to unmotivated, underperforming sales teams (and managers).

All this can be avoided when you have an experienced, hands on, selling sales manager who can give you honest and accurate feedback about production goals and the ways to achieve them.

There are other benefits of having a selling sales manager leading your team, but I hope this short list has convinced you.  Believe me, the fastest way to make your sales manager better is to make sure they are on the phones closing business part of their day.

If you would like to know more ways to help your sales manager (and your team) better, visit my Management Training Page here.

If you found this article helpful, then you will love Mike’s bestselling book on what it takes to become a Top 20% producer: “The REAL Secrets of the Top 20% – How To Double Your Income Selling Over the Phone.”  (Recommended by Jeffrey Gitomer!)  Get a Special Offer and read about it by clicking here: http://www.mrinsidesales.com/secrets_and_CD.htm

Mike Brooks, Mr. Inside Sales, works with business owners and inside sales reps nationwide teaching them the skills, strategies and techniques of top 20% performance.

He offers a FREE audio program designed to help you double your income selling over the phone, as well as an internationally acclaimed FREE Ezine. If you’re looking to catapult your sales, or create a sales team that actually makes their monthly revenues, then learn how by visiting: http://www.MrInsideSales.com

The 4 Secrets of Leadership

by mike

Can you name the one or two best sales managers, or business owners you ever worked for?  If so, how did they make you feel?  What qualities or traits did they have in common, or which ones do you most try to emulate in your own company?  

I work with a lot of business owners and managers, and I can tell you that the most successful ones all have at least four core characters in common.  Many of them possess other qualities as well, but these four “Secrets” as I call them are always at the center of their power and charisma.  

As you read through them, ask yourself which ones you currently have, which ones you’d like to strengthen, or which ones you can develop.  Once you master them all, you will be able to lead any team and any company to greatness. 

Here they are: 

#1:  Unbounded Optimism.  Ask any great leader to describe the future, and they will always tell you it’s a wonderful place.  Leaders are extremely goal oriented, have clearly identified what it is they want and what they are willing to sacrifice to get there, and they radiate an optimistic glow because they already live there in their mind’s eye.  

Because people want to feel good about themselves and their futures, they naturally gravitate to winners.  People want to work for and, in fact, work harder for people who are optimistic.  Plus, optimism is contagious.  A great leader can often turn an organization full of negativity around, and the excitement they inspire can result in greater morale and greater results.  

If you’re in a position of authority, ask yourself if you’d want others to catch your attitude.  If not, then focus on ways to become optimistic – you’ll be a much more effective leader when you are. 

#2:  Rock Solid Confidence.  Great leaders are convinced they can do anything they set their minds to.  I love a saying of Napoleon’s: “The improbable we’ll do at once.  The impossible will take a little longer.”  A leader’s attitude is: Whatever the challenge, we’ll find a way to overcome it.  

Confident leaders create confident followers, and a company, family, or team with an “I Can” attitude is unstoppable.  The confidence of a great leader always inspires the best performance of his/her employees, and their team’s success just adds to and confirms the leader’s confidence.  

#3:  Integrity.  In a recent survey about what qualities employees wanted from the managers and business owners they worked for, integrity was the most desired trait people picked.  Integrity, including honesty, fairness and consistency of attitude and action, are traits that build confidence in a leader and that build loyalty in the people who report to them.  

Leaders with integrity genuinely care about the company they are building or the job they are doing, and this helps everybody feel as if their work has meaning and makes a difference in people’s lives.  Most people spend a third of their lives at their jobs, and while we go to work for a pay check it’s the intrinsic satisfaction someone gets from their work that helps them feel fulfilled.  Leaders with a high degree of integrity help foster this feeling by setting the example. 

#4:  Decisiveness:  All great leaders are decisive and committed to the actions they take.  This doesn’t mean they act capriciously, on the contrary, they fully weigh out and think through their options, but the key characteristic is that they aren’t afraid to make a decision and implement a plan of action.  

Most employees tell many tales of bosses who are afraid of making a decision, or who frequently go back on them, and this habit of hesitation undermines their authority and the confidence of everyone in the organization.  Leaders, on the other hand, may not always make the right decision, but they can be counted on to make a well thought out one, and then to take action on it.   If facts change or results warrant it, they are flexible enough to reevaluate and make another decision.  

If you’re in a leadership role, don’t shy away from decisions.  Evaluate the data at the time and the relative need of making a decision and then choose the best course of action and commit.  Making a decision – even if it’s the wrong decision – is better than making no decision at all. 

If you are in a position of authority and wish to become an effective leader, then find ways of developing or strengthening these four characteristics in yourself.  Remember, everyone is counting on you for guidance, and it is your ability to lead that will determine the ultimate result in your team or company.

Three Ways to Connect With Your Prospects

by mike

What’s the first thing that goes through your head when you get a call from a sales rep?  If you answered, “I can’t wait to get them off the phone,” then you’re not alone.  In fact, when a telemarketer calls me up at home and says those words that immediately identify them as a sales person, the “How are you today?” line, my first thought is, “I’ll be great as soon as I get rid of you!”

One of the biggest mistakes sales reps make who have to call prospects – either to set an appointment, generate interest, or qualify and then send information – is they don’t acknowledge in any way what is going through the prospect’s mind.  Let’s face it, everyone you call has a reaction to being intruded upon, and each of them is having a similar reaction to the one that you and I have.

If you want to successfully connect with your prospect, and earn the precious few seconds it takes to establish rapport and generate some interest, then you must put yourself into the mind of your prospect and enter the conversation that’s going on in their minds.  If you don’t do this, then you will be pitching and pitching and the prospect will just be waiting for you to take a breath so they can blow you off.

So, what can you do to enter this conversation?  Incorporate the following three techniques the next time you make a cold call, and watch your call times improve, your confidence grow and your sales and income soar.

Technique number one:  If we all know that what’s going on in your prospect’s mind is, “Oh, no, not another sales rep”, then why not acknowledge this?  Try:

“Now _________, you probably get a lot of these kinds of calls, don’t you?  Well if you’re like me you’re probably wishing you hadn’t answered the phone right about now, so let’s make a deal:  I’ll ask you just two quick questions to see if what I have can actually help you (do whatever it is your product or service can do), and if it can and you’re interested, we’ll continue, and if it can’t or you’re not interested, we’ll part friends, is that fair enough?”

Technique number two:  Many times what’s going through a prospect’s mind is that they are too busy to listen at that moment, so they just use the overall brush off of, “I’m not interested,” and this usually gets people off the phone.  Here’s how to enter into that conversation:

“_________ if you’re like me you’re probably busy doing a million things so I’ll make this brief.  Let me just ask you two quick things and if we find that we’re a fit and you’d like to know more than we can talk about it or we can schedule a time when it’s more convenient, is that fair?”

The nice thing about this technique is that it acknowledges that they’re busy but it gives them the option of spending more time with you now if they like what they hear.

Technique number three:  This third technique is something I learned from a good friend of mine, David Frey.  I’ll let him tell it to you straight:

When I first started out in marketing I needed to make some quick money.  At the time, there was a rash of mold infestations here in Texas and mold remediators were having a heyday. I knew they were hungry for good, solid leads.

And about the same time I came across a way to generate leads using telephone autodialing. So I bought an autodialing system, installed it in my home and started generating leads for mold remediators. Yes, I admit it. I was one of those pesky, annoying autodialing demons.

It Worked So Well That I moved into generating leads for the mortgage industry. At the height of my lead generating business, I was autodialing 12,000 people in the city of Houston every day out of my little home office. You should have seen all the telephone lines coming out of my wall.

It was crazy!

From all those calls, I would generate about 5 good, solid leads a day (which actually made me a lot of money).

My Eureka Moment! I wasn’t happy with only 5 leads a day so I started testing new scripts. I thought to myself, what’s the first thing that I do when I hear an autodialed message? I HANG UP! So I added 4 words to the front of my script and KABOOM!

My leads QUINTUPLED….to an average of 20 leads a day with the same amount of dials. Want to know what those 4 words were? They were simple.

“Please don’t hang up”

That’s it. I added, “Please don’t hang up” at the beginning of my script and my leads quintupled!”

For all of you out there who use an autodial, I recommend you trying this technique.  Once again, it’s effective because it gets you into the mind of your prospect.

Think about what you’ve learned today as you go out and make your cold calls.  Always ask yourself: “What is my prospect thinking, and how can I speak to that?” If you do, you’ll make a much better connection and you’ll end up making more sales!

If you found this article helpful, then you will love Mike’s bestselling book on inside sales: “The REAL Secrets of the Top 20% – How To Double Your Income Selling Over the Phone.”  You can read about it by clicking here: http://www.mrinsidesales.com/secrets_and_CD.htm

Mike Brooks, Mr. Inside Sales, works with business owners and inside sales reps nationwide teaching them the skills, strategies and techniques of top 20% performance.

He offers a FREE audio program designed to help you double your income selling over the phone, as well as an internationally acclaimed FREE ezine. If you’re looking to catapult your sales, or create a sales team that actually makes their monthly revenues, then learn how by visiting: http://www.MrInsideSales.com

Going for the No

by mike

First, I’d like to thank you all for your Ezine topic requests. I do my best to answer them, and generally I look for multiple requests on the same subject. And there are a lot of them because let’s face it ? we?re all struggling with the same objections though in different forms.

For example, one problem I keep hearing about is how to get a prospect/customer to tell you what’s really going on. Many of you wrote that after multiple calls, messages, etc, when you do get them on the phone all you get are vague answers. If this has ever happened to you, then here’s how to deal with it:

The first thing you need to do is realize that if your prospect isn’t calling you back, or if when you do reach them all you get are vague answers or more put offs, then you probably already have your answer. They aren’t a deal. It?s time to move on!

The problem with 80% of sales reps is that they will chase and chase unqualified leads because it seems easier than cold calling and looking for real buyers. ?At least they took the information or have a need,? they say.

Yeah, but are they buying? Usually not. And all that energy and time you waste chasing them makes you a weaker closer.

The solution? Ask the tough questions! (Refer back to the earlier article on how to do this). In other words, when you do get them on the phone, ask them point-blank where they stand and if you’re still in the running. Try this:

?_________ let me ask you a question and please be honest. We’ve talked about this now for X amount of time (or — You’ve had this information for X amount of time), and I don?t want to keep bothering you if this isn’t a fit for you. But I do need to know if this looks like a solution you actually think you’re going to act on, or do you have something else in mind??

Now shut up and listen. Because you have given them an out, they will usually tell you the truth. Your job now is to listen to it and learn from it. Just because they aren?t buying doesn?t mean you can?t get stronger as a closer.

You see, whatever reason they give you for not buying — budget, not a right fit, staying with their current supplier, their accountant won?t let them do it ? whatever the reason is, you need to take this as a lesson and begin qualifying for it more thoroughly on all of your subsequent prospecting calls.

Another Way to Double Your Sales in 90 Days

by mike

Sounds too good to be true, doesn?t it? Stan Billue, a top telemarketing sales trainer in the late 80?s, claimed that he had a sure fire technique that could double your sales in 90 days if you just followed it. So I did. And it worked!

The technique? Record your calls. Everything that you are doing right, and every area you need to improve in will be revealed to you in just a few hours. By being able to calmly listen to your qualifying/closing calls all the way through, here are just a few of things you?ll hear that you?re probably missing:

  1. What your prospect?s true buying motives are.
  2. What your prospect?s objections are.
  3. Whether or not you listened to these and answered them.
  4. Whether you were listening at all.
  5. How often you talked past the close.
  6. How many objections you created.
  7. Whether you heard their objections and answered them and then confirmed your answer and asked for the order?or just kept pitching!

Everything will be there on tape and you and your manager can then go about correcting your technique and immediately improving your success on the phone. The bottom line for all sales teams and sales reps is that if your fundamentals and techniques are wrong, then you will keep getting the same results — you won’t make quotas, you will be frustrated at the end of each day, and you won’t improve. Period.

You must correct the fundamental problems. And to do this you must first know what they are! Recording your calls is the fastest, easiest, and best way to do this. All highly successful companies do this all the time. Start listening to the next on hold message you get and I’ll bet you hear, ?Please note that this call is being recorded for training and quality assurance.? Guess what they are doing with these recordings? They are using them to train and improve their inside sales teams!

Without a doubt, this one technique was the most important thing I did that catapulted me into the Top 20%. I relentlessly recorded myself and began improving in all areas and on each and every call. I listened to them at lunch, on the drive home, with my manager, etc. Because of recording myself, I literally doubled my income in 90 days. And I never looked back.

For managers and business owners, recording your sales reps is the single most important thing you can do to increase revenues. Among other things, if you:

  • Want to know why someone is in making sales? Record them and you’ll have your answer in a day.
  • Want to see if your training is working? Record them before and after see how many reps are implementing your training.
  • Want great sales training material for your next meeting? Record your top reps and play the good parts in your next meeting.

Bottom line — if you want to double your sales and income selling over the phone, and want the fastest most effective way to do this, then go to Radio Shack today (or search online) and have a recorder in place tomorrow. Start recording and listening to your tapes, correcting your fundamentals, and watch your closing rate and income soar.