Sales Steps

What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?Would You….Take responsibility for your success and failures?Cold call more?Make more phone calls?Close harder?Follow up more often?Sell our service harder?Price at rate card?Network?Ask for referrals?How do you take failure out of the equation?Be disciplined- Where there is a will there is a win.“Discipline is the refining fire by which talent becomes ability.” Roy L. Smith If you want milk you shouldn’t just sit on a stool in the middle of the pasture and wait for a cow to back up to you.Discipline your thinking- Don’t dwell on mistakes or missed opportunities. Think outside the box. Find new ways to drive your sales.Discipline your emotions- Stay positive! Find out what motivates you. Set goals. Challenge yourself!Discipline your actions- Strengthen your work habits. Do only those things that bring you success. Account for every minute of every day.Discipline means doing the right things at the right time for the right reasons!Be committed- There are no half-hearted Champions.“The harder you work the harder it is to surrender.” Vince LombardiHuman emotions can go up and down, but commitment must be rock solid.Commit your heart- Sell out to the task at hand. Don’t let doubts about service, managers or fellow sales people dampen your enthusiasm.Commit your time- Everything you do is a sales opportunity. Dinner, shopping, golf, etc. Everyone you meet knows someone else that needs your service. If you commit your time to finding out how the person in front of you can help you, you will make valuable use of your time. Time is the one commodity that you cannot buy more of.Commit your talents – Commitment does not take talent but if you add in your God given talents you capitalize on them. No one who ever gave their best regretted it.Commit your Head- Be in constant learning mode. Watch those around you. Commandeer the best ideas and make them your own. Learn from every set back, so that when you pick yourself up you are ahead of where you were. Fail Forward.Commit your pocket- Invest in yourself. Buy a book, listen to a tape, go to a seminar. Every time you invest in yourself you are investing in a known commodity, yourself.True commitment cannot be attached to day to day feelings, impressions or desires. It has to be tied to your values, because those things that we value we do not compromise. Look deep within yourself to find your core beliefs and principles. How do they affect your day to day commitment? Do you say one thing and do another? Does your day to day activity reflect the values in your heart? Are you honest with your time? Do you give an honest day’s work? Do you leave it all out in the field every day?Be Tenacious- Never, never, never give up!“To finish first, first you have to finish.” Rick MearsSuccess is like wrestling a gorilla. You don’t quit when you get tired- You quit when the gorilla is tired.Going beyond your comfort level- Quitting when the job is done, not when you are tired or discouraged. Sales budgets are there to drive us, to inspire us and to urge us on to success. If they beat you down then you lack tenacity.Work with determination- Set smaller goals leading up to your ultimate goal. Set daily or even hourly goals, that put together, reach above your goal. Doggedly pursue excellence. Don’t let others diminish your heart or your desire.Don’t wait on destiny- Sitting back thinking that leads will come. If you leave your success up to others or circumstances beyond your control you are doomed to fail.Don’t accept failure- Don’t allow the excuses of others to cloud your thinking. Others talk of no leads, competition, or the weather can lull you into thinking that maybe this month success is not possible. You control your own success.Stay positive when others are negative- Walk away from negative talk. Don’t hang around with those who are negative- IT WILL RUB OFF.Give 100% every time- Never assume that a sale is lost. Always close like this is the sale that hits your goal, or without this sale your family won’t eat. Whatever motivates you. Others will tell you that you can’t get in there, or they won’t buy from us. Those that say it can’t be done are often interrupted by those doing it.Tenacity hangs on until the job is finished. Never believe the nay sayers. You are impacted by the people that you fellowship with. Stay motivated, determined, and unyielding in your quest for your goals.Be prepared- Do your Homework. “The work day starts the night before”“You can’t escape the responsibilities of tomorrow by evading it today”Abraham Lincoln Know your day- Have your day planned in advance. If you leave the office without a plan, the plan you have made is for failure. Have you done your homework? Call nights and cold calls are not punishment; they are tools to help you succeed. Be prepared!Know your prospects- Who are you calling? What call lists are you using? Is it successful? What other lists are available to you? If you are going to call, make the most of it. Faking it wastes your time as well as the time of those helping you. Be prepared!Know your product- How well do you know your product? How well do you know how it helps your customer? What about your product is most important to him? Is it the chemicals, the reports, the inspections or the customer service? What questions are you going to ask to get this information? Be prepared!TIPS to finding info on your customersLook on the internetIn their literatureFrom their customersFrom their CompetitionFrom their VendorsKnow THEIR product- What does your customer do? Where is their home office? How does our product affect them? What are their greatest concerns? What are their processes? How can I help them? What can set me apart from the others?In order to be prepared we have to work harder than the other guy. He may be better looking, have more experience, an inside contact or a track record with this company. If we come in prepared, let them know that we have knowledge of their company and that we know what we can do to help them. Have solutions to problems you know he probably has. ScanMaster can cure many reporting issues, scope of service, type of frequency and level of customer service can all be hot buttons we can solve quickly. Have the literature that addresses each issue and be able to confidently talk about it. Check your attitude- The sum of all your thoughts makes up your attitude.“Stop waiting on the man you want to become and start being the man you want to be.” Bruce SpringsteenYou cannot disconnect attitude from reality and expect success.Although attitude is not and end all it can be a game changer. Attitude won’t create talent where there is none but it can make a talent great. By taking your talents and committing to be positive you can create a track record that is not determined by the economy, competition or your surroundings. Remember the following;You still have to be competent.You still have to have experience.●●●Changing your Attitude1. Take responsibility for your attitude2. Evaluate your present attitude3. Develop the desire to change4. Change your attitude by changing your thoughts.5. Develop good habits.6. Manage your attitude every day.●●●You can’t change the facts.You are responsible for personal growth.You have to work at being positive. Attitude CycleConsistency- Numbers don’t lie… and they don’t make excuses.“There is one quality that one must possess to win…the knowledge of what one wants and the burning desire to possess it.” Napolean HillSelling success is a numbers game!Consistency comes from the continual filling of the sales funnel. Put enough in and it will flow out the bottom. Prospect, propose and follow up. Anything else is wasting your day.Recipe For SuccessWhat do you want or need to sale each month?How many sales calls does it take to get a sale?What is the average dollar amount of your sales?How many sales do you need per day to reach your goal?How many proposals do you have to make to get those sales?How many sales calls do you need to make each day to get the proposals, to get the sales, to get your number????Know the Numbers, Know Success.No Numbers, No Success. If you will see and call enough people every day. If you will prelist, prepare and follow-up every day. If you will know everyday where you stand in achieving your numbers. You will fill up your funnel and achieve successes you never thought possible. It is a numbers game. See enough people and see yourself succeed!Resemble Success- Be who you want to become! “The visual overwhelms the verbal” Seek tough love.Ask for the ride along!Be grateful for your strengths but concentrate on your weaknesses! Work on the, “if only’s”…If only he would dress more professional….If only he would listen before he talks….If only he would take advice every once in a while….Confront your “if only’s” before it’s too late!Define Your “Point of Difference” with Your Competition.Dress nicer.

Know more about your prospects.

Ask more and different questions.

Bill yourself as a consultant.

Offer a written evaluation of their property.Build on your talents. Take what God has given you and improve on it. Become the one that others envy. Find your niche and your sales personality and exploit it. Find the thing that makes you the most nervous and do it more often because that is your weakness and where you are most vulnerable. You don’t have to go outside the box to be successful you just have to grow a bigger box. Become who you want and need to be by adding those things to the box you’re in. Look at those who are successful in our company and find out what makes them successful. Talk to those who are already doing it and find out how to emulate them. Because, as the old saying goes, “If you keep doing what you’re doing, you’ll keep getting what you’re getting.”Are you satisfied where you are? If not, you need to spend a portion of everyday working to get better at your craft. By reading, repetition and reviewing your sales processes and successes you will hone your skills. Resemble Success part II- The first thing to plan for is your first impression.“The will to win is nothing without the will to prepare to win”Remember, most times customers do not gather information to make a decision they gather information to justify the decision they already made.Vince LombardiFirst impressions are vital. They lay the groundwork and expectations for the rest of the relationship. Often this is the time that decision makers choose who they want to do business with. I have had many customers come back to the table with a number that they want me to get close too. They say they want to do business with us if we can help them rationalize their decision. Sometimes it is a money concession but many times it is to ease their mind that their first impression was the right one. I spend the next few minutes rebuilding the value and selling myself to alleviate their fears. Assure them that their first impression was correct and you will get the signature.How do you craft a perfect first impression?Attitude matters. Attitude sells. Smile and look comfortable. Have a positive response for every question.

Check your appearance. Shoes shined, clothes clean and pressed, dressed to the same level as your client? What about your breath? Mints not gum! Hair well kempt?

Prepared? Do you have all necessary paperwork? Do you know what this company does in their business? Do you know the title of the person you are dealing with?

Is there anything in the room or office that will help you build rapport? The same hobbies, interests or mutual acquaintances? Find commonality.

Do you know what questions you are going to ask? Are you listening for underlying dissatisfaction or concerns? Are you tailoring your next question to the response to your last question? Listen, Listen, Listen.

What one thing would this customer change about his current pest control service? Make him think of a negative. If it comes quick that tells you one thing, if it comes slowly it may mean that the relationship is strong.

Don’t loiter! Your customer has a job to do. Set the follow up appointment now or at least a next contact date. Make small talk then leave.The first thing you have to sell is yourself. This is your only time to set a first impression, Make it count!Sharks are unique creatures in the sea in that if they are not constantly moving, their gills will fill with water and they will die. The same can be said of the sales process. If we are not constantly moving forward, to the next step, the sales process will die. Don’t be a dead shark!The Sales Process- Let’s back up here and talk about the steps in the sales process. What are the main steps in the process, what is the main objective of the step and what are the goals of each step? There are ultimately four steps in the sales process and each has the same ultimate goal, to move to the next step. There are sub goals in each step that achieve things that are vital in the process and in our ultimate goal of getting the sale. But the main goal of every step is to move to the next step. The four steps each lead us toward the sale:We will look at each step in depth in order to understand exactly what we are trying to accomplish at each level of the process beyond moving the process forward. But first we have to make sure we know how to ensure the process moves forward. When you are prospecting and you reach the person in charge of pest control you simply ask for the appointment, “would Monday or Tuesday at 2 be better for you”, pretty simple, because that is really your only objective at that point. During the next step after you have completed the gathering and inspection you again set the date to give the proposal. Do Not Leave Without the Next Appointment Written In Stone! After the proposal you slip into the close. If the decision does not solely lie with the person with which you are meeting find out the decision making process. Find out who else is in the process and see if you can meet with them, if not get a commitment from the person in front of you to choose our product and become our advocate. At this point you have done all you can to get to the decision maker you set the next appointment to move the process along. By finding out the exact process to the approval you seek you can stay in contact with your prospect and create a time line for an answer.Salesmen never sleep- No one has ever regretted being too prepared.“There is no finish line.” Nike AdvertisementHow to prospect every day.Ask for the owner or manager where you eat lunch.Ask for referrals from all of your customers.Go to chamber meetings, get on boards and committees. Join other organizations that can help you make contacts. Lead groups are worth what you put into them.Fax and mail flyers everyday.Thank you letters.Always carry cards, and hand them out liberally.Be prepared to answer what you do simply, clearly and confidently at all times. (Elevator Speech).How to prepare for the first call.Look for the names of the decision makers, company information and all relevant information on web sites, company literature or customers of your prospect.Know how our service helps them and the inherent issues they face.Know ahead of time what you wish to accomplish and what information you want to acquire. Have a plan!Have at least 15 questions ready. Other questions will present themselves during the conversation but your list will help you stay on track and not forget items.Have your whole strategy set, including questions, tactics, follow up and closing strategies.You can only sell to people that you propose. The one thing every salesperson needs is people to see. If you can master this part of sales you will always have the potential for success. You can’t sell what you don’t see. At least 50% of everyday needs to be spent in some form of prospecting. As time goes on this number, out of necessity, may go down, but that is a direct reflection of how well you did. At that point every spare moment is your prospecting opportunities.Spectacular success is preceded by unspectacular preparation.The Cold Call- It’s all about attitude. You only fail when you quit.Face to Face- This is a tough task but can be well worth your time. Try these steps:Ask for help- Everyone wants to help. It also puts them off their guard. And takes away the apprehension.

Say: I would like to leave some information for the person who decides about your pest control. Who would that be? Have an envelope ready with the information you want to leave already sealed. When given the name write it on the front and let her know you will follow up with a call later.Phone Call- This can be even tougher than face to face, they can’t see your professionalism or your charm. It all has to come through your voice. Since it is imperative that what you say and how you say it is received well, be spot on every time, never wing it. Try these from Gitomer:Smile when you talk. (It comes through)

Get to the point fast. (within the first two sentences)

Make it short and sweet.( here is your elevator speech in action)

State that you have important information.

Ask for the sale! The sale is the appointment, the opportunity to get in front of the decision maker.A warm call is always better than a cold call. It helps bridge the gap to a relationship and gives your customer some knowledge about us and our company. Whether it is a letter, fax or dropping off an information packet make sure that your follow up is timely. Show the initiative and the tenacity and you will begin to build respect and rapport before you open your mouth. Avoid clichés like discussing the weather, how are you and lengthy monologues. Don’t say, “Did you get the information I sent?” It allows a one word answer that could shut the door. Instead try, “I’m calling about the information I sent you. It wasn’t completely self-explanatory, and I would like an opportunity to discuss it with you personally for about 5 or 10 minutes.”As you can see, short prepared speeches are invaluable to the salesperson. Put together what you currently do and begin revising them. Over time you will produce time tested introductions that earn you money.“Every customer is an unlit candle, you have to find the match”IROITimelinessReportingBillingBrandHistoryExpertiseValuenformation Gathering- The main purpose of this step is to build a window into their company. By asking questions and gathering information you will begin to find where they find their value in our product. Every company worries about the ROI (return on investment) of any decision they make and it is up to us to find out what goes into their ROI equation. Many times managers just want to be able to never worry about pests again. They don’t want to deal with this issue again. The questions we ask are very important, they need to pull the expectations, likes and dislikes from our prospect. They also need to gauge their past experiences with our industry. Every sales person needs a list of questions to direct this part of the process. They need to feel natural to you and a part of your personality. Here are a few questions to start your list, it should be a living document that grows and improves all the time.If you could change anything about your current pest control service what would it be?

What kind of reports would be helpful to you?

What does perfect pest control look like to you?

What issues are you currently having?

Sales Steps

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