r0 sh T rn oot themselves the order pad ways salespeople

By Bill Blades William Blades, LLC Gold Canvon. Az. -

IX/HY DO the overwhelming V Y majority of salespeople fail to achieve greatness?

II There is a lack of sales leadership. If the sales manager doesn't score a 10, don't expect the salespeople to become 10s. It's not the sales manager's fault. He may have been a great salesperson and then got promoted without receiving sales management education. He doesn't know what he doesn't know yet.

a a J ttrev have insufficient sales and business skills. They receive adequate product training, but they haven't received the kind of training and education great salespeople receive. When you invest in them, you become entitled to raise expectations. And remember that motivational speeches don't work. There is an abundance of un-learnins to do in most cases. t Planning for the year may be tough for those who have never done it, but it works for the winners. Most say they don't plan because they don't have time. Plan the year and then break it down into quarters and months. Which clients are you going to land in each quarter? How much revenue from each by month? How are you going to do it? Most people can't answer these questions. If a bunch of salespeople

4 There is a lack of desire, by the salesperson, to excel at the profession. They go at it to be average or even to be pretty good. That's okay, I guess, if you want average to pretty good sales results. Recruit more people that only have two basic needs: money and oxygen.

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can't answer them, you have massive drift.

F a

D Most people squander time. Don't do it. Treat it like gold because it is your major currency. Invest most of it with major clients you want to land and with those you never want to lose. Not with small clients just because you like being with them. Comfort zones are killers.

D A very high percentage of salespeople talk too much. They forget that most people only have a threesentence attention span. They forget that clients have pretty much heard all that "products, great service" blahblah before. They don't understand that great selling consists of doing very little talking. It's far better to ask great questions and be a great listener and note taker.

,I Audiences answer "yes" to these three questions: "Do you find most business telephone calls boring?' "Do you find most business letters boring?" "Do you find most salespeople to be boring?" tnI U A majority put in a good days work, and it is usually 8:00 to 5:00 or thereabouts. Great salespeople understand what Kemmons Wilson, founder of Holiday Inns, meant when he said, "To be successful, you only have to work half of a day;just figure out which half you are going to work-the first half or the second half." Every day? No, just when you should, do.

Solution: be anything except boring. If you think boring is okay, I suggest you go into the oil drilling business. There, boring is good. Excitement, on the other hand, gets others excited, too. I even saw an accountant get excited recently. It proved that anything is possible!

0 Most salespeople only have one personality style; how they sell reflects how they personally like to be sold. Not good. There are four distinct personality styles and smart people adjust their style to fit better the clients' style. Most fail to study clients like a book.

Ln"." are many "cookie cutter" salespeople that call on people to sell them something. They don't focus on personal, value-added services and joy. Try to find special things to do for clients so that they will want to buy from you and need you.

Next month: l0 more shortcomings of salespeople.

- Bill Blades, CMC, CPS, is a professional speaker and consultant specializing in sales and leadership issues. He can be reached at (480) 67 I - 3000 or bill @ williamblade s. com.