After 20 years in sales and management, I have found that the most successful people stick to the basics. They have an abundance of knowledge of their product, a positive and winning attitude, excellent selling skills and the habits that ensure a full diary with qualified prospects. Some time ago, I attended a Tom Hopkins ‘Boot Camp’ in the USA. This is one of the world’s greatest sales courses and runs for 3 days. There were 800 people attending (I was the only South African/Brit) and the amazing thing was that these were not beginners attending, but some of the world’s top sales people from every walk of life. Some had returned for the 13th time and the sole purpose was to get back to basics. Working with top sales people in 48 countries, these are some of the basic skills that I have discovered helps them to be top in their fields. Prospecting Top sales people are master prospectors. They are not afraid of cold calling and are socially mobile. They belong to sports clubs, social clubs (Round Table, etc) and have an inbuilt antenna in locating new prospects. They can differentiate very quickly between prospects and suspects and will spend their time with the best-qualified prospects. I work with a great salesman in Hong Kong who earns over a million dollars a year selling financial services. He only mixes with millionaires and his aim is to find the wealthiest person to sell to. He has the belief that everyone will buy from him (and most do). Another client has his own polo team and spends £500,000 every August arranging a worldwide polo tournament. Most polo players are extremely wealthy and as his company sponsors the tournament, he has a high profile. Sales that follow the tournament each year amount to £2 - £3 million. Phoning I have very rarely met someone who loves making appointments on the phone. Top salespeople have developed the habit of phoning regularly. They work on ratios and follow a simple script (though it never sounds as if they use a script). They also prepare well for phoning, having only a diary, prospect names and their script in front of them. Any distractions such as papers are taken off the desk while they phone. They also set themselves a definite target of prospects that will say ‘yes’ in each phoning session. They don’t allow any distractions and psyche themselves positively for every call and don’t take rejection personally. For more scripts take a look at my audio series on telephoning and setting up appointments calls ‘Telephone Sales Skills for Winners’ Dress for Success It doesn’t matter what you sell, you need to dress appropriately. I work with many professionals and the standard dress code is that of the City of London. Dark suits, white shirt, conservative tie and clean, black lace up shoes. Green suits are a no-no. Different occupations allow for short sleeve shirts and more casual dress, but remember, it’s the small things that count. Neatly ironed shirt and trousers, good grooming, gold pen (or gold plated if you’re new to sales - fake it till you make it) and decent looking briefcase. Be very aware of body odour and halitosis (bad breath). It is very inexpensive to buy ‘Gold Spot’ and spray your mouth before each call. I recently went to a well know high street electrical store to purchase and expensive piece of hi-fi equipment. I was knocked out (and nearly sick) by the salesman’s bad breath and quickly left the store and purchased the equipment elsewhere. Here was someone with no idea on the basics, losing his company a lot of money. Remember, you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression. Frank Furness CSP CFP is a professional speaker and trainer specialising in sales and sales management. He has educated, entertained and inspired audiences in 42 countries. His publications and sales CDs have been sold globally. For more information or to sign up for the free ‘Sales Tips & Ideas’ newsletter, email frank@frankfurness.com or telephone+ 44 (0) 1923 248200. http://www.frankfurness.com Free EBooks and software – http://www.frankfurnessresources.com/freebies NOTE: You're welcome to "reprint" this article online as long as it remains complete and unaltered (including the "about the author" info at the end), and you send a copy of your reprint to frank@frankfurness.com Take a look at other articles, free software and e-Books at http://www.frankfurness.com/ Download 39 Power Sales Closing Scripts at http://www.frankfurness.com/closingscripts.cfm
Frank Furness CSP CFP is an international speaker and trainer specialising in sales, technology and management. For free software and ebooks go to http://www.frankfurnessresources.com
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