As we dive into 2023, it’s often a time for reflection, to review both the good and the not-so-good bits.
I am often asked this question by owners and sales managers.
“Mike, what makes a good salesperson, and what should I look for?”
2023 they tell us, is going to be a tough year; I guess the way you look at it, it just might be 365 opportunities to get better.
It might be the time to invest in yourself.
In this article, I talk about hiring the right salespeople.
“What behaviours are the most important for salespeople in this new selling environment?”
“What abilities do you believe will help salespeople in this new selling environment?”
Here is my take on it as you start the New Year.
I will address one behaviour at a time in each blog.
I want to do this because it’s not okay to accept just anyone that shows up in an empty suit.
Having hired hundreds of salespeople, I know what makes the good ones tick.
1. Self-Management
This first behaviour is one of the most important skills I look for in a salesperson. It can be a lonely job selling. Often, you want your sales team to be able to take instructions and make sure they can be confident to be comfortable.
I want my salesperson to be able to focus on their effort to achieve their goals. Why? I do not want them to forever come to me for the answer. Good self-managers work it out for themselves. You want to know that your salesperson can utilise his/her efforts on their task load and attain their daily objectives.
2. Survival Capabilities
In my business, we had a salary and at-risk structure in place. Survival in that environment requires the salesperson to take control of the sales process.
If you can select the person with the motivation, then your salesperson ticks off the first important trait you need to look for –Self Management.
Check out a special video I have put together to help you select the right salesperson for your company. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biXKMYnK_eE
If you’re reading this here, I have put together a video on how to hire a salesperson in a competitive environment. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biXKMYnK_eEI
Well-managed well throughout incentive programs plays an essential part in achieving and exceeding sales targets. If your incentives are adequately structured, they can result in a high level of motivation.
Here are a few basic principles I recommend to my clients.
Avoid incentives where individual salespeople compete directly with each other to win a single prize. This often causes animosity. It is much better to ensure that every person has a chance to achieve an incentive by reaching a certain level of sales.
2. Incentives should be introduced with some pizzazz and excitement to help generate an air of urgency. Incentives are designed to motivate salespeople, so how they are presented needs to reflect this.
3. Incentives should not be long-term – usually a month- under certain circumstances; incentives could be offered for one week only. Don’t make the mistake of running incentive programmes for more than three months.
The fact is, It is hard to sustain interest in incentive programs if they are run over too long a period. Salespeople tend to focus on incentives only when they are close to achieving them. A year-long incentive, for example, will only really generate genuine interest among salespeople about three months from the end of the year (by which time it’s too late to impact on the result) – for the rest of the year, the incentive seems too far away.
Have a great week selling your stuff.
Mike
PLUS: WHENEVER YOU’RE READY…
Here are 3 ways I can help you make more sales in your business – whether your business is big or small.
1. Try the new 7 Days to Sales Success Framework.
Make More Sales in 7 days. The framework of everything you need to start making more sales in your business. The Sales Success Framework is based on a simple 7-day challenge. Click here to find out how you can grow your business by increasing sales.
2. Join our Private Facebook Group – The Salesmindset Inner Circle. Get all the latest up-to-date sales ideas.
Every week we do Facebook Live updates on all things sales. Tips, ideas, free coaching, and much more. Join me by clicking here.
3. Work with me One-on-One.
If you’re a small or large business owner or in professional services, you might have a few strategies, tactics and tools away from doubling your lead flow, revenue and impact. Please jump on a FREE 15-minute Brainstorm call with me by clicking here.
Mike Brunel started mikebrunel.com after being a successful entrepreneur and founder of NRS Media. He co-founded NRS Media in Wellington, New Zealand, expanded it into a global powerhouse in media sales and training, and was eventually responsible for opening offices in London, Atlanta, Toronto, Sydney, Capetown, and Bogota. His products and services are now sold in 23 countries and in 11 languages generating $350 million annually in sales for his clients. Mike sold the company in 2015 and now spends his time following his passions which include rugby, travel. His promise: “I can find thousands of dollars in your business within minutes – GUARANTEED” TRY ME OUT!
80%……….Of all sales made after the fifth call 48%……….Of all salespeople, call once and quit 25%……….Call twice and quit 10%……….Keep on calling
These statistics are close to the mark in all selling forms, be it a service or product you sell.
I think that we all know…
SALES DON’T JUST HAPPEN.
I have created a diagram to illustrate the real-time that your buyer is available to sell to.
Just email me at mikebrunel.com for a copy.
Why do many salespeople thrive when others do not? Here are some ongoing practices I observe every day.
1. Always add to your pipeline.
Not continuously adding to your pipeline is often a mistake that salespeople make once they have established a solid ongoing sales funnel. If you continue to add to your sales pipeline, then if that long-established client decides that this month they will not buy this, then it does not matter because you have more potential opportunities in your pipeline.
If you are always taking the position of helping and assisting your client, then your pipeline will increase. If you are only filling up your pipeline when you are desperate, many clients will sense that, and you will come across as desperate.
2. Never assume they need you.
I have noticed that many salespeople leave a message with a client or a voicemail, and they think it ends there. They think they have done what they had to and then move on. Depending on your relationship with that client, they may or may not call you back. If you want to do business with them, you have to plan that call and decide the ongoing strategy to get the person to respond. Create a proactive message for them to call you back.
3. Sales potty training.
For those that may have had young children, there was a time when you had to train them to go to the toilet. In my experience (a while ago), I always used to say, “Pee or get off the pot”. In other words, make a decision. There will be times when you have to make a decision to get off the pot.
Some clients need to be let go. You need to figure out whether a prospect is serious about working with you. A promising pipeline is full of qualified prospects, not “tyre kickers.”
All pipeline activities have to support your key messages, and understanding who your client is and where they play is vital to successful sales.
Good selling
Mike
PLUS: Whenever you’re ready…
Here are 3 ways I can help you make more sales in your business – whether your business is big or small.
1. Try the new 7 Days to Sales Success Framework.
Make More Sales in 7 days. The framework of everything you need to start making more sales in your business. The Sales Success Framework is based on a simple 7-day challenge. Click here to find out how you can grow your business by increasing sales.
2. Join our Private Facebook Group – The Salesmindset Inner Circle. Get all the latest up-to-date sales ideas.
Every week we do Facebook Live updates on all things sales. Tips, ideas, free coaching, and much more. Join me by clicking here.
3. Work with me One-on-One.
If you’re a small or large business owner or in professional services, you might have a few strategies, tactics and tools away from doubling your lead flow, revenue and impact. Jump on a FREE 15-minute Brainstorm call with me by click here.
Part of the reason people panic is that selling seems like a mysterious process. We can solve that mystery. Selling is like any other journey: the territory you are covering may be new to you, but it has been travelled before, and there are certain steps you can take to clear the way.
Each step you take along the way matters. Let’s look more closely at the selling journey.
Building up
Selling a product or service is, in many ways, like a building project.
I have been involved in two major renovations for both a home and a commercial building. Here’s how the process unfolds:
1. You speak with an architect who presents you with some plans, drawings, or visual examples of what your home or building might look like.
2. Once you approve your plan, you seek a builder to do the construction.
3. If you want to approach the build with confidence, you’ll also want to be involved in the builder’s plans and timelines. Using excellent project management tools is key.
4. Still, even the best-laid plans sometimes change. You might go back and forth and change a few parts of the plan.
5. Even when you get started, you need to keep in mind the need to be flexible, adjust to shifting timelines, accommodate last-minute decisions, and possibly suffer some setbacks.
6. You need to be nimble, but it’s hard, because there is a lot at stake, financially and emotionally.
7. Soon enough though, you start to visualise the final product and then watch your home or building take shape. Finally, you see your completed project in front of your eyes. All of that planning has paid off.
Following a plan and actually building that home requires discipline and principles.
It’s the same with sales, which unfold in similar stages. With both types of projects, it is important, to begin with, the right mindset, so why don’t we do that when it comes to constructing a sale?
Why don’t we plan the process that will let us get the result we want? Most business owners jump in too quickly, assuming that their product is so magnificent that people should just buy it.
Or, they don’t bother to plan. Usually, salespeople do not follow any particular steps or processes on the way to the sale of that product.
If you look at sales the way you look at building your home, though, you will see that there are certain processes you have to follow to get a good result. It does not have to be a complicated process, but you do need a plan.
Knowing a few simple steps in the journey to your sales is all that is required.
If you don’t know where you are going, how will you know when you get there?
My favourite thing to do is to show you what’s working right now. It’s not as good as being a client, but it’s close.
2. Take advantage of a FREE 45-minute consultation
Need some sales support? Make an appointment, and let me take you through the past, present, and future templates.
3. Work with me one-on-one.
If you are wanting to take your product or service from face-to-face to virtual selling, then I have a product that may be able to help you. You can get started for as little as $250 a month. If you’re interested then email mike@mikebrunel.com and put ‘Virtual Selling’ in the subject line…tell me a little about your business and I’ll get you all the details.
Showing people how they can personally profit from your product can be one of the more creative parts of the sales process.
Consider the Dream Room at Gardner’s Mattress & More store. The Dream Room is a private mattress-testing room that allows a unique opportunity to try before you buy.
The room is essentially a sleep sanctuary adjacent to the showroom. The space is private and void of salespeople and other customers, so you can snuggle in and get comfortable. Gardner’s is the only mattress store in their area that offers such an experience.
I have never heard of any other mattress company offering such a service. You make an appointment, pay a $50 deposit, and spend time in Gardner’s showroom with one of their sleep consultants.
The consultant helps you narrow your mattress options to the one you feel best suits your sleep needs. Their team encases your mattress in a proper allergy- and bedbug-proof zippered cover and tops it off with extremely high-quality, fresh sheets and pillowcases, all for you.
Once you enter this Dream Room, you quite literally take a nap. This is your opportunity to “try before you buy.” The proprietors encourage you to bring a good book and relax. For couples, they encourage cuddling, although they ask that the bedroom activity stop there; out of respect for the room and future sleepers.
You can even bring pyjamas and your pillow and sheets if you want. This is a very creative example of the lengths that a business can go to in presenting its product.
For them, every sale is well worth it. Gardner’s average mattress costs around $4,000, and prices go up to a staggering $18,000. How do they do that? What they have created in their business is a sleeping experience, not just a price experience.
By now, their system will sound familiar. They know their product, match it up with the client’s needs, offer customised advice to each client, and make a presentation that clearly shows the customer what’s in it for them.
From here, they have to ask for the business and negotiate a price. If you look at their website, I challenge you to find prices anywhere.
The dollar signs are not there. Gardner’s strategy takes you out of the price war and into your personal experience.
There are, I am sure, plenty of mattress companies all over that town that sell off the floor at cheaper prices. Make no mistake; those stores have a purpose; what they sell and how they sell is fine.
Wouldn’t you still want to improve the experience and have more chances of building a relationship?
Positioning your business this way tells the consumer what you sell might be special.
Would you not want your client to know you offer an exceptional experience? The customer-savvy company has a better chance of selling their mattresses than the person down the road.
They get a commitment from you when you make an appointment in the Dream Room, strengthen it with a small deposit, chat about what you want, and then take a nice cosy nap.
That’s a sales commitment. More importantly, that’s the best presentation you can make.
PLUS, whenever you are ready…here are ways I can help you grow YOUR business.
My favourite thing is to show you what’s working right now. It’s not as good as being a client, but it’s close.
2. Take advantage of a FREE 45-minute consultation
Need some sales support? Please make an appointment, and let me take you through the past, present, and future templates.
3. Work with me one-on-one.
If you want to take your product or service from face-to-face to virtual selling, then I have a product that may be able to help you. You can get started for as little as $250 a month. If you’re interested, email mike@mikebrunel.com and put ‘Virtual Selling’ in the subject line…tell me a little about your business, and I’ll get you all the details.
In my blog The right advice at the right time, I talked about qualifying a client as part of your sales process before presenting your product or service.
Sometimes, it’s also important to develop a script for shorter or elevator pitches. These, too, help you to qualify a client.
The so-called ‘elevator pitch’ came out of Hollywood.
An aspiring actor or actress may have had only one chance to pitch an idea, and that chance may well have come in an elevator ride with a Hollywood executive.
They had the length of the ride to talk up an idea for a film, a role, or a script, so their story had to be quick and clear. These days, you’re unlikely to find yourself making an actual elevator pitch, but you still need to be succinct with any proposal, especially if time (or attention) is short.
If someone asks you what you do, you must engagingly describe your business so that by the time they leave your side; they want to become a customer themselves.
I recall doing an exercise for a senior leadership team that directly illustrates the concept.
We divided a room full of executives into teams of two and gave them questions to ask each other during an actual elevator ride.
They asked each other, “What do you do?” and “Can you tell me clearly what you offer in benefits at your business?”
The responder’s job was to get the questioner excited about the company and show how it could solve their problems.
The elevator rides were very revealing. Every story was different when the doors opened, and the riders reported on the responses. Every one.
It was pretty eye-opening because it was my company they were talking about!
The executives weren’t getting the right message across, and the message itself was inconsistent. They needed to learn to tell the company’s story, to feel comfortable even bragging a little.
As I say to my kids, if you’re telling the truth, it’s not showing off.
More Secrets
While there is no absolute formula for creating an elevator pitch, I’ve adapted the work of a well-known marketer, Eben Pagan, to illustrate the importance of emotion.
Like Pagan, I believe using the right words can help you focus on the emotional needs behind the client’s desires.
The key is to talk about helping, describe who you help, explain what they will achieve, and suggest what they need to do to get started.
Say, for example, you offer a weight loss program; your elevator pitch might sound like this:
“I help overweight women who want to lose more than 20 pounds get rid of their fat in as little as 90 days without starvation and without torturing themselves with a military exercise. Do you know any woman who would want to lose more than 20 pounds quickly?”
Here’s another example, if you offered debt consolidation services. Your pitch is a little different, but the pattern is the same:
“I help people with $10,000 or more credit card debt. I cut their monthly payments in half, and then I get them completely out of debt. Do you know anybody with credit card debt who would like to cut their payments and eliminate their debt in less than three years?”
For Mike Brunel, The Sales expert, I would say:
“I help salespeople who do want to come across as salesy. They want to be authentic and find out if their product solves a problem for their clients. If it does not, that is okay. Do you know anyone who has a problem like that? Anyone who would like a no obligation, free sales training audit?”
Who could say no to offers like these?
Develop your elevator pitch.
Use this template to create your elevator pitch. The principles behind the elevator pitch work across many formats and situations, but it is important to know what kind of environment you will be presenting in, so you can gear your content to your audience.
My favourite thing is to show you what’s working right now. It’s not as good as being a client, but it’s close.
2. Take advantage of a FREE 45-minute consultation
Need some sales support? Please make an appointment, and let me take you through the past, present, and future templates.
3. Work with me one-on-one.
If you want to take your product or service from face-to-face to virtual selling, then I have a product that may be able to help you. You can get started for as little as $250 a month. If you’re interested, email mike@mikebrunel.com and put ‘Virtual Selling’ in the subject line…tell me a little about your business, and I’ll get you all the details.
