Mark Garbelotto's Eat That Frog Blog » sale managers

Your Begining To Sales Success…

admin — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 10:16:13 +0000

On the 10^th to the 13^th of September 2010 I will be training over 120 people at the 9^th Annual First Class Brands International Conference at the Marriott Hotel in Hyde Park, Sydney, Australia.

One of the reasons that I love to train so many business owners and sales professionals is that I can educate them on how to increase sales performance and become more successful in sales.

The sales material I teach are based on Mr. Brian Tracy’s principles that have been researched and proven over 30 years. One of Brian’s programs that I use for our Certificate III and IV in sales is base on over 50,000 interviews where the researchers video tape how the sales person tries to sell to a prospect and how the prospect either buys or rejects the sales person.

What most business owners and sales professionals don’t understand is that selling is profession.

YES that’s RIGHT!!!

To succeed in today’s market you must take a logical approach in selling.

You must learn the sequence of events used by the top sales professionals.

Focusing on resolving problems and customer concerns is critical.

You must answer all their questions before a sale can be made.

To sell at your best you must plan the parts and stages of the sale in advance.

You begin by asking yourself what does your service or product DO?

Most business owners and sales professionals talk about what their service or product IS.

Prospects don’t care what you product or service IS they only care what it will DO for them.

Next you must ask yourself what problems does your product or service SOLVE?

Prospects only buy solutions to PROBLEMS.

Your job is to position yourself as an expert / advisor and become a PROBLEM SEEKER.

This is the beginning to your success in sales.

Kind regards Mark Garbelotto – Master Brian Tracy International Trainer

Up skill you sales team using Commonwealth Incentive funding

admin — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 05:41:14 +0000

Recently I helped a company get $96,000 in Commonwealth Incentive funding to up skill their sales team.

If you are considering sales training your company may be eligible to receive $4000 per sales person.

If you would like to know how much Commonwealth Incentive funding your company may be eligible please call me directly on 1300 795 129 or email me at mark@briantracy.net.au as your company may be missing out on thousands of dollars in funding to up skill your sales team.

Kind regards

Mark Garbelotto

Listening Wins Sales

admin — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 01:23:59 +0000

There are books, articles and multi-day courses on listening. There are audio/video-learning programs that include hours of instruction and a variety of exercises. They are all valuable and helpful, but what they teach can be distilled down into a key skill. Your mastery of these skills, through discipline and practice, is all you need to become an excellent listener, with all that that entails.

Listen Attentively When Others Speak
The best listening skill is to listen attentively. Lean forward; face the prospect directly rather than at an angle. Focus your attention on the prospects face, on his or her mouth and eyes.

Hang On Every Word
Listen without interruption. Listen as though you were hanging on every word the prospect was saying. Listen as if the prospects were about to give you the winning lottery number and you would only hear it once. Listen as if this were a million dollar prospect who was just on the verge of giving you a major order. Listen as if there were no one else in the world to whom you would rather listen at this moment than this prospect, and to what this prospect is saying.

The Most Important Skill of All
The ability to pay close, uninterrupted attention to a person when he is speaking is the primary listening skill. It is the hardest facility to develop and is simultaneously the most important of all. It requires continuous practice and discipline. And it's not easy. It is hard to keep your thoughts from wandering, but the payoff is tremendous.

Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, imagine that your customer is the most fascinating person in the world. Hang on every word as if he was about to place a million dollar order.

Lastly, lean forward when your customer speaks. Nod, smile, agree and be both active and involved. Listening builds sales relationships.

By: Brian Tracy

The Endgame to Selling

admin — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 04:18:27 +0000

In golf, there is a saying that, "You drive for show, but you putt for dough." In selling, you prospect and present for show, but you overcome customer skepticism and gain commitment for dough. Your ability to answer objections and get the sale is the true test of how good you really are as a salesperson.

The True Test of Selling
This is perhaps the most stressful and challenging part of the sales process. It's where the rubber meets the road. It is your ability to answer the questions that the prospect puts to you and overcome his natural reluctance to make a commitment that wraps up the sales process. It is also the part of the sales process that salespeople dislike the most and which customers find the most stressful.

Plan It in Advance
The end game of selling must be carefully thought through and planned in advance so that you are thoroughly prepared to bring the sales conversation to its natural conclusion at the earliest and most appropriate moment. Fortunately, this is a skill, like riding a bicycle or typing with a typewriter, and you can learn it through study and practice.

Handling Objections Comes First
Handling objections and closing the sale are two different parts of the sales process but they are so close together that this chapter will discuss them as a single function. Just as there are reasons why people buy a product, there are reasons why they don't. Often answering an objection or removing an obstacle is the critical element in making the sale. You can answer the objection and close the sale simultaneously.

Make It a Reason to Buy
Objections can be turned into reasons for buying. Just as there is a primary reason for buying a product, a hot button, there is a primary objection that stops the person from buying it. If you can emphasize the one and remove the other, the sale falls together naturally.

Smaller Products Versus Larger Products
In selling smaller products or services, where you can prospect and make a complete presentation in the first meeting, your approach to closing will be different from that required if you are selling a larger product in a multi-call sale that stretches over several weeks or months.

Ask For the Order
In the shorter, smaller sale, the prospect knows everything necessary to make a buying decision at the end of your presentation. Your aim should be to answer any lingering questions and then ask for the order. In the larger sale, you may have to meet with the prospect several times before the prospect is in a position to make a buying decision. You will have to be more patient and persistent.

Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, prepare yourself in advance for the endgame of selling by anticipating anything the customer might offer as a reason for not buying. Be ready.

Second, look for the hot button, the reason the customer will buy, and press it. Meanwhile, find out his major reason for not buying and remove it.

Want to learn More

Call Mark Garbelotto directly on 1300 795 129

Partnering For Profit

admin — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 03:32:15 +0000

The way you can stand out from your competitors is for you to position your self as a business part ner, always looking for ways to improve your customer's business.

Help Your Customer's Business
When you deal with a business person, you can be sure of one thing: that person thinks about his business day and night. It is very close to him. It is dear to his heart. And if you come in and talk to him and ask him questions about his business, looking for ways to help him run his business better, the customer is going to warm up to you and want to be associated with you and your company.

Differentiate Your self from Your Competitors
As a part ner, you should always be looking to help your customer to cut costs and improve results in his or her area of resp onsibility. You should look for ways to help your customer in non-business areas as well. You should position your self as someone who cares more about the success of your customer than anything else, even more than you care about selling your product or service. This approach to partnering in profit with your customer is a key way to differentiate your self and to keep your customer for the indefinite future.

Practice the Reciprocity Principle
There is a principle of reciprocity in business that is very powerful. It is simply this: If you do something nice for someone else, they will feel obligated to do something nice for you. You should be looking for opportunities to go the extra mile, to do more than you are p aid for, to put in more than you take out. By extending your self, you improve your positioning in the customer's mind and increasingly differentiate your self and your company from your competitors who are after the same business. If you do this long enough and strong enough, you will eventually develop the partnership to the point where your competitors don't have a chance against you.

Action Ex ercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, think about how you can help your customer's customer with your product or service. Take time to understand how your customer uses your product to do his business better.

Second, focus on increasing your customer's profits and fin ancial results. Show your customer that doing business with you is both satisfying and profit able in the long run.

By Brian Tracy

Practice Golden Rule Selling

admin — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 23:11:51 +0000

To improve your sales performance, adopt the Golden Rule mentality. The Golden Rule says to, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." It also says, "Love your neighbor as yourself." The Golden Rule mentality in sales, says simply, "Sell unto others as you would have them sell unto you."

Different Strokes For Different Folks
What does this mean? Aren't there all kinds of different personalities that require different approaches and techniques? Well, yes and no. Practicing the golden rule in selling simply means that you sell to other people the way you would like to be sold to. You sell with the same honesty, integrity, understanding, empathy and thoughtfulness that you would like someone else to use in selling to you.

Seek First to Understand
If you would like a salesperson to take the time to thoroughly understand you and your situation before making a recommendation, you practice the same thing with your customers. If you would like a salesperson to give you honest information and to help you make an intelligent buying decision, you practice the same with your customer. If you would like a salesperson to be thoroughly knowledgeable about the strengths or weaknesses of his or her product or service, and that of his or her competitors, then you do the same with your product or service and your competitors.

Care About Your Customers
Perhaps the most important part of golden rule selling is the emotional component embraced in the word, "caring." Top sales professionals care about their customers. They care about themselves, their companies, their products and services, and they really care about helping their customers to make good buying decisions. If you think about the very best salespeople you know, you will recognize that they are caring individuals.

They Don't Care How Much You Know
If you think about your very best customers, you will recall that these are invariably people you care about, and who care about you. When you think about the people you buy from, you will recall that they seem to care about you more than the average. In every part of your business life, you will find that the significant people all have the denominator of caring as part of their character and their personalities.

Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, resolve today to sell to your customers with the same honesty, empathy and understanding that you would like them to use in selling to you.

Second, take time to genuinely care about your customers, their individual needs and their unique situations. Make people feel important and they will make you feel important.

By Brian Tracy

Attention Employed Sales Professionals

admin — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 07:49:07 +0000

Did you know that your employer may be eligible to receive $4000 per sales person in Commonwealth incentive traineeships to up skill employed sales professionals.

This means that if you or any of your sales team does not have a national accredited qualification in sales your company may be eligible to receive $4000 per person to attend our sales training. We are running the national accredited SIR30307 Certificate III in wholesales training workshop on the 26^th and 27^th of August 2010.

If you would like to know more about this please feel free to call me directly on 1300 795 129.

Kind regards

Mark Garbelotto

The Heart of the Sale

admin — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 21:40:38 +0000

What is selling? In its simplest terms, selling is the process of persuading a person that your product or service is of greater value to him than the price you are asking for it. Our market society is based on the principles of freedom of choice and mutual benefit. Each party enters into a transaction when he feels that he will be better off as a result of the transaction than he would be without it.

Convince the Customer
For the customer to buy your particular product or service, he or she must be convinced, not only that is it the best choice of product or service available, but also that there is no better way for him to spend the equivalent sum of money that it costs. Your job as a salesperson is to convince the customer that these conditions exist and then to elicit a commitment from him to take action on your offer.

The Critical Factor: Risk
The critical factor in selling today is risk. Because of the continuous change, rapid obsolescence, and an uncertain economy, the risk of buying the wrong product or service has become greater than ever before. There are four main factors that contribute to the perception of risk in the mind and hear of the customer.

Size of the Sale
The first factor that contributes to risk is the size of the sale. The larger the scale, the more money involved, the greater the risk. If a person is buying a package of Lifesavers, the risk of satisfaction or dissatisfaction is insignificant. But if a person is buying a computer system for their company, the risk factor is magnified by hundreds of thousands of times. Whenever you are selling a product that has a high price on it, you must be aware that risk enters into the buyer’s calculations immediately.

People Affected by the Decision
The second factor contributing to the perception of risk is the number of people who will be affected by the buying decision. Almost every complex buying decision involves several people. There are people who must use the product or service. There are people who must pay for the product or service. There are people who are dependent of the results expected from the product or service. If a person is extremely sensitive to the opinions of others, this factor alone can cause him or her to put off a buying decision.

Length of Life of the Product
The third factor contributing to the perception of risk is the length of life of the product. A product or service that, once installed, is meant to last for several years, generates the feeling of risk. The customer panics and thinks, "What if it doesn’t work and I’m stuck with it."

Unfamiliarity
The fourth major risk factor is the customer’s unfamiliarity with you, your company, and your product or service. A first-time buyer, one who has not bought the product or service before, or who has not bought it from you, is often nervous and requires a lot of hand-holding. Anything new or different makes the average customer tense and uneasy. This is why a new product or service, or a new business relationship with your company, has to be presented as a natural extension of what the customer is already doing.

Action Exercise
Identify the risks that a customer might find with your product or service. Once you had clearly defined those risks it will be easier to find solutions to them to ease nervous customers.

Want To Learn More Go to www.sellinglikeapro.com.au

Perverse Motivation.

admin — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 11:11:33 +0000

By Brian Tracy

Everyone likes to buy, but no one wants to be sold. People don’t like to feel that they are the recipients or the victims of a sales presentation. Most customers are independent in their thinking, and they don’t like to think that they are being manipulated, pressured, or coerced into doing anything. They like to feel as though they are making up their own minds based on good information that has been presented to them.

Sales Helper

The best salesperson is perceived as a helper who assists prospects in getting what they want and need. Remember, it is the perception of the customers that, more than anything else determines how the customer behaves toward a salesperson. You must do everything possible to appear to be helping rather than selling.

Salespeople are Teachers

Top salespeople are teachers who show their customers how products and services work to satisfy their needs. The more you are perceived as a teacher, the more likely it is that you will also be perceived as a consultant or an advisor. You will be seen as a trusted counselor who can be depended upon to help customers get what they want by means of the product or service that you are selling.

Don’t Pressure the Customer

If ever your customers feel, even for a moment, that you are trying to sell them into buying something, they will instantly resist and withdraw. The most important part of selling is the quality of the trust bond that exists between you and your customers. You can’t afford to do anything that threatens that trust bond. It is important that the customer feels that they are being informed about something that will benefit them, rather than feel pressured to buy a product that is being pushed upon them.

Design Presentation

Design your presentation in such a way that you are always showing, explaining, and asking questions to assure agreement and understanding. See yourself as a teacher with a willing and able student, eager to learn.

Action Exercise

Think of yourself as a teacher and your sales presentation as a "lesson plan." Always begin your presentation with agreement on the value or benefit that the customer seeks that your product or service can deliver.

Time Management Techniques for Salespeople.

admin — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 10:43:34 +0000

By Brian Tracy

In 1928, the magazine Sales and Marketing Management surveyed American Businesses to determine how efficiently salespeople were using their time. They discovered that the average salesperson in America was only working 20 percent of the time, approximately one and one-half hours per day. This finding caused bells to go off throughout the sales industry. The idea that salespeople were only working ninety minutes per day became the emphasis for improved training, better time management skills, better supervision, and better control of the activities of salespeople.

Double Your Sales

In my sales programs, I teach what I call my minutes theory. It is based on a simple equation. If you are in sales today, 100 percent of your sales and your income are generated by the number of minutes hat you spend face-to-face with prospects and customers. If you want to increase the number of sales or the amount of money you make, you must increase the number of minutes that you spend in actual selling activity, face-to-face with people who can, and will, buy from you. My theory says that if you double the number of minutes that if you spend with customers, you will double your income, even if you do not improve in any other area of sales. If you manage your time as the top salespeople do, so that you are spending more time with customers, your sales will increase immediately.

The Job of the Salesperson

Let us begin with the job description of the salesperson. The job description of the salesperson is to create and keep customers. The measure of effectiveness of a salesperson is how many new customers she creates, or resales she generates, in any given time period. Everything else that salesperson does is secondary to creating and keeping customers. Therefore, the only time a sales person is working is when he is face-to-face, head-to-head, and knee-to-knee with a prospect or customer.

Begin with Clear Income and Sales Goals

Achieving Peak Performance and excellent time management in sales begins with your setting clear income and sales goals for yourself. The act of sitting down and deciding, in writing, how much you want to earn, and how you are going to go about earning it, makes it far more likely that you will achieve those goals than if you didn’t set them at all. The goal-setting exercise I am about to share with you has led to the doubling and tripling of the incomes of many salespeople. It is powerful because it is simple and easy. You can learn it and apply it immediately.

Determine What You Will Have to Do

Once you have broken your income and sales goals down into monthly, weekly, daily, and hourly amounts, you then define these goals in terms of the activities necessary to achieve them. The critical element in this calculation is the factor of control. You cannot control your income or your sales on a day-to-day basis. They depend on too many other factors. But you can control your activities. You can determine and control what you do from morning to night, and as a result, you can indirectly control your income. If you engage in the activities necessary to make sales you want to make, you will inevitably achieve your sales goals.

Get Better at What You Do

Once you have determined your sales goals and worked out an activity schedule for each day, you immediately go to work on yourself to upgrade your skills in your key result areas. One of the best uses of your time is to get better at the most important things you do. Your goal is to upgrade your skills so that you achieve more and better results in a shorter period of time.

Action Exercise

Take charge of your sales career today; resolve to double the amount of time you spend face-to-face with prospects and customers.