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 Lombardi

Human 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 Mears

Success 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! Know 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.

TIPS to finding info on your customers

Look on the internet

In their literature

From their customers

From their Competition

From their Vendors

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 Springsteen

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. You can’t change the facts. You are responsible for personal growth. You have to work at being positive.

Attitude Cycle

Negative thoughts

Negative Beliefs

WrongDecisionsWrong Actions

Bad Habits

You cannot disconnect

attitude from reality and

expect success.

● ● ●

Changing your Attitude

1. Take responsibility for your

attitude

2. Evaluate your present attitude

3. Develop the desire to change

4. Change your attitude by changing

your thoughts.

5. Develop good habits.

6. Manage your attitude every day.

● ● ●

Consistency- 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 Hill

Selling 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.

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!

Sales Consistency

Follow-up

Propose

Prospect

Recipe For Success What 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.

Resemble Success- Be who you want to become!

“The visual overwhelms the verbal”

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.

Seek tough

love.

Ask for the ride

along!

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”

Vince Lombardi

irst 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?

1. Attitude matters. Attitude sells. Smile and look comfortable. Have a positive response for every question.

2. 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?

3. 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?

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

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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!

F Remember,

most times

customers do

not gather

information

to make a

decision they

gather

information

to justify the

decision they

already

made.

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.

prospectinginformation

gatheringProposal closing

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!

Salesmen never sleep- No one has ever regretted being too prepared.

“There is no finish line.” Nike Advertisement

How 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:

1. Ask for help- Everyone wants to help. It also puts them off their guard. And takes away the apprehension.

2. 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:

1. Smile when you talk. (It comes through) 2. Give your name and company. 3. Get to the point fast. (within the first two sentences) 4. Make it short and sweet.( here is your elevator speech in action) 5. Try to be somewhat Humorous. 6. Offer or ask for help. 7. State that you have important information. 8. 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”

nformation 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?

Would online reports, billing and MSDS be helpful to you?

What training would be beneficial to you and your staff?

What inspection or QA programs do you utilize?

The information you gather here should shape the rest of your process. This is the

information that will help you craft your proposal to the customer’s needs and desires.

Done properly this will help you achieve the objectives of your next step, the proposal.

I ROI

Timeliness

Reporting

Billing

Brand

History

Expertise

Value

“If all you have in your tool box is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.”

“Experience enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.”

Earl Wilson, first black pitcher for the Boston Red Sox

When you go out to work on your car what is the first thing you grab? Your tools,

right? Which you keep in your tool box, right? If you knew you needed to change

your spark plug would you grab your hammer? No, of course not, you would grab

your spark plug wrench. You would check and make sure you had it in your box

and then carry the box with you to your car. If you only need the spark plug

wrench why take your whole tool box? Because as any good mechanic will tell

you, you never know what else you might find when you lift the hood.

Just like the mechanic that always up sales you at the garage. Our sales tool box

should be filled with a variety of useful tools. Closes, techniques, stories ,etc. You

should always be able to reach into that box and retrieve a tool to fit the problem.

But what if you don’t have a fully stocked tool box, how do you outfit yourself for

success?

The great thing about our company is that there are people who have been in this

business for years and can supply a wealth of knowledge to you if you are willing

to ask, listen and apply what they have learned.

Secondly, you have to learn from your mistakes. Write down what went wrong

make a note of what happens when you don’t get the sale. Do not leave it to your

memory to remind you that this close didn’t work or never ever say THAT again!

Just as you don’t try to remove a Phillips head screw with a flat head screwdriver

you don’t approach an analytical personality with jokes and frivolity. They will

turn you off in a second as not serious about their business. Know the personality

and the driving force behind your prospect. Also know who the person of

influence is in the room. HINT: It may not be the Boss.

Learn your strengths and learn from your mistakes so that you can fill up your tool

box with those tools that will help you succeed.

Stocking the Box

Stocking your tool box will be a personal assignment. There is no cookie cutter that

fits everyone. Of course there are the standards that are used in our company such as

our brochures, contracts and products but these are simply the instructions on how

we will do the job. The tools are your own personal method of getting to yes.

What are these tools and what do they look like. Here are some tools that everyone

will need, the particulars like the make, size and color are up to you.

Screwdriver- This tool is used to loosen the lid or door to the area in which we need to

work. This is the rapport building. This is the time to find common ground and loosen

up the relationship. Look for things in common, i.e. fishing, sports, kids, etc.

Flashlight- Next we want to prove that we care and find the issues. By shining our

flashlight around we can illuminate the issues and concerns that our new friend has.

This is through our inspection and probing questions.

Magnet- next we need to gather up all the loose nuts and bolts of our problem. We

have used our flashlight to point them out now we gather them together. This is when

you create the ROI. By showing all the loose nuts and bolts just laying around using

graphs, pictures or a tour of your findings we create value before they are even

customers.

Nuts and Bolts- Now we take what we have found and began assembling them using

our experience to begin walking them through their problem. Using trial closes you

assemble a rickety problem that we can fix.

Wrench- At this stage we need to begin tightening up all these loose nuts. By telling

stories, going over brochures, describing past successes and possible repercussions,

we build the need for our service and tighten up our project.

Glue- We are ready to solidify our work and apply the glue that will hold the whole

relationship together. By spreading out the solution and the plan to get there we

cover the whole relationship with a firm grip on how to solve our problem.

Hammer- Finally we bring out the hammer. Everything is in place, tightened and glued

together, all we need is the tap of our closing hammer to set all the nuts and bolts and

finish the job

Your tools are your own and will be developed over time. I have

developed many stories and examples over the last 7 years and get more

every day. The key to a successful toolbox is that it reflects your

personality and fits the situation at hand. If you are in front of an

analytical person, make sure your temperament matches his. In this way

we must be chameleons and reflect back to our customer what they need

from us. This does not mean being fake or disingenuous but taking on a

demeanor that will give our prospect the confidence to buy from us.

The Presentation!

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!

The presentation is the culmination of all your efforts.

Objectives of the presentation.

Build trust/faith

Build confidence

Build desire

Build demand

Build need

Create involvement

Earn respect

Set yourself apart.

Present a solution

More than justify the investment.

A long and imposing list. But if you achieve these, the chances of getting the sale are magnified greatly. You’ve done the preparation, you’ve gathered the information, you’ve planned your attack, now it’s time to put on the show. How do you achieve each of these goals? How do you achieve them in a cohesive manner? The object is to look comfortable and seemless as you complete your punch list. What builds rapport? How about confidence, desire or demand? Let’s look at each individually.

I got the

appointment!

Now what?

During the presentation certain things have to be achieved in order to get the sale. If you achieve these objectives the

prospect will return your calls, value your knowledge and sign your contract. If you don’t succeed in reaching these

objectives the customer will have trouble trusting what you say, give you excuses and sign with someone else.

Building trust/faith- The process of building trust should have already been started during the initial visit and your fact finding. During the presentation it is a matter of referring to the things that are important to them and your desire to help them achieve their goals and solve their problems. It’s never about you, it’s always about them.

Building Confidence- being prepared and appearing sure of yourself and our company is what will inspire the most confidence in your prospect. Let them know that you have prepared a scope of service and a presentation that will address all their concerns and that Terminix has the experience and the training to handle all their needs. Offer referral letters and customer lists as proof of our experience.

Building desire- Terminix has many exclusive treatments and products that we can build up to the customer to ensure that the desire for Terminix to be their supplier will grow during the presentation. Emphasize the exclusivity of our Rapid Freeze, 5-step program, Bio-sys and Scan Master. Talk in positive and definitive terms. You have their solution.

Build demand- Show them how each of the above products and our service will help them. Make it as obvious as you can that we bring value and solutions with our program. “By using our scanmaster program you will no longer have to wonder if the warming kitchen in the east wing was serviced this month. Our scanning system will not only show the service time but it will also give the findings, chemicals used and actions taken. All at your finger tips.”

Build need- A good inspection should have shed light on issues that you can use to build a need at this point in your process. Show pictures of neglected bait stations, old monitors, etc. Present a QA of their current service. Refer back to their description of perfect pest control and how you will provide that to them.

Create Involvement- As you go through your proposal get the prospect agree with you as often as possible. Ask questions that will produce positive answers, get them use to saying yes! If you are setting up for the presentation, ask for help, this is a great way to build rapport. Get the conversation flowing.

Earn Respect- Be Prepared! Be practiced! Have a plan so that you don’t stumble through instead of building confidence and respect. Be eloquent but not verbose or loquacious. Make sure you know the definition and pronunciation of the words you use. Nothing can wipe away respect like the misuse of a word.

Set yourself apart- Pest control companies are all the same, or so our prospects think. Bring a professional proposal, presentation, appearance and attitude to your meeting. Refer back to what you learned during your fact finding visit. Stress what makes us different, i.e. Scanmaster, rapidfreeze and most importantly, yourself.

Present a solution- Make sure your proposal touches on every issue you have uncovered. Refer back to the previous discussions. “As we spoke earlier, Rapid freeze will allow you to keep your mattresses and box springs instead of disposing of them. It will also allow us to turn the room back to you the same day in most cases.”

MORE than justify the investment- To justify the investment you have to have found out what holds value to your prospect. How does his company calculate their ROI? Show the value of being able to retain the mattresses in a room, calculate the value of returning a room to circulation the same day. What is the value of a customer? How much is their business worth? What damage can a roach do to the reputation of your business? Each industry will realize value differently. It is up to us to justify their investment in our product by finding that value.

Just like a carpenter builds a house, we construct a proposal step by step, working toward a finished project that is useful, valuable and attractive. Cutting corners, skipping steps in the process will only lessen the value and make closing the business less sure.

Build trust/faith

Build demand/need

Set yourself apart

Present a solution

Create involvement

Build Confidence

Build Desire

Earn respect

Justify

The Close

Every great closer believes in his heart that the person he is talking to needs what he is offering. They understand the need, they see the value and they cannot conceive of anyone rejecting their view point. As a sales person you have to distance yourself from past failures, service problems and doubts. Believe in your heart and mind that the perfect service you are laying out before them will be provided, because more often than not, that is what we provide. Always assume the positive.

A close can happen anywhere along the sales cycle. The customer can find value long before you have the presentation completed. If they are showing you around the property and begin to ask questions about the start time or duration throw out a trial close such as when would be a good day for you? I can have someone here as soon as this afternoon. If their response is something like, well it doesn’t have to be today. Follow up with , well I know my technician in this area is available Friday, would that be soon enough? If he responds in the positive, that’s your close. Follow up with, well great, is there somewhere we can sit down and go over the particulars? Get him to the table, he has already bought in his mind, the less you say the more apt you are not to mess it up.

A trial close- this is an attempt to see where you are with a customer. Have you achieved their buying threshold? Below is a sample:

Don’t you agree that the scanmaster program would work perfectly in clearing up the issue you are currently having?

Closing is simply asking for the business. It can’t sound fake and it has to be sincere. Believe that what you offer is the answer for your prospect and closing is easy.

There are hundreds of closes with names like the Benjamin Franklin close, the empathy close and the menu close. All can work in different situations and all can fail in others. The first step to any close is to watch for your buying signals and when you see one shut up and show them where to sign.

Each close you use should be an educational process by which you are able to

raise the value of the product or service in the prospect’s mind.

Four Reasons Why People Don’t Reach Their

Potential

1. Choices- When a salesman makes the decision to forgo clover leafing or cold calling an area, when he decides to take off early for the day or decides not to follow up until tomorrow. These are the choices that can make or break your month. Our attitude affects our ability and drives our choices. Judge every decision and choice you make on whether it will help or hurt your sales goal. The choices you make….Make you.

2. Shortcuts- Set goals and methodically go after them every day. Make a plan to succeed and don’t deviate from it unless the alternative is better and more rewarding toward your goal. Failure to do cold calls, faxing a proposal instead of having a face to face meeting or prequalifying a lead are all shortcuts. Don’t let the customer dictate your proposal or closing techniques, be adamant about having time to present your case and all findings. This is what he asked or agreed to in the beginning. Don’t let fear force you into cutting corners. Remember, Everything is difficult just before it becomes easy.

3. Cost- Success has a cost. Every major crossroad in life has tradeoffs. When a man puts limits on what he will do, he has put a limit on what he can do. When was the last time you invested in your future? Read a book on sales, attended a seminar or watched a motivational tape. Be willing to invest in yourself. Don’t sit around waiting on the company to do it, pay the cost. Is there any more worthwhile cause to invest your money in than yourself and your family?

4. Procrastination- The #1 time waster in a sales persons life is procrastination. Think of the ways you waste time every day, talking, gossiping, extra cup of coffee, emails, errands, etc. Take a week and write down everything you do everyday and see how much time is actually spent productively. Here are 4 ways to reduce your procrastination:

a. Do the toughest thing first b. Focus on priorities, today, this week, this month,etc. c. Plan ahead. Set a schedule. d. Get rested. A sharp mind helps fight against daydreaming.

The best way to predict the future is to create it.

The Hunt

“Success each day should be judged by the seeds sown not by the harvest reaped” John Maxwell

Each day should be a progression toward your ultimate goal of sales success. The things you do everyday should work toward that goal. If it doesn’t, DON’T DO IT. Each day will be filled with failures, dead ends and restarts. Starting in one direction before being redirected in another. Going in one direction before realizing that the direction you are going is a fruitless journey. But each dead end or failure eliminates a possibility and readjusts your aim. A soldier once told of watching his Vietnamese enemies take aim at him with mortar fire. As the first shell fell short and the next shell flew long he knew they had his position and vacated his foxhole as they lobbed the next shell where he had been only moments before.

Taking aim at a customer or industry can be aggravating as you try to judge how to make contact and break through the roadblocks constructed before you. What tools can we use to chart the course or lay the plans for achieving our plan? What information do you need to know before you start your hunt?

Spend more time with better prospects!

Specialization- Become the industry expert. Read to know all you can about the industry that you will specialize in and then work the contacts you have to increase your penetration into the market.

Differentiation- Set your self apart. Good salesmen go the extra mile. Be an indispensable part of their team.

Segmentation- Sort your market. Go after those that you know need our service and the differences between them.

Concentrate- Fish for whales not for minnows. Go after the customers that bring value, fill in with low hanging fruit and the smaller customers.

“Never mistake motion for action”

Hemingway

“You’re going to spend the rest of

your life getting up one more time

than you are knocked down, so

you’d better start getting use to it.”

John Wayne in The Train Robbers