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The 5 Most Expensive Words
by Gerry Robert
Can't
Blame
Passive
Conformity
Quit
There are certain words which should be deleted from the vocabulary of each
salesperson. These words should never be uttered by the person who wishes
to succeed in the profession of selling. Every time a salesperson says
these words, every time a manager uses them to characterize a salesperson
it costs somebody, somewhere a lot of money.
The goal of every salesperson is to avoid these words like the plague.
How do you act around a plague? You stay clear from the areas without even
wanting to think about the areas. You will avoid people who have just come
from the plague-stricken area for fear that the plague will infect you. If
you are somehow exposed to a plague you take a million precautions to avoid
contaminations. You wash with special anti-septic soap, you visit a doctor,
you take anti-biotic medicine as a prevention. You do whatever you have to
to make sure the plague does not take hold in your body.
Oh that we take such precautions when it comes to our sales careers! If
only you made a similar effort to avoid the 5 Most Expensive Words which
cost companies and salespeople millions every year.
These five words used on the tongue, or practised in anyway in one's behaviour
is the surest way to sales mediocrity at best, sales poverty at worst.
Can't
Sales Manager: "I want you to increase your sales by at least
26% over the next 12 months. What's your response?"
Sales Person: "It "can't" be done!"
Very little in life "can't" be done! Remember something I wrote about in
my first book:
THERE ARE NO PROBLEMS IN LIFE THERE IS ONLY A SHORTAGE OF IDEAS.
If you honestly believe that your current sales results is the best you can
expect, then, you are probably right. Why is it though, that a relatively
newcomer can occupy a desk right next to yours, sell exactly the same product
or service as you and break all the office sales records? Why do some people
earn $22,000 in sales and someone just a few desks away earns $222,000? Much
of it has to do with whether or not they accept the weak-minded philosophy of
"Can't."
"Success comes in CANS"
Joel Weldon
Why not look at challenging situations with the view to solving the problem
rather than being swamped by it. When I face challenges in selling, and I
face some huge problems, I never permit my mind to accept the "Can't" option.
There is ALWAYS a solution. I'm always only one idea away from solving
whatever obstacle is in my path.
No, CAN is my motto. I might not know "how," but I believe that something
can be done. My job is to believe that solutions come to those who refuse
to be the victim of circumstances.
Blame
Sales Manager: "Vim, what's going on? You seem very disorganized?
Why haven't you spent more time following-up with the leads I gave you
last week?"
Sales Person: "Well, you just don't understand me! I'm trying you know.
If you had my problems to deal with, you would leave me alone. In fact,
always bugging me about these things puts so much pressure on me that
I find it hard to sell. Maybe, if you laid back some, I would be able
to concentrate on sales instead of you occupying my mind. If you would
only cool it, I'd win more. You make me so mad sometimes."
First of all understand that no-one can make you mad. You do that all by
yourself. If you choose to get involved in blame in selling, you might as
well go get a salaried job somewhere. There is no way to succeed in selling
if you are constantly pointing your fingers to others as the cause of what
is going on in your life.
No, understand that if you are to win, you must accept responsibility for
your life. The sales you make, the attitude you have, the emotional state
you find yourself in is in one form or another due to some choices you have
mad.
Your sales results has little to do with how your company is managed. Your
sales sheets are not low because the economy or the government or your wife,
it has to do with you and with you only.
Are you using some strategies which are ineffective? Perhaps, but whose
responsibility is that? Who needs to discover new and more effective
methods of selling?
This word is like a cancer in your mind. Take responsibility for you life.
Never point the finger at someone else. If you do remember that 3 other
fingers are pointing straight back at you.
"If it's going to be, it's up to...
my boss to treat me better,
my company to give me more leads,
my colleagues to help me,
the government to do this and that,
prospects to wake up and buy my product.
NO
If it's going to be it's up to ME!
Passive
I have been working with salespeople for the past decade. I've heard and
seen enough of them to know, without a doubt, that they leave so much of
their business to chance and luck. I call it the "Hope & Pray" technique
of sales success.
They hope and pray for sales but wait passively for the phone to ring.
They hope and pray for referrals but do nothing to get them. They hope and
pray people that they will earn more than they did last year but they don't
improve their selling skills. They hope and pray that the manager will get
off their back but they refuse to move into action, hoping instead things
will get better all on their own.
I've never seen the phone ring all by itself! Nor significant referrals
come in, nor significant increases in income without salespeople deciding
what they want changed, developing a plan to change it, moving into action
and being held accountable for the success.
What I so often see, is salespeople accepting the norm and not actively
pursuing the keys to sales success. Let's take referrals for example.
Most salespeople wait passively for referrals to come in. They rarely do,
so they forget about the notion. Can't you remember how much easier it is
to sell through referrals? Wasn't the sale almost in the bag within the
first few minutes because you were in there because of a referral? Isn't
that one of the surest ways to sales success? It sure is! So, then, tell
this humble Canadian columnist why you sit on your duff waiting passively
for them to come to you, when there are at least 947 ways for you to go
after them?
Why do retail establishments wait passively for customers to in to their
store? Why wouldn't they create effective marketing campaigns to attract
people? Why wouldn't they do a cross-marketing campaign with the next door
shop and sell each other's services? Why wouldn't they create some
compelling reason for people to move into action? If they offered some
special deal, put a deadline on it and created some life around their
establishment wouldn't they be better off than sitting in their store
waiting for business to come to them?
"If you get off your duff, move into action, provide irresistible offers,
compelling reasons to call you, provide awesome service, I promise that
you'll have so much money, you will need a wheel barrel to carry it all to
the bank!" - Gerry Robert
Conformity
Salesperson: "Mr Boss, why don't you let me try this new sales letter idea?
It might cost a few dollars but I think it'll pull a lot of people in. What
do you think?"
Sales Manager: "Well, you see, we have been in business for 112 years and
no one has ever received approval to send out these types of letters.
You better forget it."
The problem for so many sales organizations as far as I can see, has to do
with a reluctance to try different things. So much that has to do with
selling today is ancient.
Most methods of prospecting were developed in the 1950's and little has
changed since then for most people. We have been told that prospecting
is a function of rejection. If you knock on enough doors you will make a
certain amount of sales. I challenge this approach. I am one of the most
positive people you will ever meet but even I could not withstand rejection
type selling. Most of the books, articles, and training teach people to
simply not take it personally. Not take it personally? How do you do that?
No, instead I'm advocating breaking away from the way everyone else does it
and sell without rejection. I'm all for creating systems to attract more
leads than you know what to do with. How different would your attitude and
motivation be if you went to work tomorrow morning knowing that you had 300
qualified leads from people who were predisposed to buy what you sell?
So much of selling today is based on the dangerous word "conformity." People
follow the crowd. I call it the herd mentality. If the masses are doing
something, I recommend doing the exact opposite. If no-one in your industry
has a marketing package, you be the first. Break the norm! Let's face it,
the masses are traditionally wrong, especially about the earning of money.
What the world of selling needs are success-minded individuals who are willing
to challenge the "status-quo."
"If you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you
have always got."
Quit
Sales person: "I have accepted another position with another company.
I'll be joining them in 2 weeks. I think I can make a success of myself
with them!"
Sales Manager: "Sorry, to hear! I think you are developing nothing more
than a habit called: I give up!"
The sales manager is exactly right. The only thing you learn by shifting
from sales position to sales position is how to give up when the going gets
tough.
So many people believe that they will sell more if they were only working
for another company, selling some other product, working in a different
market but there is only one problem with that: You take YOU with you were
ever you go!
You never know when you are just around the corner from winning in a big way.
So the next time you think about packing it in and making a move think about
staying put and working through your current problems. The grass is not greener
on the other side! If a light came on in your car which indicated there were
problems with your engine, you would think a person insane if they took out
a hammer and smashed the light. Sure the light would go "off" but that would
not do anything to relieve the problem with the engine. The same applies to
sales people. The real problem is your poor performance. Taking a hammer to
the red light (your company, your boss) will not solve your basic problem.
Solve that and you will enjoy a life of prosperity in selling.
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