12 Great Selling Skills!
Chapter 3: The Power of Search
A person’s quality of life is directly proportional to his
or her commitment to excellence,
no matter what field he chooses to strive in. – Vince Lombardi
two of the most important requirements
for success in sales
or in any other field are focus and focus.
Focus means that you are fully aware of what you are trying
to achieve and exactly what steps you need to take
to realize that goal.
Concentration means you develop an ability
to focus on doing the most important thing you can
to achieve your most important sales
and revenue goals.
The most important part of the sales process is search,
as this step helps to fill your sales funnel in the first place.
Just as the most important part of marketing
is finding customers,
the most important part of successful sales
is finding potential customers
to talk to them about your product/service your.
The highest paid salespeople have the best plans
and strategies to grow a pool of potential,
quantitatively real customers who can
and will buy their products/services in the future,
with a reasonable amount of time.
Luckily, like all sales skills,
searching is a skill that you can learn.
You can become extremely good at finding new,
better,
more potential customers
who can bring you more lucrative deals.
When you apply the best search engines to your sales,
the number of successful deals you make will easily increase
at a faster rate than ever before.
One Fortune 500 company
I worked for took an extremely professional approach
to the sales funnel.
The business cycle
– the period from first contact to completion of a transaction
– lasts about seven months.
With accumulated experience,
this company knows exactly
how many potential customers interested in
its products/services will eventually become customers
after that seven-month period.
Salespeople are trained to fill their funnel
within the first five months of a year
if they want to hit their quota
and achieve their income goals.
Because it takes an average of seven months for a customer
to move through the funnel,
by the end of April,
a customer who isn’t already in the funnel
is most likely not going
to buy the company’s products/services
during the year there.
You should also apply this way of thinking
to your sales work.
The basic rule of success in sales is
to never let your funnel go empty.
The old adage about selling that said:
“Close deals anytime,
anywhere” has been replaced
by a new adage in modern sales
with the principle:
“Always look for sword.”
“If you are focused on delivering value, money comes.” – Dan Lok
***************
The Power of Rejection
Possibly the single biggest obstacle preventing you from reaching
and speaking to all the leads you need
to fill your channel of communication
is the fear of rejection.
It’s the fear of hearing the word “no”
when you call someone.
It is the fear of disapproval,
displeasure,
rudeness,
or negativity on the part of others.
When we were kids,
our favorite word was “yes”.
Can I eat candy? Have.
Can I go play? Have.
Can I have that toy?
Have.
Can I sleep late? Have.
We love the word “yes”.
At the same time,
we learn to hate the word “no”.
It is always synonymous with rejection
or deprivation in some way.
Very early on, we get excited about finding things
that can yield a “yes”
to avoid the “no”.
The attraction and aversion to yes and no
then affects our entire lives,
including our relationships with other people,
especially those of the opposite sex,
and with our careers
and jobs we choose the same way we do it.
People seek jobs where they will be treated
in accordance
with their level of self-esteem and confidence.
A lot of people choose jobs
that don’t have direct contact
with customers and mundane jobs
that give them a sense of security
and don’t have to face criticism
or rejection of any kind.
Abraham Maslow,
the American psychologist,
once said,
“The history of modern man is the history of men
who underestimated themselves.”
But the reality is
that you won’t be successful in business
unless you’re willing
to hear the word “no” over and over again.
The number of no that you have
to hear will be proportional to the number of yes.
The more rejections you get,
the more successful you will be.
The more rejections you get,
the more money and success you will earn.
Imagine that your current way of thinking is like a sum
old telephone radios with cables
that had to be plugged into many different pins.
Your job is to pull your plug
from your fear of rejection
and shift it to the portal of your desire for success.
Instead of thinking of the word “no” as a negative,
see it as a positive sign.
A friend of mine once thought about quitting his sales job.
He told his business manager
that he couldn’t stand rejection.
He kept track of his most recent client meetings
and realized
that he had been rejected 19/20 times.
He had to make 20 meetings just to close one deal.
He feels really depressed
and ready to try something new.
Then the manager asked him,
“How much money do you make every time
you complete a transaction?”
He replied, “About $500.”
The manager then asked,
“If you divide $500 by 20 customer meetings,
how much money do you make per meeting?”
“About $25 per meeting,” he replied.
Finally, the manager asked him one more question with a smile:
“Can you think of a job
that will make you $25 every time you meet someone,
whether the person buys your product/service or not?
The reality is that every person you meet is paying you,
and the last person you meet,
the person
who bought your product/service,
is the one paying everyone else.”
My friend has been completely changed,
both in thought and action.
Instead of reluctantly doing client meetings every day,
he became a search engine.
He meets more every day,
smiles every time someone rejects him,
his search ability gets much better
throughout the whole sales process.
Within a year,
the ratio of encounters on successful deals changed
from 20/1 to 15/1,
then down to 10 and even down to 5.
By the end of the year the ratio was 3/1.
His income increased by 700%.
A few years later he retired as a millionaire on a ranch in New Mexico,
where he lives to this day.
Your job is not to endure “no” answers like the slave
who stretched out his back to the flesh.
Your job is to be willing to wait
to hear the answer “no” every day.
See how many times you can kick off a sales process
when you hear that word.
The more times you hear that word,
the more deals you will complete.
The more deals you complete,
the more confident you will become,
and your self-esteem will also improve dramatically.
As you develop the habit of facing your fears over and over again,
eventually your fears will diminish.
They will become smaller and smaller,
and then,
like smoke,
they will simply be swept away.
You start to become completely fearless,
and your business career starts to take off like a kite.
The “100 Encounters” Method
There is a very simple formula
you can use to eliminate your fear of rejection,
called the “100 encounters method”.
Over the years,
I have moved from company to company,
selling different products/services in different markets.
Every time I start a new job in my sales career,
I always feel stressed and anxious.
The fear of rejection
and the feeling of not being ready
for meetings rose up in my mind
and prevented me from meeting new people.
Then I applied the 100 encounters method.
It completely changed my career.
This method is quite simple.
No matter where you are in your sales career,
whatever your scope,
your job is simply to be determined to go out
and meet 100 prospects,
as quickly as you can.
You combine this determination
with a decision that you will not care at all
whether the person you meet will buy your product/service,
nor will you care at all about
whether the will they be positive or negative.
Your goal is simply to do 100 meetups
as quickly as possible.
If you do 10 meetings a day,
you can accomplish this goal
within two weeks.
If you do 20 meetings a day,
you can accomplish this goal in full
in five working days a week.
Now this is what will happen.
When you don’t care if you make a sale or not,
most of your fears disappear.
In fact, you start to see it as a game.
How many people can you meet and talk to,
and how quickly?
And I’ve found that the best opportunities come
when you’re both interested
and uninterested.
Of course you are interested in reaping a positive result
from your search efforts.
But if at the same time you don’t care at all
Whether the person likes you or not,
is willing to meet you,
wants to buy your product/service,
you will retain a feeling of comfort
and this feeling will help you keep it.
Be patient and positive no matter what people say.
This is the most remarkable discovery.
If you do 100 meetings as quickly as you can
without worrying about whether people are interested or not,
you will really start to find leads.
You will start making appointments.
You will start selling.
By caring but not caring,
you can get out of your rut
and speed up your sales career.
Many of my client companies ask me
how salespeople can get out of the slump,
the cause of the recession.
I always give them the same advice:
Create a contest:
Ask the salespeople to go out and do 100 meetings
as quickly as possible
and have specific prizes
for the winners.
Celebrate progress
and celebrate success.
Time and again,
organizations
and individuals report
to me that this simple approach has made
a breakthrough in their sales work,
freeing them up,
giving them a fresh start quick start
to success only the following year
or even the next quarter.
Try your best and see what you can achieve.
**************
Fundamental analysis
Searching is not only the most important part
of the sales process,
but also the most difficult
and competitive part,
and it’s all
due to that feeling of not being ready
to meet the new customers you need overcome
by meeting new clients,
over and over again,
until your fear is almost completely gone.
My son, Michael,
came to see me
when he had just graduated from college.
She said she wanted to have great success in her business
and wanted me to give her some advice.
I told Michael that if he wanted to be successful
he should find a job
that would require him
to constantly meet new people,
knock on doors,
and do it until he succeeded.
If he can overcome his fear of meeting new people
and develop the sense of confidence that comes
with success in sales in a particular area,
he will have the confidence
to make his own life by mine.
It won’t be afraid of anything anymore.
Michael followed my advice.
He applied for a job at a company
that sold fiber optic connections to homes
and apartments,
knocking on every door from noon to 9 at night,
six days a week.
First, what always happened with sales meetings,
was that he had to receive an enormous number of rejections.
People slammed the door in front of it
and even cursed it.
But it keeps trying.
It eventually sold the first item,
and then the second,
third,
and fourth.
Every time he made a sale,
he gained a little more confidence.
It becomes more fun and friendly.
It becomes more positive
and enthusiastic.
It realizes that this type of sales
is merely a game called “numbers”.
To get a certain number of customers saying “yes” you need
to meet a large number
of customers in which a lot of people say “no”.
And it did.
Michael kept his promise to himself.
It continued those “random calls”
to sales for exactly one year.
And Michael’s successes led him
to sales supervisor,
then sales manager,
then area manager.
It recruits, trains, manages,
and motivates others and helps them succeed.
Then one day he said to me,
“Dad, I can do anything now
because I’m not afraid of “random calls” anymore.
I’m not afraid of anything anymore.”
Today, Michael has become a senior sales manager
for a multi-billion dollar high-tech company operating
across the US and Europe.
It’s well-paid, it’s highly regarded,
it manages a team of sales professionals,
and continues to make “random calls,”
just to maintain its ability to overcome this fear.
“If you want a different life from everyone else,
stop doing the same things their doing.” – Dan Lok
***************
Morning is the best
One of the rules for being successful in sales is
that you need to do a lot of the things
you don’t really want to do
in order to be able
to do all the things you really want to do.
Search is the most important part of selling.
That is the start button of the game.
It is the starting point of success and achievements.
The earlier you start,
the better your chances of reaping great results.
The best time to start looking
is early in the morning.
The ideal schedule is to spend an hour,
two,
or three hours a day making calls
to schedule meetings with potential clients.
By starting your day with a call to 10
20 people, you will become positive
and motivated throughout the day.
Every morning, ask yourself:
“Where will my next successful trade come from?”
Make sure what you’re doing right now is
to answer that question.
One of the breakthroughs in the psychology
of selling was the discovery
that there are two main types of salespeople:
hunters and farmers.
Hunters are confident and aggressive people
who go out in search of new businesses.
They are search engines.
They are not afraid to call anyone.
Even though they make up only 10% of the sales force,
they open 80% of new accounts,
and sometimes even more.
Another type of salesman is the “farmer” type.
These people are capable of taking care of existing customer relationships.
These are the people who have the ability
to provide the best customer service,
call and meet with available customers regularly,
build long-term relationships and continue
to sell products to old
or existing customers,
that others recommend to them.
When the company started dividing sales into “hunter”
and “farmer” segments,
their overall sales improved markedly
and customer satisfaction increased rapidly.
Hunters like to open an account
and pass it on to the company
to complete the transaction
and take care of the customer.
The farmers love to
take care of their customers,
once the hunters have brought them home.
Are you a farmer or a hunter?
Chances are you can’t play both roles,
and it’s going to be very difficult
to be one if you fit the other’s role.
Who do you fit into the role?
The more experience,
the more “big” customers will be
Sometimes salespeople get excited about
the product/service they offer
and conclude that leads are everywhere.
To them, everyone who can need
and benefit from their product/service is a potential customer.
However, the truth is not so.
You can only sell according
to your level of knowledge and experience.
This means that if you are a novice salesperson
or selling a product/service for the first time,
you will only feel comfortable
and effectively sell
to young and inexperienced customers.
You won’t be able to develop high-quality relationships
and sell to a connoisseur,
a seasoned customer who really needs your product/service.
Some companies like IBM and Xerox will train new salespeople
and then let them start selling typewriters
(when those machines are still on the market)
or simple copiers to small customers
and medium enterprises.
New salespeople will go from office to office,
from store to store,
selling low-priced products,
tailored to their needs
and ability to pay,
to small customers.
Over time, as that new salesperson became more experienced
and professional,
able to complete more large deals,
they developed the ability
and increased confidence level
to make big sales more for larger customers.
After about a few years,
the salespeople
who used to start selling typewriters at IBM matured
and could afford to sell expensive
and complex computer systems.
Salespeople who formerly sold Xerox simplex copiers
now work in the printer department
at Fortune 1000 businesses and sell complex,
multi-function copiers
and accessories by high-tech products
to serve customers with high requirements.
You have to start from where you are.
When starting your career,
you should focus on meeting as many people
as possible and making
as many small deals as possible.
As you gain more confidence and experience,
you’ll find yourself selling larger
and more expensive products/services
to more experienced and savvy customers.
*************
Characteristics of potential customers
A potential customer has very clear characteristics.
The more you know about those characteristics,
the easier it will be to identify that
potential customer in the market
and ultimately sell your product/service to them.
Imagine you could run an ad for your “perfect prospect”
without even mentioning your product/service.
What are the typical qualities,
traits,
and psychological traits that you would expect in the person
who might buy your product first?
“People don’t buy products and services.
They buy stories.”– Dan Lok
*****************
Here are nine characteristics:
1. A potential customer is a person who has a problem
that your product/service can effectively solve at a reasonable price.
What problems does your product solve?
Out of all the problems your product/service can solve,
which one is the most urgent,
valuable,
and important?
Once you have a clear idea of the problem your product/service
is designed to solve, then
Look around your market
and identify the customers most likely to have that problem.
A question that salespeople frequently
ask a B2B customer is:
“What are the problems in your business that
keep you awake in the middle of the night?”
“Wherever your attention goes,
energy flows and results show.” – Dan Lok
******************
2. A potential customer is someone
who has a need that your product/service can satisfy.
All successful products/services are developed
to solve a problem
or satisfy a need in some way.
What needs of potential customers will make them ideal customers
to buy your product/service as soon as possible?
Potential customers have three types of needs.
In a situation, the need can be very obvious and obvious.
A company has more and more new employees
and they need to expand the office to work,
they need to move to a new office
in about three to six months.
This type of need is a very obvious need.
The only question is how to satisfy that need.
In another situation the need may not be obvious,
even though it clearly exists.
A person may suffer from constant headaches
or pain of some kind,
but not know why.
This person could be the ideal client for a doctor
who can make an accurate diagnosis
and recommend the right treatment.
Ultimately, the need may not exist.
Often in the sales process,
you will meet potential customers,
and after asking them a few questions you realize that
they don’t really need what you’re selling.
Sometimes, even customers are really interested in your product/service,
and you, as a genuine sales professional,
can say that what
they are currently using is real suit their needs at the moment.
“Wealth is not measured in how much money you make,
it’s how fast you make that money.”
*************
3. Potential customers have a goal that your product/service
can help them achieve.
The primary buying motivation
for all products/services is improvement.
When a potential customer has a desire
to improve his life and work in some way,
and your product/service can help him achieve
that goal at a reasonable price,
This customer could be a real potential customer
for you and your company.
“The amount of money you make is in direct proportion
to how deeply you understand your marketplace’s pain.” – Dan Lok
*****************
4. Potential customers have problems
or concerns that your product/service can solve.
If you’re providing a personal
or recruiting service,
the trauma could be the absence of a talented person in a key position
to make the business more efficient.
If a potential customer feels completely satisfied working
with the current product/service provider,
and you can’t help them realize
that something in their life can turn out well much more
if using your product/service,
then this customer is not your potential customer anymore.
“If you are focused on delivering value,
money comes.” – Dan Lok
**********
5. Potential customers have the power
and authority to make decisions
to buy your products/services.
If your prospect realizes that he or she has a problem,
goal,
need,
or wound,
but he or she doesn’t have the authority
to make a buying decision,
and you can’t make that person right force,
the sales process halted.
“Without a strong vision for your future you’ll always return to your past.” – Dan Lok
********************
6. A potential customer is someone who likes you and your company,
and the products/services you offer.
At that time,
there were two college students named Bill and Paul.
They are typical nerds
and they spend all their time “playing”
with computers and computer programming.
They heard that a company
that was about to launch was in need of an operating system
and thought that if they could develop
at least a sketch of the operating system
and sell it to that potential customer,
then they could make it work.
They boarded a plane,
flew to the headquarters of that computer company,
and gave their presentation.
As you can imagine,
this company just heard an offer
for another operating system made
by another business representative.
The other representative was quite arrogant,
rude,
aggressive and poorly dressed.
He didn’t even bother to take a shower.
The management of this computer company
loved his operating system,
but didn’t like him at all.
When the other two college boys came to meet
and make the pitch,
the company’s management said
that they liked their idea,
but they already liked a different operating system.
These potential customers want to buy products
from the two young men,
but they also want to buy another operating system.
The two boys flew to Seattle,
found the designer
who had developed an operating system
that the computer company’s management liked,
and arranged to buy the operating system from him,
and then returned to the other client company.
The other client company successfully installed
and tested the operating system
and then another business was born.
The two young students
I am talking about are Bill
Gates and Paul Allen,
and that startup is Microsoft.
Basically, people make decisions in a rather emotional way,
and almost all emotions are related
to how one feels about another person.
The most important part of this story is
that it was the positive personalities, sincerity,
straightforwardness
as well as cute personalities of Bill Gates
and Paul Allen that gave them their first chance.
Bill Gates is now one of the richest people in the world
and the man who developed the first operating system
passed away many years ago
without a penny.
“Dreams are not what you see in your sleep,
they are the things that don’t let you sleep” – Cristiano Ronaldo
**************
7. Potential customers can become a “VIP” guest,
if they are really satisfied.
Putting too much effort into making small sales
is an inefficient use of time and energy.
The type of customers you want to find
and work hard to win are those
who are likely to buy a large amount of your products/services
if they are satisfied the first time they buy them.
“I stayed true to my dreams,
and eventually they came true.” – Kevin Hart
*************
8. Potential customers are the center of influence,
someone who can open the door
for you to other potential customers.
Many sales organizations will go to great lengths
to win respectable individual
or institutional customers.
They will design special features
for their products/services,
offer discounts or free trials,
and then conquer customers
with impeccable customer service to ensure
hat This new customer feels
very happy using their product/service.
Sometimes,
a single transaction
with a very respectable customer can open the door
for you to contact 10,
if not hundreds,
of other customers
and organizations who have the utmost respect for that client.
A satisfied customer,
who is known and respected by many,
can create opportunities for you to sell more
of your products/services at fair market value.
“If you don’t build your dream someone will hire you to help build theirs.” – Tony Gaskins
****************
9. Very easy to sell and serve to potential customers.
The most potential customer among potential customers
is the one who works in the office right next to your office,
on the same floor.
At least that customer is near you
and easy to reach.
The least likely customer of all is someone who works
and lives far away from your office
and is also someone
who is difficult to sell and serve.
I’m always amazed
when I hear of a salesperson hopping on a plane
to fly to another country,
doing a pitch when they haven’t even gone
to all the regions of the country they’re selling
to set up office.
Sometimes, there are a huge number
of business opportunities located
in the area around your corporate headquarters.
“At the center of your being you have the answer;
you know who you are and you know what you want.” – Lao Tzu
************
Identify low-potential customers
Remember, how you feel about yourself
and the work you’re doing largely determines your level of optimism,
enthusiasm,
and joy.
When you feel positive
and happy about your product/service and your job,
you will become more positive
and more persuasive in your interactions
with potential customers.
Continuing to sell negative people can make you feel uncomfortable.
A negative, critical prospect
or customer can frustrate you for an entire day,
or even a month,
draining you of the energy
you need to meet new clients.
This is a very important point.
As a leader among the sales people in your field,
one of your main goals is
to keep your positive energy
as high as possible.
To do this, you must reduce
the amount of time you spend in contact
with negative people.
They will come in the form
of customers with little potential
for the product / service you are selling.
As soon as you realize
that you are dealing with a negative person
or a low-potential customer,
quickly stop talking,
wish the person well,
and leave.
Go to the next person
who is more positive
and receptive to
what you are saying about your product.
There is a simple rule in search that says:
“Some people are willing.
Some people don’t.
So what?
There are several others waiting.”
Your job is to quickly close the meeting
with less potential customers
so that you can find more potential customers.
Find ways to spend as little time as possible
with people
who make you sick
by spotting the signs of a low-potential client:
• Low potential customer is a very difficult person.
These people are constantly complaining and criticizing you,
your product/service,
your company,
and often their own company
and those of their colleagues.
Whenever you meet such a person,
always remember:
“You are not the target.”
This person has had negative
and unhappy views since
before you were here and will continue
to be a negative
and negative person.
he was happy even when you left.
This negative attitude
and personality has nothing
to do with your product/service.
It is simply part of how the person sees the world.
When dealing with a negative
or unhappy person
– someone who is always criticizing and complaining
– you need to behave quite the opposite.
Be polite, courteous and polite.
Say “please” and “thank you”.
When you realize you’re dealing with a negative person,
stand up and say something like,
“This doesn’t seem like a good time
to talk about my product.
Why don’t we meet again another day,
and then we’ll discuss the matter further?”
You then thank the person for his time,
wish him a good day,
and you leave.
Your goal is to minimize the time spent
with difficult customers.
You will always feel happier
and more vibrant when you leave.
• Few potential customers see very little benefit
from the product/service you offer.
While high-potential customers are always interested
in what you have to say,
ask questions,
and actively participate
in the conversation,
low-potential customers
just sit there with little emotion,
often expressing doubts about what you have to say,
what you are saying.
Again, remember that this reaction has nothing
to do with the product/service you offer.
A lot of people see new products/services
as having unnecessary
and annoying effects on their current lives,
as a threat to their “comfort zone”.
Think of selling like a Ping-Pong game.
You hit the ball away with what you said,
and someone else hits it back.
As long as the ball is still being hit back and forth,
you have a good offer.
But if the other person is uncooperative
or unresponsive,
the game stops.
When you don’t seem to get a positive response
or don’t get the attention of the other person,
stop.
Pay less attention to them.
Accept that there has been a period of underutilization,
and that somewhere,
someone can buy your product/service,
waiting for you to arrive.
The more time you spend
with this negative person,
the longer you will keep your other potential customers waiting,
wherever they are.
“In this world you only get what you grab for.” – Giovani Boccaccio
*****************
• A low-potential customer often argues
and complains constantly about the price
or quality of the product/service you offer.
Those are the people who drive you crazy
the most out of all the low-potential customers.
They tell you that your prices are too high,
that your competitors’ prices and quality are much better,
and that your product/service is not really that good.
This assessment may not be correct.
Chances are this customer had a bad day
and you’re just the victim of a game called “angry fish
cut the chopping board”.
This client takes the burden off you
to relieve some of the other negative issues in his life.
Because you are a polite
and patient sales professional,
you will tolerate negative reviews
from other people about the quality
or price of the service you provide,
but only for a very short time.
stop.
Always be polite.
Never respond to a complaint
or criticism with an answer.
Instead, ask questions,
such as:
“Why do you say that?
What do you really mean?
Where did you get that idea (or point of view) from?”
By asking questions,
you maintain a calm,
positive,
and polite attitude while remaining
in complete control of the conversation.
By asking questions,
you defuse any negative emotions
that may arise that stem
from the other person’s negativity.
• A low-potential customer feels completely satisfied
with his current supplier.
If the customer has felt completely satisfied
with the company that recently provided the product/service
you are offering to them,
then you should accept that and leave.
This is the type of sales relationship you want
to develop and maintain.
In this situation,
look for an opportunity to learn something
that may benefit you in the future.
You might ask:
“What do you like best about your current supplier?”
Sometimes,
a happy customer will give you insights into
what you need to do more, or less,
to build and maintain high-quality customer relationships.
• A low-potential customer might be someone
who buys your product/service in small quantities.
Of course, there is no problem with small customers.
But investing a huge amount of time just
to win small customers is probably not a good idea,
even when these low-potential customers are aware
that your product/service is real ideal with them,
bigger, more potential customers are still waiting
for you to come and meet.
• Low-potential client is not a good candidate for the marketing role
word of mouth marketing.
A lot of potential customers
(individuals or companies)
are completely unknown
to any of your potential customers.
Even if they like your product/service,
they can’t help you get any more customers,
so you can’t expect them to recommend your product/service,
to another potential customer.
• A low-potential customer is someone
who lives geographically away from you
and makes it difficult for you to visit or serve.
Remember, travel time is “dead time”.
The fact that your potential customers are
so far away from your office means
that they are clearly not as attractive
as customers who are closer
to your workplace.
The Guinness Book of Records once ranked Ben Feldman
as “the number one seller in the world.”
He is still a legend in the life insurance business.
He broke all the records that were set.
During the peak of his career,
he made $13 million a year in commissions
from successful trades,
which were essentially random calls
and people being scouted
by his clients by he introduced.
Feldman is also known for his “geographic strategy”.
Feldman has always wanted to have dinner
with his family in his hometown,
East Liverpool, Ohio.
So he draws a circle with a radius of 80km around his house
and forces himself to work only
within that circle for most of his career
so that he can always come home to have dinner
with his family after the meeting. final.
In 1942, when Feldman began his career selling insurance,
East Liverpool’s population was around 20,000.
Fifty years later,
when Feldman has become the highest-paid salesman in the world,
East Liverpool still has only 20,000 people.
By being both a “hunter”
and a “farmer” in a small area,
Feldman was able to set up sales records
that no one else could beat.
**************
Strategic thinking
There are four basic principles of strategic thinking
that you can use to improve your search results:
specialization,
differentiation,
segmentation,
and focus.
By looking at your products
and customers
through the lens of these four principles,
you’ll be able to make better decisions about
who you’ll meet before you even start.
“Put your heart,
mind,
and soul into even your smallest acts.
This is the secret of success.” – Swami Sivananda
**************
1. Specialization.
Each product or service can only fulfill one mission.
So clarity is especially important.
Please provide accurate information
about what your product/service is designed for?
What is the outcome of your product/service?
What problem does it solve?
What goals does it help the client achieve?
What pain does it help relieve the customer’s pain?
To clearly define your area of specialization,
use PTBS (Problem To Be Solve),
a problem-solving approach.
Keep asking:
“What is the problem my product/service is designed to solve?”
then look at the overall market and ask:
“Where are the potential customers who have been
or are facing this problem most intensely?”
“Sometimes, a winner is a dreamer who just won’t quit.” – Rudy
**************
2. Distinguish.
All great salespeople are very good at differentiating
their product/service (or themselves)
from that of a competitor,
or from anything
that customers are interested in its potential is being used.
The main difference is your competitive advantage.
To become the first choice among product/service lines
with the same features and benefits,
all products need to have a certain competitive advantage.
What is your “zone of excellence”?
The most important thing, in differentiation,
is that you must identify your UPS
– the uniqueness of the product/service you are offering.
To be successful,
every product/service must have something unique
that sets it apart and stands out
from all competing products in its market.
Sometimes the uniqueness of a product
is obvious and easy to understand.
Sometimes it’s not obvious and needs
to be explored and highlighted.
In a market with so many products/services
that there is no uniqueness
or competitive advantage,
the only thing you can do to increase sales
is reduce the price of the product/service you offer.
Imagine someone asking you:
“Show me a unique benefit
that no other similar product/service
can offer me in your product/service.
Give me a specific reason
why I should buy from you instead of your competitors.”
How will you answer?
Jack Welch, when he was CEO of General Electric, once said,
“If you don’t have any competitive advantage,
don’t compete.”
Peter Drucker says
that if you don’t have any competitive advantage,
the only thing you need to do right away
is develop a point of difference
or find a unique advantage already
in the product of your services
that you may not have used in your recent sales
and marketing strategies.
************
3. Segmentation. Once you have confirmed
Determine the area of specialization
and uniqueness
– the difference that your product/
service can bring to customers,
now it’s time
for you to define specific customer segments in your market,
grouping those
The person who can get the most benefit
from the product/service you offer,
can buy it and be willing to pay for it
as quickly as possible.
************
4. Focus.
This is where you focus all of your energy
on the most potential customers
who are most likely to buy your product or service soon.
Focus all your advertising,
promotion and sales activities on reaching these customers who want,
need, can use and have enough money
to buy your products/services.
“If you give up on your dreams, what’s left?” – Jim Carrey
**************
Customer analysis
Analyzing existing customers
and leads is something that you need to do
before you start your search.
By looking at the people
who are buying your product/service
and who are interested in it,
you can identify the best areas to focus
and focus your energy on.
Make the most transactions in the shortest time.
Here are 12 questions:
Who is using your product/service?
Who will use your product/service in the future,
based on recent trends?
Why should people buy your product/service?
If someone should buy your product/service,
why should one buy from you
instead of another company?
If someone decides to buy your product/service,
why should they buy from you,
rather than from your co-workers?
Who are your customers really?
Who is most willing to buy your product/service?
There will always be people willing
to buy your products/services more easily
and quickly than others.
Why do customers buy your product/service?
List the specific benefits that customers can get
from your product/service.
Who/what are your competitors
with your product/service in the market?
Competitors can be any substitute products/services on the market,
or anything for the same price
that customers might buy
instead of what you’re selling.
When I work in the yacht business,
my competitors are not other yacht companies,
my competitors are “inland holidays”.
For those in the yachting business,
their aim is not against other yachtsmen,
their aim is against vacations on land
or in the mountains.
Why do customers buy products from your competitors?
What specifically?
Do you know?
What advantages do customers see
when buying products/services
from your competitors that they don’t see
when considering buying your products/services?
What are the weaknesses
that customers perceive in your product/service?
This is a great question to ask yourself
when dealing with a difficult prospect.
You might say,
“No product/service is perfect,
and neither is what I offer.
Can you point me to the downsides
that you noticed in the product/service
that I just introduced to you?”
When you ask this question,
you will be surprised
with the openness of the potential customer
you are dealing with,
they will show you the weak points
of your product/service
and also how you can improve your performance handle these problems.
How can you make up for the shortfalls in your product/service?
Sometimes, you can point out that the weak points
in your product/service compared
to the competition,
are not really important to the purchasing decision.
You can show that
for customer satisfaction,
the strengths of the product/service
you offer are far more important
than the very minor issues where you are not really
as strong as someone else.
“80% of our problems can be fixed with 10 minutes of deep thinking with a notepad and pen,
and then doing step three which is getting off our but and doing it.” – Tai Lopez
****************
Who is not your customer?
People who don’t buy products,
whether yours
or your competitors’ products,
are not your customers.
Sometimes by identifying people
who aren’t your customers,
and figuring out
why they won’t buy the product/service you’re offering,
you can create a whole new market,
a market with little
or no competition.
Why don’t these people buy the product/service,
from you or from anyone else?
Why aren’t they your customers?
What do they see or do not see in using
or not using the product/service you offer?
How can you change their opinion so that they want
and really need to use your product/service?
The first car that Henry Ford sold
on the market was very expensive compared
to the incomes of middle-class people or families.
However, in a field that eventually became extremely hot
Driven by the participation of dozens of other automakers,
he was able to capture up to 26% of the market share of “horseless graves” .
Then, Henry Ford made a rather wise judgment.
If he can produce cars on a large scale
and lower the cost of products,
then middle-class people can buy cars.
If middle-class people had enough money to buy cars,
including those who worked in his factory,
he could quickly expand his market
and increase his sales.
Five years later,
Ford’s market share increased from 26% to 62%,
making him the most successful industrialist
and richest man in the world.
He succeeded by identifying people
who weren’t his customers
and offering them a product
that could dramatically improve their quality of life.
This is also possible for you sometimes, right?
“Nothing happens unless first we dream.” – Carl Sandburg
*******************
Sell to your ideal customer
Who is your ideal customer?
If you could put an ad in the newspaper for “ideal clients,”
just as if you were
to post a new job advertisement for your company,
how would you describe this client?
Which, in as much detail as possible?
In particular,
how would you describe your perfect customer
if you were not allowed to mention your company,
product/service?
Let’s start with demographics
– basic information about this ideal customer:
age,
education,
income,
occupation,
location, family background
and current living situation.
Where is your ideal customer located?
– In terms of social or economic geography?
Your ideal customer could be someone working
within that radius of your workplace
(recall Ben Feldman’s famous geographic distance strategy.)
Sometimes ideal customers are ideal.
Yours is someone who does a particular job,
in a particular position in a particular industry.
Determine the mentality of the ideal customer,
the problem is becoming more and more important.
Is your product/service able to satisfy the wants,
desires and hopes in the life of your ideal customer in some way?
Can your product/service solve the anxieties,
fears,
or problems that plague your ideal customer every night?
What can your product/service do
to help your ideal customer achieve their ambitions
in the future?
Once you’ve come up
with a list of your ideal customer’s characteristics,
both demographically
and psychologically,
review the list and pick out the three
to five most salient characteristics of the person
who can and most willing
to buy your product/service.
A few years ago, my client,
a company that sells business systems to large companies,
set up a sales representative office in San Diego.
Its sales staff identified the six largest companies
in the San Diego area.
They then devised a strategy
to get to know these companies.
The most important decision-makers
in all six target companies were the Purchasing Managers.
This is the person who evaluates the systems they sell
and who makes the final decision on whether or not to buy them.
Over the course of five years,
they focused on getting
to know each company,
meeting and talking
to people lower in the purchasing department,
and gradually working their way up
to the key decision makers in each company
with golf sessions and dinners together.
Finally, after five years, as planned,
all six major companies have used their products/services.
With B2B (business to business) sales,
the motivation
to buy is mainly to earn or save money,
earn or save time,
and best of all, both.
The most important concern is
what is known as “time-to-payback”.
The attractiveness of a product/service,
and the time it takes a company
to make a decision
and purchase that product/service,
is largely determined
by the company’s determination of what
the product/service will be how quickly
you can afford to buy it.
Indeed, if you are selling a product/service
to a potential business customer,
your product/service will actually
become a “free” item because of the financial value
that customer offers.
That customer gets more than what they paid for it.
Once the product has paid for itself,
it provides a continuous stream of financial benefits.
When I explain this concept
to senior professionals in Fortune 1000 companies,
I tell them that their entire sales
and marketing efforts need
to be focused on demonstrating that what
which they are offering is “completely free
and customers will definitely get another benefit”.
At first, they were surprised by this.
But they quickly understand
that it is extremely important to potential customers.
A potential customer is someone
who can actually get benefits far greater
than the cost of buying a product/service,
whatever it is.
In fact, if a potential customer buys that product/service,
the money they spend will quickly be repaid over time
until it becomes completely free,
and often for a period of time very short.
You should think about these potential customers in your market,
to whom your product/service is truly “free
and with another benefit”.
They will be the people you can most easily talk to and sell to,
and will also be the people
who will rate your products/services the most.
“Ask yourself,
“What’s a skill that matches my personality that I can scale to infinity?”,
and that’s where wealth comes from.” – Tai Lopez
***************
Convince potential customers to buy
Once you have identified the ideal customer
for the product/service you offer,
the additional question that needs to be answered is,
how do you best accomplish the task of persuading your position?
Does that potential customer buy your product/service?
What are the key arguments you could use,
in order of preference?
To close the deal,
what do you need to convince your customer?
In chapter 2,
we said that the most important
and highest-paid skill you have is the ability to think.
The more time you spend thinking deeply about
who your potential customers are,
why they will buy your product/service,
and what unique benefits your product/service can provide grant them,
the easier it will be to pinpoint the exact leads
who are most willing to speak to you in the market
in which you operate.
Your job is to keep the sales funnel full.
The more potential customers you have
and the more potential they have,
the more likely you are to have the sales style required
to become one of the top salespeople
in your field in the higher.
You must always think about better ways
to get more leads.
Think carefully about who they are,
where they are
and why they might buy your product/service.
In search, action is vitally important,
but putting too much pressure on you
or your agent can cost you.
If salespeople are under too much pressure for a long time,
they can burn out.
I’ve seen this happen to a number of salespeople
I’ve trained and managed,
and it happened to me personally as well.
In my first job as a salesperson,
I used to drive an hour to the office,
knock on about 50 doors a day,
conduct at least one sales training session,
train specifically for new hires,
drive sales reps to their area,
supervise them to make sure they’re productive,
conduct an end-of-day briefing,
report Report the results to your supervisors,
drive an hour home,
and then repeat all of these tasks,
six days a week.
When you work with such intensity,
you have a negative effect on your daily regimen,
on time spent exercising,
and on time needed to spend with family.
You start to feel burned out
and sales don’t work anymore.
The harder you work,
the fewer deals you complete.
In other words, the best
and most profitable sales
I’ve ever completed were made
when I was physically
and mentally at ease,
not when I was in a state of turmoil
or exhausted.
To maintain high levels of success-seeking activities,
the most important lesson you can learn is
to measure yourself,
appreciate what you can do every day,
and do only the right things. that work.
It’s a lot better
if you do 40 meetings a day for a year
than if you do 100 meetings a day for a month.
The best, most effective sales professionals
do what most sales professionals do occasionally every day.
When creating your daily goals,
create a way for you to maintain
that progress over the long term.
“Wealth is created by a combination of many things,
but one of them is catching new trends early.” – Tai Lopez
**************
ACTION EXERCISES
Here are some exercises,
including questions,
to apply these ideas to your sales.
What are the three main benefits
you will get if you excel in the search stage?
What are the three characteristics
of a real potential customer
with your product/service?
What are the three characteristics
of a low-potential customer
with your products/services?
What exactly is it about your product/service that is designed
to improve the lives or work of your customers?
Three distinctive features
or competitive advantages in your product/service
that other products/services have
similar ones on the market?
Can a specific audience benefit from the special features
or benefits your product/service offers?
What are three reasons for a potential customer
to buy your or your company’s product
or service instead of your biggest competitor?
Finally, if there was one thing you needed
to do right after reading this chapter,
what would you do?
