Sales Coach for Women, Sales Coaching by Liz Wendling, Sales Coaches

Great Marketing Plan; Lousy Sales Strategy

scw_admin — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 01:58:35 +0000

Merge them to be successful

Without a marketing plan you can’t attract and retain customers. Without good sales techniques and a solid strategy to close those customers your efforts will be stalled. Your marketing efforts may be producing great leads, but if you don’t know how to switch gears to close the sale, you won’t produce maximum income results. Sales and marketing must work synergistically, not independently, to generate sales. Sales Coaching Programs can help immensely.

Marketing is the process to influence and attract new customers. The sales process is everything you do to close sales and generate revenue. All the marketing in the world will not yield results if your potential customers aren’t buying what you’re selling.

Many business owners choose to spend thousands of dollars on marketing, yet nothing on the most critical element that makes all that possible. Sales training! For your marketing efforts to be successful, someone has to actually hand you money through a closed sale. And that must happen on a continuous basis.

I’m never surprised when a business owner tells me they’ve spent their budget on advertising, with no money left over for sales training. Few companies have a dedicated budget for sales training. I ask, “Do you want to continue wasting more money attracting more customers that never buy or invest the same money in sales coaching to encourage customers to say yes?” Resolving the problem of why customers aren’t buying is a problem that is always worth solving.

I recently worked with a company on a new product launch. They sent out emails, flyers, purchased cable TV advertising and a radio spot. Many new customers took advantage of their free or low-cost ticket to entry offer but very few purchased anything else. They had a great marketing plan, but had a lousy sales strategy.
Without looking at why their plan failed, they immediately launched into another high cost marketing campaign to reach an even bigger audience. They were convinced that if they cast a wide enough net and spent more money on marketing that people would rush to buy what they were selling. Wrong. A second attempt and enormous amounts of money later, they realized their marketing was effective but their sales process was disaster.

Together we created a sales process that was smart, solid and would consistently generate results. They’re now reaping the rewards of a great marketing plan combined with a fully functioning sales plan and strategy.
If your customers aren’t handing you money consistently, that’s a clue that your sales process is inferior or non-existent. Don’t waste another dime on marketing if you employ a lousy sales process. It’s easy to design an ad, talk about your product on the radio, send out a coupon or offer a free consultation; the hard part is doing the work to understand the sales process and what it takes for someone to say yes and to say it often. Hire a sales coach and fix it immediately.

Understanding the difference between marketing and selling will help focus your efforts and improve your profits. A successful marketing plan working synergistically with a great sales strategy is the perfect partnership. Simply exposing your message to thousands or millions of people doesn’t guarantee success. Investing in sales coaching does that. It’s the best money you’ll ever invest in your business and it pays for itself through new customers.

Liz Wendling is The Sales Coach for Women and the author of The Unstoppable Business Woman. Liz empowers women business owners (and smart men) to create immediate sales results, achieve lasting business success and permanently raise their bottom line. From the novice to the seasoned sales professional and business owner, Liz provides coaching around communicating more effectively and selling more efficiently. Go to: www.salescoachforwomen.com or e-mail Liz@salescoachforwomen.com Download 2 FREE chapters of her latest book www.theunstoppablebusinesswoman.com

Add a Dose of Discipline

scw_admin — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 15:34:17 +0000

Discipline yourself to do what you know you need to do to be
the very best in your field. Perhaps the best definition of
self discipline is this: “Self discipline is the ability to
make yourself do what you should do when you should do it,
whether you feel like it or not.” A sales coach or a good
sales coaching program will help.

It is easy to do something when you feel like it. It’s when
you don’t feel like it and you force yourself to do it anyway
that you move your life and career onto the fast track.

What decisions do you need to make today in order to start
moving toward the top of your field? Whatever it is, either
to get in or get out, make a decision today and then get
started. This single act alone can change the whole
direction of your life.

Seven Steps to Success
There is a powerful seven step formula that you can use
to set and achieve your goals for the rest of your life.
Every single successful person uses this formula or some
variation of this formula to achieve vastly more than the
average person. And so can you.

Here it is:

Decide What You Want
Step number one, decide exactly what it is you want in
each part of your life. Become a “meaningful specific”
rather than a “wandering generality.”

Write it Down
Second, write it down, clearly and in detail. Always think
on paper. A goal that is not in writing is not a goal at all.
It is merely a wish and it has no energy behind it.

Set A Deadline
Third, set a deadline for your goal. A deadline acts as
a “forcing system” in your subconscious mind. It motivates
you to do the things necessary to make your goal come true.
If it is a big enough goal, set sub-deadlines as well.
Don’t leave this to chance. Sales Mentoring Programs will
always be a good investment.

Make A List
Fourth, make a list of everything that you can think of
that you are going to have to do to achieve your goal.
When you think of new tasks and activities, write them
on your list until your list is complete.

Organize Your List
Fifth, organize your list into a plan. Decide what you
will have to do first and what you will have to do second.
Decide what is more important and what is less important.
And then write out your plan on paper, the same way you
would develop a blueprint to build your dream house.

Take Action
The sixth step is for you to take action on your plan.
Do something. Do anything. But get busy. Get going.

Do Something Every Day
The seventh is to do something every single day
that moves you in the direction of your most important
goal at the moment. Develop the discipline of doing
something 365 days each year that is moving you forward.
You will be absolutely astonished at how much you
accomplish when you utilize this formula in your life
every single day.

It’s clear that without discipline, success will be an
uphill battle. It does not have to be that way.

Motivating Your Sales Team

scw_admin — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 15:17:27 +0000

Pep talks aren’t enough

Successful companies and smart sales managers see an economic downturn as an opportunity. A slow economy can mean decreased sales, unmotivated sales teams and deteriorating morale, but it’s also a great time to revive and motivate your sales team to become stronger players who possess the skills needed to succeed. But is the person leading your team the right person for this task?

It’s not uncommon for top-producing salespeople to be “promoted” into the position of sales manager, in the hopes that they’ll manage and lead others to be equally successful. I see it all the time; great salespeople with no experience in leadership and management being thrown into a position they’re not ready to play. But the move often fails because they are being promoted for the wrong reasons! Just because they are great sellers doesn’t mean they are great leaders! Sales Coaching Programs and a sales coach can help.

Motivating and leading a sales team requires a completely different skill set than just delivering the Monday morning pep talk. Many sales managers lack basic coaching skills and tend to use coaching techniques – such as pep talks, high fives, a few “atta boys” and “atta girls,” and motivational messages – that are more appropriate for little league than the major league. Sure, pep talks and motivational messaging have their place, but they’re not going to produce the type of high-level results that are expected of great sales teams.

In order to maximize profits, your salespeople must be performing at their best, operating at peak performance and led by managers who possess the skills to empower a team. The result? Employees who feel valued and confident in their sales skills are more effective in the sales process, which leads to more profit and growth for your company.

To have – and to retain – a high-level sales team, a sales manager needs to learn the communication skills that keep a team focused and successful. Positive feedback is crucial to maintaining an encouraging work environment in which all salespeople can thrive. Negative feedback and nagging is not a form of motivation and not an environment that breeds success. Some inexperienced sales managers use those tactics because they lack the leadership skills necessary to manage effectively. No one is ever motivated by nagging!

Productive sales managers have the ability to identify, define and improve sales skills for all members of the sales team. They possess the proper tools to maximize the strengths of their team, and address the weaknesses, through coaching and constructive communication.

Is your sales manager a true coach, or just a salesperson with a fancy new title? Can he or she motivate and inspire or just nag and criticize? The skills required for managing, mentoring and developing a sales team are totally different from those required for selling. A great sales manager leads by example and commands with authority, but in a way that draws respect rather than contempt. These managers keep morale high, set real, but challenging goals and then do everything necessary to assist the entire team in reaching and exceeding those goals. Your salespeople want to be recognized as individuals, shown appreciation and given opportunities to grow. A sales strategy plan can assist in that area.

Before you promote your top salesperson into a position he or she might not be ready for, I recommend you take the time to implement a management “test drive” prior to an official promotion. Lay out the rules of the game and help the candidate understand what the role entails so you are more equipped to make an informed decision. A management “test drive” is an effective way to see if a salesperson truly possesses what it takes to step into that role. Finally, give the candidate the skill set needed to lead, manage, motivate and inspire. If you don’t, you are throwing someone into the position who isn’t equipped with the right tools for the job, and it will cost you sales.

4 Obstacles of Selling

scw_admin — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 01:19:17 +0000

There are 4 common obstacles that salespeople face when closing sales? There are several other reasons why selling is stressful and difficult, but there are a few that are most common. Brian Tracy talks about the top 4. Here are the most common obstacles to closing sales.

Fear of Failure

There are several other reasons why selling is stressful and difficult. First is the fear of failure experienced by the prospect. Because of negative buying experiences in the past, over which you could have no control, prospects are conditioned to be suspicious, skeptical and wary of salespeople and sales approaches. They may like to buy, but they don’t like to be sold. They are afraid of making a mistake. They are afraid of paying too much and finding it for sale cheaper somewhere else.

Fear of Criticism

They are afraid of being criticized by others for making the wrong buying decision. They are afraid of buying an inappropriate product and finding out later that they should have purchased something else. This fear of failure, of making a mistake in buying your product, is the major reason why people object, hesitate and procrastinate on the buying decision.

Fear of Rejection

The second major obstacle to selling is the fear of rejection, of criticism and disapproval experienced by the salesperson. You work long and hard to prospect and cultivate a prospective buyer and you are very reluctant to say anything that might cause the prospect to tune you out and turn you off. You have a lot invested in each prospect and if you are not careful, you will find yourself being wishy-washy at the end of the sale, rather than risking incurring the displeasure of the prospect by your asking for a firm decision. A sales coach can assist in that. Sales Coaching Programs are a great resource to combat fear of rejection.

Customers Are Busy

The third reason why the end of the sale is difficult is that customers are busy and preoccupied. It isn’t that they are not interested in enjoying the benefits of your product. It’s just that they are overwhelmed with work and they find it difficult to make sufficient time available to think through your recommendations and make a buying decision. And the better they are as a prospect, the busier they tend to be. This is why you need to maintain momentum throughout the sales process and gently push it to a conclusion at the appropriate time. Sales Mentoring Programs is the answer.

Inertia is Hard to Break

The factor of inertia is the fourth reason that can also cause the sales process to come to a halt without a resolution. Customers are lazy and often quite comfortable doing what they are currently doing. Your product or service may require that they make exceptional efforts to accommodate the change or a new way of doing things. They perhaps recognize that they would be better off with your product, but the trouble and expense of installing it hardly seems to make it worth the effort. They see no pressing need or urgency to stop doing what they are doing and start doing something else with what you are selling.

7 Steps to Sell Successfully

scw_admin — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 22:57:38 +0000

Learn the Seven “Be’s” for Successful Selling

Here are proven strategies to improve your sales ratio.

1. Be enthusiastic. If you’re not excited about what you’re selling, don’t expect your prospects to be. Share your enthusiasm with potential clients and watch your sales grow.

2. Be likable. People respond to someone they perceive is much like themselves. When on a sales call, build good rapport with your clients. Discover common interests by looking around their office and finding commonalities.

3. Be a good student. Accomplished salespeople work hard to improve their skills. Reading, listening to audiotapes, and surfing the Internet will improve your sales IQ and your bank account. Take classes; attend seminars.

4. Be prepared. Know your U.S.P. (Unique Selling Proposition) before making your first call. The USP is the message to your customers regarding how they will benefit from your product or service. Be sure you know your customers’ businesses and understand their needs.

5. Be fearless. Don’t let fear of rejection sabotage your efforts. One technique is to turn prospecting into a numbers game. For example, if you make $100 on every sale, and you average five calls per sale, then every “NO” is worth $20.

6. Be sure to get referrals. Don’t hesitate to ask clients for referrals; they will be glad to help. If your offering has the right benefits, your clients will want to share with their friends and business associates.

7. Be relentless. If you let your marketing efforts lapse, your sales may too. Maintain marketing momentum by keeping in touch with customers and prospects through various media. Sending e-mails, newsletters, or creating a web page are all great ideas.

5 Key Traits of Great Salespeople

scw_admin — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 22:24:07 +0000

5 Key Traits of Great Salespeople

1. They create their own success. Salespeople are most successful when they focus their energies where they can have the greatest impact.
2. They are strategic thinkers. Customers won’t always understand a salesperson’s first offering. As they work with clients, they must think strategically, so that each approach provides new, valuable information.
3. They are customer focused. Salespeople will be more successful if they have a strong customer focus every step of the way. Their success should flow from the success of their customers.
4. They have a firm belief in their product or service. Salespeople must have an undying conviction in what they offer and stand behind it in every phase of the sales cycle.
5. They always take the next step. While salespeople can expect to encounter difficulties in their sales careers, they must keep moving forward. They’ll inevitably overcome enough of the obstacles to be successful.

Great Sales People Follow-Up

Within one day or receiving the referral, drop a quick note to your customer, thanking them for their recommendation and again reassuring them that you will treat their friend with respect. This is an important part of cementing your relationship and will pay dividends in the future in the form of repeat business and further referrals. After you have followed up with the referral, be sure to call your customer. Again, thank them for the introduction and report your results. Remember, the referral is someone who is meaningful to your customer, so they will naturally be interested in what happens. A further way you express your gratitude and to reinforce your relationship with your customer is to send them a gift after you have closed a sale with a referral they provided. Your gift should be appropriate to the size of the sale. A Sales Coach and Sales Coaching Programs can help.

Networking is a Contact Sport

scw_admin — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 21:00:30 +0000

Turning contacts into connections

Great networkers know how to “work a room!” These people are easy to spot. They’re circulating with grace and ease, meeting, greeting and talking to people in a way that looks and sounds sincere. It’s obvious they know how to start, develop and end lively and interesting conversations that build rapport.

Working a room like a pro means having many short conversations with many people. Short doesn’t mean superficial. It’s completely possible to have thought-provoking, meaningful and stimulating short conversations with new contacts that create connections and make you memorable.

Many people attend networking events with good intentions of meeting people and cultivating new relationships. Not everyone goes with the same good intentions. Some are only attending to hunt for prey and seem more interested in making you their next victim. Networking isn’t about hunting for prospects; it’s about making contacts that eventually lead to a connection. The networker that works a room in a “what’s in it for me” fashion will never build relationships and gain clients. A Sales Coach and Sales Coaching Programs work.

Working a room is not about buzzing around, passing out your cards like a black jack dealer and having fleeting half-conversations with other people. Sure, you will meet a lot of people but it will be highly unlikely that you’ll make an impact. If you do, it won’t be a favorable one.

For many, networking comes naturally. For others it has to be learned and continuously honed. Not everyone gets excited or enjoys attending networking events. Like it or not, you have to do it. Yes, it can be uncomfortable walking into a room full of people you don’t know, but it’s not an excuse for skipping this business building activity. When you know how to work a room you feel better about yourself, make great social and business contacts and you will be able to make others feel more comfortable too. Your confidence will attract them to you and make them want to know you better.

Next time you are at an event, make a conscious decision to approach people whom you might not normally speak to. Armed with your repertoire of conversation starters and questions, you should have no difficulty in making a good first impression and developing rapport. The more people you meet in a genuine way, the less fazed you will be by the networking process. It’s all part of the big networking plan of effectively working a room.

Another very important tip to remember when you are working a room is to not to be in sales mode. Move gently from social to business conversation and avoid any sense of “selling.” People aren’t at networking events to buy or be sold, they’re there to network.

You must network if you want to grow your business, close more sales and gain referrals. You must be willing to have interesting conversations with many new people. I tell my clients that unless your phone is ringing off the hook and have more business than you can handle, you must be out working a room on a consistent basis.

Listening is the Key to Sales Success

scw_admin — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 17:09:37 +0000

Learn to Listen Well

A vital key to sales success is listening. The ability to
listen well is absolutely indispensable for success in all
human relationships. The ability to be a good listener in a
sales conversation is the foundation of the new model of
selling. It leads to easier sales, higher earnings and greater
enjoyment from the sales profession.

Being A Good Talker is Not Enough
Many salespeople have been brought up with the idea that,
in order to be good at your profession, you must be a
good talker. You have even heard people say,
“You have the gift of the gab; you should be in sales!”

Focus On the Other Person
Nothing could be further from the truth. As many as seventy
five percent of all top salespeople are defined as introverts
on psychological tests. They are very easy going and other-centered.
They would much rather listen than talk. They are very interested in
the thoughts and feelings of other people and they are quite
comfortable sitting and listening to their prospects. They would
much rather listen than talk in a sales situation. Poor salespeople
dominate the talking, but top salespeople dominate the listening.

Sales Coaching Programs and a good sales coach can help!

Sales Process Equals Sales Success

scw_admin — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 15:44:01 +0000

Is yours broken, useless or non-existent?

Closing sales is essential to building any successful business. Every sale – and I mean every sale involves a process of defined steps, and skipping a step or going out of order typically results in a lost sale. The word “process” comes from the Latin word “procedure” meaning to proceed, and is a series of operations or stages that lead to an end product or outcome. Regardless of what you sell, the sales process is like a production line and it must follow a specific sequence. No sequence + no process = no sale. Always! If you are using that formula, you can guarantee your sales efforts will be a big waste of precious time, money and energy.

There are many moving parts to the sales process: creating rapport, creating trust, asking impactful questions, talking about budgets, handling objections, gaining commitment, all the way to closing the sale. To be successful in selling you should be able to move through each step with precision; any diversion from the process will result in a lost sale.

Think about it – everything is a process. Lifting an airplane off the ground, driving a car, baking cookies, brushing your teeth, getting ready in the morning, learning a foreign language…you get the point. All involve a process of steps that lead to the desired goal. Why would anyone set out to sell anything without a formal process that could almost guarantee increased sales? It is like trying to build your dream house without blueprints.

When businesses and salespeople use a sales process, they have more consistent success with their sales performance. Why so many fail to develop or identify their process is a mystery. The evidence is so compelling for having one.
Not using a sales process or using the “fly by the seat of your pants” sales process is a flawed business strategy that has become all too common in business these days. But the seat-of-the-pants salesperson or business owner will never come close to the income of the systematic salesperson. A sales coach can assist in that.

Great salespeople and top performers have a process for generating a steady stream of good leads from multiple sources. They have an intake system for those leads, categorizing them, managing them, organizing them and following up on them with multiple steps. Everything they do is scripted, rehearsed, fine-tuned and memorized. They own it! They don’t perform random acts of selling; they are consistent in their efforts and their efforts yield big results.
Some companies I work with tell me they are using a sales process but that it’s just no longer working. I explain to them, and firmly believe, that if they have a flawed or outdated sales process, then forcing salespeople to use it is counterproductive – fix the process first, then show salespeople how they can be more productive and effective using one.

Now the flip side, to the people who will have a problem with me saying that a process is the only way to produce results. If you do not agree, then keep doing what you are doing and getting the same results. It is hard to muster sympathy for companies and salespeople who would rather whine and complain about losing sales than create and use a structured process. They tell me it stifles their creativity and limits their ability to connect with potential customers. Give me a break. That is just another excuse for people who would rather fail than change with the times. They would rather be right than go to the bank.

If you are not closing sales or you are not sure why you are losing sales, then that is a big clue that you need help. Those who do not use a process or who do not make their process integral to their sales operation will fail miserably in the area of sales success.

The economy and the customers have changed. The faster things are changing–competition, market conditions, the way customers buy, the products and solutions offered, the more you have to update your sales process. There is just no good excuse for not using a current sales process. A great sales process and sales coaching program is a road map to success. If you need help, just call.

Selling With Power and Confidence

scw_admin — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 23:27:46 +0000

As women business owners, we get into business with the best of intentions because of a passion for what we love to do. Then we are faced with the facts that sales skills are an essential part of doing business and a critical part to staying in business. Selling with anxiety, uncertainty and fear will sabotage their efforts and keep women from reaching their business goals. Sales Coaching or a Sales Coach is the answer.

Many business owners are not skilled at selling and often fear it because of the negative experiences and impressions they have in their own lives. When you ask someone what selling means, you often hear words like sleazy, manipulative and cut throat. Sounds like fun does it? The truth is selling can be fun but you need to make sure you are selling from a genuine place of wanting to serve your customers versus from a place that is self-serving.

Here are 7 tips on how to sell from your heart and not from your head.
Tip 1: Remember why you went into business and the original passion you felt when you came up with the idea. There was an under served need in your market that you felt passionately about serving. Keep this close to your heart and in your mind.

Tip 2: Be clear on who your ideal buyer is. The type of individual you want to attract into your business that you know you can help and you really want to work with. These are the people you resonate with and can easily connect to.

Tip 3: Take time to build a relationship with your customers and prospects. People think with logic but act with emotion so if you allow the relationship to grow and make an emotional connection, the sales will eventually come.

Tip 4: Ask lots of questions and give your prospect an opportunity to speak. In order to find out specifically how you can serve and what your customers needs are, you need to ask questions to really uncover an area where you can offer assistance and make sure you listen, listen, listen.

Tip 5: Come from a true place of serving your ideal market and look for solutions that you offer that help your ideal client and get them quicker to their goals. Be genuine and be authentic and rather than look for how you can close a sale, really focus on them and how you can make them better.

Tip 6: Lead with your gifts. Offer your expertise and your knowledge willingly and for free. This will attract people who are interested in learning more information about you and provide you with an opportunity to demonstrate your skills.

Tip 7: Don’t push the close. If you make an offer of your services to a potential customer, do not chase them for a decision. If they want to work with you they will let you know and remember to continue to treat them in the same manner if they hire you or not.