8/18/2014 12:30:00 AM
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PERSPECTIVE – Sales Consultant: “A ‘No’ Is Better Than Wasting More Time.”
Getting a “no” from a potential customer is not all bad, consultant James Alberson told the Pacific-West Fastener Association. “A ‘no’ is better than wasting more time.”
“Perfection is the enemy of trying,” the sales coach from Seattle-based Top Tier Training & Development Inc. explained. “It’s ok to fail. You may fail, but you are not a failure.”
Don’t take a “no” personally, Alberson added.
That fits with his “Sandler Rules” for sales. Top Tier is a Sandler Training licensee.
Alberson explained four of the rules to the Pac-West conference in Coeur d’Alene, ID.
The first rule is that “You have to learn both to fail and to win.”
Alberson cited the famous quote by basketball legend Michael Jordan, who led the Chicago Bulls to six national championships and won five NBA MVP awards:
“I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
Sandler Rule #7: “You never have to like prospecting, you just have to do it.”
Prepare for your prospecting calls, Alberson urged. “Create play books. List the top five questions to open a call with.”
Sales managers must coach salespeople on prospecting. In training sessions the manager should play the role of sales person, Alberson added. “It will hone the manager’s sales skills too.”
Rule #34: “Work smart, not hard.”
Smart is especially needed in hiring, Alberson said. “What is the cost of turnover?” he asked. The cost of a bad hire is actually 4.2 to 6 times the salary paid to the person. In contrast, successful hiring that “starts well, ends well.”
Use the “S.E.A.R.C.H. test” in considering potential employees: Skills, Experience, Attitude, Results, Cognitive skills, and Habits of success.
“Sales people are made, not born,” Alberson emphasized. “We can be shaped.”
Though the 20% of top sales people hired are “the superstars who are going to be superstars,” and 20% won’t succeed, the 60% “movable middle” needs to be worked with to boost them maximize their potential.
“You can’t blame the sales team if you don’t invest in training,” Alberson said. Training can be formal and informal, but needs to be from someone who knows how. “You don’t learn from taking golf lessons from a neighbor.”
Rule #44: “When your foot hurts, you’re probably standing on your own toe.”
“Take responsibility when something goes wrong,” James Alberson urged. “Don’t blame the sales team.”
You especially can’t blame others if there is no accountability system. Employers should “map out what it takes to keep the job and what it takes to lose the job.”
Alberson holds an MBA in marketing from Purdue University and started his career as a sales rep for Baxter Healthcare and subsequently earned top producer awards in sales and management from Fortune 500 companies and start-up ventures. Web: toptier.sandler.com
For Pacific-West Fastener Association information: Pac-West.org.
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