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The
Seven Secrets of Skyrocketing your Sales!
By Bob Cooper
Over the years
I've attended countless sales courses, listened to hundreds of audio
cassettes and watched dozens upon dozens of sales videos. Yet today
when people ask me what they can do to most improve their own sales
skills, oddly enough, my answer is really pretty simple. I've found
that there are seven secrets to sales success and I've used those
secrets to grow some of the most successful auto repair shops in North
America. I've also used the same secrets to grow Elite from a small,
California consulting business into a worldwide company. Now I would
like to share those secrets with you. But first, I would like to make
a promise to you by saying that if you apply these secrets to your
business you'll see more than just an increase in sales. You'll see
happier customers, happier employees and a more profitable business.
With that promise made, here are my seven secrets of sales success.
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Set
Goals. All successful people set long term goals and then
they break those goals down into short term goals. Goals allow
you to remain focused, and the more focused you are the more successful
you will be. Here's a tip from Elephant Chains™, a success
course I present to many of the world's largest corporations.
When you set any sales goals you need to break them down into
daily goals, then write that number down every, single morning.
As you sell each job subtract the amount of the sale from your
daily goal and balance will be your new, adjusted goal for the
day. Does tracking your daily sales goals in this "descending"
manner really work? Try it for twenty-one days. You'll be amazed
with the results.
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Follow
a sales procedure. All great doctors, great lawyers, great
technicians and great sales people have one thing in common. They
all follow a procedure that includes asking questions and listening
to the customer. This article doesn't allow space for me to go
into any great detail, so let me simply say this. Any well designed
sales procedure will have eight steps that start with building
rapport and end with closing the sale. When you look into attended
any sales course make sure it's build around the "eight-step"
sales cycle. If not, you should look at other courses.
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Offer
people options. People love to buy but they hate to be sold.
Movie theaters, grocery store and clothing stores all understand
the principle of options. Great sales people do too. By offering
options you allow your customer to remain in control and you allow
him or her to compare your one service to another one of your
services rather than compare it to what your competitors offer.
An example would be … "We can install the standard water
pump with a one year warranty or we can install the premium pump
with the lifetime warranty. Which of these two would give you
the greater piece of mind?" . Offer your customer options.
They'll love you for it, your sales will go up and so will your
profits.
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Practice.
All great athletes, and sales people, understand the principle
of what's referred to as "muscle memory". It's conditioning
yourself to the point whereas you don't have to "think"
about what to do next. Where you're a prizefighter or a sales
professional, your reactions are instinctive and they happen
automatically. I recommend that you practice your sales techniques
on your co-workers rather than your customers, and here's how
you do it. Once you have a good understanding of the sales cycle
and you've reduced it to a procedure you feel comfortable with,
you should share it with someone else on your management team.
Then twice a day you should walk up to that person, ask if they
have a couple of minutes, and then present to them as though
they were your customer. Practice, practice, practice. It's
a secret to your sales success.
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Never
look at selling as "inking deals" or "getting the
dollars". Now don't misunderstand me. I'm not suggesting
that the dollars aren't important because they are. Obviously
you have to have sales goals and you have to pay attention to
the numbers. What I am saying is this. The truly great sales people
sell with their hearts rather than with pens. When you truly care
about people, it shows through, and when the customer realizes
you care more about them than their money, then and only then
will you have the opportunity to sell.
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Follow
up with each and every customer. General Electric studies
have found that word-of-mouth advertising is three to five times
more effective than any other media. Referral customers come to
you with many things, yet none more important than a belief in
you. Subsequently, one sure-fire way of driving up sales is by
driving up your number of referred customers. One of the easiest
ways of driving up referral customers is by calling each customer,
making sure they were pleased with your service, and genuinely
thanking them. In today's competitive environment, if you lose
sight of secret number six you'll lose a lot more than a few dollars
in sales. You'll lose the lifeblood of your business. You'll lose
your customers.
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Surround
yourself with superstars. Customer expectations are at an
all time high and the competition for your customers has never
been more violent. There is no question that the day has come
whereas good doesn't make it anymore. Your employees have to be
nothing short of great. You'll need to make sure you have technicians
that can produce high quality work in a competitive amount of
time and you'll need to hire service writers, managers and estimators
that can master the seven secrets of sales success. |
I'd like to close
with this. If you set your goals, if you surround yourself with superstars,
and if you apply my seven secrets of sales success, then I am confident
in making you this promise. You'll not only drive up your sales and
profits, but more importantly, you'll be developing the most important
component of every great business: Happy customers.
Management
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