Sales training 10th March 2008
Topic: 8Tips for Earning Consistent Revenues - and Commissions - All Year Round
Sales
Present were: Lance Wang, William Hu and George Jin
Presenter: Bob R. Foday
8Tips for Earning Consistent Revenues - and Commissions - All Year Round
Having mastered the secret of negotiation, it is now time to to play the negotiation game to increase your sales.
Many sales representatives complain that they can't create a consistent flow of revenues or commissions, or finish their monthly quota month after month. Instead of a nice, straight line increasing consistently over time like an upwards pointing arrow, they find themselves staring repeatedly at sales results that look more like a hockey stick: nothing for two months, a sharp increase for a month or two, then back down again to nothing a month later.
So what can you do to keep your sales funnel full of leads, to ensure a consistent, reliable flow of revenues all year round?
Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, a lack of consistent revenues - the "hockey stick syndrome" - is caused by a lack of consistent prospecting and poor negotiation. A failure to prospect on a regular basis or poor negotiation will inevitably result in irregular revenues, and inconsistent commissions. It's that simple.
This is especially true when we're doing well. It can be so easy to forget about prospecting when we're wrapped up with our monthly quota. But this is precisely the time when we need to be prospecting, to ensure that steady sales flow doesn't suddenly dry up.
Yes, prospecting can be a difficult and, for many people, daunting task. The simple fact is, not all sales reps like doing it. Prospecting is the key to success in sales.
And let's face it, prospects don't fall from the sky. We have to work at getting them consistently, so we can close sales consistently. After all, even if you've mastered all the questioning, closing and objection handling techniques in the world, you'll still almost certainly fail if you don't have any prospects to use them with!
So if you find prospecting always somehow slips to the bottom of your "To Do" list, here are 8Tips to help you ensure your sales funnel is consistently full of leads:
1. Sell more cars to existing customers. This may includes selling to their friends or colleagues. To get started, plan to stay in touch with your current customers through a combination of direct (phone calls) and indirect (email, direct mail) methods about once every two weeks, with the goal of selling them additional cars. Just don't go overboard, or you may cross that magical line between persistence, and stalking.
2. Set a goal of how many cars you want to sell each month.
3. Reward yourself for closing new business. Treat yourself and your Girl friend to a trip to the spa, or dinner out at that great little Italian restaurant. Remember: what gets rewarded, gets repeated.
4. Take a look at opt-in email lists. Set up a targeted email marketing campaign to acquaint potential new customers with your company your car offer, then follow up by phone.
5. Ask your current customers for referrals some sales usually only make one call and give up, forget about the client by saying he cannot reach them. You can ask your client "Mr. A, I've been trying to get hold of the VP of Marketing at ABC Corporation - you don't happen to know them, do you?" If it's one of their business partners or associates, or even just a firm that's in the same industry or building, chances are your customer will know the person you want to meet, and will probably be only too happy to make the introduction.
6 Make a habit of having lunch, coffee or breakfast with at least one new person each week. Share ideas, and give them any leads that might help them first.
7 Be excellent at what you do. Word travels fast, so do everything you can to make sure that all the talk about you is positive!
8 Lastly, for a cost-effective way to keep your name in front of potential clients, try sending mailings to prospects, and you'll also benefit by learning when key people in the organization leave their positions due to a promotion, reassignment or departure for a new company.
Of course, this isn't a complete list of all the possible ways to build your network and find new prospects. But they are some time-honored ideas that I've found work for almost every business or situation I've encountered.
The key is to make prospecting a regular habit. By committing a set amount of time each day, every week towards meeting new people, in the long run, your sales funnel will be more full than you can handle, and your "hockey stick" revenues will be a thing of the past.
Based in Beijing Car Solution, Bob R. Foday is the author of "How To Make abundant sales and how to transform from ordinary sales to a super sales, Bob Can be reach at any time of the day at extension 12 if you want to make a different in your sales career
