Connectivity: The Way of the Future!

Today, I was not able to go in to work because I had to get my car repaired. Oh, well, I guess since I was unable to into the office then I was unable to perform my job duties, right? Nope! In this day and age, a sales job is basically a 24/7 gig, thanks to emerging technologies and the inter-connectivity of the web and smartphones.

While I was waiting for my car to get fixed, I had my laptop open and I was connected to my work computer through a VPN server, which meant that I could get all of my work done. I needed to write up a couple sales letters, draw up a quote, and do some calling. My company has an online system for quotes (I can do that at home!), I have Microsoft word so I can write sales letters, and I have a cell phone. No excuses! I will be getting work done and so should you!

Heck, I don't even take sick days. Those are for the benefit of your peers, so that you won't get them sick. You can't get them sick if you work from home!

Also, when I travel, I always have my Bluetooth headset on, so that I can answer any calls that come my way while I am on the road.

You couldn't do this twenty years ago; you couldn't just leave the office and still be working. You were either at your desk or on the road to a sales meeting. You couldn't check your emails on your phone. You couldn't take care of your work at home. You had to do what you had to do right at your desk.

So take advantage of all of this. Free yourself from your desk! Utilize technology to your advantage! Don't like the time of day dictate if you can take care of what you need to take care of. It's 11:30 pm right now and I am finishing up a last minute quote. Twenty years ago, I would have to wait until morning, but now it will be done when I go to bed, which means it goes to the prospect sooner, which means a sale is more likely.

As everyone starts doing this, the more necessary it will be, so that you can keep up with your competitors. So what are you waiting for? Get connected!

Time to Suit Up!

Before I got into the world of sales, I hated dressing up. Whenever I had an interview, I would always happily ditch the suit when I came back home. I hated my high school prom because I had to dress up.

After I entered the world of sales, I quickly changed my opinion. Dressing nice is not only a good way to impress people, NOT dressing nice is a sure way to lower their opinions of you.

If you're lucky, you can grab a nice suit right off the rack at a retailer such as Men's Wearhouse. If you are really lucky, you can grab a suit at 95% off retail value at a Goodwill or a Saver's. Most of us, however, will need to get our suits tailored to our specific body type.

A good tailor should not run you down too much money, but even if it costs a pretty penny, a well-fitted suit can make any salesman look better. But if the suit does not fit well and is not tailored, you may as well go into the office wearing a clown suit every day because that is exactly how you look to people.

I have a good relationship with my tailor and so should you. My tailor takes care of my suits for less than what he charges most of his customers. I don't get it for free because he still has to make a profit, but I save a little cash and my suits get tailored a little quicker, so why not be nice to him

If you are not wearing a suit when you are in a sales role, you are doing it wrong?

Am I right? Do you agree or disagree? Any other fashion suggestions? Please comment below!

Traveling: Yay or Nay?

Getting up in the wee hours of the morning to catch a flight, driving around in a new city, taking in the sights. Sounds like a vacation, right? 

Wrong! The entire purpose of this trip is to give a sales presentation to a potential customer. Time to bring out all the bells and whistles, it's sales time! 

Your company paid for a round-trip flight, lodging, and car rentals, setting them back a pretty penny. If you don't make the sale: they just spent all that money for nothing. Don't forget that salespeople can lose their jobs at the drop of a hat. No pressure!

In a day and age where conferences can be done over Skype and files can be instantly shared hundreds of miles away, is there even a need to do all this traveling? I say yes, but with a catch!

In my opinion, a company takes a big risk by spending all this money to get their salespeople hundreds of miles away in order to make a sale. Oftentimes, these meetings occur after only one or two phone calls. Why not minimize the risk by having a virtual sales meeting?

By having a virtual sales meeting, you are going to get across the same information that you were going to get across anyway, without spending money flying round-trip. Also, you can better gauge your customer's feelings on your company and product prior to an actual in-person meeting.

If the virtual meeting goes well and you think there is a real shot at selling, THEN set up an in-person meeting, which will likely be used to elaborate further and finalize anything. This will be where the final sale is made.

To sum it all up, don't throw all your cards in the basket by travelling too early. Instead, go for a virtual meeting. If that meeting goes well, then you should go for the in-person meeting. I find that this minimizes travelling risks and can also make prospects more comfortable when you meet in person, since they have already seen you.

Who else does this? Any thoughts? Do you often find yourselves on the road to sell? Please share your thoughts and experiences in the comments!

My Worst Sales Day

Late last year, I had the absolute worst sales day that I think I will ever have (at least, I hope!). It was all my fault too.

My boss had given me some leads for prospects that I was going to follow up on. However, I had also been preparing a list of prospects of my own, as per his instructions. As I kept calling, I made the mistake of tuning out because of the stress. I wanted to get the whole list out of the way.

This made the calls become too routine and so I stopped taking notes from conversations with prospects. BIG MISTAKE! I forgot what half of them said, which meant a significant chunk of the endeavor was WORTHLESS!

From this, I learned to take my time when calling, instead of rushing through the list. Taking my time means not rushing things and if I have to make some of the calls the following morning, so be it.

What was your worst sales day and what did you learn from it?

Fridays!

Happy Friday everyone!

In the world of sales, I have noticed that Friday tends to be the slowest day of the week. People are looking forward to the weekend, many people leave early or take the day off, and essential decisions are more likely to be held off until the following week. If you are cold calling, odds are you are not getting the results you desire if you cold call on Fridays.

What if I told you it didn't have to be that way?

What if I told you that you could get your desired results AND be productive?

It's true; you can!

For one, you should pay attention to the time of day that you are calling. I have found that the middle of the afternoon and the morning tend to less fruitful than late afternoon (between 4 and 5 PM, actually!). When I call late Friday afternoons, I can often catch a person as they are winding down from the week and they are looking forward to the weekend. Because of this, they are in a better mood, and THAT is what makes them more receptive of you  at this time. I recommend you try it!

Besides cold calling, I find that Fridays are also an excellent time to prospect. Since you are probably not as swamped on Fridays, that gives you time to identify new people to call the following week! I find that I get the most out of prospecting on Fridays since not only do I have more time to prospect, but I also tend to get more motivated because I tend to work harder when the weekend is coming. However, some people operate differently, but I am just saying what works for me.

There is one week left until next Friday. What do you do on Fridays? Any tips for being successful? Comment below!

My Biggest Sales Enemy

Even as I start typing this, I am boiling with anger and frustration thinking about my number one enemy when I am cold calling. It's not my nerves. It's not my knowledge. It's not even stress. It's the fact that I am constantly leaving voicemails!

There are several ways I use to approach this, all of which boil down to a combination of skill, luck, and persistence. I will list them below.

Calling again later: Sometimes I simply will not leave a voicemail, but will instead hang up and call again later. No, I will not be calling every hour. Instead, I call every other day, at a different time. By doing this, I can work around any schedule. However, I find that I get ignored because they recognize my number as the "number that keeps calling without leaving a voicemail". In the end, I barely get any results with this, so I never do this anymore. I always leave a voicemail!

Leaving a well thought-out voicemail: Leaving a voicemail is necessary in order to get sales. If you don't leave voicemails, your bottom line iss probably going to suffer. Don't do what I did when I first started in sales. Don't say "Hey, this is X from Y. Call me to see if you can use our services". Always make sure to include something of VALUE to your prospect. For example "Hey Tim, this is X from Y. We just helped a client in your industry save days of time and hundreds of dollars by switching to our new product. They are very happy with it and I think we can help you achieve similar results. Call me at 999-999-9999". See the difference?

Breakup voicemail Sometimes even the most well thought-out and relevant voicemails still do not result in a returned call. Sometimes people are just busy. Other times they go straight to the trash. Maybe they meant to return your call and they forgot to. I find that I get pretty good results by leaving them a voicemail acknowledging that they are busy. I mention that I do not want to waste any of our time, so they should contact me if they are indeed not interested.

If they are interested, they contact me and express their interest and then we can go from there to see if my product is a viable solution to their problems. Now, if they are NOT interested, they usually contact me to tell me just that. However, this now gives me an opportunity that simply leaving a voicemail does not afford me: the opportunity to share a dialogue with the prospect. I can turn their "no" into a "maybe", which can't happen if I simply leave message after message.

What are your thoughts? What kind of voicemail tactics do my fellow salespeople use? What do you find most effective? Please comment!