Working with so many SME’s, one of the most frequent questions I get asked is ‘How do I improve lead generation and get more sales?’ Cue to the week before last, when I decided to take myself off to the National Sales Conference 2022 for a little personal development.
I immersed myself in the enterprising world of sales. As always it was great, I’d definitely recommend going. They have an early bird price at the moment. Check it out here.
Over the 25 speakers, there were two consistent messages; one was about mindset, the other systems and process.
Some of the main stage presentation outlined different ways of improving your results by conquering your mindset or self-talk. Getting rid of that negative little voice in the head that tells you ‘you can’t do it’, the little devil on your shoulder that points out all the reasons not to do something and ways to get over the limiting beliefs we all hold. It was all about elevating your performance.
Others talked about developing your sales activity into a system or process. Repeating the same actions for each prospect/lead, refining it and continually improving your numbers. This was all about the marginal gains and how little by little you can become a master at the task for brilliant results.
I’ve written up some of the most interesting points
Listen for the guilt grenade. Sometimes people will drop an objection into the conversation before you have even give a proposal. Cut these kind of things off at the first pass. Manage expectations. Plant the seed early so you can come back to the subject later conversations.
Don’t sell in the first call. Remember that when the PIZZA menu is push through your door, you don’t get a person knocking straight away asking for your order. You would think that was mad!
20% of time should be spent prospecting. Enough said. Are you doing enough?
The ‘We’ Fee. Saying we too much and you will lose the sale. It needs to be about the client and only about the client.
5 step process for selling to CEOs brilliantly
Preparation is key. Don’t waste their time.
Pain Points. Talk to their specific issues.
Contact them on the platform they want to talk to you on.
Personalize the conversation, the proposal, the work.
Patience. Think long term value. Position yourself as a partner. It’s about value not revenue from this one order.
To move a sales proposal/pipeline forward. T.F.R. – Take Full Responsibility for every interaction and direct traffic. You decide on call back dates, follow up actions etc. So you are not waiting.
When selling on Zoom or video conference, remember the camera sucks out all your energy. Keep everything at level 8 NRG each call, for the whole call.
To create slides that sell; Reduce - Reduce - Reduce. Take them on a jounrey; remember the narrative.
If you would like me to send you a copy of my full notes, just email.
At the end of the day, I was pumped. I had loads of ideas for my clients and (if you can believe it) I was more inspired than normal, with an extraordinary positive mindset. The key now; ACTION.
ACTION is everything, you can be inspired by any person, presentation, film or book, but if you don’t do something about that inspiration it’s just been a good meeting, presentation, film, or book. All you have do is, ‘something’!
Larry Winget said it best when he said “It’s simple…ACTION IS THE KEY.
We all know what it takes to be successful; be a good person, do good work and stick to it.”
(Check out Larry’s website – he’s a very interesting and straight talking American with loads to say).