Sales Blog with Sales Tips

I had the privilege of speaking with a very successful older sales professional recently. He told me that being a top producer is easier for him today than in years past.

His comment piqued my curiosity. Always looking for sales tips material I asked him, “What have your years of experience taught you that makes you more capable today?”

The Sales Professional’s Most Important Tool
In a perfect example of life imitating art he said, “Just one thing.” I felt like I was listening to Jack Palance, who said a similar line in the movie, City Slickers.

He had my attention. I almost begged, “And that one thing is?”

He replied, “Our tongue.”

The Power Of Spoken Language
He went on to tell me that our tongue is like a rudder on a large ship. Even though the surface area of a ship’s rudder is miniscule compared to the size of the vessel, it has a profound impact on the direction the ship takes.

I asked him to provide more details and he told me the following:

What we say to customers has more impact than anything else we do. Our words are, by far, the most powerful tool we have in our arsenal.

A customer can always detect a lack of sincerity in our voice. It’s better to be quiet than disingenuous.

We have complete control over our tongue muscle. We must never react to a customer’s accusations and rage; we must respond.

It always takes two to tango. Don’t verbally engage with irate customers. Let them vent their anger and then deal with the situation.

Don’t ever try to deceive customers with your words. When we do, there can only be two outcomes; neither is good: 1) They can immediately tell we’re lying, or 2) They’ll find out later they were given bad information.

Look customers in the eyes when speaking to them. Have you ever heard anyone complain about too much eye contact?

Listen. Customers won’t listen to your words if you don’t listen to theirs.

Sales Tips Wrap Up
Are these simple truths? Absolutely. Are they hard to put into practice? Yes. Knowing these realities is the first step in making them part of our daily relationships with our customers.

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>©2010 Scott R. Sheaffer

Scott Sheaffer’s New Book, “Comatose Management”
—
Six Short Stories of Destructive Management Practices, Volume I
—
Available in printed and Kindle edition on amazon.com
—
—

Just about every sales professional I’ve ever worked with has thought of – and dreamed of – becoming a sales manager.

There are numerous reasons for this: boredom in current position, more income, get away from the monthly quota grind, etc. The following are four attributes that upper management looks for before promoting a sales professional into sales management.

The Four Traits Of Aspiring Sales Managers
1. Recently I heard an executive of a very large company say that the reason he promoted a certain individual into sales management was her receptiveness to feedback. Being open to feedback is critical.

2. People like working with people they can count on. Are we on time? Do we take care of important details? Can people trust us? A sales manager’s sales team and the VP of Sales need to know they can rely on the sales manager.

3. Change is something sales managers have to deal with on an hourly basis. If we can’t elegantly handle change, we should take ourselves out of the sales management candidate pool. A good sales manager copes with dramatic change while softening the impact to his or her sales team.

4. Sales professionals who want to become sales managers know they need to grow in their careers and in their industry. They want to grow. Sales tips blogs, magazines, podcasts, seminars, professional organizations and books are part of their ongoing learning regimen.

We need to demonstrate these four qualities in order to be considered sales management material.

It’s Not All It’s Cracked Up To Be
While you might fantasize about being a sales manager, let me warn you that it’s not all roses. Think carefully before you pursue this career path.

You’ll likely have to travel 50%+ of the time. Sounds glamorous. It isn’t.

Top sales professionals frequently make more than their sales manager does. When you factor in a compromised quality of life (e.g. travel), it exacerbates the compensation issue.

The sales budget assigned to a sales manager  is much more burdensome than that of the individual sales professional. Why? You have to rely on others to meet your budget. You’re really going to hate this if you’re a control freak.

The higher up the food chain you go, the less understanding (i.e. forgiving) sales management is of missed budgets. Your VP of Sales couldn’t possibly care less that four members of your 12-person sales team were out with hepatitis all last month.

Sales Tips Wrap Up
One last thought. We’ve all heard the axiom, “Good sales professionals don’t necessarily translate into good sales managers.” It’s true.

However, the opposite is also true. Don’t take yourself out of the running if you’re not the top producer in your company and want to pursue a career in sales management.

Further sales tips reading:
When Interviewing for a Sales Job, Look for These Things
When Interviewing a Sales Applicant, Look for These Things
Interviewing and Hiring Salespeople
Sales Management and the Four Levels of Sales Development

>You can automatically receive Sales Tips Blog by Scott R. Sheaffer >by email< or >by RSS<.
>Follow >Scott R. Sheaffer< on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter.
>©2010 Scott R. Sheaffer

Scott Sheaffer’s New Book, “Comatose Management”
—
Six Short Stories of Destructive Management Practices, Volume I
—
Available in printed and Kindle edition on amazon.com
—
—

When I was a little boy I used to play checkers with my twin brother. He always beat me. It made me mad. Then one day my dad observed us playing checkers and said, “Scott, you always lose because you expect to lose.”

Even though I was just seven or eight years old, his words ignited a 500-watt light bulb in my head. In my short life, I had never considered that my brother wasn’t beating me; I was beating myself.

Most Of Us Do This To Ourselves In Sales
It has been my observation, after working with hundreds of sales professionals over many years, that the majority of salespersons defeat themselves too.

What do I mean by defeat? We expect to lose the sale. We don’t see ourselves winning a sales contest. We know we’ll never be the number one salesperson in our region. We are sure our employer is not competitive in our industry. We have no faith in our sales skills. We question if our customers like us.

We’re not even confident we’re in the right career.

You’ve Undoubtedly Wrestled With Some Of These Questions
All of us deal with these kinds of doubts. It’s when an expectation of failure – or even mediocrity – becomes our modus operandi that we are in the danger zone.

There is no magic to sales success. There is no perfect personality or magical skill required either. I can tell you unequivocally that the two major differences between sales superstars and the also-rans are:

Diligence. Sales leaders keep doing the things that need to be done long after others have left work early. The last time I checked, diligence doesn’t require any kind of super power.

Planning. The big guns in sales always have a plan. They know where they’re going and how they plan to get there. You don’t need an MBA from Harvard in order to make and work a plan.

This Isn’t About Positive Thinking
Let me be clear, this sales blog post is not about the “Power of Positive Thinking.” Just thinking positive thoughts won’t make you successful. That is an enormously weak and outdated concept.

The precursor to success is always competence. Competence is created by hard work and having a clear course of action.

Sales Tips Wrap Up
You might look at the top producers in your organization and think you will never be in their position. Please, don’t take yourself out of the game.

You can be a sales superstar if you realize you already have what it takes. Tenacity and the ability to create a blueprint for success are the ingredients.

Just for the record, I started beating my brother in checkers on a regular basis soon after my dad ignited that light bulb in my head.

Further sales tips reading:
Don’t Let Confidence Be Your God, Let Fear Be Your Guide
Are You Convinced Sales Is The Right Profession For You?

>You can automatically receive Sales Tips Blog by Scott R. Sheaffer >by email< or >by RSS<.
>Follow >Scott R. Sheaffer< on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter.
>©2010 Scott R. Sheaffer

Scott Sheaffer’s New Book, “Comatose Management”
—
Six Short Stories of Destructive Management Practices, Volume I
—
Available in printed and Kindle edition on amazon.com
—
—

My new book, “Comatose Management,” is now available from amazon.com.

For more information about the book – including a short video book trailer, overview, reviews and how to order – please see the information at the bottom of this post.

Review By Lorri Freifeld, Editor-in-Chief, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine

“Through simple but effective and engaging stories, Sheaffer shows how bad management landed corporate America in its current financial predicament. ‘Comatose Management’ illuminates basic truths that most of us prefer to ignore throughout our careers — preferring to believe our managers are brilliant but eccentric rather than overindulged, ego-maniacal, psychotic, or just plain clueless. Here’s a wake-up call for all companies — and all employees at every level.”

Review By Janet Rush, Author Of Nine Books Including “Zig Ziglar Presents…Janet Rush On – Customer Service”

“Experience is the best teacher and the master of all traits. ‘Comatose Management’ brings to its readers the real life trials and tribulations of corporate employees and how you, whether in management or not, can survive and succeed. Thank you, Scott, for incorporating so many real life examples.”

>You can automatically receive Sales Tips Blog by Scott R. Sheaffer >by email< or >by RSS<.
>Follow >Scott R. Sheaffer< on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter.
>©2009 Scott R. Sheaffer

Scott Sheaffer’s New Book, “Comatose Management”
—
Six Short Stories of Destructive Management Practices, Volume I
—
Available in printed and Kindle edition on amazon.com
—
—