“Get back to real selling for that is what we do.”
~ Miller Heiman

There are only 12 more Selling Days in August and 33 remaining in the Quarter!!!

Getting leads should always feel like a luxury rather than an entitlement. Marketing’s job is to accelerate the sales cycle. Developing highly qualified leads is absolutely the best way to deliver on this commitment. But business development success ultimately rests on the salesperson and delivering real results should be the number one focus instead of figuring out who to blame. Professional salespeople need to take control of their own destiny and be proactive.

Sure it is a lot easier when you simply respond to a lead and try to build on the momentum that marketing has already created. But often times, clients have done some of their own diagnosis and you may find yourself pigeonholed into answering product-specific questions rather than having a discussion about their business issues. Beginning this dialogue is not a situation where you just wing it. Take the time to develop a Valid Business Reason that will resonate with the client. And no, saying something like, “Mr. Customer, would you like to talk to us about how you can increase productivity and reduce expenses?” will not work. It needs to be specific to the client and it needs to feel a little risky for you to bring up. After all, you are taking a chance that your ideas may not be compelling to the client. If you are not able to get them interested in a discussion then maybe you really don’t have a fit at this time. Getting a dialogue going with the client is not something that happens with a catchy phrase or a smooth answer. It happens when you can quickly demonstrate that you are an expert who understands some of their key issues and you have some ideas to help. This is the risky part. You may not bat a thousand but the conversations that do get traction will certainly be ones where there is some clear common ground.

As salespeople, we are ultimately responsible for our own success. Pointing fingers and worrying about things outside of our control are not strategies that will enable us to hit the objectives we agreed to. So let’s get back to real selling, stay passionate about what we do each and every day and never cheat the company for our customers are counting us. 

Go out and have a Great Selling Day and make a difference in at least one person’s life today.

Differentiating through effective conversation  in any business but especially for record management is one of the most important components of a successful sales career and process management and that is to be able to differentiate yourself via effective conversations with clients and prospects. This is much more than having the gift of gab. It is about creating an environment that ensures an effective dialogue. This is something that one must be cognizant of from their very first interaction.

Many salespeople have patted themselves on the back after what they thought was an effective sales call only to never be able to get access to that Buying Influence again. Executives meet with potential suppliers all the time and in the vast majority of cases they maintain a very polite demeanor, even if the meeting is bust. So while the salesperson is feeling positive about this new opportunity he may have uncovered, the executive may be telling his or her assistant to never schedule another meeting with the salesperson. Top sales experts know when a meeting has taken a wrong turn and they are equipped with the skills and craftsmanship to get the meeting back on track. Preparation, active listening and balancing the how you get and give information are key tenants to effective conversations.

From the very outset, if there is not a clear Valid Business Reason for the business meeting that the client understands and agrees to, then you can quickly get off course. Also, if the salesperson does not acknowledge and build on the information the client is providing for better record management, shredding, data back up then there will be major opportunities missed and the client will feel like the sales rep is just going through the questioning motions before they put on their sales charm. Worse yet, clichés such as “tell me about your business” or “what keeps you up at night” don’t typically reflect a good balance between getting and giving information so this kind of approach would be risky unless the client feels like you have adequately shared enough information with them. Make every client conversation effective to enable the sales process to continue to move forward so that your client stays compliant with the new and ever changing laws and that very necessary record retention, management and destruction are strictly monitored by experts.