A M I W o r l d O f S a l e s
S T E V E N P . T E R R Y
The World of Sales
II Giving value is the key to
increasing sales while doing so at
margins that will baffle the
competition.
Welcome to Alside,
If you are reading this then most likely, like me, you live in the World of Sales.
The World of Sales is a competitive environment. There are winners and losers
and competitors that will sell their soul to beat you. Some customers will be your
friends for a lifetime, and others will try to cheat you. You can make a lot of
money in the World of Sales- if you can avoid the land mines.
A Top Sales Professional understands that Sales is both art and science and
the most prepared usually wins. Preparation requires study, practice, and focus.
The beauty is that the law of averages is on our side. What we lack in skill we
can often make up with hustle!
We must understand the needs of our customers and create solutions with our
products and services that offer value. Giving value is the key to increasing sales,
while doing so at margins that will baffle your competitors.
Understanding and selling Win-Win solutions will result in customers who place
their trust with you, your product, and your company.
The goal of this manual is not to teach you to sell, but rather to review the
fundamentals of selling, coupled with 30 years of industry experience and tips to
help you manage the mine fields abound in the World of Sales. Many of these
ideas are not original- they have been learned from other Top Sales
Professionals, authors, and the Western Region Team and they work.
If you sell just one more order than you normally would, or get one more point of
margin on a top volume account, your time invested with this manual will be well
spent-for both of us. Remember- I cant win unless you win. I am rooting for you!
Best wishes for your continued success,
Steven P. Terry
Vice President Western Region
3
Hunters and Farmers
Some salesmen love to chase the big game. They are thrilled by
bagging the big one. These are Hunters. They love to find the next big
project and bring it in. There is a lot of glory landing a whale, they know it
and they like it. There are few things less thrilling to a salesperson than
walking away with a monster order. Big accounts have a huge impact on
an ASC they can be game changers. I love our big game hunters- until
the big game dries up like it did a couple of years ago in New
Construction. Several of our Big Game Hunters went from the top of the
region to the bottom because the big game was nearly extinct.
My ancestors were farmers. That is my cousin Jerry at his peach
orchard. To talk to him you see there is a profound satisfaction to
cultivating the earth to yield its fruits. The same can be said for the
salesperson that helps a small customer become a big customer. In sales
we cultivate accounts by training them; bringing them new products, and
helping them enter new markets. ISS helps our customers diversify their
business into other markets without them having to become experts on
these markets and products. We know how to do the take-off. We know
how to do the installation. There is very little risk for the customer and
virtually no learning curve. I love to see our salespeople help an account
become bigger and more profitable - its farming at its finest.
So which is better Big Game Hunting or Farming? I think salespeople
need to be both. It is ok to excel at one, but if you live off of buffalo and
buffalo become extinct you are going to get hungry real fast. It is best to
farm your remodel accounts while carving out time to big game hunt for
projects. If you spend all your time hunting projects and neglect your
remodel accounts you will pay a dear price when the market turns.
Farming accounts is a fundamental of selling.
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Ever walk out of a sales call without the order and
think I wish I had said ?
The key to winning is preparation. Preparation requires practice.
What do you practice? The fundamentals! Every spring top
professional baseball players head to Spring Training. Many are
multi-million dollar superstars and each spring they go train and
practice the fundamentals. When a baseball player is in a slump he
gets into the batting cage-and works on the fundamentals. When
Tiger Woods is in a slump he goes to the driving range. And what do
we do, go home and watch TV? I once read that only 10% of
salespeople had ever read a book on their profession. This astounds
me. How do you invest in someone who wont invest in themselves?
Some of the fundamentals of selling include goal setting,
prospecting and targeting accounts, discovering needs
and opportunities, presenting value adding solutions,
overcoming objections and closing the deal.
Goal setting is important because you need a clear
destination. Prospecting and working target accounts is
important because New Business is the lifeblood of a
healthy territory. Discovering needs results in opportunity.
Presenting value added solutions to customers needs and
problems gives the customer reason to convert his
business to you and if you have created enough value, at
higher prices than he is being quoted elsewhere.
Overcoming objections, especially the Price Objection
separates the Top Sales Professionals from the rest of the
pack. And dont forget to ask for the order.
The selling model I use was learned from Xerox Style
Awareness and Recognition Selling Strategies; and
Learning International Professional Selling Skills. I like the
Selling Model because it is a simple model that with
practice yields results.
Mastering the fundamentals of selling results in
preparation. Preparation results in confidence and a
confident, prepared salesperson is hard to beat.
Like great athletes, Rainmakers constantly practice, prepare
and plan meticulously, go to the plate, and swing the bat.
-Jeffrey Fox, Secrets of Great Rainmakers
The good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the
possibility of defeat. He will win who, prepared himself,
waits to take the enemy unprepared.
-Sun Tzu, The Art of War
The lessons shared here were learned over
a 30 year span. Many of the ideas in this
manual are not original. I have tried to
give credit where credit is due. Much has
been borrowed from Top Professionals
including Zig Zieglar, Dale Carnegie,
Harvey McKay, Mark McCormack, Harry
Hornish and Bob LeBrun and Roxtec. I
have also learned and borrowed from the
teachings of Sun Tzu, Jeff Gittomer,
Stephen Covey and Chin-ning Chu. The
Selling Model is based upon works from
Learning International. Please see the
back cover for references.
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Be a Top Sales Professional
Are you an ordinary salesman? It is easy to be ordinary in sales- there are
low barriers to entry! Describe a poor salesperson you dealt with
sometime in your life. Below are the most common answers when I ask
this in sales training meetings.
Characteristics of a Poor Salesperson:
Doesnt Listen
Doesnt do what they say theyll do
Poor follow up
Not prepared
Lazy
Hard to contact
Assumes too much, does not ask questions
Lack of knowledge
Sloppy appearance
Pushy
Negative attitude
Characteristics of a Top Sales Professional:
Keeps commitments / follows up
Competitive/ likes customers to win
Trustworthy
Prepared / Knowledgeable
Asks questions; Listens
Brings Value solutions
Cares
Pro-active management of the territory
Positive Attitude
Goal Oriented
Overcomes obstacles
If you want to be a Top Sales Professional, do all the things on the bottom
list and stop doing the things on the top list!
One other thing- all Top Sales Professionals develop and practice selling
skills. What is the last sales book you read?
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The Success Formula
Success= Competencies X Frequencies
Pete Rose has the record for the most hits ever in professional
baseball- 4,256. A 200-hit season is All-Star material. To beat Petes
record a player would have to hit 200 hits a season for over 21 years in
a row! There is no question he was a competent hitter but even Rose
admitted that Ty Cobb, whose record he beat, was better skilled. Cobb
still holds the career batting average record. At no time did I say I am a
better hitter than Cobb, said Rose, the Hit King, but with a career
average far below Cobbs .367 accumulated over a 24 year career.
Pete Rose may not have been the best hitter to have ever played the
game- but he, and he alone, is the Hit King. This is how the success
formula works. Whatever your competency is, it is competencies x
frequencies that determines success. Rose put himself in position to get
hits- (Frequencies) and maximized the opportunity with his hitting skill
(Competencies.) It is Competencies X Frequencies that determines
success.
The fact is, in this market being competent is not enough. You can be
the best presenter on the planet, but if you do not get in front of decision
makers how successful can you be? The frequency of your activities is
critical to your success. Activities include number of sales calls, cold
calls, trade shows, target calls, prospecting calls, product
presentations, and more. Consider the following:
Salesman A closes 6 sales of 10 calls; Salesman B closes 4 sales of
10 calls. Who do you want on your team, Salesman A or
Salesman B? Surely Salesman A, but wait-
Salesman A makes 10 calls in a week and closes 6 sales. (Still 6
out of 10). Salesman B sells 4 out of 10 but makes 20 calls in a
week and closes 8. Now who do you want on your team, Salesman
A or Salesman B?
The Law of Averages is on our side-what we dont have in
Competency we can make up in Frequency. There may be
competitors with more skill, but all you have to do is out hustle
them.
Sportswriter: How do you think you would do against todays
pitchers?
Ty Cobb: Oh, Id probably hit about .300.
Sportswriter: Because todays pitchers are bigger and stronger?
Cobb: No, because Im 70 years old you idiot.
COBB (the movie, 1994)
Selling Skills
Cold Calling
Organization
Strategic Planning
Probing
Communication
Presentation
Problem solving
Overcoming obstacles
7
GOALS ARE SMART:
Specific
Measurable
Action oriented
Realistic
Time and Resource Constrained
Top Sales Professionals Start With Goals
The unfortunate truth is, in the World of Sales there are winners and losers.
This isnt grade school soccer- theres no trophy just for showing up. Every
time you take an order the competition has lost one. And every time they take
an order we have lost one.
Corporate strategist, Renie Cavallari, says there are four kinds of people:
1. People who must be comfortable
2. People who must be liked
3. People who must be right
4. People who must win
While most of us exhibit all of these traits at times, one trait is the predominant
motivator. For instance, I like to be comfortable- but I cant be comfortable
losing! I try to hire salespeople in the category of people who must win.
Salesmen who like to win sell more- in good economies and bad, regardless of
the competition, regardless of price, in spite of company problems. Winners
are competitive and goal oriented. This is why you are on our team. I hire
people who must be liked to be Inside Sales, and people who must be right can
be great Operations Managers in our system. People who must be comfortable?
I let the competition hire them.
What is a goal?
A goal is a specific and measurable accomplishment to be
achieved. Success is the achievement of ones goals.
Goals are Fundamental. They are the road map to
success.
We have goals to increase sales, increase margins, cut
costs, specific product goals and others, but your priority
goals are your Key Objectives, which you help create.
There is a reason for Key Objectives:
Help establish direction
Identify desired results
Set targets - increase performance
Provide a measurement of your success
Focus on them- organize your day week and month to
achieve them. It is a proven fact that just keeping goals in
your mind every day dramatically improves your odds of
success!
Gittomer says: Set goals to be the best and other goals will
fall into place.
Write down your Key Objectives and post them where you
can read them every day.
One day Alice came to a fork in
the road and saw a Cheshire cat
in a tree.
Which road do I take? she
asked.
Where do you want to go?
responded the Cheshire Cat.
I dont know, Alice answered.
Then, said the cat, it doesnt
matter which road you take.
-Lewis Carroll, Alice in
Wonderland
If you plan to go nowhere, that is
exactly where you will end up.
-Zig Zieglar
I never could stand
losing. Second place
didnt interest me. I had a
fire in my belly.
-Ty Cobb
I hate losing. I think I
hate losing even more
than I like winning.
- Billy Beane, Moneyball
8
Organize yourself for the small goals (route plan, prospecting, call
planning and many of your big goals will take care of themselves.
Develop a PLAN to achieve each goal.
You have a goal to add $1,000,000 New Business? Work targets
into route plan; stay on plan to get pro-active coverage of your
territory, follow all leads.
You want 20 New Customers? Schedule time for prospecting,
Practice your cold call speech, stop at job sites, ask customers for
referrals on non-competing products.
Use Friday afternoons to confirm next weeks schedule so you hit
the ground running in your territory, because Monday morning
your competition is in their office doing busy work and trying to get
organized for the week. There are a million reasons why people
fail- getting stuck in the office doing busy work is one of the
million reasons.
Get lists on line
Get new phone books out of town
Prospect and Cold Call
Work Builder shows
Stop at construction sites
Write down names on trucks on the road
Camp out at your competitors at 7:30 am
Ask for referrals
Buy space at Home Shows and lease it to dealers
Know 30 reasons why they should buy from you
Set stretch goals
Think small and youll be small. Lou Gerghis
It is easy to be Ordinary
It is also easy to be a Top Sales Professional-
You just have to get back to doing the fundamentals.
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