If it doesn’t feel right, if there’s something that sets you off, that indicates to you that a candidate is less than perfect, that something doesn’t quite line up, go with your gut, go with your intuition, understand that that’s a much more powerful vehicle than all the data gathering, all the behavioral interviewing, all of the sales testing and profiling put together. Intuition is the most powerful thing that you have when it comes to choosing which are the good sales people to hire and which ones you need to pass on.

So next time you come right up against the edge and you’re wondering whether or not you should hire a sales person, stall. Say no or go back to the drawing board and find new candidates. Once you bring some new candidates to the table, if the candidate that you passed on before seems enticing, bring them back into the mix against the other people that you’re measuring in the next round and figure out whether or not what you saw the first time was right or not. But the key is, to remember if the answer is maybe, when it comes to hiring a sales person, than just say no.

About Cube Management:
Cube Management provides sales acceleration services to emerging growth and mid-market companies in the technology, manufacturing, healthcare and business service sectors. The experts at Cube Management work across the entire spectrum of marketing, sales and business development to provide customized solutions that drive revenue and profit growth. Cube Management combines Strategy, Process & People to produce winning results.

So, imagine this scenario.

Rosie has just been informed that she has earned a spot at Happy Time Telemarketing, and she is to report to work, first thing in the morning.

She’s excited, and can’t wait to start.

She has never sold anything by phone, but she liked the interviewer, and if she succeeds, she’ll earn more than her job as a server at a restaurant. And, she’ll be off her feet!

So, the time arrives and she reports to work, but she meets with several surprises:

(1) There are no private cubicles, which she expected. So there aren’t any fabric walls where she can place pictures of her family. Boo, hoo!

(2) Everybody on the telemarketing team is seated in rows, one desk behind the next. This looks like a big, grade school classroom. Yuck!

(3) Supervisors are marching up and down the rows, feeding words and phrases to the telemarketers. How distracting! How rude!

(4) Every time a sale is made, someone rings a bell. She thought they only used those silly things at hotels to summon luggage carriers and front desk people. Eek!

(5) It seems people are having conversation after conversation, without any break time. How regimented!

“I don’t like it here,” she thinks. “I’m only going to do this until I find something else.”

This very quick disillusionment happens all the time, and some of it is preventable, if you let people test-drive the job before officially hiring them.

This doesn’t include actual calling, but it does encompass the following:

(1) They get a tour of the facilities and they’re shown where they’ll be working.

(2) They are allowed to sit next to a successful rep, to listen to at least one side of conversations, and to ask that rep any questions they wish.

(3) They are debriefed about what they saw and heard, and how they feel about everything. At this point, they’re encouraged to surface any doubts or misgivings they have about the work, the environment, or their future cohorts.

(4) They’re sent home, and asked to call back the following day to discuss the opportunity further.

One of the reasons there is such rampant turnover in telemarketing is people are never fully enfranchised into the role that they’re being asked to perform. So, emotionally, they never connected with the job, the place, or the people.

Before investing in all of the paperwork, expense, and training associated with bringing a new person aboard, it’s important to know whether they’re ready, willing, and able to join the crew.

The test drive helps you with that.

Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of www.Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone® and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC’s Annenberg School, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations in the United States and abroad. He is headquartered in Glendale, California, and he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com

Whether we like it or not—”we’re all in sales”. Most of us have an internal dialogue about both selling and closing that is less than positive. Most of us approach the sales portion of our business hoping we’re not “coming off like a salesman”.

Most of us hate to be sold to. Most of us have to sell to live. Most of us realize that in order to keep our business afloat, we need to sell. I suggest that you give up that need to sell. Please notice that I didn’t ask you to give up the commitment to sell but rather the need.

The hardest time to do anything is when you need to. In the revised edition of his book “Man’s Search for Meaning”, the noted psychiatrist and author Victor Frankl coined the term “Paradoxical Intentionality”. He defines “Paradoxical Intentionality” as “The twofold fact that fear brings about that which one is afraid of, and that hyper-intention makes impossible that which one wishes.”

In other words, if you need to do something it makes the task much more difficult. Frankl’s thesis can best be illustrated by an example with which we all can identify:

The last time you needed to get to sleep because you had something important to do the next morning… how easy was it to get to sleep? The last time you needed to stay awake for the end of a film… how easy was it to stay awake?

So I repeat… give up the need to sell. Be committed 150% to making the sale but avoid becoming tied to the “outcome” of making the sale.
This is contrary to what many of us have been taught. However, if you view yourself as a “problem solver” rather than a “maker of sales” this concept will make much greater sense.

I define a problem as, “something that exists when there is a difference between what you have and what you want.” My definition of business is, “The ability to solve other people’s problems and get compensated for it”.
Closing is “the ability to create an environment in which the prospect comes to the conclusion that our product or service will solve his/her problem.”

Based on these definitions our job becomes a process in which we first uncover whether the prospect has the type of problems our business solves. Next we have to find out if the prospect truly believes that a problem exists (and it’s important to let the prospect be the judge.) If the prospect believes that there is a problem and that the problem is likely to cause monetary or emotional sacrifices, he or she will be open to having someone who can be trusted help solve the problem. In other words, the prospect begins to close the deal.

Your prospect will begin to convince and influence you that there is a need for your help. He or she will become the source of the sales presentation and the close. As backwards sounding as this may seem… it’s really the way it works.

Because the responsibility of convincing and influencing is assumed willingly by the prospect nearly all of the stress and negativity we associate with selling literally disappears.

Use this approach to selling and you’ll see a big difference. Instead of a day filled with trying to sell things to people, you will get to solve people’s problems. This is a much more enjoyable way to approach the selling part of your business.

In summary… give up the need to sell and think of yourself as a magical problem solver.

Ike Krieger is the founder of BusinessSuccessBuilder.com. He is a nationally known business language expert, mentor, speaker, radio and TV talk show host, educator and author. He is a former communications instructor at Ohio State University.

He has served as business makeover specialist for the LA Times and writes for the San Fernando Valley Business Journal. He is the current Chairman of the Board of the North San Fernando Valley Regional Chamber of Commerce. Ike’s business success builder programs have helped thousands of entrepreneurs, executives, salespeople, consultants and professionals get an even bettershot at networking, selling and business success.

Ike can be reached at 800-700-4334 or by e-mail at ike@businesssuccessbuilder.com.

BusinessSuccessBuilder.com. Build it Big, Build it Bigger!

http://www.businesssuccessbuilder.com

818-997-7575 – 800-700-4334

Sales professionals always ask me why? In this age of creativity and spontaneity, wouldn’t any system that is repetitious become boring or monotonous?

Not really.

* First of all, we sales people are not really very creative. * Secondly, spontaneity is fun for parties and social gatherings, but it seldom benefits sales situations. * Thirdly, the value of doing something over and over begins to show value very quickly.

When we teach prospecting we literally have the participants learn a 5-7 sentence Script! They practice it over and over so it is memorized. We feel there a lot of benefits to doing this.

* As a sales professional you are fully prepared to make a prospecting call at any time without having to prepare, therefore, you will prospect more often.

* Also, when you have a memorized presentation, you don’t have to think about what you are going to say next, therefore, you can pay attention to what the prospect is saying and doing.

* With a memorized presentation you will customize each one by the inflection, pause, and speed of delivery you use, so it will never seem monotone.

Think of the alternatives. If you don’t prepare your prospecting wording before making the calls what can happen.

* You may not prospect at all, in which case you won’t have to worry about being monotone or boring. You will need to prepare your resume’, however.

* Or you will create your words extemporaneously. I have worked with literally hundreds of sales people in the field, none were good extemporaneous prospectors, despite what they claimed. At least most admitted it after a few attempts.

One the biggest errors I see when a sales person prospects “unprepared” is they introduce themselves and then ask a question such as, “how are you?” This is nearly always death on a prospecting call. Think about it. You are unexpected and interrupting the prospects day. When you ask that question, what are you doing? Giving the prospect the opportunity to simply say, “I am really busy.”

We like to go right into and out of our BLITZ CALL before allowing the prospect to say anything. I have done this in virtually every major city in North America in a wide variety of industries to all sized of companies, so I know that it works.

One thing that many of our graduates tell us is that the 3rd sentence (” I know you weren’t expecting me so I won’t take any of your time…”) seems to relax the prospect and eliminate the defenses.

This makes the entire process more comfortable for both you and the prospect.

When you have a prospecting method that is well prepared and rehearsed you will begin to do it very very well. And, ironically, the better you get, the less you will have to do it, since you will become more successful with every new call.

Remember, if anyone says that they will not do “canned presentations” remind them that we in the US spent $20 Billion on canned presentations last year. We call them TV and Movies. We see actors saying words they didn’t even write, playing roles that aren’t really their lives.

If we can be entertained like that, why shouldn’t we try to bring our skills up to that level. After all, we write the words and it really is our life.

So as you prepare to make prospecting an even more important part of your sales duties, remember the importance of repetition.

Sell Well and Often

Bill Truax Bill@BlitzCall.com

© Copyright 2006 WJ Truax