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I
know, I know, I know! Most Salespeople hate organisation,
preparation and planning! And I thought long and hard before
including this one, but it is an accurate reflection of what my
clients say is one of the top attributes of great salespeople
and I tend to agree.
I
know I'll get a few of you giving me counter-examples like "Andy,
I know XYZ who's a great salesperson but you can never see his
desk for papers and he's so untidy" etc.
There
are always exceptions to the rule, but for every "great"
salesperson who's untidy, there are 10 or 20 that aren't! So
let me explain why I consider organisation to be crucial to the
success of a great salesperson, or anyone aspiring to climb the
ladder.
How
organised is the average salesperson do we think? "Not very"
would seem to be the case, based on what sales managers are
telling me! So why is it that salespeople tend to hate
organisation, or any type of planning or preparation?
Some
salespeople say they'd rather "get on with things" rather than
"waste time preparing". Whilst I can understand their feelings
to a degree (and appreciate their enthusiasm and motivation) I
also think organising ourselves would lead to even greater sales
success.
Let's
take cold calling as an example (or any kind of pro-active
calling for that matter). How do you approach a cold calling
session? Is it even a "session" for you? Or are they more
random calls, dotted in around the other things in your day? Or
maybe they are pretty much avoided at all costs - perhaps in
favour of other "sales activities" like playing with your email,
tidying your desk, making a coffee, having a cigarette for
example (just a little dig there ;-) )
One
of the keys to cold or pro-active calling is energy! Call after
call after call, remaining in the same "state", calling similar
clients with a similar offering whilst staying motivated and
focused on the outcome you want to achieve. Professional
athletes call this being "in the zone" Exactly the same is true
when we're in sales.
In
order to be properly prepared for calling sessions, you should
have your call list on your desk (or set up on your computer) so
you can make call after call, not "cherrypicking" from the list
as you go down it! There should be little break between calls
and everything you need should be at your desk - like call plan,
anticipated objections (and their handles) diary or access to
colleagues diaries etc. Far too many calling sessions start
without the salesperson having any idea of who they're ringing
or why!
Organisation is also key when you're face-to-face selling and
going out on clients meetings. How prepared are you for the
meeting if you're "running a few minutes late" struggling to get
all your appointments done in one day - not very I'd guess! A
typical example of lack of organisation and preparation was when
one of my clients was invited to tender for the business of
probably the biggest prospect in their sector - a large global
organisation. As part of the tender process, they had to go to
the UK Head Office of this company and present to
representatives.
We
discussed in detail the opportunity, the "potential wins" and
the pitfalls, asking questions like "who will be at the
presentation", "what purchasing authority do they have", "how
will the decision be made", "what's the layout of the room
like", "what equipment is available", "who else is presenting",
"what are you looking for from the presentation" etc. We then
worked on the presentation, who would say what, thought about
typical questions and objections (and who would handle them) and
prepared thoroughly - rehearsing the presentation, emailing the
presentation to a web-based email address, copying it onto the
laptop, putting it onto a memory stick etc - just to make sure!
My
client received feedback that their presentation was the best
and most professional of the day (and they were a small company,
up against national and international names) and they won the
business! The biggest lesson they took form it was that being
organised and prepared had gone a long way towards influencing
the decision. One of their competitors on the day was unable to
present properly because one of the salespeople forgot the
laptop with the presentation on! How bad is that?!!
So
whatever type of sales you're doing, whether you're selling over
the phone or phase to face, get organised for more sales
success!
Andy's Top Tips for Being Organised
Plan The Day
The Night Before
Whether that's at home or at the office, taking time to plan the
day the night before starts you in a focused mood, ready to do
business. Otherwise you can spend the first part of your
morning preparing to get organised, or even worse, trying to
sell without it.
Prepare More
Thoroughly For Face-To-Face
If
you're going to do a face-to-face meeting or presentation with a
major prospect, you should be very very prepared with relevant
knowledge about their business and current information,
questions and objections they might have and how to overcome
them.
Manage Your Time Well
Plan
to spend the most time on the high value activities or clients -
the ones that could bring you the most reward. Far too many
salespeople spend most of their time on relatively unimportant
tasks or procrastinating over sales calls - don't let yourself
fall into this trap! Work out what the best thing for you to do
right now (in terms of sales) and do it!
To find out more about Andy or to discuss any
aspect of improving sales performance you can contact him on
+44 845 130 6779 or visit
www.outstanding-results.co.uk
Part 1:
Confidence
Part 2:
Self Motivation
Part 3:
Knowledge
Part 4:
Passion and Enthusiasm
Part 5:
Organising
Yourself
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