Our friend Jay Mitchell, editor and publisher of the Small Market Radio Newsletter, shared ten dynamic principles for sales success in this week's edition of the newsletter:
Ten Dynamic Principles
Editor’s Preface: I ran across the following piece recently in an old radio newsletter I had kicking around. As we know, success in the sales profession involves two aspects: knowledge and motivation. (Different “experts” will insist on very different proportions of the two, but everyone acknowledges the importance of both.) This article deftly includes both aspects; although the piece was penned many years ago, there are some real gems from which we can all benefit.
1. BE ENTHUSIASTIC! Enthusiasm sells. It is a tremendous momentum-builder, and momentum closes sales. Enthusiasm is a choice. Very few, if any, people wake up in the morning, spring out of bed, dive into a cold shower, wolf down a meaty breakfast and tear off to work screaming “Let me at ‘em Boss!” No, enthusiastic people get up and make a decision to be enthusiastic. When you are committed enough about your product to be enthusiastic about it, you are very persuasive. People follow and believe enthusiastic people. If you are too cool to get enthusiastic and excited about your station, then you’re too cool.
2. BE POSITIVE! Anything the mind of man can conceive, it can achieve. You can accomplish your goals. Anything is possible if you have faith. Guard your positive attitude. Avoid negative people. They can cost you success. Their negative perspective on circumstances can rob you of conviction and belief in yourself and your station. Be honest with them, tell them you like them as a person, but their constant negative barrage is detrimental to your career. We all must deal with limitations and unfortunate situations. Winners become successful “in spite of” circumstances. Losers fail “because of” circumstances. Can you image telling Helen Keller you can’t make it because of your poor lot in life?
3. BE INDUSTRIOUS! Work harder. Make your last appointment after 4:30 p.m. each day. It is a very bad habit to finish a call between 4 and 4:30 and decide it is too late to make another call. Don’t quit for the day until you have made at least one call after 4:30. You will see at least 20% more people this way, probably more, so you will make more money.
4. BE BRAVE! Ask for more money. Check all of your contracts for the last year. Add the total amount of each contract together and divide the total by the number of sales you closed. This will give you your average sale. Now multiply this amount by 30% and make a commitment not to propose any contract for an amount smaller than your last year’s average plus 30%. If you ask for more you willget more! Timid sales people have skinny kids.
5. BE NICE! Friends buy from friends. Do something special for every client you have at least once every month. Send them thank-you notes, articles about their business you find in papers and magazines, cartoons that relate to their business, and so on. Take them to lunch. Buy them an inexpensive gift. Refer customers to them.
6. BE SMART! Protect your selling time. Don’t do non-selling activities between the hours of 9:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. “Selling activities” means you are either on the phone with a client or actually in front of a client. Do all your detail activities before or after selling time or during a one-hour lunch. Important non-selling activities that should not be done during selling time include writing copy, producing ads, going through the paper for leads, reorganizing prospect cards, etc. You will be surprised at how many more calls you will make by adopting this policy.
7. BE HEALTHY! It is hard to be successful if you are sick and tired. If you are always worn out you will make fewer sales calls. If you are sick all the time you will miss more work, and a salesperson who isn’t working isn’t making commissions. Take responsibility for your health. There are some people who, because of genetic problems, are doomed with poor health. But many of the “Sick & Tireds” in today’s society are a result of poor habits. There are four basic foundations to good health:
• Diet—If you fed a race horse Twinkies & Diet Coke, he wouldn’t win many races. Cut down on the fat, sugar and salt. Every day, eat some vegetables and take high quality nutritional supplements (vitamins); you just can’t get the nutrition you need in today’s American diet.• Get your rest—You must recognize how much sleep you need to operate properly and see that you get it. No excuses. Go to bed earlier.• Exercise—Find something that fits you and be faithful to it. Nearly anyone can walk. Unless you are a rare case don’t waste your noney on a fitness club; it is too inconvenient. Play tennis. Get an exercise machine and set it in front of your TV; you’ll use it a lot more.• Emotions—Anger, jealousy & fear are the big three negative emotions that can take a big toll on your health. All you can do is all you can do. As far as others go, accept the fact that you can’t change them. You have to accept them as they are or get away from them. You can only control yourself. You can find happiness a little bit at a time every day. Learn to enjoy and dwell on the good, beautiful, pleasant, kind and positive encounters of each day. Stop & smell the roses. Happiness is an event, not an environment.
8. BE SOLD! You can’t sell if you are not sold. To be convincing, you must be convinced. If you take the paycheck you must stand behind the product. You will hear objections—lots of them. After a while, you can start to believe them yourself. You are paid to believe in your station. Your station is just as good as it was when you started. If it wasn’t a good station, you wouldn’t have taken the job in the first place. Top producers are people who make a decision to stay sold. If you let the normal obstacles and objections of sales erode your convictions about your station, you will never make any money. “I don’t think it is working” is simply a test by your clients to see if you really believe in your product. It is a signal to start selling, not running. If you are going to be successful in life you will have to commit your faith, your ego, and your reputation behind a product or service.
9. BE GENEROUS! Be a giver. Some people are always talking about what they are going to do when their ship comes in. Well, let me tell you, no ship is going to come in until you send one out. A fundamental law of life is you must plant to reap. Give yourself, your time, and your money. Help the needy; there is great blessing in this. A generous person prospers.
10. BE A SELF INVESTOR! Invest in yourself mentally. Think about it: most stations invest equally among sales staff on training and sales tools. So if you are going to excel above the others you are going to have to do some personal investing in yourself. All top producers regularly buy books and training tapes and attend seminars to improve their talents. They own their own tape recorders, organizers and other sales tools. They realize the wisdom in investing their own money on their own careers. Most people expect their companies to invest all the money in them, so whatever you put in yourself, puts you that much ahead of the others.
