Do what every customer wants their salesperson to do

Every customer or prospect you meet feels the same way about you when you call on them.  “Hear me now.  Sell me later”.  As salespeople, we struggle with this concept.  We get pressured by our customers to speed up the sales call.  Customers might ask us to, “Let’s cut to the chase!  What are you selling today?”  This shortening of the sales call leaves out the most important part:  high-value questions in the discovery phase of the sale. 

However, everyone in the world is seeking to be understood. 

Listen in as we go over the easiest and fastest way to get customers to hear you. Listen first, then sell. A throwback to SNL’s Hanz and Franz from 1987!

7 Ways you can make this the

“The most wonderful time of the year”

It’s the week before the Christmas Holidays and I have several questions for you:

If you are older than 12, then the answer to all three questions is “No”. 

Let’s just summarize this entire situation as a stressful tradition.  We are glad to have but happy when it’s over and we can get back to “normal”.

Holiday stress is where the salesperson and sales manager can make a huge difference in the lives of their fellow employees as well as their customers.  A little effort by the sales team goes a long way.  Why? Because making any effort to reduce this stress when you don’t have to will show up all year long. 

Listen in as we discuss the 7 Ways you can make the holidays, “The most wonderful time of the year”

Do your customers understand the downside of not buying your products from you?

Do you know how to build the case for buying your product line?  And buying it from you? 

With narrow profit margins, every decision your customer makes is critical to this year’s financial results.  That means fear plays a big part in their decisions.  As their salesperson and trusted advisor, it is your role to uncover their fears and help them make better buying decisions.

To do that, you need to know how to build the case for buying your product line.  Then, build the case for buying that product line from you. 

Listen in as we dig deeper into how you can help your customers during fearful farming times!

Interview with Kevin Hubschmann

on how to improve your selling skills through improv and open mic nights

Even if you don’t want to become a comedian or an improv actor, if you are in sales, you can learn valuable skills by studying and practicing their methods.

If you have followed my weekly articles and podcasts, you know that I have focused on this topic at times over the last ten years. The main reason is that selling is not a scripted activity. Sure, you have PowerPoint presentations with a script. You have brochures and other collateral that have scripts. Yet, we get in front of our customers and we are off script 90% of the time (maybe more). Many salespeople, especially in agribusiness selling, will sell in environments that don’t allow for PowerPoint or formal sales presentations.

The skills needed to:

All of these skills line up with comedy skills

Listen to the podcast as Kevin Hubschman from Laugh@events joins me to discuss how you and your sales team can develop these selling skills.

Recharge your prospect funnel by going from ABC to ABP

In the classic sales movie, Glengarry Glen Ross, we are told to: “ABC – Always be Closing”. 

Some salespeople and sales managers like this advice because it sounds hard-nosed, as if you are really driving toward sales goals.  True, but not a practical approach in Ag sales, as we work in long-term selling relationships that require a consultative approach.  ABC will work for some, but mostly, it will get you kicked off the farm or out of the buyer’s office.

In training, I recommend two alternatives to ABC.  My first is, “ABTC – Always be trial closing”.  This approach allows you to continue digging for information to ensure you are a good fit before actually closing.  My second alternative to ABC is: “ABP – Always be Prospecting”

Listen in as we discuss how to fix your funnel in the next 90 days!

The three question formats for sales questions and the order you should ask them

The number one trait that every Ag sales professional tells me they do not want to be is “Salesy”.

Yet most salespeople approach their sales calls in a very salesy manner – they begin their sales call by presenting their products or highlighting their sale of the month.  A big part of the reason is that producers are good at getting us to spill our sales guts.  “I’m busy, what do you got for me today?”  or “What’s your price on potash?”  Then we jump right into our sales pitch.

Or, we go too far the other way and attempt not to use a selling approach at all – “I just go out there and get to know them.”  While we do want to get to know our customers, this method can lead to a long discussion that goes nowhere.

A skilled sales approach is designed to use discovery questions before presenting any solution to a customer. 

Good discovery questions allow you to uncover needs or desired changes that a producer might be looking for.

However, we may not feel comfortable asking some of these deep diving questions as they can appear pushy or intrusive.  That’s why the format of the questions and the sequence are so important.

Selling success requires all three…..How to attend your next sales meeting

Ever listen to a motivational speaker at the annual sales meeting and get all inspired by the message?  Maybe you even bought their book right after they spoke.  However, by the time you drove home from the meeting, you lost that enthusiasm.

Ever learn some great selling skills but never put them into use on your sales calls?

If you have been in sales for a while, you answered with a resounding “Yes” to both of those questions.

Why is that?

Listen in as we discuss your role as a salesperson or sales manager at your next meeting!

Which to measure and why

Lead indicators are great, but only effective if they lead to Lag indicators!

Lag indicators are the ultimate result of your selling efforts! But don’t always tell the full story.

So, which should a salesperson or sales manager measure or monitor? Which is more important? Which do you or your sales manager focus on?

Listen in as we discuss the importance of both lead and lag indicators to improve your sales results!

5 Motivations to keep going and when to quit

Successful salespeople are generally motivated people.  They have a drive to succeed.  As their managers, we try to motivate them in various ways:  Sales meetings, financial incentives, pep talks, etc.  Some work sometimes, but none of them work every time.  The reason is based on the motivation theory that you can’t really motivate another person.  Motivation comes from inside each person’s mind.  What motivates me may not motivate my fellow salesperson. 

So then, what to do and how to motivate our sales brain?

Listen in as we discuss five ways to generate internal motivations to succeed in building your sales territory!

5 Motivations to keep going and when to quit

Successful salespeople are generally motivated people.  They have a drive to succeed.  As their managers, we try to motivate them in various ways:  Sales meetings, financial incentives, pep talks, etc.  Some work sometimes, but none of them work every time.  The reason is based on the motivation theory that you can’t really motivate another person.  Motivation comes from inside each person’s mind.  What motivates me may not motivate my fellow salesperson. 

So then, what to do and how to motivate our sales brain?

When I say sales brain, I’m referring to the motivation to keep selling when everything indicates you should not.  It’s different than non-sales employees.  Salespeople will spend 80-100% of their time with prospects and customers.  They will spend that time on tasks that may or may not produce an ounce of results.  Yet they have to remain internally motivated to continue despite not knowing if their efforts will be rewarded. 

So, again, how do we motivate our sales brain? Especially, when it’s difficult economic times on the farm like right now, when producers are unhappy, when cold calls seem like an intrusion, when prospecting seems unproductive, or when you just want to help but can’t. 

Recently, while completing my ninth ironman triathlon, I realized 5 self-motivation techniques.  These five have proven to get me through both physically difficult races as well as the long journey of growing a successful sales territory.    

At some point in every ironman race, there is that moment.  The moment when you are not sure your gonna make it.  Your physical energy is depleted, and your body begins to shut down.  Essential electrolytes are used up, blood glucose is burned up, and hydration is on empty.  Your last hope in your desperation to finish what you started is your brain. 

The last line of defense is your mind.  More specifically, your motivations.

Selling is no different.  You do everything right to sell great products that save your customers money and provide better results in their business.  You try to do everything right by following a good sales process.  Yet the sale can still be lost or delayed indefinitely.  At times, you feel depleted and have nothing left to go on – except your sales brain. 

Your sales brain knows that you have to persist somehow.  If you quit, you lose that sale.

Motivating your Sales Brain:

Think about this – motivation is an emotion.  And like any emotion, it’s all in your head.  It’s interesting that one of the most powerful sales resources you have is inside your head in the form of an emotion.  Few salespeople would want to admit it, but it’s true.  Most salespeople think the biggest strength needed is technical knowledge or better pricing.  While those are great, someone always comes along with a lower price and a more technical product advantage.  We can always strive to have those advantages, but it’s your internal motivation to sell that keeps you going. 

If you truly believe in your products, your company, and your ability to help customers, then you are motivated on every sales call.  You will eventually succeed in sales.  If you have ever tried selling when you don’t have that confidence, then you realize how hard it is. 

One key thought:  Motivation does not allow you to do everything.  By that, I mean if I have trained my physical body for a 13-hour result in my race, no amount of motivation will get me to a 10-hour finish.  Motivation can inspire me to train for a future race and maybe get to 10 hours, but not today.

It’s no different in sales.  If you haven’t done the correct selling steps, competitively priced your products, and positioned them as solutions for your customer, then motivation by itself is not going to overcome those basic steps.  Your motivation might keep you in a positive mood, but customers will soon tire of your poor selling skills. 

Lastly, motivation is very individual and internal to you.  It’s different for every single person.  Don’t be discouraged if you are not motivated by those things that are supposed to motivate you.  A great example of this is motivational speakers at sales meetings.  By their very title, they are designed to motivate us to sell more.  Some do, but many don’t.  In racing, the cheering fans calling out your number and telling you, “Looking great, number 1029!”  are supposed to motivate me to keep going.  While I appreciate their comments, it does little for my mental strength to keep going.  Yet, I am very motivated to know that family and fellow racers are somewhere on the course or in the audience waiting for me to complete the race.  So, know your own motivation triggers and feed them into your head daily…hourly if needed.

Here are the 5 motivations that have helped me get to the end of an ironman as well as build a successful sales career.:

Listen to the podcast version of this blog to hear more about the following elements of motivating yourself.

3. Visions (only ones that help): 

4. Awareness of how your mind works:

5. Comparisons (only to those that help)

Final thought on motivation:  Don’t use these techniques to “Never quit”.  There are obvious times in a race that require us to quit – torn Achilles, complete dehydration, or your bike breaks on mile ten.  However, that is not quitting the overall goal of racing.  That is repairing or regrouping for a better recovery to get back in the next race.

Same thing in sales.  I have worked with many salespeople who needed to simply quit on a customer or customer segment.  Their inner drive to never quit was admirable, but it held them back in their ultimate goal of becoming a high-performing salesperson.  Persistence is an absolute must for a successful sales career.  However, knowing when to persist and when to quit is key.  There is a fine line between being persistent, being a pest, and moving on to better opportunities. 

Successful people in any endeavor have a strong ability to quit what is not good or not working and focus on what is working.  Fight the instinct to never quit.  Realize the key points of when it is better to quit and move on to better opportunities.

I wish you all the best in your ability to harness your motivations for selling success!