Practical Wisdom from Kahle Way Sales Systems

"Can you boil down your advice to one word?"

That's what a seminar participant asked me. "No," I said, "but I can boil it down to three: Focus, focus, focus." I said that because I see 'focus' as the solution to a number of modern dilemmas.

You may also want to review: A Fresh, Nuanced Approach to Goal Setting -- https://www.davekahle.com/fresh-nuanced-approach-goal-setting-introducing-fofs/

Whenever I ask salespeople to rate themselves on their competence at all the different parts of the sales process, they invariably rate themselves low at closing the sale. Unfortunately, salespeople who don't close consistently waste a lot of their time, waste their customer's time, and are not nearly as effective as they could be.

Being adept at closing the sale, and every step in the process, is an important key to productivity. So, let's examine the issue of closing, with two powerful concepts.

Our current level of electronic noise makes deep thinking almost impossible. Today I received over 209 email messages, had 35 postings on my Facebook page, uncountable listings on my Linkedin page, and several voice mail messages. This was after having methodically unsubscribed to legions of emails and registered on the "do not call" list. Of that tsunami of incoming messages, only about a half dozen were at all relevant to my business or my life.

I am sure my numbers are just a scant portion of those that some of you receive. We are living at a time when the noise level of incoming messages has reached epic proportions. It's like sitting in the front row of a rock concert. The level of noise is so great that you can't discern a single word.

This is a response to a salesperson who asked my recommendation for what to read and listen to in order to improve his/her performance. Way beyond that, you'll gain a greater understanding of how to improve as a salesperson, and acquire one question that can guide your learning for ever.

What may be the single most important predictor of an organization's long-term business development and survival is that organization's ability to learn. In a world that is changing more rapidly today than at any previous time in human history, the consistent practice of learning is the only sustainable long-term strategy.

Positive customer relationships are the basis of much B2B business, right? Positive business relationships ensure us an audience with the customer, make every step of the selling process go easier, and even provide us with a competitive edge. It's not unusual for the business to come your way just because they like you the best.

But in today's hyper-competitive economy, relying on your relationships is like trying to paddle through the storm in a leaky row boat – your effort will keep you afloat for a short time, but eventually you'll find that you just don't have enough resources to challenge the storm. Relying on your relationships is a prescription for eventual failure.

We've all heard about the importance of our attitudes. Usually the directive goes like this; "XXXXXXXXXX, you need to improve your attitude!"

Fortunately, there is a lot more to attitudes than just the oft-spoken refrain to improve ours. Successful people eventually learn how to manage their attitudes.

As salespeople, we love to complain about the competition. Unfortunately, complaining doesn't do us any good. A better approach is to create a system to learn about the competition. Knowledge of the competition -- not only their strengths and weaknesses but also their patterns and tendencies – will provide you with a distinct advantage, and prevent you from getting blindsided or seriously outmaneuvered.

At its most fundamental level, business is always and only about three things: Money, people and systems.

There is a huge body of content revolving around money in business.

When it comes to people, as an element in business, there is an equally impressive body of knowledge and infrastructure.

When it comes to systems, however, there is not nearly the quantity and quality of conversation. And yet effective systems are, at the very least, just as necessary to the growth and health of a business as good people and adequate funds. Good systems are where the company's financial assets intertwine with the people to produce results.

"Low price, low price, low price." It's the mantra that sales people in every industry segment are hearing more these days than ever before. But, is low price the motivating factor in a customer's decision to buy? Here's a secret that almost nobody knows, including all those gurus telling you to sell value. They don't always buy the best value. But, they can invariably be counted on to buy the lowest risk!