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Get Off the Sales Rollercoaster Forever!

bill@leadershiplink.

bill@leadershiplink.net.

Best regards

Bill Zipp
http://www.leadershiplink.net

Get Off the Sales Rollercoaster Forever!
I had never sold a thing in my entire adult life. Yet I
found myself with a list of accounts and a whole lot of
unused inventory.

I just inherited another salesman's territory where he had
spent his last 30 years selling radio commercials. He
introduced me to each of his customers and walked into the
sunset of retirement, perhaps a bit relieved.

I was not relieved. I was scared to death.

So I went to the bookstore and bought every book I could
find on the subject of sales. I read like a madman, and to
my surprise I discovered something amazing about sales.
Sales is not magic.

Most people view sales unlike any other profession. There
is a mystery about it and an aura that surrounds it. We
refer to great sales people as wizards and rainmakers,
modern-day magicians. Sales, however, is not magic.

IF IT'S NOT MAGIC, THEN WHAT IS IT?

Effective selling is about finding the specific steps of
action that apply to the customer you are trying to reach
and doing those actions over and over and over again.

That is what I discovered about sales, that if I could
clearly identify the businesses that were most likely to
use my group of radio stations and reached out to them in a
consistent, systematic way, I would succeed in sales.

And I did, being the fastest in my company to achieve
$250,000 and $1 million in radio revenue.

This is NOT what most small businesses owners experience
with sales. The experience of most small business owners is
much like a ride at an amusement park, just not as fun.
Sales go up and sales go down, with no explicable reason
for either.

As their sales rollercoaster twists and turns through their
fiscal year, they are left exhausted and despairing never
free from those gut wrenching meetings with your sales
staff when, after getting bad news from the accountant, you
scream, "What can we do to increase sales around here!!!"

THREE SIMPLE STEPS TO GETTING OFF THE SALES ROLLERCOASTER

It's time to get off the sales roller coaster forever. It's
time to destroy the myth that sales is magic and replace it
with a step-by-step system that even the least sales savvy
person can follow. Here's how:

1. Understand each of the five phases of the sales cycle
outlined below.

2. Identify the specific steps of action, or best
practices, for each of the five phases of the sales cycle
that work for your business.

3. Implement your best sales practices consistently and
review them rigorously.

FIVE PHASES OF EVERY BUSINESS' SALES CYCLE

PHASE ONE: Contacting

Make a powerful, personal connection with your target
customer, the person or business that is the BEST fit for
your products and services. Know who they are. Go where
they are. Deliver value first. Build rapport. Gain their
trust. Great sales are based on great relationships. Start
here first. Start here well.

PHASE TWO: Engaging

Conduct a two-way conversation with your target customer.
Don't dump on them! Sales people tend to talk way too
much. This is not a time for talking; it is a time for
listening. Ask relevant questions, dig deeper, and learn.
Then tell your story.

PHASE THREE: Demonstrating

In a vivid, personal, emotionally compelling way, show how
your small business delivers on its promise without fail.
It may be through testimonials, also known as business
impact stories, or through a dramatic presentation. Just
make it powerful and make it compelling.

PHASE FOUR: Deciding

Everyone needs a little help making that final step of
commitment (How else would any of us get married?). Without
being manipulative, encourage your target customer to make
a decision that is in their best interest. A few simple,
honest techniques work wonders here.

PHASE FIVE: Following-through

Do what you said you were going to do every time. Surprise
your new customer with extra value they didn't known about
(That's called under-promising and over-delivering). Wow
them with your service and enjoy a customer for life.

THREE BIG BENEFITS TO GETTING OFF THE SALES ROLLERCOASTER

When you follow the five phases outlined above and
implement customized best practices, you will experience
three incredible benefits.

First, your revenue flow will become reliable. A hit or
miss approach to sales delivers hit or miss results. A
systematic approach to sales, while still work, brings in
revenue in rhythmic fashion like a farmer sowing, watering,
and harvesting.

A second benefit is extricating your business from
dependence on a sales superstar. Most sales departments
have a person who makes most of the sales while others
linger in the shadows. Often than person is hard to work
with, and a business owner feels held hostage by him. You
don't like the tone he brings to your company, but you
can't afford to live without the money he brings in.

The impact of fully implementing a step-by-step sales
system is that revenue is not dependent on a dynamic
personality (that is, a magician). Anyone can do it. Even
superstars slip into a slump and have no idea why.
Reviewing the system can trigger things in their mind that
they may have forgotten to do consistently. In the end,
even the superstar will be grateful to you for it!

Finally, following a step-by-step sales system allows you
to forecast revenue 30, 60, and even 90 days out. Apart
from the obvious emotional impact of this benefit, there is
an important strategic one as well.

Without a system that you track rigorously, you find out
about soft spots in the marketplace only at the end of the
month when money is tight. By that time you can't do
anything about it, except conduct a fire sale and undermine
your value.

Sales forecasting based on a customized sales cycle,
however, allows you to look into the future, predict, at
least in part, what is happening in the marketplace, and
respond appropriately BEFORE it's too late to do anything
meaningful about it.

Three steps, five phases, and three benefits. Now get off
that rollercoaster forever!

----------------------------------------------------
Build a better business AND a better life! Discover how
with The Business Fitness? System. Designed by Bill Zipp,
President of Leadership Link, Inc., The Business Fitness?
System is a proven program that provides a step-by-step
plan for building a strong, self-sustaining small business.
For a FREE Special Report, The 3 Biggest Killers of Small
Businesses Today (And What YOU Can Do About Them!) visit
http://www.leadershiplink.net .

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