Who's in charge?

Closing sales is the main  goal for any sales professional. What is your closing ratio? Is it tattooed on your brain? Bringing home the bacon is closing the sale without the threat of buyer’s remorse and possible cancellation. Indeed, many top sales people can close a high percentage of sales but the power of their subtle coercion just brings about a cancellation once the salesman has gone. All was for nothing. A great performance but “no gravy bubba”.
Here is a general idea of the basis for consultative selling technique Most clients have the pre-conceived notion that a sales person is there to game them….because if they like the sales person they might buy the product or service. . Most people deeply fear rejection in any form.
Successful sales professionals know that it’s not about being like-able but is about identifying the need(s) and want(s) of the buyer. If the buyer sees no need for what you have to sell, chances are highly probable that you are wasting your time trying to make what your selling become a need. So, the first step in the consultative sale is to present yourself as an objective expert on how-if the buyer has the need-your product or service might represent a solution. An effective consultative sale will result in the client asking for the sale.
Building Urgency
Key to closing any sale is building urgency to make a decision. You do this by establishing upfront in the presentation that the buyer will give you a yes or no at the end of the process-either it makes sense or it doesn’t. Assure them that it won’t hurt your feelings if they say no. Rejection is no problem for you. The facts will make any decision apparent.
By not setting the expectation of a decision at the end of the presentation not only loses the opportunity to get a decision and save wasted return visits with the “hope” for an eventual sale, but also the sales person loses the opportunity to take control and bust the view that the sales person is there to do a song and dance. If you come in with a no nonsense, needs assessment approach-and mean it-you position yourself as an adviser and not a sales person.
A consultative sale depends on presenting a logical reason to buy. However, the buyer must first agree that they have the need  and that they want to satisfy the need. It then becomes a matter of presenting facts that logically support what you have to offer. If done properly, at the end of the presentation, the buyer will ask for the sale: “So, what’s next?” or “What can you do for me?When a client asks for help or the next step in the process , it demonstrates the following:
* You are not a salesperson in the traditional sense. Your job was to help facilitate a decision. You presented yourself as an expert on the subject-not a sales person.
* You help the buyer admit that there is a problem or need and that it should be resolved now.
* You set the ground rules that if your presentation makes sense, the buyer will give you a yes or no. Either it makes sense or not.
You kept the sales person out of the room. It was all dispassionate logic.
You showed that your main interest was helping the client meet their needs-not yours. If your product can meet the need, so much the better. But the decision was totally in the hands of the buyer.
* The buyer was under your control from the time you set the expectation of giving you a decision.
Always have your pen and contract at the ready when they ask for your help.

The Time is Now

How many times have we heard this in our lifetime? People use it and drop it as a call to action every time that a sense of urgency is needed. But when is it appropriate to use on yourself? when do you talk to yourself and say "the time is now baby"
Every goal , every dream and every action has to have a start time , and the time to start is now, there is no better time bubba, why wait and prolong it? Old chinese proverb that says "the 1000 mile journey starts with one foot step" its absolutely right.
The easiest thing to do is to do nothing,status quo is your biggest enemy my friend, and there is no better time to start than now.
Having said that, patience is definitely a virtue that must be cultivated and embraced, sometimes in order to achieve our dreams and our goals, fifty thousand things must happen, sometimes painfully slow, but as long as you are moving forward and you know that you are, the results don't have to be visible.
There was a tree in my backyard that looked dead, its branches were ridiculously dry and no leaves or flowers were on it, while all the other trees in the yard grew awesome and big and full, this one was "doing nothing", I wanted to cut this stupid looking tree, I mean you're ruining my yard papi , move out of the way right? well I decided to leave it alone for a while, but it was getting as much water and care as all the others, one morning it seemed like over night, that tree was just full of life, leaves green, beautiful vibrant purple flowers and strong trunk.
See what I was not seeing, was happening, this tree was getting its roots ready to support it and it became the best tree in my backyard , doing nothing and being still are two completely different things.....always remember that.
Follow your dreams, start on your dreams.....THE TIME IS NOW.

LIVING WITH CANCER

I was 33 years old that May 6th of 2004 , the news came like a bucket of cold water , when your doctor tell you " listen , the good news is that you are going to be ok, the not so good news is that you have cancer" holy shit right? what do you mean I have cancer, my daughter is 10 fucking years old I can't leave her alone, I'm way too young to go through this.
He said we have to operate today, you wait you die, is that simple.....well I have to call my mom , I have to talk to my wife, what about my business? figure it out boy, none of that will matter if you're dead.
Next morning 6 am I am at the operating table, surreal was to mark on my body the side where my surgery was supposed to take place < left side, like any bad shit that has ever happen to me.
The following days were a nightmare,not being able to piss or walk, or eat or breathe was just horrible.
I remember 2 weeks after my surgery trying to walk from my front door to the gate of my house, 30 fucking steps and it was the single hardest thing I could have ever done, what happen to that strong man that could run 26 miles? what happen to that animal that would ride 100 miles on his bicyle and then come home to swim for an hour on the ocean? I was beaten, and my journey hadn't even started.
what followed was 16 weeks of excruciating pain between radiation treatments and jtests and injections, not being able to hold any food but still gaining weight as if I was eating for 3.
I had the love of wonderful people and the love of not so wonderful people (or at least it felt like love) but my indomitable spirit kept me afloat, my spirit made it to where the pain and the fear never took hold of me.
sometimes I feel like cancer is just around the corner, listening to me, waiting to hear me say "I'm cancer free" just so that it can come back.
There are 28 million people sufferingg this horrible disease,this disease that does not respect if you are a young stud , or an old grandma , or a young mother of 3 beautiful kids, we must come together to say NO, I said NO, I will not die this way! Not today not this year not at 34!
Join the american cancer association, help where ever you can, when ever you can, join the fight against cancer, say NO, unfortunately , statistics show that somebody you know will be affected with this disease.
I apologize for this non business blog, but ultimately, my blogs are abput winning are about surviving, and I, I am a survivor.
Art Hagopian

The business of business to business

We have all heard this one before right? the business of business to business sales is people. People buy from people they like and trust, all things being equal people like to do business with friends,all things not being equal,people still like to do business with friends.

So in order to make sales,so we need to make more friends? essentially yes,the more people you know the more sales you will make,but you must remember that in sales is not who you know,it’s who knows you.

The secret to selling is not in the selling, it is always in the prospecting, you don’t get to sell to new people if there are no new people to sell to, it works like a pyramid , Prospects at the bottom then appointments then sales at the top, so how many prospects do you need to make to get 1 sale? .

knowing your numbers is extremely important, you must know how many calls you need to make in order to get 1 appointments and you need to know how many appointments you need to make in order to get 1 sale,without this data it is virtually impossible for you to do it consistently, oh yes you will Forrest Gump into it from time to time,but to be truly consistent, to be a super star , you must become a numbers person.

It is so easy to say that keeping track of our calls just slows us down right? that we would accomplish so much more if we didn’t have to keep a tic sheet, or write notes in our crm, what a joke, without this data you are not much different from 90% of the sales people out there,there are very few super stars,to become one,you must be willing to put in the extra effort and the hard work that it requires to make sales easy.

Have a great sales day!