I get a lot of calls from salespeople who ask me about different techniques and sales methodologies. Many of the reps are looking for ways to become top producers and want a roadmap for success. What many reps are missing is a framework on which to determine where to start the journey. So let’s discuss that framework so you can determine how to become more effective or a top producer. You need:

1) A strategy whether your company provides one or not. The strategy includes researching your market, determining what makes you unique and how that can help your market. Also it includes your ideal client profile and a way to go after prospects that fit that profile. All of this is based upon research from your prospects perspective…not yours. All of you phone calls, meetings, sales and marketing efforts focus on and reinforce that strategy.
2) Strategic activity that stays focused on your ideal client and fills the pipeline. Many salespeople fall short here because they don’t do enough activity or it is the wrong type of activity. I have seen study after study that top performers do 2 to 3 times more strategic activity then the average rep.
3) A sales process that helps qualify or disqualify prospects. It doesn’t matter if you are doing a transactional, consultative, solution or enterprise sell you need a process. The more decision makers and influencers the more complex the sale becomes. So you will need to combine a strategic selling map with a consultative selling model.
4) The skills to be effective at selling. That includes asking questions, listening, presenting, closing, objection handling, negotiating and understanding buyer styles to name a few.
5) Knowledge of your industry, products and services, prospects challenges and trends so that you are actually seen as an expert who can contribute value to their business.
6) The mindset that allows you to engage like you are a doctor not a poker player engaged in games and deception.
7) A burning desire to be successful. In the book The Science of Getting Rich, Wallace D. Wattles makes a compelling argument on why you have an obligation to your loved ones and society to become wealthy. Every top performer I know not only has goals but a burning desire to be wildly successful.

So there you have the roadmap to become a top producer. The ball is in your court… how badly do you want to reach the top?

I just got off the phone with a good friend who was looking for ways to build relationship with an executive’s assistant. He was full of ideas on how he could do that. One idea was to just drop by and say hello, another was to send a card and yet another was to invite the assistant to lunch. Those are all valid ideas but the question is how does the assistant like to build relationship? You see what you would do for one person could be the exact opposite for another. To say it a different way one persons desert is another person’s poison. So I asked my friend is the assistant outgoing or slightly reserved? He said reserved. Is the assistant analytical or cooperative? He said she is cooperative. I said that is great because we now know what to do, what to avoid and we mapped out a plan.

His challenge is one that all of us have. When trying to influence someone or build relationship we are naturally wired to take the approach we want people to take with us. At best that will works 20-40% of the time. Instead if you influence people the way they want to influence you will build a good relationship 100% of the time. In sales we know that it takes more than strong relationships to win the deal but if you don’t build a strong relationship I guarantee you won’t be getting the deal!