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Positive Attitude in Sales – Use These Words That Sell
By Kate Tammemagi

A positive attitude is a key sales tool. A positive attitude is something sales people work on, practice, sharpen and tune. Attitude breeds attitude, and if you are negative, the other person will be negative. Positive thoughts lead to positive language, and this is the language that sells. Within this positive language there are very powerful words that, if used effectively, are proven to be the words that sell.

It might be said that it is challenging to maintain a positive attitude in these difficult times. Yes, it might be said, but NOT by sales professionals. It has ALWAYS been difficult to keep your positive attitude tuned up. There have always been mountains to climb, storms to survive and challenges to overcome. Who said sales was easy? Keeping yourself positive is part of the role of a sales person.

What is a Positive Attitude?

It is important to know what is meant by a positive attitude. A famous quote by Gibran is – The optimist sees the rose and not its thorns; the pessimist stares at the thorns, oblivious to the rose. A person who looks for the rose, will see the rose, and will TALK about the rose. A person who looks for the thorns will see so many of them that they will be overwhelmed!

But, you say, it is important to see the thorns, otherwise you will get hurt! This is quite true. A more powerful thought that helps define positive attitude for sales people is adapted from a Maxwell quotation -

The pessimist complains about the wind.

The optimist expects it to change.

The Sailor adjusts the sails.

The Sales person is like the professional Sailor. They look at the current situation, whatever it is, and they find ways to steer the sale to a successful outcome. Positive attitude sends them on a constant search to find out HOW to steer the ship through the storm, how to smell the rose without being hurt by the thorns, and how to sell THEIR products to THIS prospect.

Words that Sell

Positive language will have a more positive effect on the prospect, so avoid negative language like the plague! Talk about what your products and services CAN DO rather than what they can’t do. In addition to this basic principle, there are other words that Sales people have collected over the years that are proven to work in a sales situation, the words that sell.

These words are words that sound attractive and positive to most people, and they like hearing them. We don’t always know why this is, but the fact is that they are words that work. All good sales people will prepare their benefits using these words, and will practice using them effectively.

The first 3 of these words that sell are BENEFIT, VALUE and YOU. These words are absolutely critical to putting across your offering positively. We talk about the value of the products or service to you and your business. The word you is a powerful word, use it often – the value of this to you, what this means to you is, or the benefit of this to you and so on.

As well as talking about the benefits, if you actually use the word ‘benefit’ you will ensure your benefit becomes relevant to this Customer. This is a full list of the words that sell -

1. Benefit

2. Value

3. Safe

4. Proven

5. Save

6. Guarantee

7. Best

8. Love

9. New

10. Happy

11. Maximise

12. Special

13. Option

14. Easy

Kate Tammemagi is a Sales Trainer in Ireland. She also provides Sales Management Coaching.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kate_Tammemagi

http://EzineArticles.com/?Positive-Attitude-in-Sales—Use-These-Words-That-Sell&id=3895551

By: Ken P Smith

To help a team achieve results, a leader must guide and motivate individuals to reach many types of goals. They must be able to determine what motivates individuals and point out what is in it for them to get those results. The ability to persuade others is key to have them accept an idea or proposal. Here are some basic skills that will help a leader get better results.

The ability to sell their skills as a leader

It is easy to be a leader when times are good, but many show their true colors when things get rough. Leading by example is the easiest way to earn respect as a leader. A successful leader is able to show their team that they are the one to follow and convince them they are going to help everyone reach their goals. Recognizing top performers and holding underperformers accountable will help earn respect as a leader. When individuals recognize those skills, it will be easy to lead them to work as a team.

The ability to sell the team on new policies or procedures

Being the leader often means being the bearer of bad news. If you are the practice owner and the financial health of the practice is weak, not giving raises this year will not be received well. If you are the practice manager and the owners have decided to change the computer system, the team may be frustrated with having to learn new programs.

A key skill for a leader is the ability to work with others to see the benefits of change. New policies or procedures may seem to be more work or painful in the short term, but the pay off may be much greater down the road. Successful leaders are able to over come objections to change from the team and help them focus on the positive outcomes.

The ability to sell the team on new ideas

Organizations that do not grow and change with the times will fall behind and risk the possibility of vanishing. However, there are many reasons for team members to object to new ideas. Keeping the status quo is comforting for some while others do not want to invest the energy of learning something new.

A leader must be able to sell the team on how a new idea will benefit them. That often means understanding individuals stake in implementing the idea and explaining how that impacts the team. Getting buy in will increase the likelihood improved results will happen sooner.

Over the next month we will be sharing articles by a number of authors…..enjoy

Have you been scratching your head wondering why your sales team is not hitting revenue goals? Do you feel like you’re doing everything you can and giving it your all a manager but are not getting consistent results? Read on to determine if you are a product of these 7 reasons sales managers fail:

1. Inability to Transfer Skills

Sales managers often move into a sales management role because of their ability to identify and win business. Unfortunately, your great selling skills are of no use or value to the organization if you can’t transfer these selling skills to your team.

In the words of Jack Welch, former CEO of GE, “When you take on a leadership role, it’s no longer about you, it’s about them.” In other words, it doesn’t matter how good you are, it only matters how good you can make the individuals on your sales team.

2. White House Syndrome

It’s easy for sales managers to catch this disease and lose touch with reality. (How much is a carton of milk?) Sales managers start camping out in the “white house” (the corporate office), getting caught up in the minutia of reports, meetings and firefighting. They forget the real reason they were hired as a sales manager: to train and coach their sales team to the highest level of performance. This isn’t accomplished in the “white house.”

Training and coaching are accomplished by riding with your sales team and calling on the real world – your prospects and clients. The cushy chair in corporate is more comfortable; the car seat is always more profitable.

3. Field manager, Corporate Manager, All-Around Manager

In my former corporate world, I had seven sales managers reporting to me and quickly figured out there were three types: field manager, corporate manager and all-around manager.

Field managers stand staunchly by their team, defend all actions and refuse to understand or endorse corporate objectives. The corporate manager is interested only in moving up the corporate ladder, leaving their sales team without a voice in the corporation. The all-around manager gets it. They achieve the hard balance of presenting the sales team’s issues to senior management while communicating and enforcing corporate objectives to their sales team.

The field manager enjoys a lot of love and limited growth, the corporate manager builds a sales culture of distrust, and the all-around manager grows leaders, profits and companies.

4. No Tough Love

When you accept the role of sales manager, you accept the responsibility of growing people as well as profits. A great sales manager is similar to a great parent. Good parents set expectations of behavior and character for their children, and hold their kids accountable to those expectations. They understand they’re not in a popularity contest and refuse to accept excuses or cave in to comments such as, “none of the other kids’ moms expect them to…..”

Great sales managers set clear expectations for their sales team and don’t cave when the sales team pushes back on standards of excellence. They put aside their need to be liked for the need to be respected. They understand that tough love creates high-performance sales cultures.

5. No Duplicable Sales Process

The example I use is of an athletic coach and their playbook. An NFL coach always has a playbook and requires each player to study, learn and execute the plays.

The professional football player isn’t allowed to run their own playbook, regardless of the number of years they’ve been playing ball. Sales managers, on the other hand, often lack a playbook and give the excuse, “Well, I hire people with sales experience.” The result is a sales manager trying to manage 20 different playbooks filled with old and ineffective plays.

6. Lack of Prospecting

Sales managers must prospect; however, the target changes. Instead of prospecting for business, sales managers must be consistently prospecting for top sales talent. A mistake often made by sales managers is looking for top talent in crisis mode, after someone on their team has been fired, resigns or moves.

The pressure of hitting a sales quota results in sales managers settling for a second-best candidate and expecting first-rate sales results. Great sales managers prospect monthly for top talent to keep their people pipeline full.

7. Sales Team is Stroke-Deprived and Fun-Deprived

High-driving types often land in the position of sales manager because of their ability to achieve goals. They don’t need a lot of strokes and are very results-oriented. The problem is that high-driving sales managers are managing salespeople who have a high need for recognition, interaction and fun.

The unsuccessful sales manager doesn’t realize their new sales activity plan includes giving strokes and pats on the back, creating recognition programs and setting up events to hit the fun quota.

Good Selling!

Colleen Stanley is the founder and president of SalesLeadership, Inc. She is a monthly columnist for national Business Journals, author of ‘Growing Great Sales Teams’ and co-author of ‘Motivational Selling.’ Prior to starting SalesLeadership, Colleen was vice president of sales and marketing for Varsity Spirit Corporation. During her 10 years at Varsity, sales increased from 8M to 90M.

She is the creator of the EI Selling System™, a unique and powerful sales program that integrates emotional intelligence skills with consultative sales skills. Training and consulting services offered are:
• Benchmarking, Selection and Hiring of Top Sales Talent
• Consultative Sales Training
• Leadership Training for Sales Managers
• Major Account Sales
• Prospecting and Referral Training
• Sales Compensation
• Territory Management
• Customer Relationship Management

http://www.salesleadershipdevelopment.com, or become a fan at http://www.facebook.com/SalesLeadership.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Colleen_Stanley

1. Don’t Stay Stuck in the Recession

You might have noticed that as soon as the economy started to show the first signs of souring, it didn’t take long for the news media to jump on top of the story. You couldn’t turn on the television or pick up a newspaper without hearing about how bad the recession was, how bad it was going to be, and how the earth was generally coming apart at the seams. Of course, news makers aren’t stupid. They know that bad news draws viewers and readers, and so they did their best to make sure you heard just how ugly things could get.

Chances are you probably felt at least a little spooked, and that sentiment came through in your day-to-day selling activities. Now that there is an end in sight, you’ll need to let some of that fear and hesitation go. If you’re convinced that the economy is bad, your clients will be, too. They’ll pick up on your lack of confidence, and you can bet that won’t be good for business. The best thing about a recession is watching it end, so be mentally ready when it does.

2. Keep Your Ears to the Ground

It took several months, hundreds of thousands of people losing their jobs, and a major financial meltdown for most people to realize that the recession was actually happening. How quick do you think they’ll be to recognize an economic recovery?One of the best ways to take advantage of a better economy is to be out in front. As soon as your clients have money to spend, you want to be the first person they talk to about investing some of that cash into new products, services, and equipment. But to do so, you’re going to have to keep a close eye on what’s going on around you, because by the time you read about the recovery in newspaper, it’s going to be too late – your customers will already have bought from someone else.

The key, then, is to look for the news behind the news. Don’t wait for a giant headline to announce “Recession Over.” Instead, look for the small news items and quotes like a detective, searching for clues about your industry. Are local businesses hiring? Do you see press releases from firms that have been awarded new contracts? Any of these would be strong clues that things are starting to turn around, at least for some of your clients and prospects.

3. Take Things Slowly

Looking through the first two tips, you might have gotten the impression that the end of a recession means your customers will be willing to buy just as soon as you’re willing to sell. For some of them, things might be that easy. But for most, you’re going to have to work through the recession mindset for a second time.

The best advice is to be sensitive to your customer’s frame of mind. If they seem anxious or hesitant to start buying again, then ease in with some smaller sales to take some of the tension out of the relationship. It might not be as profitable at first, but you can be sure that your clients will appreciate your patience and eventually reward you with higher sales.

4. Be Ready for Competition

Sooner rather than later, companies are going to start hiring fresh salespeople. You might not think you have much to worry about from new salespeople, but you’re wrong. Some of these folks are coming into your industry with family and social connections. Others are retreads from familiar firms who are looking for a fresh start, but have one or two of your clients in their database. And, a few will be recent graduates or career changers who don’t have any experience or contacts at all, but who have the skill and desire to take some of your business away.

In order to fend off all of these competitors, you’re going to have to keep one eye in the rear view mirror. That means being smart about your business. As more money and business start to float around, then by all means do what you can to find new orders. But at the same time, make sure you are keeping in touch with your existing client base. Don’t let them think you’ve gone missing.

5. Reposition The Value of Your Products and Services

There are a lot of companies and salespeople out there who came up with incredibly creative ways to keep new orders coming in while the economy was slow. Some ran “fire sales,” while others turned to special financing and other gimmicks. A brave few even went out on a limb and hit the problem square on, referring to their deals as “recession bargains.” In each case, they recognized that their buyers were concerned about security, and used price as a way to draw people in.

But regardless of whether your department tried such a tactic, or whether it worked, now is the time to take down the banners and advertisements offering rock-bottom prices and get back to what works best in a healthy economy, selling value. Position your products and services so that your customers know they’re getting good value, and they’ll keep coming with bigger orders.

6. Start a Sales Library

Only about one out of every twenty or so salespeople makes any kind of effort to read sales books that will help them earn more money. If you were to survey all salespeople across lots of industries, you might even find it’s less than that. For that reason alone, becoming an active reader – that is, devoting a short time each day to looking over some sales educational material. This will give you a massive advantage over your competitors. Why? Because when it comes time to meet with your clients and prospects, you’ll have the advice of dozens of experts and veterans on your side.

An economic recovery brings new opportunities, but it also means increased competition for sales. Study up for it now by reading a few books and you’ll be prepared for the business when it comes.

7. Get Ready to Run

What would you do if your sales volume tripled next week? Do you have the inventory in place to cover that many orders? What about the staff, or the follow-up systems? The middle of a recession is no time to go crazy spending money, especially if sales have been slow and you don’t know when you’ll be able to recoup those investments. At the same time, you need to keep a close eye on what your prospects and customers are doing. There’s almost nothing worse than having a big sales rush and not being able to meet it. With that in mind, you will need to walk a fine line between saving money and being ready for bigger business. At the very least, you should be sure that you are personally prepared for an increase in the number of customers, phone calls, and orders that could come with a sudden change in the economic picture.

Your office should be stocked, organized, and running efficiently. If you haven’t been seeing very many prospects lately, be sure you have pressed suits, working demos, and whatever else you might need to start closing orders. If you feel like you might not be ready for an upswing, take care of those problems immediately.

Remember, things don’t always happen gradually. Just because things seem slow today doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll be so tomorrow. This recession will end, possibly in a few months, and you’ll need to be ready to sell the moment it is.

http://www.carlhenry.com

chenry@carlhenry.com

How Sales Managers Can Make Meetings & Sales Teams Far More Productive With This One Strategy

Sales managers spend a lot of time in meetings and attempting to motivate their sales teams. Much of this time is truly wasted and not invested because the focus is on existing problems such as failure to increase sales, declining customer loyalty, etc instead of focusing on solutions.

Problems in any organization are far easier to identify and in many cases re-identify. However, determining solutions and then executing those solutions is far more difficult. Possibly that is why there are endless meetings and far fewer results happening in many businesses. Sales Coaching Tip: Problem re-identification is another word for insanity – doing the same thing over and over again hoping for different results.

If you are facing the endless meeting behaviors as a sales manager, have you considered this one simple strategy to reverse those non-productive problem identification meetings – a proven goal achievement process reinforced with a proven goal setting tool.

For example, the weekly sales meeting discusses the ongoing problem of inability to increase revenue. Instead of beating this dead horse, write a goal statement that the sales team will increase sales by 2% during the next week. Sales Coaching Tip: Break large goals into smaller ones. Remember to eat the elephant one bite at a time instead of attempting to eat the entire elephant at one setting.

Before you jump into the action steps, invest the time to build the emotional buy in from each team member. List all the gains for achieving this objective as well as all the pains associated with failure.

Next work through all the known and unknown (potential) obstacles preventing that goal from being achieved. This is the time for active brainstorming. If your selling team is large, break them up into smaller groups.

Now bring the sales team back together and list all the possible obstacles on a white board or flip chart. Either collectively or again in teams start thinking about possible solutions for each obstacle. Then as a group determine the best solution for each obstacle.

Finally, identify time frames (dates) and delegation if necessary. At your next meeting, track your progress and make any course corrections. If the sales goal is achieved, set another. Use this goal achievement process to provide solutions and make those sales meetings truly valuable to everyone.

http://www.processspecialist.com/sales-skill-assessment.htm

Let’s face it every company must sell their products and services and thus, sales are essential to having a successful and viable business for-profit enterprise. What did Zig Zigglar say; “Nothing happens until someone sells something,” indeed. Still, we must face up to the fact that sales people are often a different breed, and if you wish to control this high-strung animal, you should realize that micro-managing them is one mistake you should never make. Well then, how do you control them you ask?

First, you give them the tools they need to do their job, next you give them goals that your company must maintain if they are to remain gainfully employed with your. After you give them those minimum standards, you raise the bar by providing financial incentive for reaching greater levels of performance. Additionally, you create a competitive environment, which is where sales people excel. But what you don’t do is micro-manage them or bombard them with incessant paperwork.

Let the salesmen do what they are best at, and as the perform, figure out how you can assist them in doing their job better, but never put up the barriers or bureaucracy or make a ton of rules and then punish them for non-compliance. For if you do these things, you will watch your top salespeople one by one quit, worse, they may soon be working for your competition and hitting all their quarterly objectives and sales goals. Micro Managing Sales People is a Big Mistake, so please consider all this.

Lance Winslow is a retired franchisor – Lance Winslow’s Bio. Lance Winslow is formerly the CEO of WashGuys family of franchises for instance one of Lance Winslow’s favorite companies on the team; http://www.windowwashguys.com/links.shtml.