Excerpts

#3: Dark Days of Selling

The reason for writing down tangible goals when looking forward will become evident during those dark days of selling (and there will be some). There’ll be days when your sales numbers are not what you expected them to be and when you don’t want to pick up the phone to make that next phone call. There’ll be days when every deal that was done becomes undone. There will also be days when you don’t feel like making the sales pitch or even taking the time to write up a proposal to send to your prospect.

There will be low-tide days where you can’t seem to surf your way out and catch a sales wave. At those moments of personal anxiety, you will question the sanity of being in sales. Therefore, reminding yourself of your long-term objectives will come in handy.
I once heard the saying, “Obstacles are those things you see when you take your eye off the goal.” If that’s the case, then the day-to-day challenges of selling can be gratifying because you know it is part of the success process. Every day brings you one step closer to your goal.

Each day your challenge will be to overcome, avoid, or jump over any obstacle in your path. Your strength to stay the course will depend on your ability to call to mind the reason or reasons for why you’re in sales. If you know the long-term goal and you can see it with clarity, even when things have gone wrong in your day-to-day, then summon that vision of tomorrow in your mind. Use it as a reminder that each obstacle resolved brings you that much closer to your goal.

#14: Data Mining

Another good question to ask is, “Who has purchased my product, or a similar type of product, in the past?” The best place to look for the answer is with the people who made purchases in the past. Take a close look at who’s bought and what they’ve purchased. If you begin to analyze these clients, some commonalities and consistent characteristics will become more apparent.

It’s also good to keep in mind one rule of thumb; it’s six times easier to keep a client than it is to go out and get one. The main thing to remember is people who purchased from you and were satisfied in the past have a high likelihood to buy from you again. It’s easier to sell again than it is to go out and convince someone to buy from you in the first place.

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