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Ten Things That Require Zero Talent

Sales Tip of the Week from Mike Leeds – Pro Sales Coaching

Saw this at a client’s office, and had to share…

Ten Things That Require Zero Talent

1. Being on Time
2. Work Ethic
3. Effort
4. Body Language
5. Energy
6. Attitude
7. Passion
8. Being Coachable
9. Doing Extra
10. Being Prepared

I agree with this list. Some of the items may be redundant, but it stresses how important the things are that we all can easily control when at work. It's also why I'm a proponent of the saying "Hire for attitude and train for skill."

Happy Selling!

What Salespeople Can Learn from Hockey

Sales Tip of the Week from Mike Leeds – Pro Sales Coaching

What Salespeople Can Learn from Hockey                 

From an accountability standpoint, the NHL (National Hockey League) has the right idea for penalties. If you have a penalty called against you - you leave the ice and sit in the penalty box (for 2-5 minutes depending on the penalty). Meanwhile, your team continues to play with 1 less player (creating a Power Play for the other team) during the penalty time. Power Plays can (and should be) a major advantage for the team with 1 additional player (Power Plays can extend to a maximum of 2 players). While Hockey is an extremely physical sport, I'm sure this form of accountability makes players think twice before they commit a penalty (especially, a needless one).

Needless (goofy) "penalties" in the world of sales can hurt your customer, your team, and you. In Hockey, 2-5 minutes can alter the course of a single game (unless it's during the playoffs where it could end the season). However, in business - dropping the ball, not following through, or an inadvertent comment from a Salesperson (all controllable issues) can have a negative impact for several years on their company. Play the sales game by the rules, avoid goofy mistakes, enjoy the "sport" 
of sales, and stay out of the penalty box.

Have a great sales week!

What Salespeople Can Learn from Running to First Base

Sales Tip of the Week from Mike Leeds – Pro Sales Coaching

What Salespeople Can Learn from Running to First Base

Okay, so as of Tuesday, Major League Baseball's Opening Day (and Spring Training) has been postponed and/or delayed; however, I thought this topic was still timely.

Many years ago (decades actually), I coached Girls Softball for grade-school aged students. During practice, I noticed that many of the girls "ran to" first base (slowing down as they approached it). For all players just starting out, this is very common. The goal is to actually "run through" first base, and then with the advice of the base coach either peel out to the right or turn left and run to second base.

I did what probably every coach does (when coaching young players), I made a line in the dirt about 6-8 feet past first base and asked the girls to run full speed to that line (through first base) and look to the base coach as to which way they should turn. As we started the season, our batting averages improved dramatically as we were getting more players on first base or beyond.

In sales, I have found that many salespeople strive to achieve their sales quota (or just hit the target). However, you should be striving to run through it and reach higher levels of achievement and possibly hit bonus levels in your compensation. Just striving to achieve your goal (or quota/target), you may end up just short. In sales talk, falling short is not making it. Imagine an airline flight that was perfect for 99% of the flight.

In defining the terms, a "quota" (or target) is having you land on first base. A "goal" (which is aspirational) you are running through and/or advancing beyond first base. So let’s be aspirational!

One of the easiest calculations I have used in the past to advance beyond the target is to take your annual sales quota and divide by 10 (assuming that seasonality is not a factor). This allows for your vacation time and holidays. If you want to shoot for the stars and be aggressive, you can calculate using even less months. Either way, measure your attainment on a weekly/monthly basis to gauge your progress and allow for any course corrections.

Have a great sales week!

Don’t Assume You Can Close on the First Sales Call, Unless You’re Selling… Girl Scout Cookies!

Sales Tip of the Week from Mike Leeds – Pro Sales Coaching

Don't Assume You Can Close on the First Sales Call, Unless You're Selling… Girl Scout Cookies!

Except for selling Girl Scout Cookies, your sales approach should be a process. The goal of your initial contact should be to learn about your prospect, begin to understand if they have a need that you can potentially fulfill, and then move to the next step.

Do not assume when you reach your prospect for the first time that they are available to spend time with you. Avoid "selling" your product or service before you understand your prospect's needs.

The next step can be to schedule an appointment when the prospect has set aside time to meet or speak with you. From this point, it is possible to combine the steps of the sales process (data gathering/needs analysis, proposal/presentation and close) depending on your product or service. Always avoid the "feature dump" and share how your prospect will benefit from your solution.

Continuing to the next step with your prospect (forward progress) is a "mini close" and you are on the right track.

With Girl Scout Cookies, the sales process truly appears to be a "single call close" (meaning you want them, or you don't want them). The only questions may be how many do you want, and how many Girl Scouts do you know (so you can divide up your purchase)? There are some other products or services out there that can result in a "single call close" but these are few and far between.

In case you are interested, my favorite Girl Scout Cookie has always been Thin Mints. I like keeping them in the freezer (but they sure don't seem to last long).

Have a great sales week, and a SUPER weekend!

OMG - There are only 11.5 months left in 2022!

Sales Tip of the Week from Mike Leeds – Pro Sales Coaching

OMG – There are only 11.5 months left in 2022!

Shake those holiday cobwebs away and ask yourself how you're doing so far in the new year. There are only 11.5 months left in the sales year for 2022 (4% of the year has already passed). So, if you're not on track now – let's fix it.

Goal setting is important (and hopefully your goals are set for the year). However, it's important to focus on your sub-goals and activities to reach those annual goals. Exceeding sales revenue targets are the most important results to focus on, but the activities to get there also need attention. These targets could be monthly, weekly, or even daily to make sure you obtain the longer-term goals. One of my favorite terms is to "chunk it down." An example of "chunking it down" is to say that contacting 1000 new prospects in 2022 equates to only 4 new prospect contacts per day.

Generally, I suggest setting and monitoring activity goals on a weekly basis, so these important components of your sales process are in smaller and more attainable numbers. If there are no seasonality fluctuations throughout your sales year, my favorite method for goal, quota or activity setting is to take the total number and divide it by 40 weeks. This takes in account major holidays and vacation days while giving you some time to further exceed your numbers.

Depending on the type of activity, focus your efforts in the more productive times of the day (or days of the week). For example, in some industries, phone calls may have a higher success rate on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. If you make these calls throughout the week, you won’t find yourself scrambling on Friday afternoon trying to do a week's worth of activities (in what could be a less productive timeframe).

Keep track of your results (a great way to calculate your success rates) and celebrate each step of moving your sales process forward. Short term wins lead to long term success.

If you need some tracking forms, please let me know.

Have a great sales week!

Is it NO for now, or NO forever?

Sales Tip of the Week from Mike Leeds – Pro Sales Coaching

Is it NO for now, or NO forever?

If we hear "NO" we have to determine if it's a timing issue (i.e., no current need or no current budget), or it's a permanent NO. Things do change for our prospects over time. What may not have been a challenge for them a couple of years ago, may now be creating a business issue that you may be able to impact today.

First, when we hear NO, tactfully probe for an objection. If it appears that you can not or will not overcome the objection (i.e. lower your price), consider asking the questions below:

• When would be a good time to follow-up with you to see if we can assist you with future projects?

• Since things change for all of us, when would be a good time to follow-up with you?

• What are your plans when your market changes? (You may be able to expedite a shift to a YES if you can help the prospect feel a sense of urgency.)

• Down the road, how to you see our solution benefiting your business? (You may be able to expedite a shift to a YES if you get a positive response here.)

Second, if the NO appears to be permanent and there is nothing you can do (or will do) - let it go! It's time to close out the opportunity and move on to other things. You should keep this person connected to your newsletter, broadcasts or through social media so that your name is still out there (unless of course they unsubscribe). This could also be a great time to see if they may know of someone else you can assist. I normally prefer asking current and past clients for referrals; however, I have received referrals in this situation as well – it can't hurt to ask.

Have a great sales week!

What Salespeople can learn from a Chip Shot

Sales Tip of the Week from Mike Leeds – Pro Sales Coaching

What Salespeople can learn from a Chip Shot

This term is used in many sports (and some have different meanings). Kicking off the topic of this post, we’ll talk about a short field goal which many commentators will call a routine "chip shot." These close-range field goal attempts could be closer in yardage than an extra point attempt (in the NFL). Many times, the commentators will predict these scoring attempts as automatic.

How does the kicker respond to this field goal attempt? Do they prepare the same as if it were a 50-yard attempt?

Now, let’s compare this to other sports. How does a golfer prepare for a 1-foot putt after sinking a 20-foot putt on the previous hole? How does a basketball player to prepare for a slam dunk after just hitting a 3-pointer? How does a soccer player or hockey player prepare for a point-blank shot on goal?

As a sports spectator, I've seen the participants take these scoring opportunities as automatics and end up missing the shot or scoring attempt too many times. In some cases this "miss" could cause the individual or team to lose.

How this can happen to these athletes:

1. They perceived the shot as easy and didn't follow their routine or process.
2. They rushed the scoring attempt.
3. They didn’t factor other conditions that are present (the defense of the opponent or weather conditions).
4. They may not consistently practice the "easier" scoring opportunities.

How salespeople can respond to similar situations:

1. Follow the same process for a small sale that you would for a large sale.
2. Take the time to make sure everything is ready (no rushing or short cuts).
3. Be aware of external issues and be prepared to address them if they arise.
4. As the author Harvey Mackay would say "perfect practice makes perfect." Make your approach so well-rehearsed it becomes second nature.

Have a great sales week!

What Salespeople can learn from Surfers

Sales Tip of the Week from Mike Leeds – Pro Sales Coaching

What Salespeople can learn from Surfers

Watching waves in the ocean can be mesmerizing. After each wave hits the beach, another one shortly follows. Then you watch the surfers sitting on their boards out beyond where the waves break. They patiently wait for that perfect wave for a great ride to the beach. These waves are few and far between but when the right one comes, the surfers paddle to be in the right position to catch it. Ten, twenty, or even more waves may come and go, before the surfer feels it is the right one.

When there is not a lot of activity in the ocean, surfers need to consider the options below to maximize their surfing efforts:

1. Consider getting out into the water earlier, and possibly spending more time out there.
2. Consider riding waves that are a notch below the perfect one, just to keep it going.
3. Consider the surfing options at other beaches, where the conditions may be better.
4. Prepare their equipment to be more effective (like waxing their boards).

There are many similarities with this topic that salespeople can learn from to maximize their sales efforts:

1. Make more sales calls (and utilize time blocking dedicated for prospecting on your schedule).
2. Work on smaller projects, while keeping an eye out for the bigger ones.
3. Consider prospecting in multiple market segments or new geographic areas.
4. Stay prepared, and always keep your sales skills sharp.

Have a great sales week!

Anchor appointments can help you “gain” additional time in your day

Sales Tip of the Week from Mike Leeds – Pro Sales Coaching

Anchor appointments can help you "gain" additional time in your day

Let's face it – most of us aren't making money while we are driving to and from sales meetings. In larger metropolitan areas especially, many salespeople waste a lot of time in their cars (or using public transportation) and are seeing fewer customers or prospects.

To maximize your customer-facing time, I suggest dividing your sales territory into specific areas or quadrants and scheduling specific days to be in those areas. When laying out your schedule in this format, you can target accounts you need to visit on a proactive basis. Yes, there are occasionally going to be those days when you have to drive from one end of the metro area to the other based on customer need; however, these occurrences can be dramatically reduced with effective planning. Start with setting up a primary appointment in the area (an anchor appointment) and build your schedule from there. Ultimately, this technique is most effectively used when a sales professional can spend an entire day in a single office building or business park (and never need to move their car).

I've found that customers are very understanding when you share with them the day(s) you will be in their area. Of course, if it's an emergency situation or a customer schedule issue – you make that work. Also, if you haven't scheduled that particular day yet – this could be your anchor appointment.

The results are more productive time management (so you can focus on what's important to you), higher quality appointments (since they're planned and thought out), and a reduction of your expenses.

Have a Successful Sales Day!

Image is Everything!

Sales Tip of the Week from Mike Leeds – Pro Sales Coaching

Image is everything!

Now more than ever, first impressions are extremely important. In a fleeting second, we can form an opinion that is hard to change. Today, we have more tools to help us make that first impression (like web cameras, internet searches, and social media).

Some examples I've seen lately that could be fatal to your sales efforts:

1.  A Real Estate Agent's name on a sign in front of a house that looks abandoned and not maintained. What does this say about the agent whose name is on the sign? How about their desire to sell the house, and your desire to buy it?

2.  A Copywriter that continually sends out newsletters or email broadcasts with misspellings, typos, and grammar issues. How will they communicate the value that you offer?

3.  A Retail Men's Clothing Salesperson whose clothes don't fit well. Yeah, I want this person helping me.

4.  An Auto Detailer driving a dirty car (and it hasn't rained for a couple of weeks). At least it didn't say "wash me" on the back window.

One thing is consistent with these examples – attention to detail. As the saying goes - you don't get a second chance to make a first impression. Take pride in yourself and how others see you. If your name (company name) is on it – that tells people what they can expect from you. It's also a statement about your credibility.

You are a specialist in your area, and image is everything!

Have a great sales week!