Today’s post will be brief.   And, maybe that’s a good idea, given the first item!

YOU TALK TOO MUCH

One of my favorite sales publications is Selling Power; one of the few I actually subscribe to in hard copy as well as on-line.   Gerhard Gschwandtner’s the publisher – someone I’ve known since first appearing in the publication back when it was known as “Personal Selling Power” in 1986.   His editorial in the July/August issue focuses on what I consider to be the most common mistake salespeople make:  Talking too much!   He gives seven reasons sales people do it - and it’s worth a read.  In fact, you should tear out the page and have a discussion workshop with your entire sales force on each point.  I think you’ll also like Gerhard’s blog.  He’s a `class-act’ and it’s an excellent publication.

DOWN & DIRTY TRAINING CAN WORK

I once had a new ad rep who seemed to have all the success ingredients, but after her first three weeks she STILL wasn’t writing any contracts.   She said she could get one-time open-rate ads, but I wouldn’t book that business and she felt stymied.  At the time, I felt like I’d tried everything to train her and nothing seemed to work.

Finally, one morning for our morning training – we held training five mornings a week all year round – I asked her to come up and sit across the table from me in front of everyone else in the class.   I said, “Write me up.”

She looked at me dumfounded and asked me what I meant… she expected one of our `batting-cage’ role-play sessions.  I said, “Just write me up…. Let’s do the deal!”

She asked, “What do you want me to write up.”

I said, “I want a full year, half-page, 4-color campaign and I want to give you a check for the first two-weeks in advance.”

Her jaw dropped.

“Huh?”

“Do it!”

She wrote up the deal and passed it to me.  I signed it and wrote a check.  She paper clipped it to the contract and gave me my copy.

“Do it again.”

“Huh?”

“Do it again!”

She did it again.  She wrote it up, passed it to me, I signed, passed it back and wrote a check.  She gave me my copy and paper clipped the check to the contract.

We then did it a third time.

After three times, she was doing it quite easily!  She was fast… it was almost automatic.

After the session broke up, she went out into the field and wrote three full year contracts that day!

Lesson:  Closing wasn’t her problem.  She’d been afraid to write the deal.  She’d never done it!  She wasn’t used to it.   I got her used to it, and it worked.

Try it!

“SIX WEEKS OF COMMITMENT”

Big announcement on this coming August 17^th in our In-Synch Selling (advertising sales) e-zine!   Many of you have been asking for this; so, we’re expecting this to be a big success.

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