The reason you’ve hit a celling with your sales activity is because your identity won’t let you climb any higher, you’ve reached the cap of what you think is possible and now it’s holding you back or you've stopped taking relentless action.
In this article I’ll outline 3 simple strategies to help you generate momentum again.
Sales Training Lesson 1: Resist Comfort
When you’re starting out in your business, or you join a new company you’re all in. You do things to consistently push the needle every day. Networking events, attending company social events, you are aggressively on the lookout to expand your business and its presence in market.
After a couple of months and a few initial wins the sales start to come in and you openly start to relax.
This is the first step to failure. By taking your foot off the gas you allow mediocre sales habits to creep in, you stop prospecting as hard, you stop asking for referrals at each client meeting and you quit fighting for the inches.
This is the start of your downfall; however, the results only show themselves 90-180 days later.
The worst part is this behaviour softens your mindset. As your sales activity slows you become less aggressive in the pursuit of your daily goals, you focus on what’s wrong with business and start to blame the environment, the economy and your client’s unwillingness to purchase.
You blame everything but yourself, as a result your attitude stinks and from here on out it is just a rotating list of excuses and passing the buck.
To end this negative cycle, you’ve got to get after it again, you’ve got to feed that competitive nature that lies dormant inside of you, this is kickstarted by tracking the small daily wins.
Once you begin to focus and track what’s working, you will see trends again, your passion for sales will reemerge as you believe in yourself and your ability more. You will realise that its not the market, the situation or other people that was holding you back but a lack of relentless action and a mindset of doubt.
This is where you step into your full self again, you start moving towards self-improvement, gravitating to content that can help you overdeliver on how you serve clients. Instead of complaining now you are thinking of ways you can better lead your business.
Start with a simple brainstorm:
I want you to brainstorm 20 ideas that you could implement in your business today that would move the needle in a big way.
This shouldn’t take longer than 1 hour.
Write them down, do it now. Pull out a note pad and start writing.
1,2,3,4,5…..get those ideas down no matter how crazy, just get writing. Your business and career is on the line and now you’ve got to force yourself to do the work to build your creative muscles again.
Like going back to the gym after a 1-month hiatus, it’s going to be painful, but you will see progress if you keep going.
Once you’ve got your list of 20 needle moving ideas, I want you to pick one and execute on it right away. Then work through your list. Complete the list, 1 activity every day until you are unstoppable.
It’s not rocket science, but it does take discipline.
Sales Training Lesson 2: Feed your competitive nature and drive
Fight for the inches, you’ve got to keep pushing, doing more than you are paid for and win your clients hearts and minds. One of the best ways to do that is to surprise and delight them with an unexpected value add, this is best done post sale. Add value – this means helping your clients by going out of your way, it can be anything from travel recommendations, industry insight, using your network to help them with a great plumber, property agent, gardener, insurance agent, you name it, think service!
It separates you from the pack both as a salesperson and a brand. Everyone does not do this. Think about the story you are creating in the mind of your client when you go above and beyond in a way they did not expect. Its phenomenal as a marketing tool through word of mouth.
When you go out of your way, your clients reaction is going to act like a multiplier not only with they be happier but they will share your story all across their network, which will drive new business to your door.
You’ve got to be an evangelist for your product or brand no matter how big and important you get. You’re never too important to do the groundwork, to fight for the win. This keeps you on the hunt, looking for ways to add more value, improve your product and processes and serve your customers.
It’s about doing more than you are paid to do in a shorter amount of time. You got to be both effective and efficient. It’s about prioitiszation. You do more than you are paid to do at your day job, you deliver results, you find ways to go above and beyond for your clients. And you optimize so you can get more done than everyone else in a shorter time frame.
Sales Training Lesson 3: Improve Your Writing!
One of the quickest things to slip is your writing. This is because you are hardwired to want to take short cuts.
It’s the biggest mistake when it comes to sales as it indicates a broader mentality.
Do you write compelling emails that stimulate a response or as they just run of the mill?
Key parts to think about when constructing your emails is, what emotion are you trying to create? If this email could leave the reader with one emotion what would that be? That is important because so often it is not thought about especially when it comes to business development.
When trying to engage a new client and invoke a favorable response, build intrigue and engender curiosity you’ve got to put effort into your writing.
Writing better emails will boost your sales. It will help you get more initial discovery meetings and as a result produce more qualified opportunities.
Do you emails articulate clearly what your biggest advantage is? Or is it hidden or implied but not called out?
We are busy people, busier than ever, you’ve got to make is so clear what your business is all about, clients don’t have time to search for the answer even if it’s one extra click away. Put it front and center so that can be no avoidance of the fact.
Once you’ve infused your emails with emotion and your biggest advantages, we’re starting to get traction but it’s not enough. What’s the overarching mission that you want to communicate? Is there a bigger mission that you are aiming for? What matters to you and your company and why should they care?
Finally keep your emails fun, if you want to really stand out and cut through, make your emails distinct, offer value and get away from the standard template that is so common these days.
Break the pattern and go big, inject your personality into your emails. They have to sound like they are coming from you and not a robot.
There you have it, 3 simple steps you can implement if you are struggling in sales and find your numbers falling.
It’s not rocket science but it does take commitment and a desire to improve. If this article gave you value please share it with someone who needs it and follow me for more insights in sales, business and personal development.
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