Single most valuable advice for me was to focus on the 20% of your clients that give you 80% of your business. It came from a friend of mine, who is also my promotion's director. I found that by focusing my time on those top 20 has been extremely beneficial, and helped me work smarter!
I disagree,think of the close as a boxer's knock out punch. You throw it the other fighter does not go down,do you stop throwing punches? Sure you should allow a moment for the prospect to say yes.If it is not forth coming it means he is weighing the factors, you should use reassuring words that accepting your proposal is the right decision to make. I don't know how many times I've hear this, the first one that speaks loses non-sense. Help the prospect make the decision, that your job!!
When I started in radio I worked for Fuller-Jeffery Radio.J.J. Jefery was my mentor and one pearl of wisdom he gave me was;
When you wake up in the morning and look in the mirror, what do you see? Two ears and one mouth, take the hint.
Listening to a client will get you further than talking at him.
I would say the best word of advice Ive been given is to work smarter not harder. Build longterm relationships.. focus on annuals.. put them into traffic as you sign them on so everthing is done except copy changes. This allows you to spend more time on the relationships and not neccesarily the "selling".
BUT... at the same time the small sales are important too. A previous GM said to me once..Oatmeal is better than no meal! We repeat that a lot in our office. The small sales are just as important. Given the right service, they can become the annuals you strive for!
I think this goes hand-in-hand with the 80-20 rule mentioned by Debra above. I'm new to the business, but my experienced managers, Jamie Futrell and Martha Huggins, have had me focus 80% of my time cultivating relationships with major players in my market with an eye to 3-frequency, long-term contracts, while also making a living the other 20% of the time commodity-style selling to those customers that aren't interested in a relationship. (Although I've found some pretty good relationships popping up out of the 20% as well!)
As for the best advice I've ever received, Martha - my sales manager, shared with me the other day the advice, "Approach your clients the same way their customers would approach them. If their customers walk through the front door, walk through the front door. If their customers call, then call."
It was an eye opener for me and seems to make a lot of sense!
One that I always remember is from my ex-bosses John Lynch and Rob Quinn was "You need to get in front of people to make and close that sale. Two others are to listen...listen, never promise something you can't deliver and always include Please and Thank you in your communications.
Incorporated into nearly every sales call is a question I was taught to ask which I have seen demonstrate that I mean to get to work, and have a plan. The question is, "Do you want to do this appointment here, or should we go sit down somewhere?"
Wow, it's amazing how many times I have asked that question, or some facsimile thereof. Everytime the answer brings us past that sometimes awkward, "Hello, I'm here" phase to, "Okay let's get to work." Additionally it sets me up as the guy asking questions. It's suprisingly effective actually.
Learned this from Mike Horne years ago. "Most salespeople talk so much you would think they were vaccinated with a phonograph needle. Top salespeople spend 80% of the sales call listening and 20% talking." Great advice in 1970 and still great advice in 2012.
The best piece of sales advice I was given, was by a Marine Recruiter at a Bar and Grill. I never got his name, however we did talk about our jobs and what we did for a living... Out of all the things we talked about, this is what stuck in my head out of that conversation. ABC which stands for Always Be Selling/Celling... Of course the letter C is the S... It has stuck with me for years now and has helped us all grow...
Oscar Felix Jr.
KOFH Maxima 99uno Today's hits
Nogales, AZ.
When a client says, "I need a few days to think about this. Call me in a few days." A reply that has worked well for me is, "Let's meet again next week, same day, same time." Most clients say, "OK" to this. The reason it works is that the customer has 10am on Thursday 'open' this week, they probably have the same day and time open in their schedule a week from today. Try it. Let me know if it works for you, too. [email protected]
The most important advice I have been given in sales and behind the mic is to simply be yourself.
People can tell when your not being yourself even if they've never met or heard you before.
