I started my sales career in living in constant fear.
Why would anyone buy something from me ?
How was I to communicate properly to get people to buy?
How was I to create personal wealth in a profession I knew little about?
What if I failed? Then what?
Relate?
I find most sales professionals do.
The problem is never “what” we sell. Or, “who our market is.” Or, “What the price is.”
It’s deeper than that.
And in this article, I will share with you how one of my clients doubled his income in a matter of 120 days.
I share this not to exert my will on you. Whether you follow this process is your call, not mine.
I share it because I find that when a framework appears, it’s a helluva lot easier to make changes and get results.
I’ve read blogs like this before where the author never gives up the gold. That will NOT happen here. My aim is to help you see what is possible in your world, even if you might not.
I’ve been training sales teams for over 30 years…7500 training session…over 2000 coaching sessions…900 podcasts…and a book, Same Game New Rules, one that many companies use as their text book for new and counter-intuitive training.
And one thing I always find…we all want more.
It’s just the way we humans are built. If we are fully human, we express it by wanting to realize our potential on this planet.
But while we all want more…often, it feels out of our reach.
We find ourselves saying, “Well yes, Bill can do that, but I can’t.” Or, “Well, easy for Jason…he has a (built in advantage) but I don’t have that.”
Yes you do. And we’ll get to that.
Today, I will share with you the story of Jason and how he used our sales philosophy and methodology to significantly grow his business quickly.
He came to me struggling in his sales territory. No, he wasn’t about to get fired – but he was the classic underachiever. On the surface he looked like he could be a killer. But the results were never there. And he was becoming frustrated.
Jason was 35 years old with a new wife and a new house. He’d been in his current position for 5 years. He was a pretty good sales person -always in the middle of the pack. But…he knew he could do better.
His manager was always telling him, “Hey Jason, you can crush this thing. You have tons of opportunity in your territory. What’s going on?”
Ever have someone tell you that?
Or have you ever told yourself that? (That might be more painful).
Those conversations shamed him – they certainly didn’t inspire him. He needed a plan and a way of thinking – a philosophy – which he wasn’t getting. He was not a real ambitious bloak – not a trained killer. He’d always been average – earning about $80,000/year. BUT, he knew there was more.
One thing you should know about Jason: A born sales person he was not. Not sure anyone is – but there is a worldview that there IS such a thing.
There is NOT.
And, worse, he started to question himself if sales was even the right profession. Not a good place to be.
As I said at the top, I questioned myself almost every day when I began in sales.
“Is this what I really want to do?”
“Will this get me to my goals?”
“Am I cut out for this?”
Just like me, Jason began to doubt himself and his skills. He lost confidence in his ability and his natural talent.
We call this the “doubt spiral.” And it’s ugly.
As a coach, if I can’t get the “doubt” turned around, there is almost no hope for high achievement. It will continue to be the same, day after day, year after year.
I want to share how we turned it around. I say “we” because it was both of us.
So in the 6 months I worked with him, here were his results:
- Tripled his average monthly appointment count.
- Went from a closing rate of 10% to 65%.
- Monthly income went up 3x.
- And the biggest result was his confidence level – hard to measure, but hard to be without.
Finding Help To Tame The Demons
The Process: Sales Philosophy, Methodology, & Process.
As he got down on himself, a friend suggested he find someone to help him…a coach…a peer group…somewhere to acquire the right skills and the right attitudes.
He began to research online. He found a mastermind / learning group I run and set up an appointment with me where he shared his plight.
He was very specific and very open, the first step to getting help and creating change.
Read more
In this episode of The Advanced Selling Podcast, Bill Caskey and Bryan Neale laugh a little bit about the term, “Sales enablement,” but they catch themselves and realize that it truly is a thing.