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How Jason Doubled His Income

“We can easily forgive a child when they’re afraid of the dark. The real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” -Plato Click To Tweet

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.

Sales philosophy jason case studyJason 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.

“Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.” Click To Tweet

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.

RESULTS

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

These 5 Things Bewilder Bill. Do They Bewilder You?

Things bewilder Bill (quite frequently, actually) and in this week’s episode of The 2X Podcast he reviews a few of these hot spots.

As he works with companies who bring him in to develop their teams, he sees things. And, some of these things that seem stunningly obvious to an outsider, are blind to the leadership teams. In this episode, Bill shares a few of these.

Also, there is a freebie that he created for you: www.billcaskey.com/74download.

Also mentioned in this podcast:


DOWNLOAD "THINGS THAT BEWILDER ME" FREEBIE

A Proven One Day Training Plan

Well, it’s that time of year when we plan sales meetings and retreats. I’ve gotten a lot of calls recently from companies who want me to come in and speak to their groups but, unfortunately, my time is booked through February. I don’t remember getting a call from you. Hmmm. Oh well, maybe I did and just don’t recall.

Consequently, I wanted to give you CEO’s and Sales Leaders some ideas on how you can run an uber-effective sales training meeting to kick off 2016.
Here are the steps I take both for preparation and for execution of an event.

Step 1: Get Really Clear on Your Objectives. 

I find most leaders are a little fuzzy when it comes to specific objectives for a one-day training meeting. I suggest you write out 8 to 10 things you’d like to see as a result of this meeting and then build curriculum to achieve that. Don’t try to load it up too full. Leave breathing space so that people can absorb the content.

(That’s a major fault of sales leaders and CEOs. They think that since they have everyone in the room, they need to chock it full of content. Less is more. More becomes drivel.) Read more

The One Thing That Will Change Your Sales World

Apologies to the person who created the “flower and the bee” concept but I think that epitomizes perfectly the problem with most sales processes today.

The-Flower-Does-Not

And do we ever have a problem.

The ‘flower and the bee’ phenomena goes like this: in nature the flower must pollinate itself. It sits there waiting for the bee (one of the many ways pollination happens) to pollinate it. The flower does not labor, nor does it stress about bees showing up. Bees, on the other hand, are scurrying about trying to find food, and pollinating the flower.

In business, sales people are typically the bees and the customer is the flower. Sales people scurry around the country looking for food.

Why does it have to be that way? Why shouldn’t the sales professional be sitting – allowing the prospect to show up for them? Why?

It’s because we don’t plan it out that way. (We actually might, secretly, like the scurrying about looking for plants -err prospects.)

We have bought into the flower/bee process so heavily in sales that we refuse to even admit that it’s all wrong. (We also do this when job searching…wrong again.) Read more

Getting Ready For the Next Recession

Getting ready for the next recession. It’s coming. Maybe not for a few years, but now’s the time to get ready. Remember how you felt when it hit you like a ton of bricks in 2009? Don’t EVER EVER let that happen to you again.

Make a list of the top 10 things you need to do (in your business) to get ready.

  1. More customers? Check.
  2. More alliances? Check.
  3. More money in your bank account? Check.
  4. Refer this blog post to your tribe? Check. (Ooops. Got carried way, there)

You Can’t Solve Problems If You Don’t…

 PROSPECT PAINS.

What kinds of pains/problems do you help people solve? Do you have a list of those? No? Shame on you.

How can you be a problem solver if you don’t even have a menu of the kind of problems you fix? Start that list today.

Setbacks Have Great Lessons In Them

Obstacles and roadblocks…we all have them. You’ve heard the saying, “Kites rise against the wind, not with it.”

And yet, we do all we can to avoid setbacks. Not saying you should look for failure, but it’s just a big universal feedback mechanism that should signal that you may be off track.  Use it as such.

Price Resistance Might Have Nothing To Do With Price

How you present things is how people see things.

A few weeks ago, a sales person came into our office and was pitching a new water system. They talked about the features and benefits of their offer, but NEVER asked me any questions about what I wanted.  And then I told them the price was too high.

If you’ve ever had a prospect say your price was too high, it could’ve been you forgot to ask the right questions.

The Role Fear Plays In Selling

Sales managers know that it’s the little things that get in the way of a salesperson being successful.

And we often talk about the little things in our video series. But today, a not-so-little thing that gets in the way. Fear.

In this video, Bill looks at the places ‘fear’ shows up and the impact it can have on a salesperson or sales team.