I trust you’re keeping well, and sales are good?

Those of you involved in computer programming will know how important every line of a programme is.

If just one instruction is left out, incorrectly written or in the wrong place, it can cause chaos.

However, the most important line in a programme is the line that ends “.exe”

Yes, it’s the ‘execution’ line, the instruction that tells the computer to carry out all the other instructions.

Without that, the programme is useless.

What about our ‘execution’ line?

We can learn all the theory we want about sales; we can attend all the courses and seminars; we can
read all the books…but unless we ‘execute’ and put into practice all the ideas we have picked up, we
are just ‘knowledge sponges’ and our value to our clients will be minimal at best.

So today, think about:

How can I put into practice that one brilliant idea I picked up at that sales course?

What action can I take today that will make a real
difference with my next prospect?

Remember: The theory is just theory until it’s
executed in the right way.

Have a great selling day!

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training

Telephone: 0800 849 6732

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“Hi Sean,

No matter what I do I can’t motivate my team to make more sales. They are on good salaries, have good conditions and no matter what I say in team meetings or what I offer in terms of reward or recognition, I get nothing back!

What can I do to motivate them?

Vijay Lal

—————————————

This is a great question and one I get asked a lot.

Motivation is a thing that comes from within. Sure you can be inspired by others but I believe you can’t be motivated by anyone other than yourself.

In order to get the best out of others I recommend that you give them the tools, the skills and create the environment for them to achieve high levels of performance AND THEN they will become motivated.

You cannot give them “motivation” and performance will improve. Instead, give them the tools to perform and they will become more motivated.

I was once asked to give a motivational talk to a workforce of 1000 sales people and was getting paid £5k for an hours work.

The brief was to get them pumped up.

Now I like to do my research so I met with some of the sales people a couple of weeks beforehand so I knew what they did and how they did it.

I found out that:

* No-one had received any training from the company in the past
* They were not using any CRM system or tool to keep records etc
* Everyone of the team was using a different sales process
* The company as a whole did not have any key unique selling points for the product

Now this was a multi-national company!

Yes, I can get anyone pumped up. But they’d be going back into the workplace to continue hitting their heads against the brick wall (but a bit faster after my hours talk!)

So instead of “motivating” the team I decided to train and develop the team. I only had an hour but I focused on 4 of the key “biggest hitting” areas that would make a difference.

The result?

Well, I got rated 9.8 out of 10 from the conference feedback forms because I gave them tools to improve their performance. I didn’t include any “motivational stories” or “pump me up” ra ra’s yet on the feedback forms the comments were like “I feel really confident and motivated that I’ll improve my performance” and even “I’m psyched, I want to get back to work and try these techniques out”

That was living proof of the point I’m making here.

Remember, give them tools to help them improve their performance and the motivation will naturally come. It’s not the other way around.

Happy selling

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training

Telephone: 0800 849 6732

Improve your SALES SKILLS Click by signing up for our FREE SALES TIPS

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I don’t often get mushy or sentimental but when I see something with truly inspires me then it really gives me perspective on what and who I am as a Dad, a Husband, a Sales Person and as a Business Leader.

So please have a look at this video about the inspirational quest of a Dad to give his son a life.

And when someone slams the phone down on you for the 20th time or if you’re having a rough time, then just think of stories like this and pick yourself up and get back on track.

Thanks again

Sean

Sean McPheat
MTD Sales Training

Click here for a FREE SALES TRAINING course

Have you downloaded my latest report yet? “The Sales Person’s Crisis” has been downloaded by over 10,000 sales pros and entrepreneurs. Don’t miss this unique report that lifts the lid on modern day selling!

Click on the image below to find out why you’re very existence as a sales person is in doubt…

I just had to write a post about the TV programme I just watched.

I admire a great business story and this was one of them….well at least it is for the time being.

Wellworths was the brainchild of Claire Robertson.

Former Woolworths Manager Claire and her team from the Dorchester branch were made redundant along with thousands of others when Woolworths went bust.

But Claire wanted to fight back and she reopened the store and renamed it Wellworths. So she re-employed all of her staff and along with an 8,000 product line and £38k to find each week just to stay afloat she started a media frenzy!

It was a great PR story and local, national and international press all had a piece of the action!

On opening day it meant that they took over £8k including £2k in the first 2 hours.

Chris Evans opened the store and he summed it up nicely when he said “This is a great story and Britain loves a trier”

So, will Wellworths make a better fist of it than Woolworths?

Well, time will tell but the lesson to be had is this…

Don’t look back in 20 or 30 years and ask “What if?”

Have the balls to go for what you want.

Have the balls to keep on trying.

Have the balls to take a chance.

Have the balls to ask for the business even when you think all is lost.

Have the balls to make another 20 cold calls even when you’ve heard “no” for the past 2 days.

Remember, there are 3 types of people in this world…

There’s those people that make things happen like Claire Robertson.

There’s those people that watch things happen.

And then there are people who say “What happened?!”

What will you make happen today?

Happy Selling

Sean

Sean McPheat
MTD Sales Blog
www.mtdsalestraining.com

Click here for FREE EMAIL SALES TIPS

Have you downloaded my latest report yet? “The Sales Person’s Crisis” has been downloaded by over 10,000 sales pros and entrepreneurs. Don’t miss this unique report that lifts the lid on modern day selling!

Click on the image below to find out why you’re very existence as a sales person is in doubt…

Well, it’s a Friday and it’s time for reflection on the week that you’ve just had in sales.

Did you give it your upmost best? What went well? What didn’t go so well?

You see for us sales people, it’s the small things that count. It’s those one percenters that when you add them all up, make a huge difference to winning the business or not.

Al Pacino says it all in the video below.

So if you ever need a little bit of inspiration, need a kick up the backside or just need to regroup and “go again” listen to this. With the economy as it the only way out is to fight!

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Sean

Sean McPheat
MTD Sales Blog
MTD Sales Training

Telephone: 0800 849 6732

Have you downloaded my latest report yet? “The Sales Person’s Crisis” has been downloaded by over 10,000 sales pros and entrepreneurs. Don’t miss this unique report that lifts the lid on modern day selling!

Click on the image below to find out why you’re very existence as a sales person is in doubt…

Well not exactly, but my point is that whenever you sell anything you need to think about the motivations of your buyer.

You need to think about what they want and need and what’s in it for them – PERSONALLY. As well as what’s in it for the company when they purchase your product or service, you also need to think about what is in it for the buyer too.

Here’s what I mean by this:

GET LAID
What I mean by this is that people want to look good, they want to be popular and to make the right decisions.

GET PAID
They want to make more money or save money, they want to get a pay increase, a promotion etc

LIVE FOREVER
This is obviously a strong motivation in the health and beauty industry but people want to be immortal!

Now I know that the above are generalistions albeit in a crude sort of way but I really wanted the message to hit hard about the point I’m trying to get across. The point I’m making is that whilst you are selling your product or service to the company you also want to think about the selfish motivations of the buyer themselves.

They might want to get a promotion, to look good or to be seen as the top dog in their company – this is often a very overlooked area.

Oh, and before I go be sure to check out my brand newly released MTD Sales Podcasts website. I’ll be adding audios to the site each week that you can either listen to online, download to your computer or download to your IPOD or MP3 player. I hope you enjoy them? There’s about half a dozen on there now and I’ll be adding more each week.

Happy selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
MTD Sales Training

Telephone: 0800 849 6732

Have you downloaded my latest report yet? “The Sales Person’s Crisis” has been downloaded by over 10,000 sales pros and entrepreneurs. Don’t miss this unique report that lifts the lid on modern day selling!

Click on the image below to find out why you’re very existence as a sales person is in doubt…

Three Motivating Factors for Your Sales Team

Motivating a Sales Team is mission critical to successes. However, it is very easy for a sales manager to THINK that he or she is sufficiently motivating the team simply because no one offers any objection or criticism. Since the sales team is not complaining, I must be doing everything right? Wrong.

Now in answering this question, let me say that it may not be what you or anyone else expects to hear. When I talk about motivating a sales team I am NOT talking about some rah-rah pep rallies or how to say the right thing or how to lead a sales meeting that fires people up. No. I am talking about real, tangible and structural processes and things that you need to do on the ground that help sales people aspire to achieve more and become the best that they can be.

Here are three main motivators for your Sales Team. Concentrate on these, and the rest will take care of themselves!

Let your sales team know that the company cares. Contrary to popular belief, the primary motivating factor for sales people is NOT the money. While it is true that most sales people originally join the organisation they work with primarily due to the lure of money, the fact is they STAY because they feel the company cares about them—personally. Demonstrate to your sales team that you deeply care for them; their personal welfare, their success. Let them know that you put their success BEFORE yours and the company’s, and they will stay motivated.

Frankly, that is how every Sales Manager should feel anyway. Think about it: If they fail, you and the company fail. Their success does come before YOURS! When Sales people feel like the company puts the bottom line before them; when they feel that the firm only cares about the money and that they are expendable—no amount of money or anything else will motivate them to reach high levels of success. Number one—let them know you care. How do you do that? It’s real simple—YOU CARE! Demonstrate to the sales team that they are the most important people in the firm. Don’t just talk about it – live it!

Second, treat sales people like the executives they are. Treat your sales team like they are true executives; directors, CEOs and give them the support they need to perform as such. In conjunction with the first rule above, understand that if that sales person does not make a sale, you, the director, the CEO, the founder, the factory, the secretaries, the accounting staff, the development staff—ALL of you are out of a job!! The sales person is the real chief executive—treat them as such. Create a sales support system that allows sales people to do what they get paid to do: SELL.

In an effort to save money, too many organisations pile a bunch of crap and non-sales activity tasks on the sales team. The thought is that you save £25,000 by NOT hiring an administrative person to handle the paperwork. Why not just let the sales people do it? Well, you might save the £25,000 salary of the admin person, but you LOSE a million pounds in the process. Give your sales team sales support to handle those tasks that are not of a selling nature.

And third, in motivating your sales team; PAY THEM FIRST! In most firms the sales structure is such that the sales person gets paid LAST. In other words, the sales person goes out and makes the sales and then a ton of things happen; sometimes it is financing or delivery options or collections or bill payments, or any number of things, but think about this: in the mean time everyone else gets paid ANYWAY!! Everyone gets paid before the SALES PERSON.

Let them know the company cares, treat them like executives and pay them first. After you do those things, then and only then will all of the motivational speeches make sense; pounds and cents!

Happy Selling

Sean

Sean McPheat
MTD Sales Training

http://www.mtdsalestraining.com

Looking for sales management training?
Call 0800 849 6732

Have you downloaded my latest report yet? “The Sales Person’s Crisis” has been downloaded by over 10,000 sales pros and entrepreneurs. Don’t miss this unique report that lifts the lid on modern day selling!

Click on the image below to find out why you’re very existence as a sales person is in doubt…

As a sales professional you should not only improve your sales technique but you also need to improve your mindset and what goes on between those ears.

Within sales you will most likely get more "no’s" than "yes’s" so you need to develop a thick skin and a positive mental attitude.

So, instead of just learning how to close more effectively or overcome objections take time out to learn about developing strong inner beliefs and confidence.

It will be well worth it as your attitude always determines your altitude in life.

Write down what you will say to yourself to remain positive when you get let down or lose a sale. Preparing to sell is very important not only for the outside but also on the inside too!

Sean Mc 

Have you downloaded my latest report yet? “The Sales Person’s Crisis” has been downloaded by over 10,000 sales pros and entrepreneurs. Don’t miss this unique report that lifts the lid on modern day selling!

Click on the image below to find out why you’re very existence as a sales person is in doubt…