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Your 2004 Sales Renewal
Michele Payn-Knoper, Professional Speaker & Marketing Consultant, Cause Matters Corp.
Invest your time at the start of the new year looking at productive, realistic ways to make a change. Look at 2004 as an opportunity for renewal, rather than making resolutions that will likely go bad. Here’s one idea for each month to help you better sell solutions in the year ahead
Take the time to make notes and file them after every sales call; you’ll be amazed how it can help you with future discussions.
Organize your prospect list by geographical area and then prioritize within area to make the most of your time and uncover some forgotten leads..
Spend half of your sales call prep time developing leading questions.
Say no to your customers when you can’t deliver what they’re asking, your integrity is on the line, or your “gut” tells you something is awry.
Focus on helping find a solution to a customer’s greatest challenge, whether it seems related to your business or not.
Listen more, talk less. Practice biting your tongue!.
Learn from “no” and move on – it’s a part of selling. You don’t have to like rejection, but do have to be able to get over it.
Strike a balance between your work and personal life if you want to maintain the perspective that gave you success in the first place.
Leverage your network; don’t be afraid to ask for referrals from those you’ve built a positive relationship with.
Commit at least an hour/week to professional development; even the masters take the time to learn more!
Rekindle your passion. How you can make you really make a difference through your work?
Follow-up every time on every detail. Use your call notes and flag your calendar with reminders to do what you promised.
Michele Payn-Knoper founded Cause Matters to provide tools in sales, grassroots marketing, and championing agriculture. Learn more and review articles at www.mpk.info under Learning Resources. Receive her free monthly “Connections” e-newsletter filled with lively commentary on championing agriculture, grassroots marketing, and selling solutions by e-mailing newsletter@mpk.info.
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