Selling through representatives

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Two people. On the phone, having a conversation. That's what people use phones for - to have conversations.

What happens in a conversation? One person says something. The other person listens, understands (or asks a question to make sure he understands), then responds appropriately.

The conversation moves from point A to point B because BOTH people are talking - and listening.

Now let's apply this to sales calls.

Yes, it is possible for a salesperson to have a conversation with a potential customer. But only if the salesperson:

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This article was halfway finished, with the title you see above, when I got an email with this subject line: "If you want to sell better, just shut up!"

Whoa, I thought. Readers often send me emails with the article title as the subject line. But this article hadn't yet left my computer! What was going on?

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Successful sales management requires a certain kind of discipline that is very, very difficult when you're also running the company, trying to do marketing, managing product creation, dealing with government regulations, and so on. However, like anything else, it has to be done - and done right - in order for the company to run smoothly.

Here's what has to happen.

1) A daily sales meeting - with everyone - for about 15 minutes. That's all. You can even hold the meeting standing up - which guarantees that it won't go over the 15 minutes. It's very important to keep this meeting short, because otherwise you won't do it every day. It will be too time-consuming.

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Think of any situation where you have purchased something, and, at the end of the purchase experience, things got nasty. Assumptions you had made at the beginning of the process turned out to be incorrect. Promises that the vendor made were broken, and the vendor was very reluctant to make it up to you. The enthusiasm you and the vendor had at the beginning of the process was gone, and in its place were raw nerves, legitimate concerns, and a lot of haggling over "what we must do, now that we know what we didn't know before."

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She's successful in her field. She makes a good living. She considers herself a stellar conversationalist. She loves to talk. She loves talking so much, in fact, that she talks even after she has said that she must go do something else. Instead of going and doing it, she remains on the phone or in the room, and talks some more. She talks when the person she is talking to is talking. She talks about things that matter not at all to the other person. She chatters on and on, entertaining herself by talking about all things that come to mind - in great detail.

She went into sales because she loves to hear herself talk.