As we head into a holiday weekend here in the U.S. I want to share a few things for you to think over.  Unless you don’t read a newspaper, listen to the radio, or watch the news you already we are losing jobs at a rate of about 600,000 jobs a month.  The White House is forecasting an unemployment rate exceeding 10%.

If you took that information at face value alone things could look pretty grim.  Plus many of you are lamenting about companies closing.  Everyone is tightening their purse strings.  Does this mean you won’t be selling much of anything to anyone anytime soon?

Take a Closer Look

Well, I want you to take a closer look.  I only heard this mentioned briefly.  It doesn’t seem to be a big news interest story for the media just yet.  However, the number of new businesses is growing at about the same pace each month as the number of jobs lost.

WHAT THE HECK!!!  Yes, it seems that more and more people are fed up with someone else controlling their destiny.  They can’t depend on the security they once enjoyed from their employment, there are hundreds of applicants for every job, so people are electing to take matters into their own hands.

What Does this Mean for YOU?

It means you’ve never had a better opportunity to actually sell something.  Each month there’s a whole new group of new businesses who need your stuff.  600,000 new businesses each month!  Just think how many of those new businesses and business owners are in an industry you can help.

There’s no reason you can’t be the person who gets their business.  All you need to do is answer 5 questions for these new potential buyers better than the competition.  Here are the 5 questions you must answer:

1. Why are you contacting me?
2. Why should I pay attention to you?
3. Why is this the right thing for me?
4. Why does it cost this much?
5. Why should I act now?

When you can do a good job of answering those 5 questions you won’t have any problem attracting and attaining new buyers.

You & Your Potential Buyers have a Common Challenge

Oddly enough you probably share a common challenge with your buyers.  Those new business owners are starry eyed and enthusiastic about their exciting new future.  They have a good idea or a skill they intend to build a business around.

At first they don’t know what they don’t know.  It’s once you start implementing those ideas and run into road blocks and obstacles that you begin to appreciate it isn’t as easy as you once thought.  The common challenge you share is effectively communicating:

• What whatever you’re selling actually does for the person buying
• The critical reasons why
• Best options

Most new business owners don’t have a clue how to effectively communicate these three critical pieces of information.  You simply have to communicate these critical pieces of information effectively to succeed.  Even though you would think it would be easy to communicate what your offer does it isn’t because most people try to tell you what their offer does in terms of themselves rather than in terms of what the buyer is looking for.

Reasons Why

Without a solid reason why for the potential buyer everything you put out there gets a, “So what?” response.  Each potential buyer must understand:

• The reason why they should pay attention to you
• The reason why what you say is true
• The reason why they should act now

When potential buyers can link what you’re communicating to their reason’s why they act.  The next challenge is closing the business.  While most people think the key to selling is a sales pitch that’s exactly what turns red hot buyers into stone cold suspects.  Pitches, slick sales lines, and sales gimmicks turn buyers off.  A “salesy” approach works against you.

The good news is, like those new business owners, you don’t need to take a “salesy” approach. All you
photo credit: Tony Crescibene

need to do is help your potential buyers choose the best option for them.  Bottom line the future for sales is as hot as the fireworks this 4th of July.

Need a little help getting ready to increase your sales with all these new buyers?  Discover an easy way to increase sales.

There’s nothing better than sipping ice tea under a shade tree while you’re replenishing yourself with a good book.  Especially a book that can help you grow professionally.

The author of this book, Leanne Hoagland-Smith, is a personal friend of mine.  Leanne lives in Indiana close to Lake Michigan near Chicago.  And let me tell you she is a dynamo.

If you ever get a chance to hear her speak… do it.  Leanne packs more information in a one hour seminar than most people get from an entire 3 day program.

One of the things that make Leanne so remarkable is the fact that she’s a critical thinker.  While most people are watching life pass by nothing gets past Leanne.  She notices the details and picks up on the key thing that makes things work.

Recently she published her first book, “be The Red Jacket in a sea of gray suits”.  This book is well worth reading.

This Book Works on Two Levels

First, there’s the direct information Leanne teaches you in her book.  That alone is well worth the read.

But, perhaps more importantly is the way she teaches you.  You see Leanne is a master story teller.  Knowing how to tell stories that sell is huge.  I recommend you read the book once to get the direct knowledge then read it a second time to see how she uses stories to make her point.

Stories are a great way to make your point without having to beat someone over the head and trigger their defenses.  Plus stories are both memorable and sharable.

I don’t want to spoil it for you by going into great detail; however, as you read this book you may be shocked to discover how the words you use every day without even thinking about them are impacting your behaviors.  And those behaviors aren’t necessarily doing what you think they are.  Some of those behaviors, in fact, are hurting your sales success.

When you clue into how Leanne incorporates critical thinking skills those skills will serve you well no matter what you’re doing for the rest of you life.

What this Book Isn’t

This book IS NOT your typical sales book.

It isn’t a motivational book although it’s certainly motivating.

You won’t find slick sales lines that make you sound like a jerk.

You won’t find smarmy sales techniques that make you feel like you need to take a bath.

This is a book anyone who wants to sell with integrity will enjoy.

It’s a book for people who strive to grow and use their thoughts to help in that process.

Am I a little biased?  Well, duh!  She is my friend.  However, she didn’t ask me to tell you about her book.  I just felt it was something I needed to do because of the unique way her no so typical sales book can help everyone with their typical sales challenges.

You can get her book here…

Let me know your thoughts about her book after you’ve read it here.  I happen to know Leanne regularly reads this blog so don’t be surprised if she responds to you herself right here;-)

“The purpose of your opening statement is to get the listener to listen to the rest of your pitch.”

Tony Cole

How often have you heard or read a similar statement from a sales trainer or sales manager?  It’s both a commonly held belief and a commonly used practice in sales.  I have a different view on the purpose for your opening statement.

You see, when you do or say things your prospects either expect from you because they know you’re a sales person… or they associate with sales people you set off a trigger.  That trigger initiates a conditioned reflex in the prospect.  And typically, that means your prospect automatically responds defensively to you.

In general, people have been conditioned through past experiences to distrust sales people.  Many people think anyone selling anything is simply out for themselves.  They often believe sales people deliberately take advantage of other people.  And unfortunately, there are a few sales people who do take advantage of other people reinforcing this negative view of sales people.

Never Voluntarily Trigger a Conditioned Response

You never want to trigger a conditioned response unless you know that response works to your favor.  For example; MacDonalds knows asking, “Would you like fries with that?” triggers a positive response more often than not so asking the question is a safe bet… and an example of when a trigger works to your advantage.  However, calling a stranger and asking if they have a moment is an unsafe bet because you trigger a negative response.  Why set yourself up for failure before you even have a slim chance for success?

The Mini-Pitch

The first words out of your mouth are nothing more than a mini-pitch.  It’s obvious to the prospect not only from the words you use but also from the way you say those words.  That mini-pitch triggers a negative defensive response.  Prospects don’t want to agree to this pitch even if they like what you’re saying because they definitely don’t want to agree to your big pitch.

Honestly, have you been on the receiving end of a sales pitch?  Sales pitches are boring, agonizing, even insulting.  Contrary to what sales managers and sales trainers want you to believe sales pitches are for losers who can’t sell.  The longer your pitch drags on the lower your odds of actually selling something because your prospects defenses are escalating with every word and gesture.

Connections

The real purpose of your opening words is to gain permission to interrupt the other person.  As I talked about in the last post you have to initiate contact without triggering a conditioned reflex.  You do that by behaving like an ordinary person.

If you fail to do that you end up trying to arm wrestle an alligator.  You enter a game where you really can’t win.  Even if you think you’re winning you aren’t because the prospect isn’t trusting you.

Conversation

Once you gain permission to interrupt the other person by asking for their help the next thing you want to do is confirm there’s a reason to even have a conversation.  If they aren’t already interested and looking for what your stuff does it’s not likely you’re going to have a productive conversation.  Don’t waste their time or yours by trying to have a conversation with someone who has no interest in what you can do for them.

You don’t want your prospect to listen to your pitch.  You want to engage the prospect in a conversation.  Pitches are telling and telling ain’t selling.  The more you talk the quicker you talk yourself out of a sale.

When you engage a prospect in a conversation where they’re doing most of the talking… that’s when you’re really selling.  And the cool thing is the prospect is doing all the work.  They’re telling you exactly what they want, how they want it, and when they want it.

Being ordinary and doing what’s expected in sales means you’re going to do a lot of work for very little reward.  Stop doing what’s expected and learn how to really engage your potential buyers.  That’s when sales gets really easy… and you get tremendous rewards for little effort.

If you’d like to learn more about how to sell without triggering conditioned reflexes you might enjoy reading about the Top Producers Increase Sales Club Coaching Program.

It’s true.  Most of us walk around in a semi-zombie state.  The bulk of our waking hours are spent in a trance.  One day blurs into the next.  You get to work and can’t even recall the drive there.  SCARY!

Sometimes we as entrepreneurs, business owners, and sales professionals can use this natural semi-waking state to our advantage.  John Jantsch gives the example of training the people you want referrals from on how to build a referral network.  However, the natural responses of your prospects can work to your disadvantage too.

photo credit: Naufragio

Ivan Pavlov was the Russian psychologist you first described the conditioned reflex concept.  As you probably recall from elementary school in the process of studying the digestive tract in dogs he discovered that the dogs actually salivated before the food was presented.  In fact, he could trigger salivation simply by ringing a bell.

We’ve all been conditioned to respond to sales and marketing through repeated previous exposure.  That conditioning is not a good thing as far as you’re concerned.  When you follow the “mold”, so to speak, you trigger resistance in the other person.  That resistance comes in the form of defensiveness.

The person you’ve just connected with feels they have to defend themselves against you because they don’t want to be sold.  And your behaviors tell them you are someone who wants to sell them something.  Aka, someone they need to avoid.

The way you conduct the normal sales behaviors:

• your sales pitch
• cold calling
• networking
• emailing
• upselling

All trigger your prospect’s defenses.  Your behaviors are the bell.  Once you ring the bell with your entirely predictive words and actions….

Your prospects automatically click over into their conditioned reflex which is to distance themselves from you and your offer.

Just exactly what you don’t want.

Change Your Behaviors &  Wake Up Your Prospects

The only way to successfully break the pattern of what you don’t want, getting rejected by prospects… and get what you do want… is to alter the way you make contact with your prospects.  Then you have to adapt the way you interact with your prospects once you’ve made contact.  Once you do that you remove their conditioned defensive reflex.  And removing that conditioned reflex makes your job a whole lot easier.

One of the first things you should adapt is the goals you set for each point of contact.  Typically, sales people set goals that can’t possibly be achieved on their own.  Here’s what I mean by that.  Say you call someone of the phone, for example.  You set a goal of getting the other person to agree to hold an appointment with you to talk about buying your stuff.

That’s goal is so wrong it’s utterly horrifying when you understand the concept of conditioned reflex.  The instant a prospect suspects a cold call their conditioned reflex is… to hang up.  No, an appointment is entirely the wrong goal.  The first goal should be gaining permission to speak with the other person.  And I DON’T mean asking if they have a moment because that’s just another bell.

Right now you’re trying to jump across the Grand Canyon with nothing but a wing and a prayer.

Instead, identify each small step and set a goal for each incremental step in your relationship with the other person.

The second thing you must do is…

… you must stop doing and saying what every other sales person out there is doing and saying.  All those cutesy sales phrases are nothing more than the Big Ben of bells triggering exactly what you don’t want.
photo credit: samlavi

 How do you make that shift?

Well, you start by thinking about what you would do or say to a complete stranger you meet on vacation.  When you meet a complete stranger somewhere far from home there is no expectation on your part that you are going to sell them something.  Consequently, it’s much easier to open a connection.  And sometimes much to your surprise you actually end up doing business with that stranger.  Plus you make a new friend.

When you meet a complete stranger on vacation how do you approach them?  Do you walk up and say, “Hi, my name is Bob Jones from Los Angeles and I’m the number one Real Estate agent in the city.  When you need to buy or sell your home I’m the only person you should call.”

Hmmm… I doubt you make too many new friends on vacation if this is your approach.

Or do you say something more like this, “Excuse me, I couldn’t help noticing….”

Or “Excuse me, I’m wondering if you could help me for a moment?”

So why couldn’t you start a connection with a prospect like that?  YOU CAN.  And I highly recommend you do.  Here’s why such a simple concept is so powerful…

You Don’t Trigger Resistance

Yes, when you act like a real person rather than the way a sales person is expected to act you don’t trigger the resistance through defensiveness you normally would.  So rather than starting from a negative position and having to work your way back to neutral you start from neutral.  Then when you continue to act like a real person rather than a sales person it’s very easy to share ideas with the other person, and have that person completely open to your ideas.

When you meet a stranger on vacation you:

• ask their permission to speak with them
• demonstrate genuine interest in the other person
• ask sincere questions
• listen to the answers
• engage in a conversation

What the heck… you naturally do all the things required for a basic sales conversation.  However, you’re doing those things before the sales conversation.  Because you’re doing those things from the beginning of your contact… it’s a lot easier to gain the appointment and increase your sales results.  It’s a natural experience rather than a contrived sales experience.

Wake up your sales results by shaking up your sales behaviors, and STOP acting like just another jerk trying to sell somebody something.  You aren’t a jerk.  You are someone who wants to help other people.  You deserve to sell more and make more friends along the way.  And you can do that by simply behaving in ways that don’t trigger conditioned reflexes.

Once you get this concept and apply it to the way you do business it’s liberating.  You get the sales you want and avoid the rejection you don’t.  Perhaps I’m a little prejudiced, but no one else is helping you understand this and put it into practice.  You can find out more about how this works here… Increase Your Sales following a few simple steps.

Top Sales Experts is an online sales community where 50 experts in all aspects of sales who are recognized…

• Sales Trainers
• Sales Coaches
• Speakers

Have come together to provide a ton of information, advice, and help.

At the click of a button you can access teleseminars, Master Classes, and Roundtables where you get unbelievable help and NO sales pitches.

Plus you’ll find archives of articles, “How to Guides”, and podcasts.

I highly recommend you check this out.

Click on this link to take the VIP Tour now.  As part of your tour you get to experience a Master Class and a Roundtable panel for free.  An awesome opportunity.

So go now and take the VIP Tour and let us know what you thought.

Enjoy the tour…

“If you’re lucky enough to ___________, your future success if pretty much assured”

David Garfinkel calls this the big lie.

How many times have you said something to the effect, “Well, if I had ________ I could sell a ton of stuff too?”  Every time you or someone else start a sentence with, “It must be nice…  If you’re lucky enough…  If I had…” what you’re really doing is you are making excuses for your own poor performance.  You’re giving yourself permission to perform poorly because… you don’t have this so called advantage.

Horse Do-do

One of the great motivational writers Wallace D. Wattles wrote, “You must begin to do what you can where you are, and you must do ALL that you can do where you are.”  It doesn’t matter what you have or don’t have.  It matters what you DO or DON’T do.

Doing is the key.  The degree of success you will ever enjoy is directly proportional to the actions you take.  You have to be ready willing and committed to taking massive action.

In spite of all the hoopla about mental visualization and positive thinking I can guarantee you that you will never achieve great sales success sitting at home in your PJ’s thinking about sales success.  Success is 90% doing and 10% thinking.  Use your thinking time to plan your next actions.  Then take those actions and evaluate your results.

If you don’t get the results you want the simple truth is there is something you must improve, adapt, or alter about those actions.  Repeating the things that don’t work won’t make them work.  Refining the things that don’t work until you discover what does work leads to success.  Plus once you know what works you can achieve consistent success.

The key to results is action.  Decisive action produces even better results.  An undeniable difference between the most successful people and the rest is their response to both failure and success.  In both cases their response is ACTION.

If your actions don’t succeed the successful immediately decide what they’ll do to improve that action and then they take the improved action.  No action is NEVER an option.  No action is never even a consideration.

David Garfinkel is one of the most successful copywriters in the country.  He says, “I’ve never had a problem seeking out the best teachers, coaches, books, and seminars.”  He’s not unique that way.  The truly successful are always eager to learn what they don’t know from others, and improve what they think they know.

The Formula for Monster Sales Success

Coaching + Action = Monster Success

You would think this formula was a big secret.  Yet, every successful person I have ever known personally or read about follows this formula.  I’ve worked with so many coaches I couldn’t even hazard a guess as to the count.  Every time I need to know something I don’t know, or improve on something that isn’t producing the results I want I find a coach to help me with that.

The reason coaching works so well is because you are taking the express lane to getting the knowledge and skills you need.  Rather than trying to figure everything out on your own you get the shortcuts without all the detours and crashes.  Plus there’s another almost hidden value to coaching that most people never realize.

You have blind spots.  What I mean is you can’t see the mistakes you’re making.  You think you’re doing everything according to the book, but you aren’t.  Even when you’re given an exact formula for something you make subtle mistakes that you would never see or figure out on your own.  After repeated failures you’d just decide the action didn’t work when the truth is the action works; however, your interpretation of the action is slightly askew.  And those subtle mistakes cause things to go very wrong.

Once your coach helps you see those blind spots… PRESTO, everything falls into place.  I can’t tell you how many aha moments I’ve had that made all the difference in my results.

A Clear Signal

Whenever things seem overly hard or really frustrating that’s a clear signal you could benefit from coaching.  Pinpoint the action that is causing you grief.  Then ask yourself, “Is this the action that’s causing the problem or is this action a symptom resulting from the real problem?”  You have to get to the root cause of your challenge.

Once you know exactly what’s causing your challenges go out and find a coach to help you with that.  Don’t hesitate to get the help you need to do what you need to do.  If you won’t invest in yourself what will you invest in?  How will you follow the wise words of Wallace D. Wattle and do ALL that you can do where you are?

When you enter a coaching relationship realize this is a two-way commitment.  You must commit to taking advantage of every opportunity to get the most value from the coaching program.  Start right now by taking action to get the monster sales success you deserve.  Identify what you need, then go out and get the help you need to effectively take those actions.  Now go get the monster sales success that’s waiting for you…

I happen to know about a great coaching program you should check out as you do your research;-)  Read more here about a program designed to produce monster sales success

“Marketing tells a story that spreads.  Sales overcomes the natural resistance to say yes.”

Seth Godin

While larger businesses have marketing departments who create your story and package that story in a memorable way many marketing departments do this poorly.  Plus most entrepreneurs, business owners, and sales professionals don’t have a department to create their story.  So you enter the relationship with your prospective buyer facing a full head of resistance steam.

However, it doesn’t have to be that way.  Everyone from the sole business owner to the international conglomerate has a story.  You just haven’t discovered how to tell your story in a succinct memorable way.  But you can…

The Story that Separates You

photo credit: waferboard

Without a great story you’re just another… insurance salesman, chiropractor, equipment manufacturer, etc.  When you connect with a potential buyer they’re thinking, “Yeah, so what?  There are a hundred guys just like you lined up outside my door.  Why should I pay attention to you?”

When that same person could be thinking, “Hey, that’s exactly what I’ve been looking for.  Tell me more about that.”

The story that opens your connection with potential buyers is what makes your offer more inviting and interesting.  This story is what makes you findable to the people most likely to buy your stuff.

photo credit: Collin Grady

Domino’s is just another pizza joint, yet they told a story about delivering fresh hot pizza in 30 minutes or it’s free.

photo credit: David Boyle

Fed Ex is just another delivery company, yet they crafted a story about delivering your package overnight.

You have a story that makes you unique and more valuable than the competition.  You simply need to uncover and tell your story.

The Story that Sells

Your marketing story brings them in.  Your sales story reduces their resistance.  It makes you credible and trust worthy.  It demonstrates your value to the potential buyer.  Bottom line… good stories make your job a whole lot easier.

Elements of a Good Story

A good story is short and powerful.  It can be as short as 1-3 well crafted sentences.  While it’s a lot easier to tell a long story, long stories unless extremely well crafted bore people.  As you develop your short powerful story include these elements:

• Curiosity - Incorporate unexpected things, open a loop with an incomplete thought you have to stick around to finish
• Make it about the people who buy your stuff either explicitly or implicitly
• Keep it logical - Stories have a plot.  Therefore, a person like the people who buy your stuff must have an urgent challenge or problem that is resolved as a result of the actions they took.

Domino’s and Fed Ex condensed their story down into a tagline.  Yours doesn’t have to be that short.  It does need to:

• Speak to the right people
• Share the right message
• Tell your story the right way
• Connect with people at the right time
• Focus on the right reasons people want to act

Craft Your Story

Go ahead and craft your 2 most important stories, the story that separates you and the story that sells.  The story that separates you opens the connection with the other person.  The story that sells extends and solidifies the story that separates you.  Here’s how to craft those stories:

• First, just start telling your story about how you came to be in the business you’re in, and what’s most important or unique about the way you do business or what your stuff does.  Either write it out or make a recording of yourself talking.
• Next make sure your story is specific to the people most likely to buy your stuff, it speaks to something they want now, and helps them see themselves getting what they want.
• Then ruthlessly chop that story down until you have an interesting easy to understand emotionally engaging story.
• Finally,  test your story on real people.

What’s the best story that separates you or sales story you’ve ever heard?  Feel free to share it here.

Until you overcome this fear as Zig Ziglar would put it, you’re nothing more than a professional visitor.  For some entrepreneurs, business owners, and sales professionals this fear is a painful costly fear.  It causes a great deal of stress and duress.  This fear is…

The Fear of Closing

You do a great deal of work to get to this point and then you throw it all away because, in the end, you can’t ask for the business.  Or at least that’s what others would have you believe.

This is a combination of a fear of rejection and a fear of being wrong.  You don’t want to ask for the business and get a “no” aka rejection.  Plus you don’t want to anticipate a “yes” based on your conversation only to discover you were wrong about what the other person was thinking and their buyer readiness.

Setting Yourself Up for “No”

In spite of what you’ve been told you can’t close a potential buyer who isn’t ready to buy.  And when you try to force a potential buyer who isn’t ready to buy to a close it gets real ugly.  Unfortunately, you do things that set yourself up for a “no”.  Things like…

• You try to sell someone who never even agreed to a sales conversation with you.
• You fail to make a good connection with the other person so you’re constantly battling resistance.
• You bore the other person by talking about things they don’t care about.
• You confuse the potential buyer with too many choices and options.
• You offer the wrong solution because you didn’t understand what the potential buyer wants.
• You fail to help the potential buyer discover what they need to know to make a buying decision.
• You don’t help the potential buyer identify a reason to buy now.

Plus sometimes you lack confidence in your stuff.  You aren’t sure your stuff can make good on the promises you make.  Sometimes you even lack confidence in your own ability to do what you say you’ll do.

What You Must do to Get “Yes”

When you fail to close the people who really need your stuff you’re cheating yourself out of income and, more importantly, you’re cheating those people out of getting what they want.  Closing shouldn’t be a shift in gears.  Closing should be a natural conclusion to the sales conversation.  Here’s how you make that happen:

• Only hold sales conversations with people who have expressed a need for what your stuff can do for them.
• Help the prospect tell you what the best solution for them would be like.
• Help the prospect tell you the real value of that solution for them.
• Help the prospect uncover their motivating reason for buying now.
• Find out if they were to make a decision about something like this who else, if anyone, they would want to confer with.

When you make a good connection with a potential buyer and you’re having a good conversation there’s one more thing you can do to make closing a natural event.  That one thing is to actively engage the other person.  You engage buyers when you invite them to:

• write things down
• prioritize concerns
• make small choices

photo credit: fauxto_digit

When you do all these things there’s no guessing.  You know when the other person is ready to buy.  Your new buyer only needs to decide when they want to start and how they want to pay.

Can I Play Too?

When you were a kid remember a time when you saw another group of kids playing.  It looked like they were having fun.  You wanted to have fun too.  So after watching from a far for a while you gathered the courage to approach one of the kids who seemed to have some influence with the group and you asked, “Can I play too?”

photo credit: lownote

This was pretty scary.  You’ve been one of the kids in the group playing when another kid asked to play and they got shot down.  Even if you have never directly experienced this kind of rejection, watching the impact left a powerful fear of rejection in you.

The Fear of Rejection

Yet again the lessons learned in childhood impact us even today.  Anyone engaged in selling must understand rejection and use rejection to their advantage.  We perceive rejection as:

• a negative response
• a refusal
• dismissal
• elimination

Perception v. Reality

However, perception is not reality.  In reality rejection is neither nothing more nor nothing less than a filtration process.  Yes, a filtration process.  Rejection means one of two things:

1. I have NO interest in the offer
2. I have SOME interest in the offer and I have some concerns

Be certain to notice something important here.  Rejection has nothing to do with YOU and everything to do with the offer.  The only person putting you in the rejection picture is YOU because you’re so hung up on yourself you think it has to be about YOU.

It Ain’t About YOU

So let’s look at what rejection really is so you can understand how to use it to your advantage.  Sometimes a potential buyer even tells you, “I have no interest in… (your offer).”  If they aren’t a good fit for your offer then you should be glad.  You really don’t need to waste valuable resources chasing after someone who will never buy your stuff.

When you get told, “I’m not interested” and you get upset realize you’re upset for one of two reasons.  Either you’re just selfish and your only concern is the missed sale, or you’re upset because you know your stuff would really benefit the other person.

I Don’t Believe Your Selfish

So that means you’re upset because your offer got rejected when it’s the right thing for the person rejecting it.  When that’s the case you have every right to be very upset with yourself.  You just cheated that person.  They rejected your offer because:

• You didn’t focus on what they want
• You didn’t effectively tell them what your stuff does
• You set the wrong goal for the encounter

When you miss the mark on any of the above you can anticipate a lot of rejection.  These 3 simple things keep the majority of entrepreneurs, business owners, and sales professionals from the sales success they deserve.  It’s an unfortunate reality.

Reason #2

So what about the second reason you get rejected?  You’ll hear things like:

• I tried that before
• That would never work for someone like me
• That’s out of my league

When you hear things like that you should do a dance for joy.  That’s not a rejection of your offer.  Those are objections.  Objections indicate buyer interest not rejection.

What They’re Really Saying

They aren’t saying, “I tried something like this before and it didn’t work so I’ll never buy anything like that again.”

They are really saying, “That sounds interesting.  I tried something like you’re describing in the past and was disappointed.  How do I know your offer won’t disappoint me too?”

They aren’t rejecting you.  They aren’t rejecting your offer.  They’re telling you that if it weren’t for… whatever they indicated… they would be interested in hearing more about your offer.

Missed Opportunities

This is where almost all sales people BLOW IT.  Most sales people try to eliminate or remove the rejection through rebuttal.  You engage in a verbal battle where you try to tell the other person they’re wrong and give them the reasons why they’re wrong.  You can’t win that conversation.  It’s like the “No I’m not” “Yes you are” arguments you had when you were a kid.  It didn’t work then and it doesn’t work now.

This is where the Top Sales Producers shine.  Rather than picking a fight they’re going to lose the Top Sales Producers would respond something like this… “I can certainly appreciate how maddening it is when something doesn’t do what it’s supposed to do.  Can you tell me a little about what didn’t work?”

Opening Doors

As the other person shares their experience you just opened the door to removing the rejection.  All you have to do is:

• ask questions
• listen
• discover what they’re really looking for

Do you have a story about how you removed a rejection and later gained a client?  Feel free to share it with us.

It’s so nice to be appreciated and recognized for your efforts.  I recently got an email from The Fixer Upper blog letting me know my blog was listed as one of the “Top 100 Blogs to Boost Your Sales Skills”, #75 to be exact.

This was especially nice because the list included such top rated blogs as the Seth Godin blog.

The Increase Sales Coach Blog was listed second in the “Sales Motivation and Coaching Blog” category, whooo hooo!

The Fixer Upper blog went to a lot of trouble creating that list of top blogs in an effort to make more people aware of the great help and information they can get.  How about telling your fellow entrepreneurs, business owners, and sales professionals to check out this blog?

If they like what they see remind them to sign-up for the newsletter and get their $97 Sales and Marketing free gift.  Something nice you can do for someone nice;-)  They’ll thank you and I thank you.