jerrydwilson.com

People tend to make things more complicated than they need.  Success is one of those things that tend to be made more complicated than most.  That is what makes success such a hard thing to obtain and even harder to hold onto once achieved.

Here are 3 simple rules that can be applied to everyone in sales no matter if you are the salesperson in front of a customer, the manager trying to lead and inspire or the owner just trying to survive in a tough economy.

Rule # 1 - You Don't Have the Authority to Say "No"

This rule truly does apply to everyone in sales, sales management and ownership.  This rule reminds us that the only person who truly has the authority to say "No" is the prospect.

No matter how crazy the request, demand or offer from the prospect is it is not within the scope of your job description to deny that request, demand or offer.  If you cannot give the approval then find someone who can.

In today's tough business economy it makes no sense to be in front of a buyer who is making an offer to move forward and then deny their request.  Be creative.  Find a way to make it happen and then move forward with the sale.

If you are not authorized to give the approval then find someone who is.  Find the person who can make the decision and then move forward with the sale.

As a sales manager there is not much that will make me lose my composer as fast as hearing that a salesperson lost a sale because they did not bring a feature request, financing option or customer demand to me for approval.  The salesperson does not know all the options.  The salesperson will never know the features being developed or what the company would be willing to develop in order to get new business.  The salesperson will never know what financing options may be available and what a company is willing to do in order to secure new business.

Rule #2 - "I Can't" Does Not Work Here Any Longer

Several years ago I got so tired of hearing my small children say "I can't".  It seemed that they were constantly admitting defeat and settling for less than their best by claiming that they could not do something.  We came to the decision to eliminate the words "I can't" from our family's vocabulary.

We now have not heard those words in over a decade.  We now have young adults who have a very positive outlook on life and have a belief that anything is possible.

Eliminate those 2 words from your life and see what a difference it makes in your mental approach to obstacles in your life.  When problems/issues arise, and they will look for ways to solve these problems instead of admitting defeat.  Instead of saying "I can't" try these words instead:

• I need help...
• I don't understand...
• How would you handle...

Someone a lot wiser than I once said, "Whether you say I can or I can't.  Either way you are right."

Rule #3 - You Can't Fix Stupid

If you properly applied rule #1 and not told the prospect "No" and you have properly applied rule #2 by eliminating "I can't" from your vocabulary and you still lose the sale you must then apply rule #3.

You are not going to get every sale.  In fact, I make the argument that you are better off when some prospects go with your competition.  We have all had those customers who drove us crazy before the sale by having you compete on price alone and would not focus their attention on the value that you bring to the sale.  They ignore your reputation for service, support and quality installations and only want the lowest price.  If you played the price game and became the low-priced option they went with they then became to most demanding customer you have ever had.

How good would it have been if you had driven the price down, eliminated almost all of the profit from the sale and then pulled out to let your competition have them as a customer.  The sale would have tied them up for another 60 -90 days making the customer happy and kept them busy while you sold other prospects.

When they were done with the customer you could probably walk back in and pick up a great reference account against your competition because you know that there was no way that they would be happy with the solution they bought.

In the end, you can't fix stupid and you shouldn't try.  Be willing to walk away from the order when it is in your best interest.  Let your competition win the business that YOU want them to have.