Please watch the video below, and refer to the list of some ’sales fundamentals’ you should have in place (or be doing on a consisent basis), which is directly below the video.
For those who can’t see or hear the video due to local restrictions, please see the ‘written version’ below the sales fundamentals list. Enjoy!
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List Of 10 Sales Fundamentals You Should Have In Place
1. A written, focused sales plan.
2. A ‘perfect customer’ profile
3. An ‘irritational 25′
4. ‘Blocked out’ new business prospecting time (no distractions and never moved!).
5. A structured, customer focused Opening Statement.
6. A minimum of 20 Sales Questions of at least 5 different types, designed to make the customer think.
7. An individual client referral strategy.
8. A monthly sales meeting (even if you’re a 1-person business, you still need to ‘meet’ with yourself weekly to focus on sales!)
9. A training and development plan for each employee that has a ‘responsibility’ for sales – otherwise how can you expect them to improve?
10. A sales-focused Social Media strategy for driving sales leads through your sales funnel.
If you’re missing any of the above, give me a call on 0845 130 6779, or contact me here and I’ll see how I can help!
The ‘written’ version of the blog is below…..
In this article, leading Sales Expert Andy Preston explains the difference between ‘basics’ and ‘fundamentals’ in sales….and why you need to understand the difference if you want to improve your sales figures right now!…..
I was speaking at an event last week and had decided to do feedback forms, as the majority of the audience hadn’t seen me speak before and I thought it would be useful to see what they thought!
If you’ve worked with me or been to one of my events before, you know I’m not a big fan of feedback forms as people seem to write quite bizarre things on them! I remember a piece of feedback we got from an event years ago that read ‘Great speech Andy! Got loads from it. Feeling really motivated! Food was a little bit spicy though with too many onions’. How funny is that?!!
However because of the amount of people that hadn’t seen me speak before, I decided to do them for this event. The vast majority of them came back very positive, but one in particular got me thinking. It said ‘Good event Andy, but the speech was bit basic for someone of my level’. Now that sort of thing always makes me smile, as the minute a salesperson refers to something as ‘basic’ I get concerned. That usually means that they consider it beneath them (i.e cold calling), or that they already know it and they don’t need to think about it. They’d be wrong! There’s a HUGE difference between ‘basic’ and ‘fundamental’.
Why Salespeople Should Think In Terms Of ‘Fundamentals’
I remember an old sales manager of mine, years ago. He took me to see a speaker that he really enjoyed listening to. The seminar itself was on a Saturday morning, so being a young salesperson at the time, I was already thinking of what else I could be doing, other than being at the seminar with my boss at that moment!
At the first break, my boss turned to me and asked me what I thought. I replied ‘yes, I think he’s quite good, he’s got some interesting things to say, but it’s a little bit ‘basic’.
My boss said ‘Andy, you’re wrong. This isn’t basic. This is fundamental to your success’. His belief was that anyone who called it ‘basic’ thought it was below them, they didn’t need to pay attention to them, and they did it all ‘naturally’, without having to worry about any of it! He said to me ‘Andy, these things are FUNDAMENTAL to your success. Another way of describing them would be CRITICAL. Or ESSENTIAL. These are things that you need to be doing on a DAILY basis to ensure that you get as many sales in as you can. If you want to be successful that is…..’
Learn The Lesson Of ‘Fundamentals’
That ‘lesson’ has always stayed with me. Because I think there’s a HUGE difference between ‘basics’ and ‘fundamentals’. If you dismiss something as ‘basic’, then you’re probably not going to do it, or be concerned about it.
If you think of something as ‘fundamental’, it’s something you’re going to focus on and make sure you do every single day to make sure you’re successful.
So for me, I think we should be thinking of things in terms of being ‘fundamental’ instead of ‘basic’. I’ve made a list of things below that I consider fundamental to the success of a salesperson, or a business owner.
So, take a look at the list below. And look at how many that you currently DON’T have in place. Then give me a call on 0845 130 6779, or contact me here and I’ll see how I can help!
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List Of 10 Sales Fundamentals You Should Have In Place
1. A written, focused sales plan.
2. A ‘perfect customer’ profile
3. An ‘irritational 25′
4. ‘Blocked out’ new business prospecting time (no distractions and never moved!).
5. A structured, customer focused Opening Statement.
6. A minimum of 20 Sales Questions of at least 5 different types, designed to make the customer think.
7. An individual client referral strategy.
8. A monthly sales meeting (even if you’re a 1-person business, you still need to ‘meet’ with yourself weekly to focus on sales!)
9. A training and development plan for each employee that has a ‘responsibility’ for sales – otherwise how can you expect them to improve?
10. A sales-focused Social Media strategy for driving sales leads through your sales funnel.
