Cottesloe Sunset - the view while I discussed the contents of this post with John on the phone

I was on the phone to John last night on the way back from a meeting in Fremantle.

We were talking about the weeks client coaching and sales training sessions.

John is suffering from a bad bout of the flu (so I was glad he was at the other end of the phone while I was driving past the setting sun at Cottesloe Beach on a lovely West Australian Winter’s clear blue sky  Friday afternoon..)

I was telling John how the previous night in a sales training session with a client I had to make two very important points. Points you might use with yourself or your team at some point.

1. I can either be a SOFT COACH or a HARD COACH.

What are you paying me for?

Do you want me to say ‘oh you poor thing, you didn’t do any of the projects you said you were going to do. But that’s all right. Or do you want me to say, ‘you’re paying us to help you get results.

You can either give yourself and me (and your family) EXCUSES or RESULTS?’

EXCUSES OR RESULTS?

They really are the choices aren’t they?

As the old Irish Proverb goes ‘”You will never plough a field if you only turn it over in your mind.”

Get into action and DO SOMETHING…

Nike put it well with their ‘JUST DO IT…’

‘Sometimes I think he thinketh too much..’

If you want RESULTS you actually have to DO something..

Sitting around THINKING is useful.. but not if you spend more time thinking of EXCUSES rather than making the list of the TOP 3 things you need to DO to move ahead.

(I now have to stop using the words MOVING FORWARD as Julia Guillard has now burnt their use in the Land of Oz vernacular for at least the next few years).

2. DON’T DO THE KNEE JERK PRICE DROP

Another client during the week told me of a client negotiation where he immediately offered a 10% discount just to speed up the deal.

I said ‘Don’t drop you pants at the first sign of a wink..’

(Actually I didn’t say that, but I am trying to make the point. Don’t drop your price at the first sign the customer is interested.)

Actually I said something like ‘what do you think was wrong with that?’

He had to stop and think for a moment.

‘I offered a discount before the client even asked for one..’

‘That’s right…. You just ripped yourself off…’

In 90% of cases, the seller is more concerned and focused on price than the buyer..’

Make it a rule, let the customer ask for a discount.

Don’t you offer a discount UNPROVOKED.

(In most cases they are just trying it on.. they will buy anyway. I tried it on when buying my son a pair of Adidas tracksuit pants in Rebel Sports the other night…The girl at the cash register did the right thing.. She did what I’m about to tell you to do..).

Then, give them reasons why it is good value and restate the price and why it is a great buy today anyway.

50% or more of customers will take your reasons and buy – so you’ve just saved a ton of money there.

The other 50% might need a sweetener.

ADDING A SWEETENER THAT COSTS YOU LITTLE OR NOTHING

We recommend, offering value add rather than price drop. Eg: free home delivery, free installation, free cleaning, free something that doesn’t cost you hard cash.. rather than REAL, HARD CASH IN THE FORM OF A DISCOUNT..

Value build first, then talk price, then talk benefits, then ask the check question..

People buy value.

In fact they buy PERCEIVED VALUE…

They buy how they imagine using that product or service will make them feel..

THE POWER OF ‘IMAGINE’

So use words like ‘imagine …..

‘Imagine what it will be like to drive that car..

‘Imagine sitting in your lounge room listening to that sound system..’

‘Imagine this office furniture in your office. How much better you will feel. How much better you will be able to operate and get things done.. What will that be worth to you?

Now you have got them in a state where they are far more willing to part with their hard earned (or not so hard earned) cash..

VALUE BUILDING is far more profitable than PRICE DROPPING.

A 10% discount might mean a 50% reduction in profit (depending on your margins..)

Don’t just throw away margin. Train your people (and yourself) to Value Build.

Anyway. I’m off to a meeting, but get ready for our latest newsletter. There are some brilliant tips and tools, give aways and rewards in there.

HOW TO WIN AN IPAD

You’ll discover how you can win a free Apple Ipad… so stay tuned.

It's all interesting, but tomorrow we all still need to Sell

It’s election weekend in the land of Oz..

It’s raining outside… but the TV on every channel analyses, reanalyses and competes for who has the best computer generated graphics and who has the oldest, most wise heads on their panels.

Peter Costello is either being happy, smarmy or clever on Channel Nine.. (I can’t tell)

Lisa Wilkinson is still a glamour..

Carl does his best to keep some semblance of control..

But what the hell did Barnaby Joyce do to the National Party?

4 of the Independents who are going to control the Parliament are ex Nationals.. and they all seem to hate him…

A 20 year old wins a Seat and the Greens are calling it all a ‘Greenslide…’

Are we having a ‘Greenslide’ because people are so bored with both the other major parties and at least we’re clear what the Greens actually stand for?

The Greens USP (Unique Selling Proposition) is pretty clear. While the Liberal and Labor USP are about as clear as mud….

Anyway enough of political chatter…

In the meantime, the sales training lesson for us all is, whoever wins, we in business still need to make sales, serve customers and get on whatever the political environment..

Its all really just noise and wallpaper… (but still way better political noise wallpaper than behind an Iron Curtain or somewhere in Africa or the Middle East….don’t get me wrong..)

More importantly.. Sales training and Sales Management lessons from the week in Blue Rocket land..

STAFF REWARDS

I went to a Sales Team Awards dinner here in Perth last night with a client sales team.

It was a ripper..

Fun… great production standards…rewarding achievement and excellence.. and a great job done showing sales staff the company really does hold them up as heroes and really does care about them.

As the CEO said to me, ‘the previous administration were all about share prices and return to shareholders… forget the staff… (even screw the staff.. I’m paraphrasing there..)

The new administration were about investing in staff, investing in training, investing in better processes and being a good corporate citizen. These weren’t just words, these guys really are doing it. And the sales growth and financial growth has followed.

These guys have had a brilliant sales turnaround in the past 12 months. Over 20% growth.. smashing old sale records. Why?

Because they followed the STAND OUT, SELL, SUCCEED principles we at Blue Rocket teach.

‘Use the right process, get the right result’ goes the principle.

‘Don’t focus only on the results… focus on the processes that will get you those results.. and the results will take care of themselves..’

‘Reward the behaviours you want repeated…’

Want great sales achievement… measure and reward it.

Want people to stretch themselves and achieve stretch targets… measure and reward it..

Want great teamwork…. measure reward it…

‘It’s not Rocket Science.. but it is Science..’

You can do exactly the same if you have the courage to make the same decisions this client did.

Reward your staff (and get rid of those who don’t want to play the game….)

BACK FROM EUROPE

The pre game huddle

Just got back from the European expedition early Monday morning.

Besides re-arranging my sleeping patterns..(Why am I waking at 3am and reading my book for an hour before finally getting back to sleep again?), getting back touching base with all our clients.

Once this election over, hopefully the marketplace will get back to normal activity and start buying, selling and investing again…

Wherever we went, I was on the lookout for Sales Champion behaviour..

I have posted some European Sales video lessons on Facebook and will put them on Youtube for you to access..

But here are just some of the lessons and reminders:

1. Being friendly, confident, humorous and human makes ALL the difference. The Orange Zone is where the sale is set up for success. Wait till you see the video footage of Toby from Modefabriken (and Nudie Jeans) in Boras or Jeremy Cowan from the Bang and Olufsen store in Knightsbridge in London.. These guys were masters at rapport combined with positioning (plus their product knowledge and confidence in themselves and their product value) making them real sales champions (without being rude or pushy). They had cracked the million dollar sales code. They lived the core values of STAND OUT, SELL and SUCCEED.
   1. PS: if you want to check out how a retail store uses Blogs and social media check out www.modefabriken.com (and convert the language to English to get the real message..) Nice work Toby and Adam in Boras, Sweden..
   2. Talking of Nudie Jeans, how they add value and create upsells just by adding a simple catalogue/ guide book in the back pocket of every pair of jeans. What if you did the same with your wine, your bedding, your furniture, your car, your computers or product??? Check out www.nudiejeans.com to see how product uses the web to reach their target market. See what you can learn.
   3. Being passionate and confident about your product. Jeremy at Bang and Olufsen was a Master of passion, information and confidence in talking about his product. ‘We are THE VERY BEST in the world..’ he said it with such confidence and passion, no wonder customers part with $20,000 and more for his systems..

Study masters, no matter where they are. Soak up their mindset, their rules, their discipline. Success does leave clues. Plant the same seeds, reap the same harvest.

Anyway.. enough of me..

Look forward to seeing the result of the election..sometime in the next week…

Either way, we will continue to work with Sales teams around Australia and beyond, because it is the Sales teams that really make things happen no matter what Government is in power.

Nothing happens until a sale is made, and the more sales that are made, the more things CAN happen.

Step aside Tony Abbott and Julia Gillard, make way for the army of sales people that actually make things happen in this country. Sales people make the country run.

See you next week… (or see you at our seminar in Perth on Monday night – if you haven’t registered do so NOW at www.bluerocketlive.com )

Catherine and I arrive in Boras for the Championships

In the past 24 hours since we got back from Europe people are kindly asking me ‘How did you go Leigh (in the World Masters Water Polo Competition)?

I can give them the long answer and I can give them the short answer..

In short..

We finished 10^th best in the World… the highest place Australian team there in our age group….

And we played a brilliant game against Calgary to finish the tournament with a 12-6 win..

I scored a couple of goals… helped several others score… and generally, everything we planned… happened.. It really was one of those magical games..

Or I can say….

‘The Russians finished first.. the Americans from Santa Barbara second.. the Spanish came third..

We played both the Russians and the Americans in the rounds.. and were beaten… But we did hold the Yanks close for a while..

The Bench of the Winning Russian Team

Here is a photo of the Russian team..

As you can see.. they were very big.. and most of them were ex-Olympians..

The great news is that we all learnt absolutely HEAPS about playing high standard, intensive water polo.. and we had a great time seeing and experiencing Sweden, Copenhagen, Finland and London ..

(I can’t believe how many blonde people there are in that part of the world..)

I also recorded on video a couple of Sales Champions in various retail and selling scenarios we came across on the way through too..

Will post the video online with lessons for you in the next week or so..

Now to get back into it and work with our clients plus get ready for the New Sales Science Seminar next Monday night in Perth..

Hope to see you there..

Register at www.bluerocketlive.com if you haven’t already..

Otherwise we will be doing a webinar version in the next month or so… plus get ready for us to run one on the East coast early next year.

PS: The next World Championships are in Italy in two years time.. So we all keep in shape for those games now..

Hope this answers the question for you..

For more information just write a comment and I’ll try and answer the question..

As I write to you from my place in Margaret River, it’s Sunday 7pm and both children are asleep…

If you have children you’ll appreciate the significance of that.

Even if you don’t have children yourself…

You’ll no doubt agree that often getting kids to go to bed can be like herding cats – and having them in bed by a certain time takes some planning and execution -  it definitely doesn’t just happen by accident.

Just like if you are experiencing a period of business success at the moment, I would also guess that it’s not happening by accident.

What I mean by that is this…

The days of your business growing on it’s own, without having a well executed, proven sales and marketing plan are OVER

Here’s why I’m saying this…

I have so many recent conversations with dozens of business owners and so many of them are telling me that things are unusually tough in their industry / market / business.

The conversations with the businesses that are going well go something like this…

“we know things are tough out there – and if we weren’t being highly pro active and implementing a well executed sales growth
plan we’d be struggling like everyone else in our industry”

This applies just as much to business owners as it does to solo sales professionals as well.

So let me explain what I mean about the Unfair Sales Advantage…

What I am about to reveal to you is going to sound really simple…

almost Juvenile – but once you get it will have a HUGE impact on your results.

The Unfair Sales Advantage is simply having between 1 – 4 key sales or marketing strategies that work for you that your competitors don’t use.

Because just like an army going into battle, if you have superior strategy on your side – YOU WILL VERY LIKELY WIN.

If you don’t have a battle plan and you’re up against someone who does, you will almost certainly lose.

But here’s what will really blow you away…

You don’t need more product knowledge

You don’t need a better product

You don’t even need a more experienced team (although it helps)

You simply need a couple of well executed strategies and you’ll have the upper hand in your market or industry in no time flat.

Imagine that – all you’re doing is a couple of different approaches to win more business, more often, for more – and suddenly you have the upper hand.

It really can be as simple as that.

We’ve seen it (and helped trigger it) time and time and time again.

So here’s what Leigh and I want to do for you…

We want to share 3 of our most powerful strategies as our gift to you -

Here’s How You Can Learn 3 of our Most Closely Guarded Sales Secrets at NO cost to you whatsoever.

If you are in WA, I STRONGLY URGE you to attend the NEW SALES SCIENCE SEMINAR at the Parmelia Hilton in Perth on Monday the 23rd August 6.30pm – 9.30pm.

http://www.bluerocketlive.com

This is 3 hours of our 3 biggest Unfair Sales Advantages that both our clients and we have implemented to cause HUGE sales breakthroughs in our business.

http://www.bluerocketlive.com

and even better these strategies are WHAT’S WORKING RIGHT NOW.

If you can’t be in Perth (and we have people flying in from the east coast BTW) and you would attend a web version, please leave a
comment at the bottom of this post indicating you are interested and I will run a webinar version of this event.

Have an awesome week.

JB

PS If you would like me to do a webinar version of this event please leave a comment at the bottom of this page.

It’s Sunday Night here in Margaret River..

Shannon and I very bravely ventured out last night into the freezing cold air with our 4 week old son to attend a friends 40th birthday.

Lachie was awesome, it was really loud in there (as you would expect at a 40th), but we just found a protected corner and he slept through the whole thing.

Now THAT wouldn’t have happened with the first one.

I just communicated with Leigh via text message to bring him up to speed with what’s been happening since he left.

He’s having an awesome time in Europe.

At time of writing he’s at an Annie Leiberweitz exhibition in Stockholm.

More power to him I reckon, he’s most certainly earned a break.

Anyway…

So I am at this 40th and I am talking to a friend from waterpolo (he is one of our subscribers so I won’t mention his name) and we were talking about lead generation.

This guy has invested in a great business with a heap of potential and even knows who represents his best potential client.

His question to me was “I’m now ready to grow this business and I know the types of clients I want to deal with but how do I get them as clients?”

This is such a great question and one that we get all the time.

The short answer to this question is “find out who the decision maker is in the companies you want to deal with and contact them”

Easier said than done right?

You see the WAY you contact and approach your potential best client needs to be carefully strategised in order to MAXIMISE your chances of having them come on board as a client.

This is one of the KEY strategies that we implement with our clients in our sales breakthrough programes.

It’s also just one of the EXACT strategies we will be sharing at our New Sales Science Seminar on Monday 23rd August at the Parmelia Hilton Hotel.

http://www.bluerocketlive.com

We sold the last one out and we are running an ad in The West paper TOMORROW, so if you are keen, best hop on over now and register your seat (you can even bring a friend or any of your team along) and it is completely no charge for you to attend.

http://www.bluerocketlive.com

We are even giving a stack of free sales training away if you are one of the first 20 companies to register.

Last time I looked we had 17 people from about 8 different companies.

Look forward to seeing you there.

PS if you are in another state, I would be really interested if you would attend a webinar version of the new sales science seminar.

If you are, please leave a comment on the blog below and if there are enough people I will run one for sure.

It’s Sunday night and I am writing to you from my living room table as my wife Shannon and daughter Mischa watch “Dancing with the Stars”.

This week was a real eye opener.

I had preliminary meetings with 3 businesses with 15 plus sales people who have never done any
structured, on going training or coaching with their sales teams.

Opting only for “product knowledge” training.

WHY SALES PEOPLE CANNOT THRIVE ON PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE ALONE

Now don’t get me wrong I agree that product knowledge is important, but let me give you a real life example of how
too much emphasis on product knowledge to the exclusion of all else can go horribly wrong…

I bought a new vacuum cleaner today from Harvey Norman in Busselton.

Normally, I wouldn’t have made the purchase out of principal because the service was so bad, but today I was on a pretty tight schedule so I put up with it.

So here’s me turning a negative into a positive (almost)

So here’s what happened…

I walk in and immediately have the feeling of being pounced upon by the sales guy.  “Can I help you with anything”

He hasn’t read my personal space requirements and has an impatient “I really couldn’t care less about you I’m just
trying to flog as much as I can today” way about him.

Points for greeting me in the first 30 seconds, sure, but I would have preferred to have the chance to at least walk to the vacuum cleaners first before speaking to him.

After replying that I’m after a new vacuum cleaner, this guy immediately tries to “sell” me a $1000 Dyson vacuum cleaner.

Now couple of points to note here…

Firstly, if I could have seen the value I wouldn’t have a problem buying a $1000 Dyson vacuum cleaner.

Secondly I didn’t buy the cheaper vacuum cleaner out of spite, I simply purchased to the level of value that I perceived.

Thirdly, in principal, starting from the top of the price choice and working down is normally a good thing in retail but not before you have found out what your client wants and only in the context of what would work best for the client (based on their needs).

Here’s what he could have done better…

The only question he asked me about my situation was “how many carpeted areas do you have”.

Sorry buddy – if you want me to spend that kind of money on a vacuum cleaner you’re gonna have to do better than that.

To make matters worse, he established no rapport with me at the front end and therefore planted no seeds for me to return and purchase anything else from them (or him) in the future.

This dude was so “hell bent” on “selling” me a Dyson Vacuum cleaner that I literally had to step over him to look at the vacuum cleaners on display (he was literally trying to stop me looking at them!!).

He even used the old “this is the one that I use at home” line.

Buddy – I hate to be the one to tell you this but… this is 2010 people won’t fall for that BS anymore.

I can think of about 7 key questions he could have asked that would have given him more than enough info to make me an informed recommendation.

Here’s a couple straight off the top of my head…

What vacuum do you have now?
How long have you had it?
Why are you replacing it?
Do you have children?
What percentage of your home is carpeted?
Do you use a vacuum to clean your car?

If he’d done this, he’d have learned enough information to make a great recommendation.

He’d have also positioned himself as an expert – and not a “neck bone” who probably gets some type of extra commission from Dyson for selling their cleaners (unfortunately if they are it backfired on this occasion).

Sadly, this is pretty typical of the type of sales people many of us encounter everyday.

You see if you give sales people product knowledge but don’t give them training on how to insert that knowledge into a sales conversation and sales process, all they will do with your clients is give them the “product spin”.

I would love anyone’s horror story of bad sales experiences – please leave a comment on the Blog at  http://wp.me/prejD-hM and I will put the best ones in the next update.

SO – HERE’S WHAT WE ARE DOING ABOUT IT – and how you can do something about it.

We’re running a New Sales Science Seminar on the 23rd August at the Parmelia Hilton Hotel in Perth City 6.30pm -9.30pm.

If you have a feeling you’re sales system is in dire need of an upgrade please take us up on this offer – it’s a rare opportunity for you to discover for yourself the secrets we normally only share with a
select few clients.

http://www.bluerocketlive.com

We had rave reviews from the last one we ran – in fact moving any further
into the new economy we are experiencing right now without this knowledge
could be likened to sending your troops into battle unarmed.

http://www.bluerocketlive.com

Have a fantastic week.

Regards,

John Blake

It’s Sunday afternoon – cold and raining outside- Winter in Margaret River.

My beautiful wife, 3 week old  son Lachlan and 3 year old
daughter Mischa are all down stairs quietly watching a Disney movie.

Leroy is in Copenhagen, just about to get smashed by massive ex Olympian Yugoslavians and Russians in the world masters water polo championships in Sweden.

He keeps sending me random photo’s he’s taking whilst on tour on his iphone.

So the reins are being passed over to me for the next couple of weeks.

Gillard and Abbott

Normally I don’t like to comment on politics.

Its’ my belief that we are lead to believe that our beloved government has way more control over the
economy than it really does and given way too much credit for the health of an economy.

To me the chief drivers of an economy are entrepreneurs and hard working individuals.

My interest here is purely one from a influence/persuasion standpoint.

You’ve no doubt seen body language experts recently on TV talking about what’s being said through body gestures that’s not being spoken.

My read on these two is that what they are saying as well as what their bodies are saying simply betray a gross lack of preparation.

Both of these people know precisely what questions they are going to be asked, yet if you watch responses from both of them you’ll notice ums arrrs and massive lack of congruence when they reply.

So what can we learn from this?

You already know what objections or questions you are going to get in your
business and your sales role.

You need to not only script the way you will handle all of them but drill the verbal delivery of them.

Only then can you turn what has been scripted into sounding non scripted.

Read that line above again (it’s the missing step from almost every sales system)

Like the SAS say when you ask them what it’s like when they hear “contact!” in battle.

“If it’s exciting you haven’t drilled enough”

In short – Make sure the words, tonality and sincerity are all present in your sales teams approach.

Drill Drill and over drill – full stop

What can we learn from Dr Seuss about sales.

Every night I read to my daughter before she goes to sleep and she’s recently fallen in love with
the old faithful Dr Seuss.

Not only that I really enjoy reading them to her. We can learn heaps about sales from Dr Suess but in particular we can learn heaps from one of her favorites “Green Eggs and Ham.

Now in Green Eggs and Ham “Sam I Am” asks a Grumpy grouch if he would like some green eggs and ham.

Right from the word go the Grumpy Grouch comes straight out and says he doesn’t like “Sam I am” and is rude to him.

“Sam I am” then asks “for the order” 15 times in a row using the following approaches…

1 x Alternate advance close “would you like them here or there?”

1 x Direct command “Eat them, eat them, here they are”

1 x Repeating the objection ” you do not like them so you say, try them try them and you may, try them and you may I say”

12 x straight asks “would you like them with a goat, in a boat, on a train?” etc?

In the end, The Grumpy grouch agrees to try them, really likes them and ends up thanking ‘Sam I am” for giving him the opportunity.

What can we learn from this…

Firstly…and this is a scary statistic

48% of all sales people give up after the first rejection

Here are the stats on when salespeople quit:

* 48% quit after the 1st call
* 24% quit after the 2nd call
* 12% quit after the 3rd call
* 6% quit after the 4th call
* 10% quit after the 5th call

In fact 81 percent of all sales are made after the fourth call, by which time 90 percent of salespeople have quit calling!

Sam I am just kept on asking and in the end he got the sale.

Never underestimate the power of persistence.

Heavy isn’t it.  Which is exactly the rationale behind the sales breakthrough system we teach.  Because what makes a huge difference here is remaining relevant while persisting.

I have personally kept in contact with clients for 2 – 3 years before they have said yes to working with us.  Clients that have been worth up to 200 to 300K with us.

And here’s the thing…

It’s almost never about you, its almost always a matter of right person right time with the right information.

So all you have to do (and this is what we also teach in our sales break
through system) is…

Identify your best client/s
Make a list of 50 – 200 of them if you are in Business to Business sales (or find out where that demographic lives if you are in Business to consumer sales)

Then build a systematic process for regular, relevant follow up.

You will be blown away how much this can make a difference to your average transaction size as well as the quality and quantity of your clients.

Coaching program (take 3)

After 2 false starts on this, in the coming weeks, I am going to simply bite the bullet and run a 4 week online video sales training course. This course will be ridiculously affordable and without giving too much away let me just say you will be blown away with the content.

Stay tuned…and until then have a great week.

Regards,

John Blake

Ebony Snoozing on a Sunday

Sitting here at 7.14 on a Sunday morning…

The dog is snoozing on the other couch in the loungeroom… all is quiet….

Reflecting on the sales lessons of last week I can share with you..

I flew to Sydney last week to work with a team of 25 franchisees for a hygiene, equipment cleaning company.

These guys are on the up and up… but they had some goals, some areas they wanted to take to the next level…

1. LEAD GENERATION

2. SALES CONVERSION

Their story is not so dissimilar to many prospects and clients we come across.

Great product…

Great track record..

Not telling their story using SALES SCIENCE.. Sales Process way too loose..

Not converting interested prospects with SALES SCIENCE.. Sales process in need to capturing and drilling..

Little or no training of the team in SALES SCIENCE strategy and techniques…. New team members in particular need SALES PROCESS Masterminding and drilling..

By the end of the day, they had at least 15 powerful new strategies and techniques to GENERATE MORE HIGH QUALITY LEADS… and CONVERT MORE SALES AT HIGHER AVERAGE DOLLAR TRANSACTIONS AND HIGHER MARGINS… as well as be doing their clients a better, more high value service..

It trully was another SALES BREAKTHROUGH day..

So what’s this got to do with you?

As the great Scott Peck wrote in his best seller ‘The Road Less Travelled”.. (and I will add to and paraphrase..)

“The Truth will set you free… but first it might annoy you..(and make your undies go tighter…challenge your comfort zones… upset your status quo…. ask you to do something different so you get a different result…)

So let’s do a mini audit to see what you might need to do different if you want a different result in your LEAD GENERATION or SALES CONVERSION…

Let’s put your SALES PROCESS under the microscope..

A QUICK SALES BREAKTHROUGH AUDIT

1. How good are you and your people at telling your story? Your companies story? In such a way that it demonstrates the power and value of what you do for clients?

2. How well trained are your people in SALES SCIENCE? Have you trained them in how to develop rapport? Have you trained them in the top 10 questions they should be asking EVERY time they meet with a prospect? Have you trained them in how to handle the top 5 objections people have to investing in your product or service?

3. How well trained are your people in how to actually ASK FOR THE BUSINESS? How good are your people in CLOSING THE SALE?

4. Do you have a documented SALES SYSTEM? Have you actually mapped out the steps your people (and you) should be following to make a sale?

5. Have you trained your people in what to do when someone asks for a DISCOUNT?

6. How often do you get your team together to share best practices and MASTERMIND new strategies to generate more leads and close more sales?

7. Is your quoting/ proposal system following NEW SALES SCIENCE principles or is it more like a Plumber or Carpenters quote?

I won’t go on with more questions…

If you answered any of these questions and your undies went a bit tight..

If you answered them and you realised you have a gap between what you have and what you should have..

IT’S COSTING YOU BIG….. LARGE….. HUGE…. MORE THAN YOU REALISE… AMOUNTS OF MONEY..

That’s money you could be using on more marketing… new products.. more staff…. new office furniture… school fees.. taking your family on a holiday….etc….etc…

Get onto it NOW..

If you have a sales team of 5 or more (and you’re not already a client of Blue Rocket) FreeSalesBreakthroughPack.com and fill out the details to get $637 of FREE Sales Breakthrough Information and Coaching that will get you moving in the right direction.

If you have a boss or business owner or Sales Manager who might have answered the above questions poorly… send them this link or get the pack and give it to them..

Anyway.. the dog is still snoozing..

And I’ve got to keep moving..

PS: Off to Sweden this week to play in the World Masters Water Polo Champs… Over 50′s..

John will do the next few posts…. I’ll stay in touch via Facebook and John… See you when I get back on Aug 16th..

We have another of our New Sales Science Seminars on August 23 in Perth… Make sure you register to come at www.bluerocketlive.com

Leigh farewells eldest daughter Grace about to Fly off to Europe

We had my wife’s sister and her partner over for dinner last night.

My daughter Caitlin and I cooked up the old reliable – spag boll… It was a hit..

As the night went on (besides me and her boyfriend playing guitar and singing to the girls) we put on some old family DVD’s.. photos and videos of our kids and our families over the past 5 or so years..

It was a look back in time..

How the kids had grown up so fast. The holidays we had gone on together. The shopping expeditions the girls had gone on in Melbourne and Sydney.

But I woke up this morning with this thought for both you and me..

THEY WERE ALL MILESTONE MOMENTS..

Moments in time that were all magical moments that have gone.. never to come again… Milestones in our lives..

The time Caitlin and Grace and I swam out to the rock at Twilight Beach at Esperance.

The girls are now 19 and 21… they were probably 12 and 14 at that moment..

The time we all swam at North Sydney pool, just under the Harbour Bridge then went to Luna Park afterwards… magical..

And this week was full of magical, milestone moments..

Blakey Has Baby Boy… Now That’s a Milestone Moment..

Blue Rocket Partner John Blake and wife Shannon had a baby boy – Lachlan.. (see the photos on Facebook)

Went to the footy yesterday to watch our good friends Chris and Sharon Smailes son Luke kick his 100th goal for the season… The whole family were there. Grandparents, nephew, nieces, girlfriends.. the works.. A magical, milestone moment to celebrate and treasure.

There was Friday night when we took our beautiful eldest daughter Grace to the airport as she was flying off on her big trip to Europe. Seeing our two daughters hug each other and cry as they say farewell ‘I’ll miss you sis…’ to each other..

There was Tuesday morning when my water polo team had to hit freezing cold water in 2 degree outside temperature.. We all said ‘we’re going to remember this day for sure…’

And so it goes on…

Life is full of milestone moments. Moments that shape us, define us, build us..

In business, there are milestone moments every day too..

Business Milestones to Celebrate and Learn From

Moments we can both celebrate and learn from to keep increasing sales (even if the market is down…)

In one of our Sales Breakthrough workshops this week, we were drilling the WSIBFU (Why Should I Buy from YOU?) exercise. The lady doing the selling (lets call her Mary) had been in sales for years. She was a long term employee of the business. She was in the process of trial closing then closing the prospect and  said in the real play-role play ‘you don’t have to make a decision today….’ to the prospect.

Her observer-coach in the exercise is a high achieving sales person in the team. She couldnt help herself and jumped in ‘MARY… DON’T SAY THAT…’

Mary said, ‘say what?” (she wasn’t even concious of what she had said)

‘Don’t say ‘you don’t have to make a decision today…’

Mary was puzzled ‘why not?’

‘Because you’ve just spent 20 minutes presenting and closing then you let them off the hook… It means you’ll have to drive all the way back to their office again to get the business…and have to go through the whole process again…’

We explained to Mary the process of Perturbation and how it relates to the process of closing.

Mary and the whole group saw the Science behind the Closing/Making a Decision to Buy process and how the subtle application of ‘heat’ is very important in the closing process.

This was a magic, milestone moment.

Super Closer Milestone to Look Forward to..

We are presently recording and packaging our ‘Super Closer Sales Science Secrets’ programme.

It’s still a few weeks away but if you want to go onto the Early Bird Pre registration list, click here and write ‘Super Closer’ in the subject line and we’ll give you the Early Bird Special offer when its ready.

Mary had never thought about Closing as a Science before. She had a milestone moment that day last week. A moment she will never forget.

What about YOUR Milestone Moments?

But what about other milestone moments in your company you should look back on and learn from or celebrate?

The time you shipped out that record amount of product?

The time you sold the biggest contract you had ever sold?

The time you broke the July sales record?

The time the new sales person shot to the top of the Sales Leader board?

The time you took the whole company to Bali because they broke the Stretch target you had set two years before? (We did this with an insurance broker client EBM – twice…The power of Stretch Targets combined with a team prize/experience. That is the subject of another blog..)

Make a list of the milestone moments in your company sales history… then learn from them.. Celebrate them..

When you celebrate them, you put those positive vibes out into the Universe..

If you believe in Karma.. If you believe in Universal Energy Flow… If you believe that ‘Thougths are Real Forces’ as Napoleon Hill wrote, then Celebration of Milestone Moments means you’ll manifest MORE MILESTONE MOMENTS..

Affirm your milestone moments… and create more of them..

Anyway.. time for me to go..

Let me know what you think..

What milestone moments have you had in your business lately?

Actually.. here is one that came in last week from a client….

Subject line –JUST A HEADS UP

Hi John & Leigh,

I just got your newsletter in the mail today, which prompted me to contact you.

I haven’t run all the figures for all my different supplies yet, but with my main supplier Goliath I have.

At the sales conference at the Menzies last year, you asked us to set a goal, mine was to be up 20%.

Despite all the doom and gloom in the retail world at the moment, my sales were up exactly 20%.

Maybe I should have set a higher figure? Thanks for all your advice, emails and newsletters, will keep pushing for another 20% this year.

All the Best

Andrew Alcorn

NSW Sales Rep.

C  FOUR  INTERNATIONAL

SKATEBOARD & FOOTWEAR SPECIALIST

PO BOX 470, ROZELLE,

NSW 2039

AUSTRALIA

PHONE: 0418 491 045

EMAIL: aha72@bigpond.com.au

That was just another magic, milestone moment..

Aren’t they great?

PS: Remember  if you want to go onto the Super Closer Early Bird Pre registration list, click here and write ‘Super Closer’ in the subject line and we’ll give you the Early Bird Special offer when it’s ready.

When No is Not NO

It’s early Sunday morning…

We went out to dinner last night with our old mates Pumper and Janine and Steve to Subiaco..
A cold night in Perth. We hadn’t booked anywhere but ended up at a nice Italian (my favorite food) restaurant in Hay St.

Had a drink waiting for a table..

Nothing special so far.. (other than I finally get to go to an Italian restaurant)

The maitre de was very friendly.. sat us down, got us our drinks.

‘Can I get you a tasting plate to nibble on something while you have a drink?’ she asked very helpfully..

We said ‘no thanks, we’ll wait for our meal…’

(Plus, in the fantasyland of our heads we think – we are all young athletes and we wanted to look after our figures and not overeat….)

We have our drinks and about 20 minutes later she ushers us to our table..

We continue talking about life, business, the trip to the World Masters Water Polo Champs later this month, our kids, and the last 30 years of playing water polo and spending large chunks of our lives together.

The maitre de comes again and asks ‘can I get you a tasting plate while you wait for your main meals?’

By now, as a Sales Coach, Sales Trainer, Sales Consultant, I can see this maitre de is GOOD..

(At this point I wish I had a video camera to capture this lady in action. I would love to have it to show in our Sales Training, Sales Coaching sessions. Here was a top athlete at work..)

PLAYING THE GAME TO GET TO THE YES (WITHOUT BEING RUDE OR PUSHY)

She is not only friendly, she knows the game…

‘If I ask enough times, at the right times, I’m going to get a YES sooner or later…’

She realised, she was not in the taking orders, serving meals business, she was in the sales business..

She realised the power of SUGGESTIVE SELLING…

She realised, if I ask the right question when they are hungry enough, they will say YES..

She realised ‘you can never step into the same river twice’

(The actual quote from Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus in 540-480BC is “ You can never step into the same river; for new waters are always flowing on to you.”)

She realised, each time she asked us, we were getting hungrier and she was developing a stronger relationship with us.

She was using the R factor Formula – R = F x Q (The strength of the Relationship is a function of the Frequency of Contact times the Quality of the Contact.)

Each time she made contact with us it was always helpful and friendly..

Guess what?

After the THIRD time she asked us……..
We finally said YES….

And the tasting plate was terrific.

Squid, olives, cooked salami, and other bits and pieces we consumed rapidly..

SO WHAT’S THE PURPOSE OF THIS TASTING PLATE TALE?

If you’re asking this question… let me sum up..

1. ASK

2. ASK AGAIN

3. ASK WITH FRIENDLINESS AND HELPFULNESS AS YOUR INTENTION

4. ASK WITHOUT BEING PUSHY, BUT KNOW THAT NO IS NOT NO…. ITS JUST NO AT THIS MOMENT IN TIME

5. The River keeps changing… you keep changing… your client keeps changing… They will get hungrier… you need to ask them the right question at the right time..

6. The hungrier they are, the more likely they are to say YES…. So get them hungry for what you offer.. Remind them of times they were hungry.. Remind them of times they are likely to be hungry..

7. The hungrier they are, the more they will pay for what you are offering…

8. Train yourself, your team to ask the right questions… in the right way… at the right time… and how to handle NO.. how to rebound from NO….

If you want to get some FREE information on how we can help you and your team script, drill and embed these skills with our Blue Rocket Breakthrough Sales Training and Coaching click here and write GETTING PAST NO in the subject line…

We’ll touch base…. ask you some questions.. some of which you will say YES to.. and some of which you will say NO to..

Then some of your NO’s will turn into YES’s…. at the right time.. when you are hungry enough…

See you then…

PS: If you haven’t listened to this months CD of the month interview with John and Glenn Twiddle on ‘Hypnotic Selling..’ you really must get a copy..

Go to Free Gift from Blue Rocket (click here) and we will bonus gift you all 10 CD’s in our Free Gift Pack PLUS this months interview..(which was so good, it ended up 2 CD’s not the usual one CD..)

So as a special gift… you’ll end up with 12 CD’s valued at over $697 absolutely FREE (you just pay shipping costs..)

PPS: Had a great coaching session with one of our clients on ‘PITCHING Your Sales Pitch’. This was a media advertising client… Even people who had been in the game 15 and 20 years were getting new insights into how to better pitch their business better than they ever have..

A real Sales Breakthrough Coaching session.. We are making some Sales Breakthrough Coaching videos and CD’s especially for the Media Advertising business at the moment. If you want copies click here and we’ll put you on the pre-registration list and give you a super special pre release price…