Studying top performers and successful people provides fascinating insight into what makes them tick.

One common characteristic of the most successful is Initiative. I define Initiative as the proactive and personal energy we use/exhibit each day.  

I guess I’m not alone. This morning, I first found this great quote:

“Their comes a moment when you have to stop revving up the car and shove it into gear.”

by David Mahoney

And then saw this post about how many of the CEOs and Leaders share a common habit of starting their day early – often a sign of Initiative.

What is your routine? Have you build the personal habit or routine of making the most of your minutes? Whether you stretch your day to a full 18 hours or not, each minute , when tackled with initiative is productive.

p.s. I’m not suggesting you need to be a workaholic, initiative in your personal activities gets you more fun too!

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Sweaty palms.

Rapid breathing.

Nervous chatter.

Uncertainty.

No, I’m not writing a romance novel. I’m recalling what it feels like to do something ‘new’.

Last week, our youngest child, Jenna, got her learning permit for driving a vehicle.  As I sat in the passenger seat with her at the wheel the first few times, I observed the behaviors listed above. As Jenna kept apologizing for her mistakes and I observed her focusing SO hard on what she was doing, it brought back memories of a younger me.

When I started in sales, EVERY sales call was like that. I was nervous, jittery, unpolished and I made mistakes!  I didn’t want to do those things, but I did. I wanted to be like the successful professionals I observed right away. It was frustrating to not do something well right away.

Looking back now, I realize that this was a stage I needed to go through. To become proficient -and then excel, I had to build my success habits.  I had to work through the stages to build these habits.

Awareness - I needed to know what to do – what worked and what didn’t.

Assessment - the opportunity and openness to critique and feedback on how well I was doing each part of sales.

Application - action! I couldn’t get better at selling if I wasn’t selling. Sitting in my office and not picking up the phone or making calls was holding me back.

Adoption - Learning what worked or didn’t and making the right actions part of my subconscious activities. making them a part of who i was – or better yet adapting the best practices in a way that let me be a ‘better’ me.

In our state of Wisconsin, Jenna has six months to perfect her driving skills and earn the right to drive without me (or her Dad) observing and correcting and monitoring.

In sales, my observation is that the BEST and top performers are on a continuous loop of improvement. they continually move through the four actions of awareness, assessment, application and adoption.

In our training workshops, the top performers do not generally sit back with their arms crossed and ignore the tools, ideas and opportunity to learn from others. They are actively engaged and look for ANYTHING that they can do better. This is how they perform best each year, why the economic conditions don’t impact them as much and is who they are in and outside of work.

What about you? Remember being new and striving to get better?  How it felt when you became proficient and successful?

If you haven’t felt nervous, had sweaty palms or been uncertain about your actions lately, maybe you are in a rut and need to bring the ‘newness’ back to your career again. Try something new, contact someone you know you should or dreamed you should, and stretch your possibilities and opportunities.

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Ready for more reading recommendations that will help YOU sell more this week, month and year?

Below is the second part of the Sales Summer Reading list.

To make it easy for you to access the entire list of GREAT reads in an easy-to-access format, click here for the pdf copy, compliments of yours truly, Nancy Bleeke.

 50 Days to Build Your Sales- Book of Tips and Inspirations plus accompanying Workbook, by Lori Richardson. The book is a great gift for someone new in sales, or in a sales slump – to get a daily sales inspiration, then a sales tip to take action. Combine with the workbook, and you have “sales education in a bundle”. It makes for a great read because it is simple – even the type is big – and the tips are tried and true to grow revenues.

 
Building Inside Sales: Framing a Best Practice Group, by Trish Bertuzzi. Whether you have an Inside Sales team or are thinking about building one, this ebook will provide you with the framework you need to launch and sustain a successful program.

Bust Your Slump: A Dozen Slump Busting Strategies to Fill Your Pipeline in 30 Days, by Paul McCord. Need more business?  You’ll find a dozen effective, proven stategies to help you generate a large amount of business fast.  Whether you sell B2B or B2C, have a fast or long-term sales cycle, sell a commodity or highly sophisticated product, you’ll find strategies to meet your market and your sales process.  Pick the one or two that fits best and get busy getting your pipeline filled NOW!

   Creating  a Million Dollar a Year Sales Income: Sales Success through Client Referrals, by Paul McCord. No, the book doesn’t promise you that you’ll make a million dollars a year, but it presents a high impact process based on the steps used by 4 dozen sellers from various industires to make their million dollar a year plus incomes—and  you  can turn yourself into a referral-based salesperson just like they did.  Hey, you just might make a million bucks too!

From Bud to Boss: Secrets to a Remarkable Transition to Successful Leadership by Kevin Eikenberry and Guy Harris. From Bud to Boss is an excellent read for anyone who wants to increase their effectiveness as a leader. Whether you have been on the job for years or you are just starting out, this book will offer you practical, applicable advice.

Growing Great Sales Teams: Lessons from the Cornfield, by Colleen Stanley. Finally, a sales management book that has real world application.  This is a must read for any sales manager that is committed to building a sales culture of excellence, integrity and results.

In Women We Trust, by Mary Clare Hunt. In Women We Trust cuts to the bullet-points of how women engage with each other and what business can do to have the same engagement levels.  While primarily a workbook for the B2C crowd, its 90 trust points can help any sales team internalize the female culture and learn how to work with women as peers first, not targets. Time to read — one day at the beach, or 2 airport layovers.

Metaphorically Selling, by Anne Miller. If you have to get things done through influence or persuasion–and who doesn’t?–then Metaphorically Selling is written for you. Learn how to cut through information overload and grab attention, open minds, close deals, or wow a crowd with the magic of metaphors. Fun to read, Easy to apply.  Speeds up sales.

No More Cold Calling™: The Breakthrough System That Will Leave Your Competition in the Dust, by Joanne S. Black. Why read? Get the meeting at the level that counts and convert more than 50 percent of your contacts into clients. Learn the referral-sales process that seals the deal every time.

Rainmaking Conversations: Influence, Persuade, and Sell in any Situationby John Doerr and Mike Schultz. Summer is a great time to catch up on your reading and sharpen your selling skills and there’s no better book to help you do that than the Wall Street Journal bestseller, Rainmaking Conversations. In this book, Mike Schultz and John Doerr provide a proven system that will help you master the art of the sales conversation so you can close more deals, bring in more revenue, and be more successful in 2011 and beyond.

Sales 2.0, by Anneke Seley and Brent Holoway. This summer, while you’re body’s relaxing, take your mind on an adventure into the changing world of sales, with authors Anneke Seley and Brent Holloway.  Ride along as they demystify the world of Sales 2.0 – a better way of selling for today’s savvy buyers and sellers – and showcase four industry-leading companies who are using these practices to great success and profit!

 Selling to Big Companies by Jill Konrath. Want to land bigger accounts as your customers? Then check out this book. It gives you a step-by-step guide on how to what you need to do to get your foot in the door. Fortune selected it as one of 8 must reads for salespeople – and it deserves the award. Top 20 on Amazon since 2006.

The Sales Winner’s Handbook: Essential Scripts & Strategies to Skyrocket Sales Performance, by Wendy Weiss. Insider, business-by-phone secrets to get the appointment, sail through objections, and get the sale… Scripts for what to say in every situation so you get what you ask for.

What a list for you to select from!  Click here for the comprehensive pdf with all the titles and information to easily click through to your selections. 

Fill your mind..as you rest your body this summer. 

Want to reference this list and the pdf in your blog or newsletter?  Go ahead – but make sure you include the full copy below:

The 2011 Summer Reading list is provided compliments of Nancy Bleeke, Sales Pro Insider, Inc. www.salesproinsider.com 414.235.3064. Nancy’s training courses can help you and your team build confidence and competence to make every conversation matter to increase sales, reduce turnover and strengthen customer loyalty.

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Want to be invaluable to your customers?  Decrease their dependency on you by providing helpful information.

This idea is really not as ‘duh’ as you might think! In fact it could be a brilliant strategy depending on the type of business you are in.

An example for you to consider:  This morning I was having yet another computer issue and my IT Tech guy – Tom Karakis of Alpha Geeks - once again fixed it -but also helped me understand what happened and what I could do to resolve it next time or prevent it. As I was explaining the information Tom shared,  I mentioned this to my team and then had the AHA!  He always does that.

As he helps me understand something of how he fixed something, he isn’t decreasing my dependency on him. He is saving himself redundant service time AND keeping me loyal and coming back for more.

How can you do that in your business? How can you educate your buyers/customers so that there is even more value to the product, service or solution that you offer?  A few tips:

• Track the questions that you are asked by your customers and your prospects during the sales process
• Reviewing the information you track, look for similarities
• Identify how you can share that information proactively or just-in-time – this is when social media and the drip marketing approach is effective. You stay in touch as you share useful information!
• Track the reactions and information that seems most valuable to allow you to know what information to keep sharing

It may seem a little ‘fussy’ for many sales professionals…but think of the pay offs!  More referrals, expanded sales with your existing customers and a reason to stay in touch with prospects!  You become invaluable as you provide value-filled information.

What other ideas do you have for making yourself invaluable with information?

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How efficient are you? Do you ever wish there was MORE of you? Or more time in your day?  Well, that’s what tools are for. To help us maximize our time and add efficiency to our efforts.

This post is all about tools.  Why?  I was asked to judge a contest for Top Sales World this past week which put me deep into trying, researching and evaluating what tools are available.  What’s this mean to you? One place to stop and see all the helpful tools, information and resources that can help you and your team SELL MORE next year (or tomorrow).

Jonathan Farrington and team put together global sales experts to narrow down the HUGE list of sales resources to pick the best.As part of the judging panel for 2010 Top Sales Tool, I researched and tried the top 10 tools noted on the site.  I found many of them quite interesting…and more importantly valuable!  Now, I don’t want to give my top picks because the actual awards are tomorrow, December 16th – go here to register for the free webinar.  

What I offer you today are links to check out these 10 tools for yourself. There are tools for adding audio to emails, CRM efficiency, converting leads and more. 

• Active Conversion - convert your leads quicker and more effectively
• Time Trade - on-line appointment scheduling
• Revegy - Revenue optimization enablement software
• Gold Mail - add audio easily to emails – free version!
• Whiteboard Selling - whiteboard and solution WITH your prospects
• Politemail - Outlook email marketing and metrics monitoring
• Marketsync - prospecting tool connected to salesforce.com
• Proposable - web-based proposal generation
• EchoSign - sign documents easily and efficiently, while saving the planet
• SalesCallPlanner - preparation connected to your CRM – training along the way

And one really great FREE tool that is not in this list is the Quick121 Presenter. This will get its own post very soon – at Sales Pro Insider we have been using this tool for months and watching it evolve…more to come on this!

And if you like tools, Nancy Nardin’s site and blog at Smart Selling Tools is ALWAYS full of current and helpful tools – that are great value for the benefits!

Your skills and expertise in selling are valuable…and using great tool to be more efficient and effective is just smart.  Looking and trying these tools – many have free versions, should be on your To do list as you begin 2011.

Sales Managers – if you need an easy and quick tool to equip, engage  and energize your sales team – we have Sharpenz ready-to-go sales training kits for you. These kits provide all you need for a 30 minute sales BOOST of productivity and energy. You can download 2 free – and there is a year-end discount for the library as well. 

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Today is World Pasta Day.  I’m not kidding – its a day “to draw the attention of the media and consumers to pasta. Communication should underline the fact that pasta is a global food, consumed in all five continents” according to many culinary websites.

What made me smile is that I just shared a similar thought with some participants a few weeks ago – it was an international group and we were discussing food. I had an ‘aha’ about noodles being in most every ethnic diet. 

When I saw this prolamation about World Pasta Day, two actions came to mind: 

1. The Bleeke family needs to eat pasta today.  I think gnocchi is our choice.
2. Its the perfect time to repost a popular post about a lesson I learned from making pasta! 

Mangia!

Preparation, Purpose, Persistence and Pasta

Long-term success involves preparation, purpose and persistence.  (This shared by Judy Murrah from Motorola.)  And I’d like to add a fourth “p” – pasta!

It’s no secret I am of Italian heritage, and my good friends – NONE of whom are Italian – missed out on my relatives’ great cooking.  So, on a REALLY rainy Saturday, I had a purpose.  To introduce friends (and my children of course) to some home-made pasta!  And they got to be part of the pasta making!

I prepared all the ingredients and tools (I thought) to make ravioli and pasta noodles.  Even though I haven’t made ravioli in over 6 years and pasta in more than 18,  (Without my Mom it wasn’t fun.)  I was pretty excited to show them the process.

I’ve had friends  help with pasta making before.  They have fun, we enjoy a great dinner afterward and then they let me know that they will NEVER help again.  Why?  It is very messy,  time consuming and there are a lot of details that make or break the finished outcome.  (Sound like  some of your work days?)

The pasta making process started with my children. Though they grumbled, they did well filling, cutting and forking the raviolis.  Then Kayla and Kara came and we moved to the pasta noodles.  Remember I said that I haven’t made pasta in over 18 years?  Well, rolling the dough and cutting it into pasta (love my manual Altea pasta machine) was good.  Where we got stuck was how exactly to lay the pasta out to dry.  This is where the persistence came in.

I know Mom had a way of wrapping it in to a nest on a floured surface so it dried nicely.  After 20 minutes it was obvious that wasn’t working for us, and we were going to end up with a big blob of dough stuck together.  Not to be deterred, three relatively intelligent women got their brains going and devised a drying rack – using hangers, wire, tape, etc.  I kept saying “I just can’t remember how she did this, but I know that she didn’t hang it!”

We ended up drying the spaghetti noodles draped over hangers positioned from the light fixture (see actual picture).  And it did work!  We then enjoyed a fabulous dinner (after hours of clean up) to savor our hard labor. 

What is the sales lesson in all this?  Persistence!  We dug into a tedious process for the reward of great food. We had to troubleshoot when barriers got in our way and we used team power to make it all work.

In your sales, do you stick with it through the objections, through the  bad appointments, unqualified leads, and technical issues to make it to the close?  It takes persistence to stay in there for the long haul.  It takes planning to eliminate as many obstacles as you can, and a clear sense of purpose of why you are doing this! (your solution, the value you bring or for winning).  And some great pasta along the way never hurts either!

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Earlier this week I read an article by Jill Konrath, sales expert and author (see more on Jill at the end of this post), about the REAL decision making process of buyers.  I just hung up the phone and experienced this – as the buyer! 

The call was from someone referred to me. I didn’t have the time (vacation awaits), and yet before hanging up, I asked HIM a question that ‘connected’ us.  As I hung up, I thought “I bet he thinks he is ‘in’ – just like Jill wrote about in her article!”  So, I share the article with you so you can see what I am talking about and more importantly, so that you don’t go too far in your sales call. Finding the right distance will get you to the finish line faster! 

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Are You Going Too Far on Sales Calls?
By Jill Konrath

Call me a prude if you will, but I’ve had it with sellers who are totally clueless that they’re going too far, too fast in their initial meeting with me. The worst thing is, they have no idea how their actions are perceived.

Could you possibly be guilty of this promiscuous behavior? If so, do you have any idea what it’s doing to your reputation?

The Fantasy

Let’s say I’m your ideal prospect. You call me up, catch me on the phone, deliver a message that piques my curiosity and I agree to meet.

Sounds like the perfect scenario, right? If you’re like most sellers, you’re probably pretty excited about our upcoming meeting. After all, I’m one hot prospect who’s interested in what you’ve got.

So what happens when we finally get together? Initially you focus on building a relationship with me. You thank me for agreeing to meet. We chitchat for a few minutes about little things. Then you ask me about my company to get me talking about business.

After you’ve warmed me up, it’s time to get serious. Since I agreed to meet, clearly I want to learn about your company and offering, so an overview comes next. You want to make sure I understand all the salient details about your organization, its history and more.

Then it’s time for a few questions. Perhaps you start by assessing if I’m a qualified buyer with money in my budget. Or, you might focus on my very specific needs so you can determine the appropriate solution.

Following that, you present information on the products or services you think I’d be most interested in. When I start asking questions, you get more excited. We’re connecting, bonding, getting closer to consummating the business relationship.

The Reality

But the truth is, you are dead wrong! You’ve totally misjudged my interest level and thus, lost the opportunity to do business with me.

Why? You don’t understand how I (your prospect) think. You assumed that my interest meant one thing, when it fact it signifies something entirely different.

In SNAP Selling (coming in May), I’ve structured the whole book around the three primary decisions your prospects make:

First Decision: Allow Access
When you approach a prospect with an enticing message, they’ll agree to meet-perhaps by phone, web conference or in person. They’re willing to invest a small bit of time with you. You’ve moved them from being oblivious about your existence to curious.

Second Decision: Initiate Change
In the second decision, your prospect evaluates if it’s worth it to change from the status quo. They’d prefer not to because it takes a lot of extra time and effort. But, if they can see that all the hassle and pain leads to a better outcome, they’ll do it.

Third Decision: Select Resources
Once your prospect decides that change is worthwhile, then they want to learn about your product or service. Understanding your differentiators becomes important to them. Even the risk of doing business with you is considered. At the end of this decision, they pick the option they determine is best for them.

Understanding the difference between these three decisions is imperative to your sales success. At each stage of the process, your sales behaviors must change if you want to keep advancing your relationship. Failure to get it right means you get dumped.

So Here’s the Deal

Over 90% of the people you meet with are in the Second Decision phase. They’re trying to determine if they want to change.

But there you are, trying to seduce them with all the cool things about your product, service or solution. That’s Third Decision behavior. It’s way too much information about your offering much too quickly. And, it’s coming at a time when the focus should be on helping your prospect assess the ROI for moving off the status quo

When you prematurely elaborate, you set up a lose/lose situation. Prospects don’t want to have anything more to do with you, even if you could have made a difference to their business. From their perspective, you’re only concern is making a quick sale. While that wasn’t your intent, that is how you’re perceived.

Anytime you meet with new prospects, first find out if they’ve already decided to change. If not, don’t talk for more than a few minutes about your offering or company.

Instead say, “While many of our customers have realized significant value from changing, what we really need to do is determine if it makes sense for you.” Then, be prepared to ask questions that lead to that outcome.

Don’t sabotage your chances of sales success by trying to move too quickly. Slow down. Way down. Ensure your prospect has made the Second Decision, before you jump into Third Decision behaviors – or suffer the consequences. You can’t rush a relationship!

Thanks Jill for a very timely message – I personally CAN’T wait to get my hands on your SNAP Selling book!

More on Jill:  Jill Konrath, author of Selling to Big Companies and SNAP Selling, helps sellers crack into corporate accounts, shorten sales cycles and win big contracts. She is a frequent speaker at annual sales meetings and association events.

For more articles like this, visit http://www.SellingtoBigCompanies.com . Get a free Sales Call Planning Guide ($19.95 value) when you sign up for the Selling to Big Companies e-newsletter. 

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My mom told us often, “A little appreciation goes a long way.”  How true that is!  And many people think it takes a LOT of  money and fanfare to show appreciation.  Not true! 

 Leaders, does this sound like you?

“This year has been tight, I have no budget to do the ‘extras’ to show my people I value them.”

Throughout 2009 I have had discussions with leaders thinking the same thing. I have encouraged and suggested that they find non-cash ways to appreciate and recognize their top performers. We discussed hand written notes, a small gift card for no reason, a lunch, a phone call to discuss them, not business, etc. 

Now, along comes the PERFECT way to show appreciation! Nominate your top performers to be a Sales All Star!!

AllBusiness.com has a monthly contest that you can use to publicly acknowledge your sales all stars. Details here:   

AllBusiness will honor the top-performing salespeople working hard in today’s competitive market. Just tell them about a salesperson in your network who deserves the limelight.

The panel of sales coaches and experts will select one salesperson each monthfrom among the nominees. That person will be profiled in a feature article for AllBusiness and our sister site, Hoover’s, and will receive free membership in a sales networking and coaching program. One annual winner will get a package of sales training and coaching programs, membership in Top Sales Experts, and additional tools and resources to continue developing their expertise and talent.

Think about it – how will they feel to know you nominated the for an international award?  GREAT! 

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Boost Sales NEXT Week!

It’s amazing what a focused 30 minutes of sharpening sales qualities can do.  Energy, enthusiasm and activity levels increase and the whole team is ready to sell more!

Sales managers asked and we listened.  They wanted something quick and easy to use to build their sales team.  Sharpenz…  Half  Hour of Power, 30 minute sales training boosters were developed to save everyone time and increase sales!

We’re honored that Smart Selling Tools has named Sharpenz their Hot Pick for November!    

You can read the announcement here.      

 Just this week dozens of managers have taken us up on the Try Before You Buy offer.  And then after seeing the ready-to-go sales training kit with copy-ready  handout, word for word outlines, reinforcement tips and more – they took advantage of the 50% off launch offer!  We are so excited to see that others see the value and that sales people around the world will sell more next week because of it!

Visit www.sharpenz.comfor more information – and you can watch a short (less than 2.5 minutes) video where I explain  Sharpenz in a nutshell!

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        Speaking of honors - Top 10 Sales Articles has selected Sales Meetings that Engage: Please Include Me as a nominee for the November article of the month.   

Click here to see all 10 nominees.  If you would, I’d appreciate it if you would vote for my article!    

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   Another FREE ebook filled with TONS of useful sales tips and tools from Top Sales Experts.             

It’s the Fall Edition and it is ready for you.  Click on the graphic to get your copy. 

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