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Whatever we do, whenever we interact with the world, we do so
through our attitude, behavior and technique.
As managers, we must get to know our salespeople well enough to
be conscious of how these three dimensions may appear to
prospects and how they may affect the sales efforts of our
salespeople. And that's not always easy. After all, when we
attempt to understand any of these traits, we quickly move into
the realm of psychology or the social sciences. But there's
nothing to fear if we keep it simple.
ATTITUDE: What we ponder, and what we think about,
sets the course of our life ... At this very moment how do you
feel about yourself, your company, and your product? Do you have
a deep sense of self-appreciation? Are your beliefs setting you
up for victory or defeat? What is your current level of
confidence and motivation? People will only perform in a manner
that is consistent with how they see themselves conceptually
Attitude often can be controlled and directed. But that requires
people to explore the roots of their attitudes, and then take
positive steps to banish negative feelings by focusing on the
positive. As managers, you must encourage the spread of the
positive roots, and "root out" all the sources of negativity. A
positive attitude moves us toward positive behaviors and
positive results. A negative attitude does the opposite.
BEHAVIOR:
Do you have a reason to stretch and are you stretching to reach
it? How well do you use your time? Do you have a plan in which
you have conviction? Are you willing to do the daily activities
required to execute your plan?
Behavior, too, is affected by many influences. Some influences
can be controlled, while others cannot. But we can't know what
influences are controllable until we attempt to master our fate
and consciously guide our behavior.
Encourage your salespeople to repeat positive behavior until it
becomes habit. Help your salespeople determine who they want to
be, then encourage them to play the role until they become it.
That's not masquerading; that's personal growth!
TECHNIQUE: When you are in front of a prospect, how
effective are you? Are you leading the buyer-seller dance, or is
your prospect? Are you developing strong up-front contracts
every step of the way? Are you finding out what's really going
on or are you settling for smoke and intellectual nonsense?
Technique stems from conscious striving combined with
unconscious impulses. But technique can be mastered even more
easily than behavior, through training, observation, practice
and mentoring. The sky's the limit with technique.
Technique can compensate for poor attitude and poor behaviors,
but only to a very minor degree. A bad attitude and inconsistent
behavior will torpedo even the most polished technique. All
three aspects of our professional tool kit must work together
for us to be complete and successful as sales professionals.
If we focus on attaining a positive set of attitudes,
repeatable, systematic behavior and consistent, professional
technique then, over time, we can ensure success.
© Sandler Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
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