7.40 am Monday morning in Perth after a super hot day yesterday.
We were in clean up mode after daughter Grace’s 21st Saturday night.
All went well. Facebook friends will see some photos there soon.
For those who’ve been waiting, the links to the Selling Coaching, Consulting and B2B BootCamp are at the bottom of this email.
But let’s get down to business.
Lessons from last week.
SEEK AND THEY WILL COME
A number of our clients are in recruiting mode at the moment, including ourselves (for Blue Rocket Franchisees but that is not the point of this piece).
Besides discovering the power of Seek.com, we are also reminding clients of make sure you don’t just recruit skills, you recruit attitude.
Ask in the headline of your ad what you are looking for.
Don’t ask for ‘Production Manager’ ask for ‘Production Manager with Winning Attitude’
Don’t ask for ‘Sales Rep’ ask for ‘Sales Rep with Superstar Attitude’
And if you’re too busy or the job is too important, get someone professional to take on the project for you.
As our recruiting friends remind us, ‘there is way more to recruiting the right person than putting an ad on Seek and doing a few interviews.’
Of course, if you’re in the Mining Industry, you don’t go past our long term star clients, Mining People International http://www.miningpeople.com.au
Lesson: Ask for the attitude you want as well as the skills and experience.. and ‘don’t try to train your way out of a bad recruiting situation.’
HOW TO LOSE GOOD PEOPLE
The reason some clients are recruiting is because some people have left.
In talking to at least some of those who have left we have only reinforced what the research shows us, the Number one reason good people leave jobs is because they do not feel appreciated or valued for the work they are doing.
Read ‘The Carrot Principle’ by Gostick and Elton if you want more info on this.
Their book is based on a 10 year study of 200,000 managers and employees.
Here is just one finding from their research:
‘according to the data, companies that effectively recognize excellence enjoy a Return on Assets more than three times higher than the returns experienced by firms that don’t.’
Lesson: Practice good recognition and reward.. Remember, reward is more than money..
Start with ‘thanks for your day..’ and ‘thanks for your ideas and input in that meeting..’
OBJECTIONS AS BUILDING BLOCKS
Listening to a great Dan Kennedy CD this week and one of his ideas reminded me of something we teach and deliberately practice with our clients.
1. Too many new (and even some of the old) reps don’t know how to handle the objections specific to your company. Take time to know what the top 5 objections are to your product, service or company, then script and practice the answers to those objections
2. Many reps run a mile rather than hear an objection.
Be willing to flush out objections in your sales presentations, then use them as building blocks to close the sale.. that is, don’t run away from, but welcome the objections..
‘let me make a list of all the reasons you can’t go ahead with this decision today…’
To paraphrase what Kennedy reminded me of , ‘even in the best of situations if you have a conversion rate of 70%, you are still going to get NO’s in 30% of cases, and in most cases it might be as high at 80% or 90% no’s, REFUSAL is not REJECTION..’
Don’t take the NO personally, its part of the game. You can learn from it to grow, but don’t let it tear you down.
Lesson: script, drill, practice and grow stronger from Objection Training.
This is especially important for new reps and members of your team.
Build up the objection handling muscle with the Objection Handling Drill.
Finally..
If you’re a coach, consultant, trainer… or you’re thinking of becoming one..
Lock in Feb 20-21 in Sydney for our 2 day
Coaching and Consulting Mastermind weekend..
Register at http://www.consultingmastermind.com/indexa.html
Or go straight to the Consulting Mastermind page http://www.consultingmastermind.com and follow the links.
FREE GIFT FOR SALES MANAGERS AND BUSINESS OWNERS
If you haven’t taken advantage of our Blue Rocket Gift please check it out..
There are free samples of brilliant interviews with business leaders, top coaches and inspiring sales legends..
Some people had trouble a couple of months ago accessing them.. so here is a reminder..
www.freegiftfrombluerocket.com
I was looking at the page yesterday and was reminded what a great package of inspiration and information is in that offer..
Clients are raving each month about what arrives in their mail and how it stimulates and coaches their sales teams for less than the cost of a cup of coffee and biscuit each week.
Give yourself a great NEW YEAR’s present..
www.freegiftfrombluerocket.com
Have a good week.
Leigh Farnell and John Blake
