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HTSS140 - Empathy in sales can help you close deals - Scott Sylvan Bell

Empathy is an effective tool in sales. You can still close deals without the ability to show empathy to your potential client and or buyer. If you didn't know empathy is “the ability to understand and share the feelings of another person”

Some of your feel for empathy comes from your gut reaction, the conversation, and the body language you use while you communicate. There is a cold feel to people who just don't get what others are going through. You can have compassion and appreciation for what others have gone through especially if you have lived through the same situation or something similar.

Your vocal pitch, tone and reaction to the conversation matters to the people you meet with. As you go through life you get to have more empathy for others. You may have good empathy naturally, from experiences or from going through weird situations. The more strange situaitons you go through the better off you are

It's hard to have empathy and be needy at the same time. Your emotional state matters. There is a problem with “me also” or “me too” – especially when you are not closing deals, you can have a mismatch.

You have a “feel” when you only care about the money and are not responsive to the conversation. Sales really does come down to caring about the outcome and doing the right thing for your buyer.

Get used to talking to people and watch for people and their reactions. You can leave spaces and time for conversations (let people be uncomfortable). Know you have biases and it can stop you from feeling and understanding what others are going through. 

Use your body language to communicate with others. You can use head nods, smiles, the core of your body, how you sit, and how you respond to the conversation. 

Learn how to feel what others are going through and you may be able to have more empathy for others. 

 

Be willing to see the other side of what people are going through

HTSS139 - Outrageous goals and achievements are your responsibility - Scott Sylvan Bell

Some of the goals you chase after in life are larger than others. While some of the wins you are after are short-term others can take months, years or decades to hit. 

You may feel all alone as you go through your trials and problems. It may seem like nobody else will ever understand. 

If you are looking for some momentum when it comes to finding success with your goal keep going. 

What you dont know is there are people around you silently cheering you on. These individuals appreciate the work and the effort you have put in, you just will not hear from them until you achieve the goal. 

Here are a few things to think about when it comes to goal setting in sales and life. 

1. Most goals are abandoned due to inactivity 

2. Some people who call you their friend will talk you out of your goal in the first few months 

3. You will be made fun of 

4. Time will seem to slip away 

5. When you dont take the gaol seriously and look back you will have regrets. 

6. You can be successful at your goal you must focus

7. You will need to upgrade the friends and co-workers you associate with 

8. Not all of the time do you get to divulge the details of your accomplishment 

9. The feeling you have after the goal accomplishment lasts for a few moments or hours 

10. You have to replace your sales goals and life goals with new ones once you get to where you want to be. 

Success in sales and life is not guaranteed. You have to work at everything. Setting goals and hitting them are your responsibility. 

HTSS138 - Desperation is a stinky cologne in sales and business - Scott Sylvan Bell

HTSS137 - Desperation in sales and business 

One of the greatest lines in movies that have to do with sales is "Desperation is a stinky cologne". Chief Grady said this line in Super Troopers. It really doesn't matter if it is sales or your personal life where you are desperate, other people know it and feel it.   

If you are desperate in sales and or business you will say and do things you wouldn’t if you had a pipeline. Its important to understand where you are at. Desperation is a tough place to sell from as you look weak and or you can be taken advantage of. You do have to clear your mind before you meet with your client or potential client. 

The Stay PufT Marshmallow Man Rule applies to almost every salesperson.  Whatever objection you think you will get in sales is the one you will get from your buyer.  The reason for this is you talk around your objection to the person or the people you are meeting with. 

Supplicant behavior

Oren Klaff talked about supplicant behavior and how salespeople fall for Beta Traps from their buyers.  You can be too needy with the people you meet with because you want and need the sale. Here are a few examples of the mistakes salespeople make when they are desperate and when they are not:

• I'll wait right here for you
• I want to earn your business – puts you in a negative role (this also signals discounts to your buyer)
• Begging for the sale in any way from the people you meet with 
• “I need to be candid with you, I really need this sale”

When you work with someone you are going to sell to, the way you interact matters. You can walk and talk to the back of people you meet with and lose social value. Paying attention to body language and nonverbal cues can help you out here.  

Danger zones in sales 

There is a point where you no longer are supplicant but you are arrogant to the people you are meeting with. You do have to be careful to not go overboard. 

Constant discounting can be a problem for a salesperson during presentations as well as overinflating prices. 

What to do before a sale if you are struggling:

• Laugh – you need some humor in your life
• Get pumped up
• Motion creation emotion
• Vision drives decision
• Tell yourself you will close the deal
• In the presentation – take your time – most salespeople speed up to get to the end (set your pace)
• If you are going to discount and it gets to that point (go in stages 3.25%, 1.1% and then .66%  = Less than a 5% discount (use this as a way  to make some deals happen)

HTSS137 - What to do after you close a deal - Scott Sylvan Bell

It does help if you have a set routine for each deal you close. Selling on auto pilot can hurt a deal in so many ways. The end of your sales presentation should be scripted just like the beginning. 

Once your buyer says yes you have to have a game plan. The complete brain says and does silly things, you have achieved your goal. There is a danger zone once your buyer says yes to the project. If you are not careful you can unwind the deal and lose the sale. 

You can anchor the feeling internally or physically so you can retain the power of the sale. This can be as simple as rubbing 2 fingers together. 

How you act after the deal is done can signal a Dr Jekl and Mr Hyde feeling for your buyer. 

Be yourself, new salespeople act differently than someone who is desperate than a someone who is closer.

Tell the buyer / client what to expect and the next steps. Let them know the ups and the downs of your product and or service. How they will be contacted and who they will be talking to. 

Do the part to deliver what needs to be done. You do have a level of work that needs to be performed. 

One of the best feelings in the world is closing a deal. You have to choose your own personal feeling. 

When you close a deal you have POWER (freaking Power). Whether it was hard, easy, fat or skinny you celebrate the deal. A closed deal is a closed deal. Use the energy for good instead of giving yourself poor self talk. 

You can anchor your feelings and look at your goal board. The feelings and emotions you have from closing the deal can be used to your favor. 

Call your follow-ups, call the dang leads. You have natural excitement in your body once a deal is closed. Your follow-up powers are the greatest once the deal is closed. 

Once you reach out to your follow-ups call your accountability buddy or group. These are the people you talk to consistently that pump you up and you do the same for them. Talk through the deal and what you did right and what could have been improved. 

Record your own numbers and track them in your crm, even if you have a company system track everything on your own for accountability. 

Make a cold call if appropriate and restart the process. 

Most salespeople and even sales trainers don't think about what happens once you close the sale. You can get a few more extra deals a week or a month when you think through this process. 

 

HTSS136 - The abuses you face in sales - Scott Sylvan Bell

In sales, there are abuses you face over time. These issues don't happen daily for the most part. You will probably not see every single one of these items in a week or a month. You will see these abuses over time. 

The types of abuse you face in sales

Nothing about sales is easy, it does take some getting used to. There is no perfect job or role where you do not face some sort of disrespect. What you will want to take away is the ability to notice when you are in an abusive relationship. 

The general public – People tend to hate salespeople until they need things, some of this has to do with sales training, some of this is the personality of salespeople. Overall there is a lack of trust with salespeople. 

Your buyers – Some buyers are rude, obnoxious, and even treat you poorly. There are times where buyers will tell you about previous issues they have had so they can beat you down. Some of the people you meet with should never be your buyer. 

Other salespeople – At the end of the day, some of the people who treat you the worst are other salespeople. the grind, the lies, and haze the rookie.  There are salespeople on your team that want to see you fail so they convince you that you should. 

Sales trainers – Some sales trainers are good, some suck and some are just con artists. There are sales trainers out there who are abusive and flat out 

Out of scope work - Out of being a good employee and or salesperson, you may take on tasks to help out. There is good in doing some help for the team but you have to recognize the point where you are being abused. There is a point where the owner or the company should be paying you for professional services. 

The internal office – Your business owners, managers, office staff, and other internal people can do what they can to hurt you. Some companies will play the game where your commissions are whacked. You will get to a point at a company where the losses from other people's bad mistakes will come back to haunt you. In some instances, commissions will be paid late. You do have to expect that your commission plan will be reduced because you make enough money in the eyes of the office. 

MFG reps - Believe it or not, your manufacturer reps can treat you badly. This doesn't make sense but there are horrible sales reps out there. 

If you are good at sales there will always be new hiring opportunities. Someone will love you somewhere else. 

HTSS135 - Why you lose trust in sales - Scott Sylvan Bell

When you look at losing deals there are multiple places where you can go wrong. One of the first places to start is by looking at where you have lost trust. You can close deals without trust sometimes. If you want to have a consistent sales process you must be able to have the people you meet with trust you. 

Here are the common reasons why you are losing trust in the sales process:

1. 

HTSS134 - How to lose sales by being helpful - Scott Sylvan Bell

You can lose sales by misplacing your efforts with the company you work for or with. There are times where you want to help increase business with your ideas and strategies. There is nothing wrong with this growth pattern. 

Where you lose sales and the capability to close deals is by giving too much without reciprocation. You may think you are helping the business and you may be. When you take on new projects you are reducing your ability to meet with buyers and close deals. 

Your energy can get pulled away from what you are good at and that is making a sale happen. One of the reasons salespeople struggle is they put time, energy, and effort into helping an idea grow and then don't know when to walk away. You do have to take a look at what you offer and think through what can or can not be done. 

You also need to recognize the political capital you use by looking for a plan to be initiated. Someone in management always wants to get up one more level and can throw you under the bus.

Think through what you are willing to offer for free before you take this idea, strategy or plan to the next level. Determine what compensation should be at a metric being hit and ask for it. Most of the time a company would have to pay a strategist and they don't know nearly as much as you do. 

If you are not paying attention you can lose deals and commissions. 

HTSS133 - The secret sales strategy of some closers - Scott Sylvan Bell

People who are closing sales more often than other salespeople have a surprising secret…

They help buyers. They figure out what the buyer needs and then they give it to them, before closing sales.

The reason is simple: "Unless you take care of the buyer first, they may not buy from you."

The best closers know this, and so do thousands of non-closers.

Sometimes salespeople will say this is a silly idea. 

Your buyer feels your intentions and can tell if you are just there to make the deal. 

For some industries, this may not apply, maybe in some business to business settings and possibly with some types of buyers this example may not apply. 

If you really want to see what kind of success you can have in sales look to what you can do to help your client get the outcome they need. This is a form of preeminence. Its possibles that some sales trainers, business owners and other salespeople will disagree with this concept. 

You can do better at sales when you deliver real service and help people with what they need. 

HTSS132 - Loyalty for sales representatives and business owners - Scott Sylvan Bell

Loyalty in business is a common conversation that pops up. There is a balance in business between the ownership, management and the sales staff.

"There is always risk in relationships – one side will always have more risk than another" – Jay Abraham

You will want to think of both sides like a pendulum, a ying or a yang to speak of. When one side is out of balance there is a capacity for problems. 

There will be both sides to consider

• If you are a salesperson you are a tool or a leverage point to close deals. 
• If you are a business owner you are a tool or a leverage point to make money for the salesperson. 

In sales and business, there is something both sides want. A Business wants you to close the most amount of profitable deals with the least amount of problems. As a salesperson, you want to close as many deals as you can and make the most amount of money.

Things will be good for a while and then business changes for the good or the bad. Your role and expectations will change for both parties. You will want more money and the company will want to reduce your commissions – this is the natural fight in business.

Scott's rules for salespeople state:

• #1 Nothing stays the same
• #9 You will be loved somewhere else

In some instances companies want you to stay and be loyal to them without exceptions. They will give you things to get you in the door until the next new shiny thing shows up – then you are old to them. In order to attract new talent deals will be made. They will make crazy deals and cut you out, give the new salespeople better commissions, better ups or leads and expect you to be ok with it. It's the prerogative of the business to do and act this way. There is always a point where salespeople walk away. 

On your side your demands may go too far, you can get too big for your britches, they may bring someone in to replace you.

What we easily forget is that loyalty is 2 way street for the business and the sales staff. 

You will look at things that are best for you, a business owner or manager will look at things that are best for them. This is the lens you will look through and that they will look through – you will justify your decisions the same way.

Unless stated you don’t owe anything to anyone, sometimes your feelings of loyalty are misplaced and so are theirs. Working with people can get emotional because of the amount of time, energy, effort and risk you have put into your role. 

If you recognize are being taken advantage of leave the company and find a new spot to work from. If you are a closer you are the prize. If someone comes to you with a better offer you do have to weigh it because a company will do the same thing.

Sometimes you make bad decisions and sometimes companies make bad decisions as well. You cant treat people poorly and expect for them to stay around whether you are a business owner or a salesperson. If you get angry you may spoil your emotions in the sales process. 

You have to set the expectations of what is going on, just like the company should. Most companies leave salespeople in the dark and expect them to not figure out what the “game” is that that are playing. Some business owners and sales managers see you as an investment until… someone or something new says otherwise. 

Most problems in sales and relationships boil down to 2 things:

1. A lack of expectations that are set 

2. Problems with communication 

 

HTSS131 - 10 Universal rules for sales representatives - Scott Sylvan Bell

Sales is a lifelong commitment. Some salespeople learn as much as they can to close as many deals as they can and some salespeople never ever catch on. If there were rules or themes to live by in sales this list of 10 would help you out immensly. 

Knowing what is normal in sales and business allows for you to be better at what you do. If you get caught up questioning your sanity you will end up losing deals. 

Here are the 10 rules for salespeople that can help you navigate the sales process, business and sales life:

1. Nothing stays the same. Business owners and managers come and go – commission plans change and so do product lines. 
2. You must get good at asking for the sale in multiple ways – face to face, video, email, text messages. The more ways you can ask for the sale, the more ways you have to close deals. 
3. Whoever has the best follow up game gets the extra deals. You must follow up to be better at closing. 
4. You are only good to a company if you can bring in money and profitable deals. If you are a low level salesperson your advancements in life slow down. 
5. Closers are a small percentage of the sales world - Most salespeople are lazy, you only have to be incrementally better to close extra deals. 
6. Every industry has cheap and horrible buyers, get over it. 
7. You will hit heaters and you will hit sales slumps. This pattern gets easier over time and its never fun to go through a sales slump. 
8. Every sales team ends up with creepy, scumbag, unethical salespeople. You will have to deal with this the entire time you are in sales. 
9. You will be loved somewhere else. You may be able to live by "I will quit at 9am and be closing deals somewhere else at noon".
10. What you focus on matters. This is true in almost every aspect of life. 

When you look at sales and how you deal with the process, these rules can help you not get stuck.