Sell Like Steve Jobs

While Steve is known for his genius marketing and pulling Apple from the precipice of disaster and captaining it into the most valuable and beloved brand in the world, he was able to do all this because he was the ultimate salesman. And a genius one at that!

Most especially because he is not known or remembered as a salesman, but by all the other accolades given to him by others: genius, revolutionary, leader, rebel, mover, mogul, luminary, and the list goes on.

Here are a few tips on how he achieved such a feat—as a salesman and as a sales leader—and how you can be like Steve.

TIP 1: Do not compete solely on price

Nobody has ever bought an Apple anything because of price.

In fact Apple is typically more expensive than all its most competitive competitors. But people buy Apple because of the value of the products, not based on the cost.

This is a great lesson for you too. Don’t compete with other companies in your market based on price. Instead, compete on value, and do a better job articulating the value proposition of your products or service, the pain it relieves and the virtuous promise it delivers.

TIP 2: “People don’t know what they want until you show it to them.”

This is where customers need to be first educated on why they need your product. Then they can be your best advocates, actively spreading the word on behalf of your company or product.

Nobody was out looking for the iPhone when it came out (nor the iPod or iPad), but now nobody wants to be the only one in their community without one. Your product can work the same, but only if you and your sales reps evangelize and educate your consumer marketplace on the “better world” created by your product or service.

TIP 3: Create great presentations

I call Jobs the greatest keynote speaker of our lifetime. Jim Rohn used to describe two orators from antiquity. One was named Cicero. The other was named Demosthenes. It is said that when Cicero spoke, the masses were awed and would exclaim, ‘What a brilliant speech!’ And when Demosthenes spoke, the people would say, ‘Let us march!’

Steve Jobs was the modern-day Demosthenes. When he spoke, people said, “Let us buy!”

Don’t speak to drive applause.
Speak to drive action.

Lots of speakers speak for back of the room sales.

To do several hundred thousand dollars after a speech is an epic day.

Steve would do billions after his speech.

He was that good.

A book I often recommend on how to strengthen your presentation skills is The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to Be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience by Carmine Gallo.

How good are your sales presentations?

When you study Steve’s and then your own, do you see room for improvement?

If so, close the gap. There is massive upside for you in doing so.

TIP 4: Create a “Buying Experience”

Jobs wasn’t in it to make a sale. He was in it to deliver a full and complete experience. Look at how an Apple store is set up to facilitate an experience. Look at how the product is designed, packaged, delivered and supported. It’s an end-to-end experience very specifically, diligently and carefully created. This is why Apple has earned such a passionate and loyal fan base.

How about you?

Are you out to make a sale or create a full and complete experience?

TIP 5: Don’t fear failure

Jobs lived his “Think Different” tag line. He was always willing to think way outside the box or create an entirely new box with seemingly radical ideas. He was willing to try new things and fail.

Apple is not remembered for its failures, but they have many. Just to name a few there was the Apple III, Macintosh TV, the 20th Anniversary Macintosh, PowerMac G4 Cube, Apple Bandai-Pippin, AppleWorks, iPod U2 Special Edition, eMate 300, Macintosh Portable, eMac and of course the Newton and Lisa. But by failing—and failing fast, early and often—Jobs learned valuable lessons from his experiences, which shaped his later success.

So for you and your sales team, don’t be afraid to fail; learning through failure is a great way to grow quickly. As another great salesman, Zig Ziglar, would say, “Expect the best, prepare for the worst and capitalize on what comes.”

So go fail quickly, often and continuously. And let those failures sharpen your skills, processes and expertise.

So to summarize:

1. Do not compete solely on price
2. Educate your customers on why they need your product
3. Create great presentations
4. Create a “Buying Experience”
5. Don’t fear failure

I hope you enjoyed this week’s post as much as I did putting it together. Now go on and flex that sales muscle of yours. And when in doubt, just think WWSD (What Would Steve Do)?

Who are some other great leaders in business that inspired, shaped, and transformed the way you perform in your own industry? Share with us in the comments below. 

Source: http://darrenhardy.success.com/2014/08/sell-like-jobs

The Secrets of Selling Successfully

Selling is done the same way, whether online or off, which means that the rules of the game don’t change all that much. That being said, there are still those who think that the two modes of selling are like taming two different wild beasts at the same time. Keeping that in mind, the following lines are going to cover the secrets of selling successfully both online and offline.

 

All Customers Want to Buy

Let’s just say it as it is, everyone likes to buy new stuff, and especially new stuff. While that is true, nobody likes to be sold stuff or even told what to do. This is one of the main reasons why customers run away once sales teams become too aggressive while persuading, convincing or in other words, manipulating people into buying their product or service.
The idea of making a sale whether online (ecommerce websites) or offline (door to door or brick and mortar) is to assist the customer in to making the best decision possible. This will not only make the customer respect you for your service, but will also make their experience more pleasurable, which will consequently create the desire to buy.

Cold Calling Works

It doesn’t matter what the gurus say, the practice of cold calling, when used sparingly, works. Think about it, calling people who you don’t know to ask if you can help them is one of the best ways in which you can connect with the potential customer. And while all professional businesses use emails as a tactic to get potential customers to talk, cold calling is a better and much more direct way of getting the information which you need, both to improve your product and service, create rapport and build that valuable customer base.

It’s all about Listening (to the Customer)

The real challenge to businesses, when it comes to selling a product or service is to get the customer to talk rather than constantly talking to the customer. This is where you need to let the customer dominate the conversation, rather than using the “me, me, me” pitch. Also monitor the conversations that are happening on various social media outlets about your company, the product and the brand. Stay attentive, harness that information, and use it to tweak your next online marketing campaign.

Loyal Customers vs. New Ones

This is always going to be a tricky question, or is it? Convincing new customers to buy your product or service instead of the next is always going to be both expensive and chancy. On the other hand, getting your existing clients to buy your newly released products or services is easy and inexpensive. While expanding one’s business by breaking in to new territory is the goal of every business owner, your number one priority should always be to transform your existing client list into a customer for your latest offering, mainly because it costs you nothing and is practically automatic. New customers should only be a priority when a business is just starting up.

Create a Great Customer Experience

By far, the best and most effective way of creating your brand image is by creating a great customer experience. While large businesses often spend lots of money on their branding and marketing campaigns, a brand is basically what your clients think about you and is always the result of the experience they’ve had while doing business with you. So, you should be making sure that you create a great customer experience. You can do this by paying attention to the minute details which can make your brand better and create a better customer experience for all those who visit you at your business website or physical location.

Ending Note

While there are those who sell for a living, we like to call those folks salesmen (or women), there’s not a single person on the planet who does not sell their value. Everyone does it, from the company CEO to the janitor. So, unless your job description is “Stare at the ceiling” or something, you are selling, so why not use these tips, when you do.

Source: http://blog.optyn.com/secrets-selling-successfully

The Best Way to Tell If You're a Successful Entrepreneur

I'm not a very successful entrepreneur.  Are you?
You may think so because your business is doing well financially.  Or you've managed to stick a lot of money in the bank.  Or you're on the cover of Inc. Magazine.  But these are not the true indicators of success.  The most successful entrepreneurs I know are the ones that are building value and creating assets.  And do you know how they do that?  They take vacations. Yes...vacations! And for a long time too.  Whenever they want.  Unfortunately, I'm unable to do this.  Which is why I'm not truly successful.  And, apparently, I'm not alone.
According to data released today from Office Depot, a whopping one-third of small business owners in the U.S. are unable to break away for vacation this summer.  60% of them cited financial hardship as the reason.  The rest had excuses ranging from "it's my busy season" to "I don't have enough staff."  These are not successful business owners either.
Sure, I take vacation.  But it has to be planned well in advance.  I can never take more than a week at a time. I have to be somewhere accessible.  During my vacation I'm always checking in with the office.  I'm answering questions when away.  I'm sending emails, taking a few calls, talking to my staff. I'm that guy who's watching "Old Faithful" while responding to text messages at the same time or talking on the phone while his family is going on that Disney ride without him.  This is not success.  This is the madness of keeping a business running while I'm trying to spend time with my family.  I'm earning a living. But I'm not creating value.  A valuable company is the true sign of an entrepreneur's success.
A valuable company doesn't just have a strong balance sheet.  Or strong earnings. Or a healthy cash flow. Those are all good things.  But a truly valuable company has intangible value.  It can run on its own.  There is infrastructure.  There is organization.  There is a chain of command.  It's a ship that will keep sailing on course regardless if the captain is there for a reasonable period of time.  It has processes and procedures and protocols.  There are set ways of doing things, documentation, manuals and rules.  A McDonald's franchise is valuable because everything is so regimented that the owner can slot in a different manager every week who can then run with the ball after just a little training.  This is not my business.
If a potential buyer were to look at my business he'd find a ten person company that's completely reliant on me.  I sign all the checks.  I make all the deals.  I approve all the transactions.  I hire all the workers.  I make all the decisions.  I have the primary relationship with our clients. I micro-manage every project.  A buyer would need to keep me on as an employee or consultant to keep the business going so that it can gradually, someday be transitioned over to a company that can run without me.  If I were hit by a bus then my company would ultimately fold in on itself after just a few short weeks.  This is not success.  This is not value.  This is just a glorified job. I haven't been creating an asset.  I've just created work for myself and nine others.
Is it a good time to sell your business?  Definitely, absolutely, yes.  According to a BizBuySell.com report issued this week, second quarter small business transactions reached their pre-recession activity, up 11% over Q2 2013 and transactions were just 3% short of the record mark set in Q2 2008.  The 2,029 reported transactions in Q2 2014 represented the second highest total recorded since BizBuySell.com began tracking insights data in 2007.
Why all the activity? Interest rates are low so getting financing is attractive.  Inflation is low which means alternative investments are fewer.  Capital gains taxes are still at a relatively low level while the general population of business owners are getting older and looking to retire, which creates more supply of available companies.  "If you're an experienced entrepreneur then now's a great time to buy a company," Curtis Kroeker, President of Marketplace Verticals at BizBuySell, told me recently.
Unfortunately, if you're like me, your selling price may not be as high as you hoped.  And that's because your business can't run on its own, even when you're on vacation.  A buyer will need to buy you along with the business.  And that really impacts your company's value.  And your value too.  So maybe you think you're a successful entrepreneur.  But if your situation is like mine then really...you're not.

Source: http://www.inc.com/gene-marks/the-one-way-to-tell-if-you-re-a-successful-entrepreneur.html

7 Crucial Steps to Building a Champion Sales Team

Joe runs a company with 19 salespeople, a mix of veterans and newcomers. Sales have been flat for the past 18 months even though the economy has improved. He is constantly making futile attempts to get his team to prospect more. Joe tries to show them how to sell more effectively, but they continue to fall back into the same old habits. 

Sound familiar? Entrepreneurial organizations often underperform because they haven't built their sales teams systematically. Follow these seven steps to turn an ineffectual sales crew into a high-performing championship team: 

1. Evaluate the current strategy. 

Three key methods can increase sales: finding more prospects, placing larger sales and increasing closing ratios. Does the company's strategy addresses all three? Does it focus on selling to the ideal customer for the company? 

Many companies try to sell to everyone. But the serious rewards come after focusing on hitting their sweet spot. In Joe's case, his salespeople are indiscriminately calling on any and every prospect they come across. He needs to clarify for his team exactly where they should focus their time and efforts so as to increase sales growth.

2. Assess the existing team. 

Know the sales team inside and out. How many A players, B players and C players are on staff? How do they feel about the organization? Figure out the best way to manage each salesperson according to his or strengths and weaknesses.

For example, Joe knows that he has only three A players and eight B players while the rest are C players or not there yet. He's spending most of his time trying to improve the latter group with little to show for his efforts. Instead, he should realistically evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each team member and be willing to replace some underperformers with new recruits. Both online data-driven assessments and on-site evaluations can help him perform this analysis.

3. Develop a hiring process.

Right now, Joe has no hiring process. He selects people based on his gut instinct during interviews. As a result, he has struggled with a number of mis-hires over the years. Mid-size companies like Joe’s rarely have a formal hiring process. Instead, when managers realize that they desperately need a new salesperson, they comb through some resumes, set up a few face-to-face interviews and eventually select the most adequate of the lot.

But hiring is the most critical part of developing a championship sales team. It’s critical to create a formal process that involves assessments, phone screening, consistent interview questions and role-playing.

4. Compensate for results. 

Because most companies are afraid to scare away potential hires, they offer a massive base salary with a small bonus or commission opportunity. But in providing a large salary and small commission, though, the organization limits the upside that a salesperson can really earn -- even if he (or she) well exceeds a sales goal. So this compensation plan appeal the most to B and C players since they'll still earn a healthy base salary even if they produce little.

The A player, however, will want a massive upside for hurtling past a sales goal. Yet Joe’s compensation plan repels top performers. He must revise his compensation structure to deemphasize base salary and promote high performance. 

5. Train consistently. 

Providing a suggestion here and there does not count as consistent training. Invest a lot in training. Conducting regular trainings to reinforce the most critical selling concepts and ensure that every salesperson is on the same page concerning technique.

In Joe’s organization, each salesperson sells in his or her own way. They are all over the map in terms of effectiveness. Joe must either develop a selling system or bring in an outside one for everyone to follow.

6. Create accountability.  

Most mid-size organizations track only the sales numbers of staffers. But what about their day-to-day prospecting activities; the number of calls made, referrals asked for and meetings set up? In tracking  daily prospecting activities, managers can anticipate what's in pipeline, the most important indicator of future sales.

Until now, Joe has reviewed sales numbers only at the end of each month. This leaves his sales team feeling frustrated and without a clear daily plan to help them aim for success. By laying out what he expects his staff to do each day, he can more effectively manage his team.

7. Reassess strategy regularly. 

Once companies find a strategy that seems to work, they may be reluctant to re-examine it. But markets are dynamic. The ideal client today may be entirely different in a year.

Thus, it’s critical for managers keep an eye on the market’s pulse and stay in constant communication with the sales team. Currently, Joe takes an occasional ride with hand-picked salespeople, but this is not enough. He must regularly engage in open discussions with his sales staff to learn what’s really going on.

He needs to regularly go on sales calls and develop lines of communication with customers. Throughout this process, if he and other managers believe the sales strategy needs to be adjusted, they should test any potential changes with a beta group. If the strategy proves optimal, they can then adopt it for the entire team.

Source: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/235701