Sales Performance and Motivation: How to Get Your Edge BackWritten by Sally Bacchetta
Performance and motivation are like chocolate & peanut butter; combination is better than either one alone. Motivation feeds successful sales performance, which in turn generates increased motivation, which encourages performance, and so goes synergism of our days. Until one day... ... you don’t feel as enthusiastic as you used to, or you find yourself missing opportunities during your sales presentations. You start to cut corners and begin to care a little less. After a while you can no longer ignore thought that tugs at you...“I’ve lost my edge” . We’ve all experienced dreaded slump. As someone who has survived to sell another day, here is a time tested plan of action to jumpstart your sales motivation and performance. STEP 1 - Acknowledge The first step toward overcoming any challenge is acknowledging it. Recognize it as a real, but temporary obstacle to your ambition, and you’ve already begun to remove it. STEP 2 - Take responsibility Personal responsibility is a hallmark of success. We each decide every minute of every day how to spend our time, and those decisions shape our thinking and our selling behaviors. Accepting responsibility encourages us to be proactive in creating solutions rather than cultivating excuses. STEP 3 - Refocus Refocusing on your goals is a great way to spark something innovative in your attitude and your sales presentations. Remind yourself that your daily activities are parts of a larger whole. You’re not just selling to move market share. You’re selling to accomplish personal and professional goals. If your sales presentations aren’t as strong as they used to be, refocus on basic selling skills for an immediate impact: •Begin each call with a clear statement of purpose •Probe to uncover customer objections and needs •Close for some type of commitment on every call •Follow through with an action plan STEP 4 - Self-assessment Sharpen your self-awareness to get your motivation and performance back on track. This step challenges you to go beyond a basic inventory of your strengths and weaknesses. Carefully consider: What steps of selling process do you try to rush or avoid altogether? Compare selling situations you find most challenging with those that are easier for you. Examine how you respond to different personality types. Your goal is to identify any impediments to your success, so be as specific as you can.
| | There's never a bad time for a great sales promotion!Written by Jim Logan
I love spring! The warm days, sunshine, fresh flowers…it’s a welcome relief from colder, shorter, wetter winter months. Plus, it’s a built-in great opportunity for a sales promotion! From March 21 – June 20, you can run a promotion targeted at both existing and new customers. There's never a bad time for a great sales promotion and spring is real-made for such an event.There are two broad elements of a good promotion to remain mindful of: time and reward. Time limit your promotions to create an urgency to act and include a reward to benefit those that act within time you offer. For example, you can offer a spring promotion whereby a new customer gets a discount or a premium added to their order if placed between March 21 and June 20. I prefer to offer a reward as opposed to giving discounts. Rewards preserve value of your product or service and don’t set a precedent of a lower price for an established offering. Get creative with rewards you offer as purchase incentives. What I do is take value of discount I’m comfortable giving and use that as a budget for premium I offer. For example, if you are in business of selling outdoor gear, you could run a spring
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