“The Specialist” Sales and Management Training Blog

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Hello kind readers,

It is I “The Specialist” with a great TRUE story.

Today I was invited to a luncheon where a gentlemen was to speak and in return everyone received a FREE luncheon at a Mexican restaurant. The reason I was in attendance was the group consisted of sales type people that wanted to exchange ideas. Here is what took place.

The speaker was representing a Fortune 500 financial planning company and he hoped to acquire some leads from this event. I am sorry to say this gentlemen could not pass salesmanship101. First, he never asked even one person their name. Imagine that! Then he went on to tell everyone repeatedly how he was paying for EVERYTHING including the tax and tip. Nice until he went on to emphasize that no-one could order anything over $10.00. Say what! He was representing a Fortune 500 Company. Not to mention there was nothing on the menu that was even close to $12.00! On top of that he proceeded to ask everyone to fill out this form with personal information while explaining the only reason he wanted this information was to call us to see if we enjoyed our meal. Come on!

To top it off the final straw was that he asked questions of his guests that insulted their intelligence and if someone didn’t answer the question the way he wanted it answered, he told them they were wrong in front of everyone! I don’t think I need to explain any further. It is obvious why this was “The Specialist” Spotlight on this day.

“The Specialist”

Hello everybody,

We had another great “Specialist Spotlight” today on “The Specialist” Radio Hour. What started or inspired this segment was a caller, I’ll call her Peggy, who was insulted that I said on previous occasions that I could train anyone to sell. I pointed out to this young lady that training anyone to sell was not saying that I could train anyone to become a sales professional.

There was the rub. She had been in sales at least 29 years and was very proud of the fact that she devoted her life to becoming a true sales professional. I respect that a tremendous amount, but she misunderstood me.

What I have said, and stand behind, is that I can teach anyone to sell, not train anyone to become a sales professional.

As my listeners know there is a big difference, in my eyes. But the part that inspired this Post was that she went on to say that just training someone to sell was a waste of a lot of valuable time and effort that could be spent else where rather than dealing with a problem. That is where I had to draw a line in the sand. I pointed out to her that if no one had taught me how to sell and been patient with me I would never have become “The Specialist”!

Someone saw me as potential not as a problem. All my loyal readers know that I was fired 5 times as a door to door salesman! No one gets fired from door to door sales! They need every able body they can get. What I am trying to say is it is not a waste of time teaching the less talented or the slow to pick up the sales profession. In fact I owe my entire career to those that kept pushing me and spent tireless amount of hours taking this wandering generality and teaching me a trade.

Of course later on, as I mentioned to Peggy, as everyone does that learns to sell, there will become a day when you find yourself at the crossroads of whether you want to make sales your profession or try something else. In all careers someone must teach you the basics in order for you to ever become a professional.

Don’t forget to sign up for the FREE newsletter! You get 20% off everything on the site, plus you keep up with all the latest in the world of “The Specialist”

“The Specialist”

Before I go into tonight’s post, I want to remind everyone that on the web site you really need to sign up for the Free Newsletter so that during the Holidays you can not only keep up with everything that’s going on but you get a WHOPPING 20% off on all merchandise!

“The Specialist” pen just came out and now you have a perfect gift idea for that special sales professional or manager in your life.

Now back to today’s post.

Someone gave me an idea for a terrific post so I thought I would share it with you. I won’t be able to go into near the depth for each one of these great lessons learned but I will do my best. In order from #10, I will start with sales first. Here we go…

#10. In sales, To be successful be yourself! Do not try and be someone you are not. And whatever you do NEVER try to be “MR. SALESMAN”!!!

#9. “Perfect practice makes Perfect! Don’t forget, how you practice your craft will have a direct reflection on your income and longevity in the industry!

#8. Find a Mentor…”The Specialist” had a great number of mentors that helped me sharpen my craft. Even the bad ones taught me something, If nothing else they taught me what NOT TO DO!

#7. Be sincere with your customers or potential customers. I mean really care about them, it will go along way and the customers can feel it.

#6. The most important thing I have learned in the sales profession is HAVING INTEGRITY in each an every sale regardless of who or what you are selling.

#5. In MANAGEMENT, remember these people that you are managing are under your supervision and leadership. Make sure your footprint of GOOD is all over their FUTURE!

#4. Be patient! Remember, you are not where you are as an overnight sensation. It took a lot of hard work for you and it will be a long process for them. Be patient!

#3. Be Fair to all of your employees and be even handed. Your staff will be watching and grading YOU!

#2. Lead by example! The speed of the boss is the speed of the crew! Never ask your staff to do something you won’t do, can’t do, or haven’t done!

AND the NUMBER ONE thing I have learned in sales/management is to put God first in my life, family second and my business third! I have proven to myself that if I allow God to take me on His plan and I put my family next my business is already taken care of!

“The Specialist”

Hi everybody,

Before I go into “The Specialist” Spotlight from today’s radio hour, I want to remind everyone that on the web site you really need to sign up for the Free Newsletter so that during the Holidays you can not only keep up with everything that’s going on but you get a WHOPPING 20% off on all merchandise!

“The Specialist” pen just came out and now you have a perfect gift idea for that special sales professional or manager in your life.

Now back to today’s Post.

Today I was explaining the disgrace I witnessed in a car dealership when a salesperson morphed into a monster when the cute little married couple decided that they wanted to think over their decision to purchase a car. It was an amazing thing to see. The salesperson was the couple’s new best friend until they hesitated to buy. All of a sudden the couple was treated like dirt! You should have seen the couple’s faces when they exposed this dirt bag for what he really was.

The point is prospects ARE NOT STUPID! Sometimes they purposely say they want to think it over just to see how YOU will react. Sometimes they are really sincere about thinking it over with no intention of buying from anyone else but YOU! It is important that when you think and I emphasize THINK someone is a non sale it is your duty to make a cheerful, friendly, optimistic and courteous exit! Even MORE so than when you make the sale.

With this great attitude you will be amazed how many non sales BECOME sales!

“The Specialist”

Hello kind readers,

Today’s Specialist Spotlight on the Radio Hour focused on the things you DO NOT do when your manager or mentor is training you in the field.

Over the years I have field trained literally hundreds of new and experienced sales persons. What the observer must realize is that the most important thing going on is that whoever you are observing is taking you out for a reason! You must be new or doing something WRONG!

Point, it is time for you to keep your mouth CLOSED, and your eyes and ears open. You must remember that when the professional is engaging a prospect he or she is in the process of constructing building blocks of trust, sincerity, as well as confidence with this potential customer.

Any time you even open your mouth to utter one word you are causing the sales professional that you are watching to have to start all over again in the building process. No matter how many times I have warned trainees to not speak it is like they suddenly get diarrhea of the mouth. After I politely warn them I let them know in no uncertain terms that the next time they say a single word while I am engaging a client I will inform the prospect that obviously the trainee knows a great deal more about the subject then I and I proceed to leave the trainee there and I leave.

In 40 years of selling that is the only thing that I have found that works 100% of the time. Please remember, the professional is doing YOU a FAVOR! Be thankful, learn what you can, take advantage of the experience by keeping your mouth closed and again your eyes and ears OPEN. You might learn something. You will definitely appreciate this when it is your turn to take someone else and show them your craft.

Don’t forget to sign up for the FREE newsletter! You get 20% off on everything on the site!

“The Specialist”

Hello everybody,

I had to share this post with you today in case you couldn’t get “The Specialist” Radio Hour.

Today we had a debate on a very interesting subject. I posed to my listeners this question. What do they the listeners think the most important part of selling is? The phones didn’t stop ringing. I got everything from closing techniques, to attitude, to making people like you, to making people trust you! It was great! After 45 minutes of calls “The Specialist” put everyone out of their misery and “Specialized” them.

All of my callers had great answers, but what they failed to realize was that none of what they said mattered if they didn’t or couldn’t PROSPECT! Prospecting IS without a doubt THE most important part of selling. Without the prospects YOU ARE OUT OF BUSINESS! PERIOD.

I just thought I would share this exciting exchange from the show with you. Check out strangeratthedoor.com and sign up for the FREE newsletter and all the exciting new stuff that’s going on in the world of “The Specialist”.

“The Specialist”

Hello everybody,

It’s great getting a chance to do a post and share some information with you. Tonight I want to give you a live example of how to KEEP control during the sale.

The other day I was watching a very good experienced sales professional giving his presentation to a very strong personality type. The sales person asked me if I would take the lead and let him watch. To make a long story short the prospect when the presentation was over looked at me and said, and I quote, “well if you want to pursue this you can come back in a couple of days. Remember kind readers he said this to “The Specialist” !

What I said was very simple and not only took back the control but OF COURSE enabled me to consummate the sale. What did you expect. I simply told the gentleman that there was really nothing for me to pursue. It was HIS money and if he wanted to continue losing money that was up to HIM…NOT ME! I then proceeded to tell him the things I would need him to have ready on Wednesday when I would return to take care of his account. GAME, SET, MATCH !! Moral of the story is to NEVER lose control before during or after your presentation.

By the way, don’t forget to log on to strangeratthedoor.com website and sign up for the FREE newsletter there is some very exciting news coming out this weekend plus you receive a 20% discount on everything on the site, not to mention you can listen to “The Specialist” radio show. Thanks for all of your support.

“The Specialist”

Hi everybody,

I am late tonight with my post but as usual it IS a good one.

Yesterday I was observing a business in a mall similar to those mobile phone booths you see in malls where greeters try to get you to come to their booth so they can sell you something. Well on this occasion a young lady approached me finding out that I was “The Specialist” and asked me a very interesting question.

Her employer wanted her to keep asking the same people regardless of how many times they passed the kiosk, even if they said no 7 times before. She wanted to make sense of that and feel like she wasn’t bothering these people. I showed her a pair of shoes in the window of a store across from her booth and asked her why she thought they were in the window? She said of course so someone would buy them.

That is when I explained to her that the same people may pass those shoes literally hundreds of times before they make the decision to buy! It is persistence in advertising. I further explained to her that she was actually doing the same thing…just verbally.

If she would continue to ask the same people sooner or later they WILL stop by! It is just a matter of persistence beating resistance over and over again!

By the way don’t forget to sign up for the FREE newsletter, remember you will be treated as a member and receive a 20% discount on all products and services on the site strangeratthedoor.com.

“The Specialist”

Hello kind readers,

It’s me again, and I have a very popular pet peeve of a majority of consumers that cost more sales then you can imagine! I know this happens to everyone and I can name at least 3 different industries right off the top of my head that are sometimes extremely guilty.

Consumers or customers DO NOT want to walk into a store, electronics, furniture, jewelry or even a restaurant and be harassed by over zealous sales persons. This is the scenario… you walk into an electronics or furniture store and a sales rep greets you and then after you politely tell them you are just looking they proceed to follow you around the store almost as if you were joined at the hip. You spend most of your time telling the sales rep everything is okay you are just looking. The minute you actually look at something you are attacked again with the over aggressive sales rep starting to tell you information about what you are looking at. Not only is it annoying but it is a MAJOR turnoff to most potential customers.

I would be a multi millionaire if I just had a nickel for every customer that got disgusted and just left because of the pressure. This tactic is not just limited to the above mentioned industries. Recently I was in a restaurant and I could not even carry on a conversation without the waitress constantly interrupting me to ask if we needed anything else and was everything alright. Enough is enough! I finally had to tell the young lady that I was trying to carry on a conversation and could not complete a thought due to her constant interruptions.

What I am trying to say is there is a happy medium that has to be reached between greeting the customer and harassing them. A true sales professional would never put themselves into that position. If you are so afraid that you will miss the sale, perfect your greeting so that in a short greeting you will display enough sincerity and a nice appearance to go along with a very professional attitude that the customer will come back to YOU as soon as THEY see something they want more information about or would like to purchase.

“The Specialist” has said this before, OPPOSITES ATTRACT! The more pressure you apply the further your customer will run. If any of you great readers have a special story to share on this topic I would love to hear from you.

By the way don’t forget to sign up for the FREE newsletter, it entitles you to automatic membership which gives you all kinds of discounts from “Specialist Gear” to discounts on the teleseminars and even discounts on our E-Books and CD’s. I hope you are enjoying the downloads of the radio show.

“The Specialist”