“The Specialist” Sales and Management Training Blog

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Hello kind readers,

It has been another great day and of course I have a great post tonight. I was watching a protege of mine recently and the main thing I saw besides all the good things was the way not only him but most sales persons complicate the sale. Everyone wants to expound on there talking points until they have virtually talked themselves out of the sale. When a client says lets do it…

click here to read the entire post…

Hello everybody,

It’s me again! It is not just children that love good stories. Being a professional salesman, expert trainer and nationally recognized trainer of all levels of managers I have found one of the greatest weapons in my selling, training and management arsenal…

click here to read the entire post…

Hi everybody,

I have a sad sales/management story to share with you tonight.

I know some “real trainers” that are very similar to myself. Unfortunately they share one of my biggest weaknesses. I believe that I can develop anyone! The fact is “The Specialist CAN! The problem is that in spite all of the belief, patience, skill, passion and training skills, there ARE LIMITS! Character and integrity cannot be developed. I am very sad to say there are people that just WILL NOT allow themselves to be successful!

I personally have given employees chance after chance only to find out that small percentage just doesn’t get it. I had this one young person that had NO social skills and no place to live, even to the point his own family would not allow him on their property. This young person continued to self destruct. No matter how much help we tried to give this young person, the more deceitful and keniving he became. It is beyond comprehension. I even fired this person once and when a new location opened up gave him another chance, hoping that a fresh start would be what he needed. All I received in return was a lesson in theft and deceit. It got to the point that it was time to cut out the cancer.

I felt very bad, having said that it could not continue. The lesson here for all of you new trainers, and even some of you experienced trainers, that truly train because you love to watch young people develop is KNOW WHEN TO CUT YOUR LOSSES! I, “The Specialist” was not a good example this time.

On my behalf, It is hard when you truly want to see these kids succeed. I used my blog to vent tonight but I do want you to know the entire staff was relieved, not just for themselves but for “The Specialist”, as they know how much I put into each person. What say you?

“The Specialist”

That’s an interesting title.

Hi everybody! Lets talk about the three-legged sale. First you ask, what is it? Well those of you that are in sales have missed many opportunities to close a sale because that extra person or persons that came along with your prospect just has to throw in their two cents worth. The beginner will try to sell all three or four people and end up with none of them simply because their lack of experience has not allowed them to be proficient at controlling groups of people. I hear all of you veterans out there grinning because you think you know how to do it. Conventional wisdom tells you that if you can sell the leader you will sell the rest of them. That works SOMETIMES. What do you do if the leader isn’t interested in your product or already has something similar? Aha! Now comes the real artist.

“The Specialist” does not put himself in the position of hoping the leader wants the deal. Instead, what I do is find out is who the leader is and regardless of his interest level I make sure he becomes my new best friend. Now, either way I win! If he likes the product he will influence his friends to go along as well. That’s the easy situation. Where it gets complex is if the leader does not have an interest in your product regardless of the reason. If he has become my new best friend the effect will be exactly the same! He will influence the crowd on your behalf, just for a different reason.

So as you progress in your sales career start seeing more then just the sale. Again, go back to basics and practice closing everyone all the time. In other words, start making yourself a more likeable person by pointing out the good in others and building other’s self esteem. If you work on this concept you will find that making the sale will become secondary and you will feel much more rewarded in your career because besides having more sales then you can count, you will also feel a lot better about yourself. Isn’t that what a career should be about anyway, personal growth? I will be anxious to hear your responses.

“The Specialist”

Hello kind readers,

Another day and another post. I love spending time with you! Remember, only 7 days until the “Big Announcement”!

On today’s post I was inspired by someone, actually two people, that I have had some influence in their sales career. One of the sales persons was having a little difficulty and so decided to go watch the other salesperson work. After watching for a couple of hours the first salesperson proceeded to go out and make THREE sales! When I met with him later he informed me that what he had learned was Patience WITH Persistence! An amazing analysis. I thought I would elaborate on it a little.

What the salesperson meant was that he had always heard cliches like “persistence beats resistance”. Well true, this is a perfect example of a non-qualified trainer repeating cute one liners and not really explaining what they mean or at best not elaborating or demonstrating HOW to persist to beat resistance! This is one of the MAIN reasons I do this blog. I hate to see people lose valuable time in their development by mis-information.

Salesperson #2 did not only Himself a great service but also a great thing for our industry. Not only did He tell the salesperson HOW to use Patience WITH Persistence, but also spent time with Him demonstrating it! Kudos to you SIR! And I know who you are! Thank you for being a great ambassador for our industry!

“The Specialist”

Hi everybody,

It’s time for part two of creating a sales team.

Remember where we left off. You have one or two persons that have just started selling and you are in the weeding out process. I think I told you yesterday not to get excited because you haven’t built anything yet! That’s exactly what I mean.

Part 2 is critical because you now potentially have a nucleus to build around. What you do next is going to determine whether you have to start all over again. One of the most important things you have to be aware of is that this IS NOT the time to let up! Quite the contrary, this is the time to put forth more effort in training your people that are selling and quickly trying to get them to be self efficient as soon as possible. It is also imperative that you begin showing them the BIG picture. Once a person has accomplished, I don’t mean “become accomplished”, in making a couple of sales you must show them the bigger picture of where their success is going to take them.

Remember, in my earlier posts I talked about reading your people and finding out what motivates them, well this is one of the times that your read really counts. For example, I might focus with one person on the opportunity for management while another person is strictly motivated by money. While all this is going on I am continuing to sell and show the older and newer people how it is done. All the while I am constantly selling the job and the company and their opportunity. The secret of success to all of this is you MUST deliver!

You not only have to teach, you have to have enough knowledge to have SOMETHING to teach! It sounds like a lot of work, and it is, but you can really eliminate a lot of duplication by doing it right the first time. I also involve the people who can sell in teaching their newer counterparts. Not only does it save me some time but it also gives me insight into which person has leadership skills or unique teaching skills. These characteristics will play a very important role as we continue to Create A Sales Team.

Tomorrow…layering and polishing.

“The Specialist”

Hello kind readers,

Before I start tonight’s post I want to remind everyone that the biggest thing to be unveiled on this blog is coming very soon. I can barely contain myself without giving some clues. I can’t do it.

Be on the lookout it is coming SOON!

Now to the post. I saw an unbelievable thing in the last two months that reminded me of my past, yet 40 years later it still applies. It kinda shows that even though times change people basically stay the same. There was a company that I have a great relationship with and I watch as they have their monthly sales contests. The top three people in the country win prizes varying from money to 32″ plasma televisions. Without fail the last two winners, after receiving their cash prizes, also received a certificate relating to the level of excellence they had accomplished. I had an opportunity to meet with each one of these winners and to the person they never mentioned the money, which was substantial. All they wanted to tell me about was the certificate! This 8′x11′ framable certificate. All they could tell me was how important it was and how much it meant to them.

They proceeded to tell me they had never received anything like that since graduating from high school. Each person was going to get a special frame and hang it up in their room. To them it was validation of their accomplishment!

If more managers took note of what I am saying they will find that it is indeed the little things that mean the most to your young staff. Everything their parents and friends have told them they could not accomplish, with one certificate they are vindicated. That’s POWERFUL!

The money can be spent and then it is gone forever. The certificate hanging up in their room is a constant reminder of their success! What I am trying to tell all young and old managers is that forget about yourself…you may be jaded and only working for the money, the young people in your care need “THE LITTLE THINGS”

“The Specialist”

Hi everybody,

I hope you had a nice day! I had a great day.

I was training some young up and coming sales professionals and I was giving them some advanced sales training tips. When I was done working with them I just hung around and watched them interact with their newer counterparts and the most common mistake of all new trainers did not fail to rear it’s ugly head. Maybe that’s sub-consciously why I hung around.

Without fail, while I have traveled down this magnificent highway, I have seen the mistake I am about to describe over and over again. When your mentor passes on to you some advanced training tips I realize it is very flattering to you and you cannot wait to pass on this new found knowledge. The new person in your organization should not be the beneficiary.

All new trainers should flash back to their first couple of days on the job and remember how they were spoon fed the BASICS of the job and then, as they felt comfortable with the amount of knowledge that was given them, and they became proficient at it, more knowledge…even advanced material…was given them.

The down side of giving this advanced knowledge to a brand new person is at least two-fold. First, you are overloading their brain! They cannot absorb it. Secondly, you are stunting their growth. You should be teaching them the material they were given just like you were trained. I have seen countless new people blown out of the business for just these reasons. I understand your enthusiasm and I really appreciate it, that’s why you were selected to be a trainer in the first place.

This is just another tip from “The Specialist”

“The Specialist”