A few things have happened recently that got me thinking
about something very serious, something that could make a
huge difference to your sales results and your sales
performance...
Last week I went out for a meal with some friends and one
of them had brought along someone whom I had not met
before. This person was in IT sales. They were in their mid
to late twenties and had been doing it for about 3 years.
Judging by their conversation, description of their job and
a few other factors I guessed they were doing ok...
comfortable in their job but no sales superstar.
He had no idea that I was into sales training or was a
sales motivational speaker and during the meal we talked
about various things but towards the end of the meal this
chap (let's call him Pete) mentioned that he was a bit
bored of his job. He is finding it "so so". He explained
that he has to keep doing the same things over and over.
Every day he goes in at about the same time. Every day he
leaves at about the same time! Every day he makes the same
kind of sales calls to new and existing prospects and
clients. Every day he structures his calls the same way and
handles challenges with the same lines. Every day he sends
out similar marketing and sales emails and information.
Every day he updates his prospect database. Every day he
researches the internet. Every day he has the same sales
conversations about the same products, the same services
and the same solutions.
Every week he attends sales meetings which apparently are
always run by his sales manager and are all nearly the
same. Every week he sets the same kinds of sales targets
with the same kinds of clients. Every week his manager runs
similar mini sales training sessions. Every week he goes to
see similar customers, with similar challenges, similar
needs and wants and similar objections.
He is getting bored.
* Pete has a job - field sales.
* He has a car - a small BMW.
* He's getting a salary and commission - I'd guess
£30k + £20k + car (tops).
* His sales performance and results are ok.
* He is not getting sacked or made redundant any time soon
- not that I know of anyway!
But there's something not right here. Something not right
here, at all. Pete's sales performance and results should
be sky rocketing. He should be on his way to £100k+
and promotion but he's not...
The problem is that Pete has Sales Repetetits! That is -
Peter gets bored by any task that he has to do over and
over.
In my experience many salespeople have Repetitis.
Salespeople with Repetitis get bored and moan about having
to repeat the same tasks over and over. This in turn leads
to lack of motivation and causes them to lose focus and to
start to go through the motions. This in turn will impact
their sales performance and results. Salespeople going
through the motions do not make successful salespeople.
Salespeople going through the motions will gradually lose
their edge and become less effective. Salespeople going
through the motions will not make great cold calls, nor
will they run strong sales meetings nor make powerful
presentations.
Sales training tip: Salespeople who are going through the
motions usually think they're ok but they're usually wrong.
Salespeople going through the motions often have a nasty
shock coming.
Let's look at why solving this inability to deal with
repetition is essential not only for your sales perfornance
and sales results but also for your long-term personal and
financial success...
Firstly, as Anthony Robbins says, "repetition is the mother
of skill". The more you do of something, the better you get
at it. Period. As a sales superstar in training you want to
sweat the basic stuff.
How well you plan and prepare matters. How you conduct
yourself matters. How you formulate your conversations
matters. How you present your solutions matters. In today's
YouTube generation many people want to be titillated and
amused on a minute-to-minute basis and do not have the
stickability, the perseverance or the focus to really get
good at anything, particularly not the basic stuff.
If you want to make real money out of sales you need to
learn to focus so that you can repeat things over and over,
constantly improving and sharpening your winner's edge.
You're own mini-sales training programme if you like. Only
by doing this will you become a truly world class
salesperson. Only by doing this will you increase your
sales performance and your sales results. World-class cold
callers obliterate also-rans. World-class salespeople
outsell and outmanoeuvre also-rans. World-class negotiators
squash also-rans. World-class presenters destroy also-rans.
What's more, whatever your job, repetition is unavoidable.
Doctors see person after person after person with minor
ailment after minor ailment after minor ailment. Police
officers deal with drunks, drivers and burglaries time
after time after time. Firemen and women fight routine
small fire after routine small fire after routine small
fire.
By doing this they become expert at what they do. But what
if, instead of this, they all started going through the
motions? What could they miss? What disasters could befall
them and others? How culpable would they be?
What would you have to say if the fire crew attending your
house didn't get to your house as fast as you would have
liked because they thought it was going to be another
simple call?
I rest my case. Repetition is essential in any role.
Repetition is essential for skills development and
improvement. Repetition is essential to keep you sharp and
on the edge. Repetition is essential to increase your sales
performance and your sales results.
What does Tiger Woods do when things aren't going as well
as he would like? He goes back to practicing his basic
shots... over and over. What do top snooker players spend
hours and hours practicing? Basic pots and cue control,
that's what. What do pianists spend hours practicing? Basic
scales and more scales.
As a salesperson, like in any other role, if you want to be
world-class you need repetition. You need to sweat the
basic stuff. If you have a case of Repetititis, mild or
severe, then the only cure is to deal with it now...
Next time you find yourself repeating daily tasks keep your
focus on how you can improve. Ask yourself some good old
sales training questions like, "How could I be more
effective?", "How can I improve my sales performance?",
"How can I increase my sales results?" and "What can I
learn here?"
Once you get over Repetitis you will be amazed by how much
you can increase your sales performance and sales results
with simple stuff that you might until now have thought of
as "boring".
One way of improving rapidly is to create your own sales
training and development programme focusing on core sales
skills, techniques and practises ...
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