A few months back I wrote a piece regarding ways to achieve business success; a topic I can never hear, learn or tell too much about.
I used excerpts from a remarkable book entitled "Use What You've Got & Other Business Lessons I Learned From My Mom" written by Barbara Corcoran, founder of the Corcoran Group. I figured she knew exactly what she was talking about seeing as how she took a $1,000 loan and ingeniously turned it into a billion dollar company, not bad for a girl who grew up on the rough side of the tracks in Jersey in a small home she shared with her parents and nine brothers and sisters. Not bad at all.
In a four part series of excerpts that details the ways in which great sales equal great business, Corcoran stresses the importance of great salespeople.
But how does one go about finding or cultivating these surreptitious beings?
The first step is to identify what makes a great seller in the first place. The qualities this person would possess, as I wrote in my previous column, are outlined in Corcoran's first plan: The Most Amazing, Extraordinary, and Distinguishing Characteristics of Great Salespeople.
Secondly, once you've identified a great salesperson, how do you help them continue to be great? The answer to that question is plan number two: The Ten Reliable, Verifiable, Absolutely Undeniable Rules for Great Salespeople.
So, you've found a wonderful salesperson, you know what needs to be done to ensure they remain wonderful. What's left to do?
The following excerpt is number three in Corcoran's four-part plan. Here she lays the groundwork for identifying goals for the distant future and how to achieve those goals.
Plan 3: How to Make a Road Map
I've never met a great salesperson who didn't have a plan. With a good plan, you'll have a long-term view of where you'd like to go and a specific way to get there.
A good business plan should match the way you think. There's a left-brain and a right-brain approach:
It's the Money, Honey! (The left-brain logical approach)
The first thing you have to do is decide how much money you want to make and then work your plan backwards. Let's say you want to earn $100,000 a year. Figure out what your average commission is like to be, let's use $6,000. Now, divide your desired earnings by the average commission and the answer is roughly eighteen sales a year, or 1, sales each month. Okay, what will you have to do to make 1, sales a month?
Paint a Pretty Picture (The right-brain visual approach)
This plan is for daydreamers. The first thing you do is visualize yourself as an incredibly successful salesperson. Where are you, what do you look like, what are you wearing and how do you feel? Fill in every detail and play that picture over and over again in your mind. This picture becomes your road map. Okay what will you have to do to make every detail of your picture come true?
How to Make Your Map:
1. Set aside a day in your calendar. Set aside now.
2. Pick a place away from your desk. Choose a place where you can't be interrupted. For me, the library has proven to be the best spot.
3. Organize your reference materials. Bring your calendar, a list of your past sales, your current customers and your leads. Also bring any business cards you've collected in the course of doing business.
4. Create a contact file. Now, make a list of your past customers and contacts (whether you've sold them anything or not) and put their names and addresses on mailing labels. Send something to them this week and every six months thereafter. What you mail is less important than that you mail.
5. Make a list of your individual strengths and weaknesses. Everyone has different skills and talents, and to capitalize on them you'll need to know yours. If you can't figure them out, ask for the opinion of people who know you.
6. Take a good look at your past sales. Identify where each of your customers actually came from and jot the source next to each name. With a clear picture of your best sources of business, you'll be in a better position to get more of it.
7. Figure out what your customers have in common. Salespeople become more successful once they've figured out who they sell best to. You'll probably discover that you sell best to people similar to you.
8. Rate your customers. Rating your customers is simply deciding who you should spend your time with…Don't be misled by customers with big budgets; they're often the biggest time wasters.
9. Make a "Not to do List." Figure out which past efforts amounted to nothing and label them your "Not to Do List." Post the list where you'll see it.
10. Expand on your best sources of businesses. With an understanding of your best sources of leads, you can play to your strengths. For example, if most of your leads are from social contacts, spend more time socializing.
11. Find three new ways to get more business. Design a marketplace report, create a personal newsletter, host a dinner party, produce a seminar, be a guest speaker, advertise your services, take a vacation, etc. Pick three.
12. Hire some help. If you feel overwhelmed, you need an assistant. And when you calculate how much you make by the hour, you won't hesitate to spend the money. An assistant can answer calls, schedule appointments, fax, file, email, research, create sales presentations and keep on top of your inventory. Picture your life with less responsibility for the minutiae.
13. Set aside your next planning day now. Schedule a day six months out.
I hope you're feeling as motivated as I am. Stay tuned for the last phase in creating business success.
I used excerpts from a remarkable book entitled "Use What You've Got & Other Business Lessons I Learned From My Mom" written by Barbara Corcoran, founder of the Corcoran Group. I figured she knew exactly what she was talking about seeing as how she took a $1,000 loan and ingeniously turned it into a billion dollar company, not bad for a girl who grew up on the rough side of the tracks in Jersey in a small home she shared with her parents and nine brothers and sisters. Not bad at all.
In a four part series of excerpts that details the ways in which great sales equal great business, Corcoran stresses the importance of great salespeople.
But how does one go about finding or cultivating these surreptitious beings?
The first step is to identify what makes a great seller in the first place. The qualities this person would possess, as I wrote in my previous column, are outlined in Corcoran's first plan: The Most Amazing, Extraordinary, and Distinguishing Characteristics of Great Salespeople.
Secondly, once you've identified a great salesperson, how do you help them continue to be great? The answer to that question is plan number two: The Ten Reliable, Verifiable, Absolutely Undeniable Rules for Great Salespeople.
So, you've found a wonderful salesperson, you know what needs to be done to ensure they remain wonderful. What's left to do?
The following excerpt is number three in Corcoran's four-part plan. Here she lays the groundwork for identifying goals for the distant future and how to achieve those goals.
Plan 3: How to Make a Road Map
I've never met a great salesperson who didn't have a plan. With a good plan, you'll have a long-term view of where you'd like to go and a specific way to get there.
A good business plan should match the way you think. There's a left-brain and a right-brain approach:
It's the Money, Honey! (The left-brain logical approach)
The first thing you have to do is decide how much money you want to make and then work your plan backwards. Let's say you want to earn $100,000 a year. Figure out what your average commission is like to be, let's use $6,000. Now, divide your desired earnings by the average commission and the answer is roughly eighteen sales a year, or 1, sales each month. Okay, what will you have to do to make 1, sales a month?
Paint a Pretty Picture (The right-brain visual approach)
This plan is for daydreamers. The first thing you do is visualize yourself as an incredibly successful salesperson. Where are you, what do you look like, what are you wearing and how do you feel? Fill in every detail and play that picture over and over again in your mind. This picture becomes your road map. Okay what will you have to do to make every detail of your picture come true?
How to Make Your Map:
1. Set aside a day in your calendar. Set aside now.
2. Pick a place away from your desk. Choose a place where you can't be interrupted. For me, the library has proven to be the best spot.
3. Organize your reference materials. Bring your calendar, a list of your past sales, your current customers and your leads. Also bring any business cards you've collected in the course of doing business.
4. Create a contact file. Now, make a list of your past customers and contacts (whether you've sold them anything or not) and put their names and addresses on mailing labels. Send something to them this week and every six months thereafter. What you mail is less important than that you mail.
5. Make a list of your individual strengths and weaknesses. Everyone has different skills and talents, and to capitalize on them you'll need to know yours. If you can't figure them out, ask for the opinion of people who know you.
6. Take a good look at your past sales. Identify where each of your customers actually came from and jot the source next to each name. With a clear picture of your best sources of business, you'll be in a better position to get more of it.
7. Figure out what your customers have in common. Salespeople become more successful once they've figured out who they sell best to. You'll probably discover that you sell best to people similar to you.
8. Rate your customers. Rating your customers is simply deciding who you should spend your time with…Don't be misled by customers with big budgets; they're often the biggest time wasters.
9. Make a "Not to do List." Figure out which past efforts amounted to nothing and label them your "Not to Do List." Post the list where you'll see it.
10. Expand on your best sources of businesses. With an understanding of your best sources of leads, you can play to your strengths. For example, if most of your leads are from social contacts, spend more time socializing.
11. Find three new ways to get more business. Design a marketplace report, create a personal newsletter, host a dinner party, produce a seminar, be a guest speaker, advertise your services, take a vacation, etc. Pick three.
12. Hire some help. If you feel overwhelmed, you need an assistant. And when you calculate how much you make by the hour, you won't hesitate to spend the money. An assistant can answer calls, schedule appointments, fax, file, email, research, create sales presentations and keep on top of your inventory. Picture your life with less responsibility for the minutiae.
13. Set aside your next planning day now. Schedule a day six months out.
I hope you're feeling as motivated as I am. Stay tuned for the last phase in creating business success.