You are not a sales consultant nor an agent. You: -assist people in saving money while going about the daily life ( rewards consultant) -ensure that families have financial stability when death occurs in the family ( funeral sales agent) -help proud motor vehicle owners keep their “babies” in show room condition (scratch and dent consultant) -make sure that vehicle owners are put back on their feet again after a traumatic incident to their vehicle (motor insurance consultant) -put money into your patients bank account after they stayed in hospital ( hospital cash sales agent) -ensure your clients carry on living a dignified life after they have been disabled (life cover consultant) How do you define yourself? The way you define what you do as a job/ career, will identify your purpose

What do I mean, start where the prospect is. Often a prospect has some prior experience with what you are selling; Sometimes they are already deep in a buying process, but with another salesperson. Or, it could be his misconception, incorrect perception or understanding that needs to be rectified. And, if not rectified can lead to fatal failure-no sale. Let's not forget about education, past mistakes or bad decisions. So don't forget to be sensitive to what the prospect says, does or how he acts. Ask questions, probe, analyze.

A gatekeeper is the person you see first, first person to pick up the phone and who needs to give you permission to see the decision maker. So to get past them on a phone call, you need to tell them who you are, where you are calling from and why you need to speak to them Gatekeepers are always willing to help if you respect their position and give them a good reason. Forget saying this is a business call, it's personal. You give them what they want and you will get what you want.

It is being sensitive to the other person's request, situation, needs, etc. And you reflect this is your response, solution, and answers.

Try artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence (AI) is here, and it's spectacular. (Sidenote: Did you know you can have pizza delivered by drone?) AI tools can identify patterns in your business, predict what will happen next, recommend best actions, and even automatically take care of some of them for you--perfect for time-strapped small businesses. Your customer service team, for example, can know when a customer is unhappy, before that customer speaks up, and send an offer or discount to head off an unhappy situation. Pretty amazing.

"The world of selling is often the exact opposite of the world of athletics. I fought in the ring for two years. As a matter of fact, the only reason I quit was my hands—the referee kept stepping on them! One of the first things the coach taught me when I got into the ring was, “Zig, find the opponent’s weakness and exploit it; find out where his defenses are weak and capitalize on them; take advantage of him.” In football, the quarterback is told to probe, to find out where the other team is weak and exploit that weakness. In athletic competition you look for the opponent’s weakness so you can exploit it. In the world of selling you look for the opponent’s (prospect’s) weakness (need) so you can strengthen it by selling him your goods or services. Yes, the sales process is something we do for the prospect and not to the prospect. Conclusion: If you are truly professional, you will seek every legitimate means for persuading the prospect to take action for his or her benefit." ― from "Secrets of Closing the Sale" Secrets of Closing the Sale by Zig Ziglar

I had a sales agent that overheard that we may be moving to another floor-again. Her response was ' man, all this moving, not good.' Hey, if I remember correctly, we only moved once. So what was this about? My response to her was 'what is a bigger concern in your life right now? Making commission or worrying about moving-again?' Well she kept silent, no response. It then made me come up with this thought: Sales people are choosey, but if they want to "Salespeople can do it anywhere"

Why Not Keep Customers Instead?   Ask anyone in business about their worst customer ever and they’ll be hard-pressed to tell you about just one. But ask them about their best customer ever and they’ll probably have to take time to think about it. It’s the old 80-20 rule in action; for most people, it’s the unpleasant, nasty or outrageous that sticks in the memory. The good bits blur. Which explains why, as business people, we sometimes forget the basic truth that our customers are our biggest supporters.   Improve Grammar In Your Essays & Avoid Plagiarism. It's Fast & Easy!   They want to think well of us (and our products and services). They want us to succeed. Many of them start dealing with us in the first place hoping to become repeat customers. It makes people’s lives so much easier if they can continue to deal with one butcher or one carpet cleaner. And all they want from us is for us to meet their expectations – which means not doing any of the things in the following slides. Learn how to get and keep customers by reviewing the top ways to lose them, in reverse order from ways that will merely aggravate some of your customers through ways that will alienate all of them forever  #10) Lose customers by: Engaging poorly trained staff.   Imagine that you walk into a store selling blinds, wanting to purchase some blinds for your home. But although several different sales people seem eager to assist you, none of them seem to know anything about blinds! Imagine how frustrating that would be – and how long it would take you to walk out and take your business elsewhere. Customers, you see, have an expectation that sales people at a business will be knowledgeable about that