How To Make Your Business More Successful

In analyzing those salespeople who are successful year after year, we find significant consistencies in behavior and practice management. So, borrowing from Steven Covey, here are "7 Habits of Successful Salespeople".

1. The ONLY "A" priority is prospecting. Successful salespeople service accounts just like everyone else. They also have fires to put out and meetings to attend. But nothing gets in the way of consistent prospecting. You don't have to like prospecting, you just have to do it. If you learn to like prospecting, you will do more of it.

2. Don't look, act or sound like every other salesperson calling on the prospect. Create a unique approach - Don't just say that you are different. Put yourself in your prospect's place. Would you take your phone call and be responsive? If not, work on your strategy and script.

3. Successful prospectors understand that the purpose of a call is to set an appointment with a qualified candidate. Stop seeing anyone who will see you. Make sure the prospect qualifies to do business with you. Stop selling on the phone.

4. The quality of the phone call determines the quality of the appointment. Your goal is to identify on the phone if your prospect has a problem that you can solve. Establish that they would like to fix the problem. Even though the prospect identified a "problem" on the phone, the identified problem isn't the real problem. Ask questions about why the problem is a problem and how much the problem is costing them.

5. "Drill down" past the pain or problem indicators (symptoms). Here are a series of questions for you to use to get past the initial symptoms that a prospect will give you:
Tell me...

• How long has this been a problem?
• What have you done...?
• When you spoke with...?
• What has your current provider done to make this problem go away?
• What happens if you don't fix...?
• How much is it costing...?
• Is that a problem??Do you want to fix it?
• But not today?

6. Finally, know that prospects want to meet professionals through introductions, not cold calls, so always ask for introductions as your first prospecting strategy.

7. Always track your activity and look for ways to exponentially improve revenue by improving your techniques. You may be great at getting that first meeting but not great at uncovering real opportunities. If you track this, then you know this and you can get better at this step.

One final word about tracking and accountability. Imagine that all you had on your dashboard was an odometer. All the other gauges and informative digital readouts were gone. Eventually what would happen? Sooner or later the car will have a problem. Unless you are an ace mechanic you won't know what the problem is and you won't know how to fix it. The same is true of your business. If you aren't tracking critical data and you are only looking at production, one day you will find that your business is not working or growing. Take time to track and ultimately understand where you are failing and work on your weaknesses.

We know and you know, that prospecting is essential to your selling success. And you know that you can't consistently grow your business unless you consistently prospect. You can't count on market conditions or new products or low pricing to create opportunities. You must find prospects that fit your profile and qualify to do business with you.

So as you review the "7 Habits of Successful Salespeople", ask yourself which one is most important today and for the next 30 days. Commit yourself to changing one behavior or business practice that will dramatically impact your business.