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Selling Smart: Doing the Right Things vs. Everything Right.

The best way to be lucky is to be smart. To this point, let’s expand upon the concept of doing the right things, versus doing everything right, as selling smart. Time and again I have seen the salesperson doing everything right, but for some reason they just weren’t successful. The subtle, yet big difference was they were not doing the ‘right things’.

I was reminded of doing the ‘right things’ during a sales process meeting with a label printing company. The owner of the company remarked that sometimes his sales staff skipped doing one ‘right thing’ or another.

For the most part, his people were doing everything right: good prospecting, follow up and eventually they got around to bidding. However, in their haste, the sales staff often ignored most important ‘right thing’: preparing a sample for their customers to see and hold.

“But you don’t understand” they pleaded, “The customer is all ready to go… all they need is a price.” Then POOF! Things went decidedly unlucky and obviously more than a price was needed to close the deal.

Dumb luck works too.

Unquestionably there’s always ample pressure on sales people to produce. It’s at these times we have to step back and give luck it due chance. Sometimes it’s just a matter of dumb luck. You know, when out of the blue you pursue that opportunity, you did the right things because the customer is allowing you to, and presto, the deal’s done.

Often it’s not as simple or as dumb as it appears. Likely you did all the right things. Be very alert to Customers that try to short change you doing the right things.

Hard luck stories.

There’s no shortage of hard luck stories. Everyone’s had a fair share of them. But when it comes to hard luck, maybe a bit of good luck can change your predicament. To get out of a hard luck spot, stop selling: Stop selling what isn’t selling that is.

Too often we get all hung up on a product or program and ignore what will sell, even if it is less glamorous or less profitable. The point here is if you’re on a lengthy dry streak, it’s unlikely your cadre of fine prospects can change your predicament unless you change. So the good luck part is when you finally give up on chasing rainbows and move on to what will sell.

Worst Luck Yet: You’ve got a lottery sales style.

The worst luck yet is when you blindly believe selling is a numbers game. In this case you will probably do everything right. You’ll make the calls, follow ups etc. Unfortunately, you won’t be doing the right things. It’s very much like a lottery: you throw your numbers in and hope you win. Improving you luck here is to think smarter. Besides, if you’re smart you won’t buy lottery tickets, but that’s a whole other matter.

Define what your very best customer looks like and stick to those. It’s usually an easily managed and finite number. Now that’s selling smart. Makes you lucky too!

MosaicCRM Experts Corner

Some simple process techniques to your CRM program can improve your luck many times over:

  • Define: At every stage of the sales process, define what has to occur e.g. Sample Sent
  • Set Activities: Include specific activity types that include the ‘must do’ right things
  • Profile: Scrub lists that match your ideal customer, competitive advantage and sales ability then ignore the rest
  • Track: Look at Closed Deal Analysis, Aging, Customer Retention and other parameters to tell you what is and is not selling

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Big $$$ in Unlucky Things.
Even though we seek luck, we are also reminded to avoid unlucky things. The whole Feng Shui craze is based on the unlucky ways we organize our lives. The list goes on: the number 13, broken mirrors, black cats, even being born under an unlucky star.

But alas, there’s no end to helping you find luck, for a price. There is a web site that promotes, for a fee, how to command more luck. I’m not making this up. They come complete with savvy lines like “Are you suffering from the illusion of lousy luck?” not to be outdone by “Exciting breakthrough for the terminally unlucky”. Maybe I should try my luck out selling this crap. They even promise a 55% commission. How lucky is that?

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Written by
Bill Noonan, CEO MosaicCRM

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