Smaller goals, bigger rewards
Website design By BotEap.comI was lucky to get the job of my dreams. No, I am not a doctor or a lawyer. And no, I’m not a NASA pilot. I am a sales executive for Alpine Aromatics, a fragrance manufacturing company located in Piscataway, New Jersey. After struggling to break into the sales field, I learned that the responsibilities involved would be greater than expected. to fight my way back to the hill I thought I had already conquered.
Website design By BotEap.comI realized that once I “let go” and was given the GIFT of being able to set my own work hours and work from home, I was not blessed…I was cursed. For those of you who are “cursed” by the home office, you know exactly what I mean. Weeks went by, sales failed. Months passed… the numbers were flat. After hearing objection after objection from the R&D manager, purchasing agent, or operations manager, I decided to reevaluate my sales calls and GOALS. It didn’t take long before I realized I was SELLING TOO MUCH and not listening enough. In fact, I’ve found that fewer sales lead to more callbacks and sample requests. Initially, my goals were to try to close the sale quickly and move on to the next one.
Website design By BotEap.comThat way of selling may generate a sale here and there, but it won’t pave the way for continued success. It’s just a way to get a quick and usually “one time” fee for the service. I found that creating small goals had opened the door to more appointments and more sales overall. Little goals like: finding the right contact, getting those extra 3 minutes with the secretary (if she’s good enough) who answers the phone, providing useful market information over the phone, or just running 2 sample requests a day, took me up a few notches on the totem pole that had originally taunted me for my first 8 months hitting the pavement.
Website design By BotEap.comSo far I have read many books by Zig Ziglar, Frank J. Rumbauskas Jr. (the reason I am writing this article), Jeffrey Gitomer, Tom Hopkins and others… and it has only helped improve my thinking. Listening to audio tapes and flipping through self-help books won’t make you sell better… they’ll help with alternative thinking and information processing. Plus, it’ll open your eyes to selling points you may never have known existed! Without writing the longest article of the week, I’ll just say that if you want to improve your sales process, set small ACHIEVEABLE goals. Most importantly… HELP YOUR CUSTOMERS. The best way to help your customers is to be honest, loyal and consistent. If you say you’re going to do something… DO IT. Well, I guess that completes my goal for the night. See what I mean?