How to
Manage a
Security
Sales
Organization
Lou Sepulveda
How to Manage a Security sales organization
Copyright © 2011 Lou Sepulveda. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or retransmitted in any form or by any means without the written permission of the publisher.
Published in eBook format by eBookIt.com
ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-0334-2
Foreword
You’re now holding it in your hands the composite of more than forty years of personal experience in direct marketing and sales management. Lou Sepulveda has mastered the art of sales, and more importantly, sales training in How to Manage a Security Sales Organization.
When it comes to building a world-class organization, I’m not aware of anyone who has achieved more. Lou has brought sales people together from over thirty countries and organized them into one of the most successful sales organizations in the world. Now he is sharing that knowledge and experience to help others succeed in How to Manage a Security Sales Organization.
How to Manage a Security Sales Organization is for anyone who is seeking to build a new and successful sales team or is looking for a few good ideas for the team they already have. It gives you all you need to achieve the results you desire through a step by step method, and will enable you to develop and run your sales team from start to finish. There is no doubt in my mind that anyone who follows Lou’s advice will gain the awareness to build a successful organization.
Each chapter serves as a resource guide, helping you to stay on track as you grow your team. The treasures within the pages of this book will boost your confidence and increase your awareness. You will find yourself picking up this book often and applying the knowledge you have learned.
I only wish I had been able to read this book earlier in my career; it would have saved me from years of hard knocks.
As you begin to read each chapter, open your mind up to the ideas that Lou teaches and ask yourself these two simple questions: What am I learning from this chapter? And how can I teach this to my sales crew?
Be sure to share this powerful book with your colleagues; they will be grateful that you did.
Mark Wilson
Author, Closers Get Paid
1. Are Salespeople Born or Made?
We have all heard it said that so-and-so is a “born salesperson”—as if to imply that he or she was born with a God-given talent for sales in the same way that some people are born with musical or artistic gifts. However, when it comes to selling, my experience tells me something entirely different. I don’t believe people are born with sales skills or a “selling personality”; instead, they are developed into successful salespeople by their managers or the other salespeople they associate with.
In 1966, after completing almost five years in the U.S. Navy, I went looking for a job. I had little experience in anything not related to shipboard work. I had delivered newspapers as a young boy, but that was pretty much it. So with no resume and only the desire and need to work, I applied for a variety of jobs.
Interview after interview I was turned away for lack of experience. It was frustrating to say the least. Company after company, recruiter after recruiter told me I should apply for a job for which I had experience. And over and over again I asked the simple question, how does one get experience if no one will hire them until they have experience? It seemed I was going in circles and getting nowhere fast … until the day I read a local help-wanted ad that changed my life. The ad read as follows:
Men wanted to move stock from warehouse.
No experience necessary.
Apply in person Monday between 8 am and 9 am.
$500 per month guaranteed.
1234 Claiborne Ave, suite 4
The next day, at least an hour before I was supposed to arrive, I showed up at the address given in the ad. To my surprise I found thirty or more other applicants waiting to be interviewed. We looked like those people who stand in line for hours to get concert tickets.
As each applicant arrived, the receptionist gave them an application to fill out as well as a test to take—a psychological aptitude test, I later learned. They ushered us into a meeting room set up classroom-style to complete our applications and tests.
To this day I can still remember what I was feeling as I looked at all of the other people vying for the position. I felt the competition. I felt slightly intimidated. I worried about my chances to secure the job when so many others were also applying. I found myself sizing up my fellow competitors, comparing myself to them. I had no basis for comparison other than the toughness I’d developed in the streets and during my years in the Navy. However, I felt I needed to do something, say something—anything—to the recruiter in order to position myself at the top of the selection process. I badly needed this job and I was scared.
Much to my surprise, a few of the applicants left the room early and didn’t return. I couldn’t understand why, but I was happy they left and secretly wished everyone else would do the same, because then the job would surely be mine.
After what felt like an eternity, a well-dressed man entered the room and walked to the front. He didn’t say anything at first; he just slowly looked around the room, his eyes resting on each one of us and then moving on to the next person. Finally he welcomed us all to the meeting. He apologized for having to gather us all together like this but, since there were so many applicants and only a couple of positions to fill, he wanted to first introduce his company to us. Then he would take the time to interview those applicants that he felt could qualify and who wanted to be considered for the position. He asked us if we thought this plan was fair.
Hearing no dissenters he began. He started by telling us how long his company had been in business, and how many branches there were across the United States. Basically, he explained, there were branches in every major city, and a few minor ones, in the United States. He further explained that he too had sat in a room very much like this one many years ago, applying for the job he eventually got, and that many years later, here he was, in charge—the boss. He said he understood what many of us were thinking because he too had many of the same thoughts and fears when he was in our shoes.
He continued by saying that some of us were destined to be successful. As he looked around again at each of us he said, “Some of you will make it big in life, earning the kind of money only doctors and lawyers usually earn. Some of you are destined to be great.”
“However,” he continued, “some of you, unfortunately, are destined to lead mediocre lives, just getting by, barely making a living. Some of you will live your lives helping make those of us destined to be great more comfortable. And that’s OK, because someone has to fill those jobs. Someone has to wait tables. Someone has to wash dishes. Someone has to clean our streets. And someone has to pick up our garbage. And you know which one you are. Deep down inside of each of you is the realization that you will be an achiever or not. Deep down inside you know who you are, and what role you are destined to fill.”
As he talked about success and failure, I was telling myself that I was the one who would be the achiever. I was the one who would be great. I wouldn’t be the one picking up garbage for a living.
After a few more minutes he said that we would take a short break. “We are doing this to give