“Well, my young friend, I think you will be sold on the concept after today. Our group meets for two hours every other week. The first hour and fifteen minutes is spent brainstorming on two of the members’ projects or challenges. The last forty-five minutes is dedicated to a presentation given by one of our members so that we can all improve our skills and knowledge. You see, my group consists of professionals in multiple different expertise. We have three Corporate CEOs, three Sales Professionals who are at the top of the profession, the CFO of a Fortune 50 company, two retired professionals including me, and even a Grammy-winning musician. This eclectic group of professionals forms, in my opinion, the best of the best Mastermind Group."
After all the introductions were given, it was time to start the meeting. It was fantastic. The thought energy in that room was like nothing Jack had ever experienced. He felt as though these ten people could solve all the world's problems if given the chance... well, at least some of the world's challenges.
Digger, of course, served as the chairperson of the meeting. At promptly one hour and 15 minutes into the meeting, Digger stood up and introduced the presenter for the day. "Alright friends, we have the privilege of learning today from one of the top sales producers of all time. His background comes from the real estate world. He holds the record for more houses sold in history. For the last couple of decades, or is it three, Tom?" Digger said with a twinkle in his eye. "Tom Hopkins is the Sales Champions Champion. He is the master of fundamentals. And as we know, fundamentals win championships. I give you...Tom Hopkins."
Tom walked up to the lectern as his colleagues gave him a warm welcome of applause. Tom began to speak:
Welcome to the Highlights of the Perfect Sales Process. As you know, the profession of selling consists of two components - finding the people to sell to and then of course selling the people you find. Awhile back, I came home from a tour, and I walked in on my wife working on a jigsaw puzzle. This took me by surprise because I hadn't seen her do this before. Now, I eat, breathe, and sleep selling, so everywhere I can find an analogy, find something that I can teach to better impact the student with the message, then I am all for it. I began thinking about puzzles. Let me ask you a question. When you begin to put a jigsaw puzzle together, where do you start? That's right, on the outside on a flat line, and you begin from the outside and work towards the middle. Well, the selling process is the same way. There are eight pieces you put together, and the end result is the perfect sales process.
Keeping with our puzzle analogy, the first piece on the outside in a corner is called prospecting. Now, nothing will ever replace eyeball-to-eyeball or belly-to-belly contact, that will always be the best, but today I decided to talk about Activity in Different Areas. That is the first key to success in selling. Govern your entire life, not by productivity, which are sales, but by activities on a daily basis. Every day the number of quality activities you do, which are the contacts you make, will determine at the end of the month your success in the profession of selling. And so, I would like to talk about some types of prospecting that we really haven’t discussed before, and that is first of all what we call working the warm market. A warm market is your friends, relatives, associates, and people you have worked with on an existing job. For example, when you leave a job and go into selling, I recommend that you develop a letter that introduces your new career to them. It lets them know you have chosen selling as a profession and that you would like them to help you build your business.
Now, here is an excellent example of an introductory letter that you might try sending to all of the people you know in your warm market. You might start like this:
Good morning Bob,
It is with great excitement that I inform you about a career change that I have recently made. I have just joined ABC Company as a Sales Executive, and it is my pleasure to introduce our company and its products and services to people in the community. Because of our relationship, Bob, I look forward to serving you and anyone you know in the area with the benefits this outstanding company provides. I will be in touch in the next few weeks to set a time to drop by and visit to see how I may serve you in the future.
Sincerely,
Your Name
If you send that letter to everyone you know, they will be ready when you call and arrange time to come by and visit with them. This is a wonderful way to start the process of activity and talking to more people about your product or service.
Many of you also will be assigned a territory where you are to go out into the community, meet businesses, and meet people working in the area, and you may want to establish a game plan for handling or sending an introductory letter to them. In fact, you might say something like this:
Good Morning Mr. Smith,
My name is Tom Hopkins, a representative of ABC Company. Upper management of my firm has given me an assignment....
Now I want you to notice the words I chose closely. By saying the words, “upper management has given me an assignment,” you are almost blaming the company for the fact that you have to make this contact, thus the person you are contacting will have empathy for you and be more open when you call to set the time to visit. Then, you continue with the letter:
They have asked that I contact companies in this area to conduct a quick, two-question survey to enhance our ability to give better service to the clients we intend to serve. Thank you in advance for your help. I will be calling you in the next few weeks to set a time when we can visit.
By sending that letter, you will be amazed at how much warmer they are when you call and introduce yourself and mention to them that you have to come by to ask those two quick survey questions.
Another challenge we have is getting past the receptionists and secretaries, or otherwise known as the gatekeepers. In to4day’s economy, gatekeepers are told with no uncertain terms to keep sales professionals like you and me away from the decision maker. The next time you run across a gatekeeper, I would love you to try this phraseology when you are attempting to get in to meet the decision maker. “Hello, my name is Tom Hopkins. I am in business in the community.” Now, do not give the name of your company when you are making this type of call. You would then say, “I am calling regarding your (and you would state what your product or service does for the company. I am calling regarding your business machines, your copiers, your insurance programs, your employee benefits, what ever). Who in your company is responsible for that?” But, and this is very important, do not wait for their answer. I would like you then to insert the words, “by the way, who am I speaking with please?” When the receptionist gives his or her name, use this name and say “thank you for your help.” You might even, if they do a very nice job on the phone, tell them what a nice job they do. Many receptionists and secretaries do not get a lot of recognition. I always tried to make anyone in any company that I was working with an ally by giving them recognition.
The second piece in the puzzle is called Original Contact. This is a process of meeting a person in such a way that something happens. It is the foundation of great selling, and remember, when you meet a person, you must radiate the goal of helping him/her want to like you, trust you, and want to listen to you. If you make that happen, you are on your way to great selling. Now, when you meet a person, there is a process called establishing rapport, which is fundamentally a way to get him/her to feel that you have something in common. Now, there are ways to do this. There are fundamentals. First of all, always use their name the way that they give it to you. Don’t change their name; that can offend some people. Work on good eye contact, look them in the eyes, and yes, when people first see you, they should see you as a happy person. Give them a nice smile. I have also found it successful if you can find a way to give a sincere compliment, such as complementing the loveliness of their home or their offices. You can also compliment the job they do with their services,