New Sales Simplified Quotes

You can bring tremendous value to your business, your customers, and yourself by becoming proficient at bringing in new business.

Can you name one really successful person who has a negative outlook on life? I can’t.

namely, that we are there to find pain, potential problems we can solve, and opportunities we can help capture.

The truth is that there are no secret sales moves. There is no magic bullet. As badly as we all want one, it does not exist.

New business development success results from creating a sales dialogue, not perfecting a monologue.

Waiting is a key ingredient in the recipe for new business failure.

Stop talking about yourself and your company and begin leading with the issues, pains, problems, opportunities, and results that are important to your prospect.

Only salespeople that dedicate blocks of time on their calendar for prospecting activity consistently succeed at acquiring new business.

we are in a much better position when it was our own proactive sales work that created the opportunity for us to submit a proposal.

Lazy, complacent, excuse-making salespeople with a victim mentality lose. Period.

They Are Guilty of a Fake or Pitiful Phone Effort

Sales is about action, and analysis-paralysis is not a quality that tends to produce new business development success.

If you’re not excited about what you are selling, how in the world will you get a prospect interested?

Many salespeople fail to develop new business because they’re wandering aimlessly. Too often, they’re not locked in on a strategically selected, focused list of target customers or prospects.

Emotional quotient (EQ) is a measure of your emotional and social intelligence. It involves your ability to manage yourself, your emotions, your relationships, and people’s perceptions of you.

My dad continually reminded salespeople that their main job was to help the customer win. When you speak the account’s language and frame the sales story around what is most meaningful to the client, you stand out from the competition. Customers see you differently because the words you choose demonstrate a commitment to their success.

As I often say, “Sales is a verb.” The dictionary would argue otherwise, but experience shows that the most successful new business salespeople tend to be the most active salespeople. Good things happen when a talented salesperson with a potential solution gets in front of a prospective customer who looks and smells a lot like your other customers.

Salespeople are famous for lack of discipline and losing focus. They attempt to call on an account (once), but don’t get anywhere. Instead of sharpening their weapons and continuing to attack the same strategically selected targets, they turn and pursue a new set of prospects. This constant change of direction becomes their death knell because they never gain traction against the defined target set.

  Our Sales Story. The story is foundational to everything we do in sales, and we use bits and pieces of it in all of our weapons. By “story” I’m referring to the language or talking points we use when asked what we do or when we tell someone about our business. It’s so critical to our success that the next two chapters are dedicated to helping you create and implement a succinct, powerful, differentiating, customer-focused story.

OPTIONS FOR REDUCING While thrift stores such as Goodwill or the Salvation Army can be a convenient way to initially let go, many other outlets exist and are often more appropriate for usable items. Here are some examples: • Amazon.com • Antiques shops • Auction houses • Churches • Consignment shops (quality items) • Craigslist.org (large items, moving boxes, free items) • Crossroads Trading Co. (trendy clothes) • Diggerslist.com (home improvement) • Dress for Success (workplace attire) • Ebay.com (small items of value) • Flea markets • Food banks (food) • Freecycle.org (free items) • Friends • Garage and yard sales • Habitat for Humanity (building materials, furniture, and/or appliances) • Homeless and women’s shelters • Laundromats (magazines and laundry supplies) • Library (books, CDs and DVDs) • Local SPCA (towels and sheets) • Nurseries and preschools (blankets, toys) • Operation Christmas Child (new items in a shoe box) • Optometrists (eyeglasses) • Regifting • Rummage sales for a cause • Salvage yards (building materials) • Schools (art supplies, magazines, dishes to eliminate class party disposables) • Tool co-ops (tools) • Waiting rooms (magazines) • Your curb with a “Free” sign

How I Turned a Troubled Company into a Personal Fortune. How to ________ This is a simple, straightforward headline structure that works with any desirable benefit. “How to” are two of the most powerful words you can use in a headline. Examples: How to Collect from Social Security at Any Age. How to Win Friends and Influence People. How to Improve Telemarketers' Productivity — for Just $19.95. Secrets Of ________ The word secrets works well in headlines. Examples: Secrets of a Madison Ave. Maverick — “Contrarian Advertising.” Secrets of Four Champion Golfers. Thousands (Hundreds, Millions) Now ________ Even Though They ________ This is a “plural” version of the very first structure demonstrated in this collection of winning headlines. Examples: Thousands Now Play Even Though They Have “Clumsy Fingers.” Two Million People Owe Their Health to This Idea Even Though They Laughed at It. 138,000 Members of Your Profession Receive a Check from Us Every Month Even Though They Once Threw This Letter into the Wastebasket Warning: ________ Warning is a powerful, attention-getting word and can usually work for a headline tied to any sales letter using a problem-solution copy theme. Examples: Warning: Two-Thirds of the Middle Managers in Your Industry Will Lose Their Jobs in the Next 36 Months. Warning: Your “Corporate Shield” May Be Made of Tissue Paper — 9 Ways You Can Be Held Personally Liable for Your Business's Debts, Losses, or Lawsuits Give Me ________ and I'll ________ This structure simplifies the gist of any sales message: a promise. It truly telegraphs your offer, and if your offer is clear and good, this may be your best strategy. Examples: Give Me 5 Days and I'll Give You a Magnetic Personality. Give Me Just 1 Hour a Day and I'll Have You Speaking French Like “Pierre” in 1 Month. Give Me a Chance to Ask Seven Questions and I'll Prove You Are Wasting a Small Fortune on Your Advertising. ________ ways to ________ This is just the “how to” headline enhanced with an intriguing specific number. Examples: 101 Ways to Increase New Patient Flow. 17 Ways to Slash Your Equipment Maintenance Costs. Many of these example headlines are classics from very successful books, advertisements, sales letters, and brochures, obtained from a number of research sources. Some are from my own sales letters. Some were created for this book.

the elevator pitch and the value proposition, two annoyingly overused expressions that mean different things to different people. Last time I checked, there was not a whole lot of business being transacted in elevators.

Our reason for existence The direction the company is headed and why it’s the correct course What we sell and why we sell it Which markets to pursue and where we are positioned in those markets The competitive landscape and how we stack up against competitive offerings, and why we’re better or different Why our pricing model is appropriate for the value we create in the markets we’re pursuing and against the competition we’re facing

two critical questions to get a very fast snapshot of how effective this particular salesperson is: 1. Can you name for me the new opportunities that are in your pipeline today that were not here when we met last month? In other words, can you tell me what fresh opportunities you have identified or created in the past month? 2. Can you name for me the existing opportunities that you moved forward in the sales process since we reviewed your pipeline together last month?

Jill Konrath’s incredible book SNAP Selling: Speed up Sales and Win More Business with Today’s Frazzled Customers)

The hybrid hunter-farmer sales role is the model that dominates small and mid-size companies. I understand that there’s no easy solution. If there was, we’d all be implementing it. But I want to be very clear here: This single issue is hurting new business development sales more than any other issue today.

Along with yourself, who else really cares about this issue? (That is by far the best way to ask about other influencers and your contact’s decision-making authority without it coming off as an insult.

I understand conditions may not be all rosy and that some sales cultures are not ideal. Regardless, your job is to bring your A-game every day. This is not accounting. We can’t just show up and do our jobs well regardless of how miserable we are. Salespeople just going through the motions can’t possibly operate at peak output. If it’s that bad, find another job. Believe me, if you can sell, there are plenty of companies that would love to have you. If it isn’t that bad, engage your heart and bring a winning attitude to the team and the rest of the company.

The Math Works; Work the Math I don’t win many popularity contests with this proclamation. We have all heard it before. Sales is a numbers game. I dislike hearing that as much as the next guy. It isn’t complimentary; it doesn’t make us feel smart or important. I get that. But it doesn’t make the statement any less true: The math works.

Actually, the true worst-case is when we’re stuck responding to a request for proposal (RFP) that our competitor helped the prospect write! That has happened to me and, believe me, it’s no fun playing against a stacked deck.

The other consequence of not having a well-constructed plan is that the salesperson ends up talking way too much. Imagine that. A salesperson talking too much. Sales

One of the young stars in the room yelled out that he had a better name for it. He called it the “spray and pray” approach. The salesperson goes first and just sprays out everything he can to the prospect. Then he prays he hit on something relevant. Perfect.

But for some reason, salespeople are excited to go in and get naked without knowing any of the rules.

Many of us in sales have a hard time focusing. Isn’t that part of the reason we ended up in sales in the first place?

Stop talking about yourself and your company and begin leading with the issues, pains, problems, opportunities, and results that are important to your prospect. Let

Without a clearly structured plan or agenda, control usually defaults to the prospect. The buyer ends up directing the path of the conversation and it’s no longer the salesperson’s call, even though it was initiated by the salesperson.

Asking for the other person’s thoughts relieves the pressure that traditional closing techniques create.

We can always scale our way back down the ladder, but it’s very dangerous going over the head of people who believe they had the right and authority to tell us no.

many in sales fail because they fall flat on their face when attempting to conduct the initial face-to-face meeting.

Sales calls are ineffective because the salesperson often forgets the purpose of the meeting; namely, that we are there to find pain, potential problems we can solve, and opportunities we can help capture. Many salespeople regularly confuse “presenting” with “selling.

don’t ask enough good questions.

Even when they do attempt to probe, salespeople tend not to listen to the answers! Time and time again I’ve seen buyers attempt to guide or provide clues to the salesperson. Usually too busy presenting to notice, the salesperson runs right by these clues. I’ve even seen buyers attempt to stop and redirect the salesperson toward a more relevant topic, only to have the salesperson interrupt or talk over the prospect. Really.

They Love to Babysit Their Existing Accounts

It’s New Sales where most people need the help, not managing existing relationships.

They Are Busy Being Good Corporate Citizens

I can confidently write that it’s rarely the person voted “most pleasant, selfless member of the team” who thrives at acquiring new business.

the nicest person frequently underperforms.

People who have a difficult time saying “no” or delegating work to others tend to push new business development efforts to the bottom of their list.

Top-performing salespeople tend to be productively selfish with their time. They have no trouble abruptly ending a conversation with a time-wasting associate. When the top sales hunter finds the copy machine jammed, he doesn’t open the cabinet and start reading the maze of directions. He kicks the copier door and yells for someone to get the damn thing unjammed because he has a major proposal to get out today.

Tell me about your last conversation with the account,” my manager would say. Then he would run through the drill: “Who are we meeting with? Describe each person’s behavioral style. What is important to each person attending this sales call? Why do they think we are here today? What is going on in their business that I need to know about? What is your main objective today? What is a ‘win’ for us walking out of here? Tell me your plan for the call. How are you going to handle introducing our new offering? What role would you like me to play? Where are we vulnerable? What is our Achilles’ heel? Which competitors are involved here? Who is more entrenched? How do you like my tie? I wore it just to help you close this sale today. Don’t forget your breath mints. May the force be with you.

How did you think you handled yourself? What would you do differently next time? Did you catch their reaction and the painful flinch when you asked that third probing question about the consequences of not making a change? That was brilliant, by the way. I love how you kept digging even though you had opened the wound and knew we had the perfect solution for their issue. Why do you think I jumped in at point X, and what was I trying to accomplish when I said Y and Z? Now tell me your plan for following up, and what kind of help do you need with the proposal.

There are too many salespeople who are more proficient at entering tasks into Salesforce.com than they are at executing the basics, like telephoning a prospect to secure a meeting. Unfortunately, much of the blame rests with sales managers who are more concerned that their people keep the CRM system updated than they are with whether they can effectively sell.

I regularly see good people who excel at many aspects of selling (relationship management, customer service, problem solving, or client retention) dramatically underperform when it comes to acquiring net new business.

They Haven’t Had To or Don’t Know How

Many people in sales have never been forced to find new business. Taking care of existing customers has consistently been a reliable way to grow revenue. In good times, there was plenty of demand, and as long as we met the needs of existing customers and maintained a solid relationship we picked up business and everyone was happy.

They Can’t Conduct an Effective Sales Call

When I hear salespeople talk about a “presentation,” I’ve learned to ask a series of questions: What type of discovery work have we done? To whom are we presenting, and what do we know about them? Why are we being asked to present? Disappointingly, the response I regularly get is that the prospect has asked the sales group to present a capabilities overview and we agreed to do it. We haven’t done any sales work up to this point and cannot answer the questions I asked. But for some reason, salespeople are excited to go in and get naked without knowing any of the rules. That’s an example of defaulting to the buyer’s process.

I strategically selected about thirty key prospects and went to work. Telephone. Mailings. Samples. More telephone. Meetings with engineers, designers, plant managers.

decide which target prospects to pursue and build a book of business from scratch.

Top performers in sales don’t wait for anything or anyone. Clear marching orders, new sales materials, training? Leads, what’s a lead? Nope, can’t wait for any of those. The clock is a tickin’ and time is a wastin’. Top performers act. In fact, they proactively attack target accounts even if it means getting into trouble because they’re so far out in front of the support curve. Waiting is a key ingredient in the recipe for new business failure.

Prisoners of hope describes salespeople who have, for the most part, stopped working the sales process and ceased pursuing new opportunities because they are so hopeful the precious few deals in their pipeline are going to close. They spend (waste) most of their time talking about, worrying about, wondering about, that good-size contract that was predicted to close last month but didn’t. Instead of doing the wise and responsible thing—spreading their effort across target accounts and opportunities in various stages of the sales cycle—they lock up, becoming prisoners to deals in the pipeline that are now getting stale and starting to grow mold.

Salespeople fail to attract new customers because beyond being self-focused, they’re long-winded and their message is often confusing. Many salespeople don’t invest the energy to sharpen their story, but instead serve up a pitch that neither differentiates from the competition nor compels the buyer to act.

The pitiful effort comes from salespeople who actually make their calls, but are so nervous and uncomfortable that they’re completely ineffective. Lack of confidence ruins their mental state and their voice tone. They sound like, forgive the pun, they’re just phoning it in, dialing away making calls so that they can say they did it.

People buy from people they like.

They Don’t Own Their Sales Process

Salespeople who don’t have a clear mental picture of the “path to a sale” or can’t articulate their sales process usually struggle to acquire new pieces of business.

My practice keeps me engaged with salespeople in a wide variety of businesses and I’m increasingly concerned by a disturbing trend: It seems fewer and fewer people who make a living in sales have a working knowledge of how to prospect for new business.

People and companies have needs. Those of us with sales responsibility represent businesses with potential solutions to those needs. Sometimes those people or companies with needs are already customers. There’s also an entire universe of prospective customers with whom we’ve never done business. These “prospects” have needs, too.

used an industry directory to identify additional prospects

I put together a sales plan to go out and attack the market.

I visited with every customer it made sense to see. I sought to discover what they liked and disliked about their current situation and suppliers, and tried to position my company as a better partner that was easier to work with, more flexible, and more eager to meet their needs. I asked lots of questions, toured their facilities, and talked about improvements to our product and ways we were willing to customize our service. It didn’t take long to learn that it was a lot more fun calling on business owners and senior executives than purchasing agents,

When planning sales trips to see current customers, I dedicated time to call and visit with prospects

bring value and help solve business issues,

Tom Reilly, a fantastic sales trainer and author of the helpful book Value-Added Selling.

Can you name one really successful person who has a negative outlook on life?

Picking up the phone to call prospects tends to be a key delineator between legitimate new business salespeople and posers.

presenting is not the same thing as selling.

The best intentions, target account lists, and powerful sales weapons are useless if we never launch the attack.

Many people in sales are struggling as inbound demand for their services has declined, and those without a reliable process to develop new business are in a world of hurt.

Salespeople who are not proactively working a finite list of target accounts often find themselves in situations where they are late or last to an opportunity.

When we’re late to the party, we’re stuck reacting to, rather than leading, our prospects. Their initial opinions may be already formed. They’ve probably begun to define their evaluation process. Instead of being perceived as a value creator or problem solver, we’re now selling uphill, and already being viewed only as a potential supplier or vendor (I hate that word).

They Have a Negative Attitude and Pessimistic Outlook

I’ve seen some horrific disconnects on sales calls. Rapid-fire, fast-talking, passion-driven salespeople calling on reserved, data-seeking technical buyers. Ouch! Sometimes salespeople fail to develop new business simply because they lack the perception or relational skills that allow them to adapt to the style of the person they’re calling.

They Don’t Use and Protect Their Calendar

Sales is simple. Those who attempt to make it sound complicated are either confused themselves or trying to confuse others by creating a smokescreen to hide their lame effort and poor results.

connect with these customers and prospective customers to determine if our solutions will meet their needs.

Undeterred, I set out to conquer the world.

When prisoners of hope are confronted about their lack of activity and overly optimistic projections, they usually respond in a nonchalant manner. I’ve even heard people say with a straight face, “I’m not worried. I’ll get a bluebird. A deal will fly in; I’ll get lucky and make my numbers. It always works out for me.” Friends, a few moldy deals, passivity, and luck are not a winning formula for developing new business.

the true worst-case is when we’re stuck responding to a request for proposal (RFP) that our competitor helped the prospect write!

people buy from people they like and trust. Part of our job is to ensure we are likable and trustworthy.

It was 1993. I had a midsize company car, a legal pad, some manila folders, and a calling card for pay phones. No Internet, no Google, no LinkedIn, no CRM, no e-mail, no mobile phone, and no fear.

They Can’t “Tell the Story

Even the best talent will have a hard time succeeding if their efforts are directed in the wrong direction.

They Are Not Likable, Don’t Adapt Their Style, or Have Low EQ

Another important component of likability and connecting with a prospect has to do with communication style. We are all different. Some of us move and speak fast while others are more deliberate. Some of us are loud and emotional, and those on the opposite end of the spectrum are more quiet and steady. There are driven, “get to the bottom line as fast as possible” types, and there are the analytical types who want to hear every detail and have the patience to listen.

It’s the rare salesperson that has a written business plan, and even rarer to find one whose business plan is dictating what goes on his calendar.

there is dire shortage of those who can create new opportunities through their own proactive sales effort. Many veteran salespeople are victims of their own past success and easier times, when they could make their numbers while operating in a reactive mode. Others were carried along by their company’s momentum and favorable economic conditions that created strong demand for their products or services. They never had to go out and find business.

Salespeople do not operate in a vacuum; there are often cultural and environmental issues beyond their control that severely hamper the opportunity to acquire new pieces of business.

experience shows that the most successful new business salespeople tend to be the most active salespeople.

Let me address one more significant factor detracting from new business development success today: a severe shortage of sales mentors.