The Selling Newsletter
The Selling Newsletter
from Best@Selling
A free monthly newsletter of ideas to help make your selling easier.
Selling is the easiest job in the world…Just ask anyone who is NOT in sales! Best wishes for YOUR successful selling—Maura
This issue contains:
The Selling Quote for the Month
Upcoming Programs
The Selling Ideas for the Month
Action Items
Selling Tips
To Subscribe to the Selling Newsletter
Need an article for your newsletter?
About Maura Schreier-Fleming
Contact Information
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The Selling Quote for the Month
“All human wisdom is summed up in two words – wait and hope.”
Alexandre Dumas, writer
What Dumas says is especially relevant to salespeople as this selling year comes to a close. Did you make your sales goals this year? Congratulations. Was this year not so spectacular for you? Then you just have to wait until next year begins so you can make a new start and hope that when you try new strategies or improve your skills that you will be more successful. Waiting and hoping are such therapeutic actions, especially for salespeople. I do hope your year was successful. If not, plan some new strategies to implement next year. I hope these Selling Newsletters have given you some ideas to try in your business. Then all you have to do is wait and hope.
Best wishes during this holiday season for much joy and success.
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Sales Programs
Does your trade association or company have a meeting planned? Have Maura speak on selling and business skills and strategies at your conference so you can sell more this year.
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I’m not a guest columnist for the Dallas Business Journal. My column is called “Customer Connections.” I’ll be answering readers’ questions about selling. Do you have any selling questions? Send them to info@bestatselling.com
What’s sales tip has helped you be even more successful in sales?
Send your helpful tip to tip@bestatselling.com
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Winter Public Programs
When : January 19, January 26, February 2,
February 9
11.30 AM- 1:30 PM
Where: Small Business Development Center
4800 West Park Blvd.
Plano, TX
What: Master Selling Series for Sales and Business Professionals
For more information: 972-985-3749 or
972-985-3758
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When : Tuesday, January 30
6.30 AM- 9:30 PM
Where: SMU Main Campus
What: Secrets of Persuasion: The Art of Influence
Have you noticed that some people are easy to work with and others are much more difficult? Learn the keys to successfully influencing colleagues and customers, increase job satisfaction, and predict who will be most difficult to work with-and learn the tools to disarm them ad get what you need to succeed in this powerful seminar on the “clues” of persuasion! In this practical workshop discover the art of persuasion-and become more effective in your work environment.
For more information: mailto:smuthink@smu.edu?subject=Persuasion Program
Phone: 214-768-9035
Fax: 214-768-1071
continuingstudies.smu.edu
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When : February 16
11.30 AM- 1:30 PM
Where: Small Business Development Center
4800 West Park Blvd.
Plano, TX
What: Secrets of Persuasion
For more information: 972-985-3749 or
972-985-3758
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When : March 23
11.30 AM- 1:30 PM
Where: Small Business Development Center
4800 West Park Blvd.
Plano, TX
What: Serious Creativity: New Ideas that Work for Business
For more information: 972-985-3749 or
972-985-3758
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The Selling Ideas for this Month
Selling is the Easiest Job In The World
Selling is the easiest job in the world. Just ask anyone who is not in sales. For some of you, despite the difficulties, your efforts produced great results and you are planning to celebrate your accomplishments. Others are celebrating simply because the year is over. As your year winds down, whether you sold as much as you planned or missed the mark, year end gives you time to reflect on what you’ve done. You may think there’s nothing to celebrate if you missed the mark. You’re wrong. There is.
Give yourself some credit. This is not meant for you if you did absolutely nothing this year. Luck is a part of selling, but work is a much bigger part that’s more likely to predict success. This message is for you if you’ve made your goals every year and this year you fell short. If you’ve worked hard and missed the mark, there is something to be proud of. Look back at your work. What did go well? What did you learn? What are you proud of? Maybe you didn’t reach the total number of sales you wanted. Perhaps you retained many customers. You could have persistently worked at reaching an account and are in the process of developing it for sales next year. Maybe you executed a strategy only to find out that it wasn’t the best. You won’t continue implementing it and will change course next year. These are certainly things that you can look back on and recognize as valuable contributions. Examine your work this year. Find your successes. You did accomplish something this year.
Take a good look. In sales, especially, it’s hard to look back at a year when you missed achieving your goals. You must though, if only to decide how you’re going to proceed differently next year. Use this year’s results to calibrate or redefine your efforts for next year. Is there someone you trust who you can talk with and examine what didn’t work and why? If you’re fortunate to have a great manager, that’s where you should start. If not, speak with a trusted sales peer. They understand the questions to ask: Was it too few calls you made that caused the shortfall? Was it calling on prospects who weren’t ideal customers? Did your turnover rate from prospects to customers fall short because customer needs were poorly identified? Use the answers you uncover to plan for next year and do something different.
Don’t play the blame game. Avoid wallowing in your feelings and blaming yourself. You might even find it helpful to talk to other salespeople who have reached their goals. Be selective about whom you speak with though. Some salespeople are known to exaggerate their accomplishments. (Don’t tell anyone I said this!) You may have to filter what you hear. You might have to divide the results you hear by two or three to get the true picture. Take the kernels of truth and learn from others and make your plans for next year. Comparing yourself to others is counterproductive. That must stop. That practice is unproductive at best and harmful at worst. If you find yourself doing it, stop it.
Ernest Hemingway was right. He said, “Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with what there is.” It’s the season to celebrate. Celebrate what you did accomplish this year and what you learned. Celebrate the good fortune that you are in sales. Soon you’ll get a fresh start to begin your sales journey again next year.
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Action Items
1. What worked well for you this year? How did you do it?
2. What will you do differently next year? How will you prepare and then do it differently?
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Selling Tip
Get more selling tips from Maura’s ebook: 97 Ways to Sell More Now E-Book
https://www.bestatselling.com/selling_tools.htm#5
From Maura’s ebook: 97 Ways to Sell More Now E-Book
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Looking for new strategies to improve your persuasion skills? This easy to apply Audio CD will give you many new ideas to easily improve your persuasion skills so you can sell more and close business faster.
https://cl.exct.net/?ffcb10-fe6012767c6404797116-fe26157070620c78711d73-ff281d70706d
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I’m always looking for success stories and other tips from sales professionals. Please feel free to email me at https://us.f823.mail.yahoo.com/ym/
Compose?To=info@bestatselling.com with ideas that have worked for you.
If you want to build customer relationships for long-term business, you can easily do it using Exacttarget (https://cl.exct.net/?ffcb10-fe5f12767c6404797117-fe26157070620c78711d73-ff281d70706d) and their CANSPAM compliant broadcast services.
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To Subscribe to the Selling Newsletter
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Need an Article for Your Newsletter?
Articles from this newsletter may be used in your free publications or posted on your web when given the following credit:
Written by Maura Schreier-Fleming, Best@Selling (www.BestatSelling.com). Maura works with business and sales professionals who want to sell more and be more productive at work. She is the author of Real-World Selling for Out-of-this-World Results.
For free articles, selling ideas and morale boosters
visit https://www.BestatSelling.com
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About Maura Schreier-Fleming
Invite Maura to speak at your next conference or sales meeting! Contact: info@bestatselling.com
Maura Schreier-Fleming works with business and sales professionals to make it easier to sell more and be more productive at work. Her Best@Selling clients want to create long-term client relationships. They include Fujitsu, Fannie Mae and Dr Pepper/7UP. She has an M.S. in Textile Engineering from Georgia Tech and was Mobil Oil’s first female lubrication engineer in the U.S. With over 20 years of sales experience, she teaches the art and science of selling with a unique hands-on perspective and a great deal of real-life insight. She is the author of Real-World Selling for Out-of-this-World Results (a book filled with ideas to make selling easier and more productive. Her business column ‘Selling Strategies’ appears in the Insurance Record magazine and her column ‘Street Talk’ appears in Jobbers World. You can contact her for seminars at company or trade association meetings at 972 380 0200 or info@BestatSelling.com
Privacy: At Best@Selling we take privacy issues very seriously. Your information remains with us and will never be sold, shared, or distributed in any manner, for any reason.
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Contact Information
1. Our Web site: https://www.BestatSelling.com
2. E-mail: info@bestatselling.com
3. Call: In Dallas 972 380 0200
4. Write us:
6757 Arapaho Rd., Suite 711-183
Dallas, TX 752448
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(c) Copyright 2006 Maura Schreier-Fleming. All rights reserved
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