Resilience in our Sales People.

Selling and Sales People go hand in hand ... correct?  Like so many other positions stress and its associated triggers also are right there too.  So, how does a sales person have the ability that enables them to adapt, therefore deal with stressful selling situations? Add to this the external disasters that good sales people are able to turn into a profitable situation for both client, the business they represent and their own bank balance.  Yet every one, in the three way situation, feels satisfied as they hold firm to the belief of a job well done!

The trick is that the sales person has learned to adapt a "roll with the punches " attitude.  The benefit is that by adapting to adversity the minor or major stress factors and life changes have less impact.

Lets start with the smaller practical factors with sales.

• Know who you are.
• Have belief in what you are selling.
• Expect the help you ask for to be given.
• Keep a tab on the follow ups.
• Do your paper work
• Present well, be courteous, mannered and leave with grace.

Now the slightly harder ones.

• Acknowledge that when you are selling there will be many who are not buying.  Simple fact. Live with it or do what you have been taught to do about it.
• When you cold call there will be many knock backs. Acknowledge there is a roller coaster ride to sales. Know that you are supported on the bad days, give out to others on these days to. Be part of a forward moving team. Celebrate both the good and bad achievements. 
• Rebalance and move on.
• Wow! Are they having a bad hair day or what?  Do not take their bad hair day on or it will follow you and your sales team around like a bad smell.

All these things bring about emotional changes and surprises. How you deal with these ups and downs, negatives, knock backs, frustrations, what your family members are doing [ or could be doing] may have been observed during your infancy and may even carry through into your selling period.  Note that the resilience you are looking for can and should be developed with a little effort.  Resilience is not resistance. Resilience is not a matter of blocking, out but of how you hold onto the challenge, grab a duster and flick away a few fears, then get on with the job of selling.

Knowing your product

People who lie or those spreading maliciousness gossip will get caught out.  With today's internet is there really anywhere you can hide once your credibility has vanished?

Yes. People will buy from positive and credible  people.  Anything negative will tend to make those you are talking to hurray away in haste.  But once you have lied or gossiped people stay away from you in droves. Think about it : If you have lied about one thing, or gossiped about another person or business what do they think you are going to do about them?  And you really want to sell something to them.  All I can say is keep at it you may be successful.

Here's what you do.

Should you find that there has been a slip up go back and correct it.  Your reputation may suffer for a while but do not do the same things twice.  Hand the sales opportunity over to someone else before you do this again. Your reputation is the only thing that counts when selling. It is your honesty and therefore your reputation that sells to the client.

There will be times that you are asked a question by the client, other times when you think that there is a product or service that may be just what the client needs. The client has outlined what they want, you have spent time listening, you know that time is money... effectively your money.  STOP right here.  Allow the customer to hear you out.  Make a follow up time so that you can find out further information with regard to what the customer wants.  Will it suit their needs expressed as it is , be tailor made for the clients needs? or even not suit at all.  Now YOU get back to the client and let them know.  Even arrange to bring in the expert in that field.

The reason is easy :-  T.R.U.S.T.

What time was that?

Were you late, barging in through a busy sales time, did you talk too long, waste to much time?

Waste time you loose the opportunity, waste time management skills and literally kill the opportunity of furthing that lead while nullifying the request for a referral. 

Courtesy, manners and politeness.

Little things that speak volumes. Once you are in sales your whole scope of activities are under review on and off the job. Any weakness within these will catch you unaware.  Your client will know even on a subconscious level that there was a weakness there.  

The wheel is round, it has no end.

When a fresh new person goes into a new employment area they are mentored. While that new person intermingles with people with more experience, various skills and knowledge basis levels, they are being directed into keeping that business on track within the businesses practices according to that business's charter. The new person has to allow themselves to be mentally probed, opened up, redirected and re-trained in order for that business to accept both themselves and their skills within that business inclusivly protective walls.  This said- what is experienced by the new person, that new person will do back to the business.   Each are looking for a level of safety, survival, security and longevity.

 There are many unknowns and "gray areas" for all to consider. As the new person settles in and works towards being accepted, many things implode on their comfort zones. Mentors provide a bridging gap between the business processes and internal social gap and the new employees knowledge base. When a gaping void between two benchmarks is discovered by the newer employee they become aware of yet another grey area to bring to the Mentors attention. As this discovery process is happening the new employee is shown how things are actually are, compared to how things should be. Seen with a different perspective the Mentor explains what the company is going to do about the tangible and intangible aspects that have created that said void. Does the company have policies, how are these policies implemented? Who needs to know about it? Mentors have a place in training the new employee through the processes.

Voids need to be dealt with not covered up.

 Negative vortex's on the other hand are like a whirl wind. Vortexes [positive or negative] disturb the peace and progress. Usually there are other smaller vortex trailing around and behind a central Vortex. Each feeding off the other until the course of events has travelled its path.  Nothing is ever the same again. As the destructive negative vortex gets nearer the voids around them get dragged into the negative of that vortex.  The solid foundations and walls of any business needs to have been strengthen through reinforcement, not temporally shored up [propped up].Using the example of the Global Financial Crash [GFC] of 2008 as an example of an external negative vortex many business's that did not have the foresight or resources suffered greatly. While some were never heard of again others had the forethought, or ability, to have changed their focus, to  fix up weak areas, while staying afloat managed to stay in business. While some business later sold up others took the hits and stood the test of time For instance Marketing America had $80 million dollars in their bank mid October 2011.  This company was only 15 years old at that point. Why was what Marketing America working causing a large growth rate during the years from the GFC to then? One answer is that the motto of the Marketing Australia motto is "Built on Product. Powered by People". Through mentoring processes Marketing America taught it's values and ethics. As a 'family' of people moving forward sharing a common vision Marketing America strength in it's strategies did not allow the GFC negative vortex to brake up the business. In this example Marketing America is seen as a positive vortex. As a result many people have benefited.  Literally a negative vortex hit a positive vortex.

New employees or members, questions are a form of constant evaluations regarding the process, strengths and weakness of company policy and methodology. Therefore there is the likelihood that a newer employee, who sees things through a different perspective, may see the voids or approaching negative vortex more clearly will be greater. This newer perspective is what the mentor needs to nurture - or it might get squished and not flourish. A negative result is that the business falters and does not grow.

 Any business that does not take note of the voids, putting into place methods to deal with the said void  through an ongoing complete needs analysis and evaluation  is heading for trouble.  The new persons ability to communicate with others, particularly the mentor, to brainstorm what is actually happening as a team effort, to acknowledge and take the steps of what needs to be done in combination to how the business charter repairs the gray area is very valuable to the business. The mentor should respect, nurture and develop this leadership potential 

The mentor not only offers protection with knowledge but boundaries and support to that new employee. The flip side of this support being given is that the Mentor receives loyalty, understanding and full honest communication as this two way path is earned.  Understand these two things.

• The mentor and the new employee will develop a bond. 
• All training, understanding, knowledge etc is energy. This energy does not flow between one and another in a circular motion.  Unlike a vortex the Mentor will not suck the employee into their forcefield and turn the emplyee into their clone.  Instead the energy flows in a figure of eight pathway crossing over at two polar points. At these polar points other pathways of energy exchange are occurring.  At the end of the mentoring both the employee and the mentor have shared and grown. They will still be individuals with ideas, brain patterns and methods of doing something to achieve the same outcome slightly varying. A new er employee may be mentored by either of the above and the company strengthens and benefits. 

Mentors are there to reinforce those with less knowledge, on the wise choices to make. When the newer employees unwise choices result, or short cuts skipped, have effectively back fired and proceed then to fall apart, then  the mentor has already a network set up to halt the total onset of destruction. The mentor incorporates the company charter, the laws of the land, ethics, cultural awareness and a sense of morals into the redevelopment of the employee and their actions while using the mentors own skills, knowledge and networks to teach the employee the five basic things. These being -who, what, when, where and how things are meant to be, how they should be.

 The circle is round and knows no end. New trends will open new voids. New employees or members mean new looks into the procedures. Among other things the introduction of time management and technological advancements are moving and changing the business culture along with them. Through the reinvestment of time, energy and sound knowledge,  the employee and their skills do not disappear thus the business's growth will continue to flourish.

The business will have developed methods to rise and meet other new challenges. The business of mentoring does not reinvent the wheel.  However mentoring allows a team effort to have the wheel ready [in storage and checked out when necessary] for a flat tyre not to turn into a major disaster.

5 points... there they are

• Be creative.
• Use Social Media
• with Persistence
• add Social Networking
• repeat the lot again

There you have the how to's in five dot points.

Strategies to meet the needs analysis

Follow on from listing the challenges
Strategies towards meeting needs analysis with the project

• Use a holistic approach that achieves a defined project focus.
• Define the project as -  2011 Traralgon Show- showcase 
• Ownership and 'creative license' by team members of project while developing that working team.
• Some initial working ethos to be there at the beginning while further development occurs.
• Use technology skills within group and their network.
• Train all members to have initial working ability that enables the members to participate in the intra-exchange of knowledge through the technology and skills levels already in action.
• Expand the comfort zones of team members so that use of new machinery, technology or situations are able to be turned into positive outcomes rather than fearful ones.
• Introduce through use of documentation that has instructions for use. 
• Successfully network through as many people and social networking sites as possible. 
• Have diverse multi stream employment opportunities within company guide lines.
• Create enough positive PR for flow on 'jobs' through the company to assist with above commitments.

Did I mention about the critical review happening  Transparency in the results and... it keeps on going. Just hang in there

Lets get this going

My realisation that I was a WOW [Woman of Worth] came this morning when I did not wake up with buyers remorse. The direction I am heading in is to redirect community building through business building. This entails reinvesting into people.

Want to come along too?  Become a POW and lets get this going.  Reinvest in both yourself, your family and your community.

*

POW

I have realised that I am a W.O.W.  This is good.

But there is something bigger than a W.O.W.

That is a P.O.W.  That is a Person of Worth.

Are you one too?

*

People are great. You learn a lot from them.

The other day I was in the front office with the account.   Others were with clients.

The message came that the person being interviewed for a sales position had been held up time wise.  The sales person was some one that one of my family members knew... could a girl of nineteen come too.

As things turned out time management wise things worked out well in that one client interview finished after the three others had arrived and settled in.

The owner of the company came out. Introductions were performed.  Now here is where the crunch came. I had not thought ahead as to where exactly interviews would take place. Impressions count and I had not had time between both sessions to clean up a room.

 Position Heads need to network. 

As it was the owner treated all of us to a side of his character that was unexpected but normal for him.  The interview became a bit one sided as the sales person really was not sure of the situation, nor did he have a clear idea of what how and when things were going to go.  No one had pre informed him of anything except that there was a job opening.

So atypical was the interview that we all joined in.  At times I felt that I was a bridge between the ex military style this is what I want... how you do it is up to you approach.  A very clear cut and direct approach compared to the person being interviewed approach of direct me every step of the way.

The sales person was so bamboozled in this approach that he was at least hearing the owner out.  Asked a few hesitant questions and stated the truth.  He did not think I could do the job.  Now at this point you would think the interview was over.  Not the case.  The owner wanted honesty and the other person was bowled over and slipping fast.  The owner came back a little with drawing him out.   My son mad a few comments.  The young lady participated.  A few jokes and comments were made.  The atmosphere lighted.

At one point I asked the owner to go back to the basic ground up sales program I had suggested.  He considered it and looked to myself for a lead.   Respecting the need for business privacy I stated that there were basic sales things to consider first.  My son had an idea as I had asked him for advise.  Both the sales person and my son had worked together in cold calling marketing.  There was no door to door cold calling here except for the businesses.  Then there was a procedure to nut out and move forward on.

At no time was the head sales person to do all the things expected to get the business sales up and running. The sales person we were looking for would be a head sales person in charge of developing a team.  The team was already being found.  The business had an accountant head. Head of security. Head of Risk management. Myself I am a Community Developer and in charge of training team. Delegation and motivation were the key.

From this point on I saw a real change in the interview energy.  The sales person came forward with suggestions as well as the inclusion of himself within these suggestions. If he was a fish he was 'realing' himself in to shore.  There was a snag that he later told me about... he had just about landed himself a job elsewhere.  Hence why he was late.  That second interview had taken longer than anticipated. He would know by the next day.  The boss here would be phoned by 1000hrs the following day as the boss here would not be available until then.

By the end of the interview the owner had shared some things that were not commonly known. This showed that he trusted all three of the people there.  The young lady had not realised this until I got hold of her that evening and informed her that she would be taken on as a 'pen pusher' as she requested when she had done her Security course and became a registered Security Guard.  Reason- there were papers that she could not handle until she has this clearance certificate.  At this point in the conversation I tied together the matter of the owners trust  factors. She was overcome ... blown away.

My job was affected in that I realised a major snag was exposed. Interviewing was not the owners thing. So now I have designed a step by step process that the interviewees will get to expect, will satisfy the job find networks, and will assist in relieving everyone pressure wise.

With my Community Development experience, business experience and other life skills I know that now my work begins. The focus has come into shape.

I have explained how things will work.  To each separately drawn into the picture various other aspects that neither of them had thought of. They too are part of the expanding business venture.


 Move over I am coming through.