One of the greatest joys of the selling profession is the
extraordinary responsibility one takes on as THE company
representative to the “outside world”. More often than not the
company sales representative IS the company to so many people
they interact with on a daily basis.

To many customers the vendor’s sales representative is the
relationship and the continued justification that drives the
business commerce between the parties. No one knows, or should
know, the customer’s product or service requirements better than
the sales representative. No one should know the customer’s
business challenges, decision makers, financial status and
history of use of the company’s product or services better than
the sales rep.

Often an effective sales representative can make or break a
critical business conflict resolution among the customer and his
company. A strategic company will always leverage the developed
relationship between their representative and the customer to
maintain the business. If the company cannot utilize their
representative in this capacity, they have the wrong person on
the account!

The Inside and Outside Selling Functions

A sales person is ultimately responsible for retaining and
ideally increasing, sales revenues from his or her existing
customers. They are also charged with finding, qualifying or
disqualifying and eventually securing new business from
alternative revenue sources. This is called “outside” selling.

A sales representative is also required to represent his or her
customer to or within his company for the betterment of the
customer/ company relationship. Betterment of the customer/
company relationship equates to more sales from that customer.
This is called “inside” selling.

For a professional sales representative to maximize their sales
revenues he or she must constantly strive to improve both their
outside and inside selling skills. Hundreds of books have been
written about how to improve one’s outside selling skills, but
little has been written about the inside selling skills concept.
Depending on the sales representative employer’s propensities or
resource levels to “service” their customers - the sales reps
inside selling skills must be better honed than their outside
selling skills.

Customers consistently demand more value from their vendors for
product or services provided. Competition among suppliers of
same products and services has traditionally increased along
with an unsettling trend of reduced customer purchase loyalty
due their cost reduction priorities, often driven by their own
competitive market environment.

When there are finite resources within the sales
representative’s employer or limited customer service focus
coming from senior management, all intensified with competing
demands for same resources and attention among other company
sales representatives, an inside sale success can make or break
the outside selling success for any given account.

Fundamental Inside Selling Tactics

Given the above circumstances of a sales representative needing
to grow his or her outside business via successful persuasion of
inside the company decision makers, one should focus on the
following tactics to improve their odds of overall selling
success:

1) Strive to get your company management to interact with
your customer’s management, professionally or socially

2) Eliminate any propensity on your part to totally control
the customer yourself, the more people who have
relationships with your customer from your company the
greater the probability business will increase over time

3) Hold people within your company accountable for their
actions or in-actions relative to your customer - you are
the voice of the customer - never forget this!

4) Be fair and honest at all times - representing both your
customer to your employer and vice versa. There is no
exception to this rule!

5) Whenever prudent, document successes to both the customer
and to your company. Copy everybody on the success in both
directions and give credit to BOTH parties for the
success. In many cases, the written document is the ONLY
means an executive from either your customer or employer
has to appreciate the relationship in hand.

6) Effectively and continuously enhance the mutual perception
that both parties have of each other to maximize their own
profitability

In conclusion, there effectively is nowhere for a sales
representative to hide if a customer decides to take their
business elsewhere. The sale representative ultimately is
responsible for either mismanaging his company’s resources and
support of the customer or not effectively communicating or
exhibiting the value of his product or services to the customer.

Hopefully this article gives another perspective as to how to
balance outside and inside selling skills for maximum sales
success.

About the Author:

Mark Smock is 30+ year veteran of business leadership and is
President of http://www.business-buyer-directory.com, the FIRST
International business buyer directory of its kind. Business
Buyer Directory provides a non-traditional means for proactive
business buyers to locate businesses for sale worldwide that
meet their exact registered purchase criteria.

Have you ever started something and not completed it? Or
maybe there’s something that you know that you should do but
you just don’t seem to get around to it? Or perhaps there’s
something that you know would benefit from more attention /
more focus but you just don’t give it the attention that it
deserves?

For a lot of business people this sums up the selling experience!

Most people that I speak to who are involved in sales freely
admit that they don’t focus on new business enough or that they
frequently put off new business generation to do
something else instead. This seems surprising when every
business person knows that new business generation is essential
to helping them to hit target, push them over target or build the business that they desire.

Given this - why is it that we so often don’t take action?

A large percentage of people that I speak to complain that sales
isn’t seen as professional and that they don’t consider
themselves as doing a professional job. When I ask them when
they last read a book or attended a seminar on selling,
communications or motivation they look at me like I’m stupid.

90% plus haven’t read a book in the last year and …well over
80% have never read a book on selling!

Is it any surprise then that they feel unprofessional?

Question.

Would you consider a brain surgeon with no training and who
had never read a book or attended a seminar? I don’t think so!

So why is this the case?

I believe that it simply comes down to leverage. We often know
what we need to do but it’s just easier not to do it. Think about it for a second. Have you ever thought that you really needed to so some cold calling? You maybe got the client list together, got yourself a coffee and sat down to do it. All ready to go but then you ended up going through your email inbox! I think every business person has done that because sometimes it’s easier just not to do it!

As we’re still at the start of 2005 I decided today that we should focus on what you want and on how to get leverage so that you feel compelled to take action right now. Record the results of your findings in your sales success log and remember … the more detail you go into, the greater the leverage … the greater the leverage, the more the call to action.

But before we do this… consider the fact that according to all of the statistics - you are about to catapult yourself into the elite group of sales winners!

Why?

* 90% of sales people don’t buy books or listen to audios

* 90% of books / audios won’t be read / heard past the first
chapter

* 80% of readers / listeners won’t take any action

That means that if you read AND take action you will be part of
an incredibly elite group! Interested?

Where are you now?

No seriously! Where are you now? When I work with
individuals and teams I have discovered that it takes an
incredible amount of courage and honesty to really investigate
where we are currently. In life we all live in our own
perceptions of the world - prejudiced by the spectacles that we
habitually wear. If you are going to make a radical difference to any area of your life it is essential that you break through this barrier and be honest with yourself. Only by taking this crucial step will you get what you want.

Over the course of the next few minutes I am going to ask you
some questions. The more time you take to really consider these
and think through the answers, the more they will help you to
get leverage. I strongly recommend that you record the
questions and the answers into your Sales Success Log (SSL).

Questions to Ask Yourself

What is the most pressing issue or challenge that you face with
new business generation at the moment?

If you were to know, what is the biggest issue that you need to
resolve at the moment such that if you solved it you would
make a major breakthrough?

Sometimes this question isn’t so easy to answer. Keep asking it
of yourself over and over. Let’s face it, if this was dead easy,
everyone would do it and then you’d only be keeping up not
getting ahead!

Typical answers include:

* I don’t have enough time to generate new business
* Making excuses
* Fear of rejection
* Not confident enough
* Not enough training, knowledge, support, back-up etc.
* Market depressed
* Client rejections
* Price
* Existing supplier relationships
* No database
* Unqualified leads
* And many, many more…

Am I sure that I understand this issue fully?

Sometimes the presenting issue is not the real issue at all.

Before we carry on you need to ensure that you have a full
understanding of the issue at hand.

* What is really going on here?
* How long has this issue been going on?
* Have I always considered it a challenge?
* How bad are things really?
* Is this worth working on?

For the rest of this exercise I am going to use fear of rejection and not having enough time as my examples. I will be basing my answers on typical answers given by coachees in sessions that I run.

Fear of rejection. “Before I even make the call I am worried
that the client will reject me. I wasn’t always worried about
this. When I first started selling I didn’t care at all. I guess that I started to feel this way about 3 months after I started. I seem to get rejected much more often now and, if I’m honest I do very little new business generation. This is definitely worth working on as my lack of proactivity is effecting my business.”

I don’t have enough time. “I think that this is more wrapped
up with the fear of rejection. I am very busy but generally I do
make excuses when it comes to cold-calling. If I didn’t have the
fear of rejection I am sure that I could find the time. I started finding things to do as soon as I started to win my first clients and things have really got pretty bad now. If I were to lose a client I really have no back-up as I haven’t been focusing on new business generation at all recently.”

What is the Impact of This Problem on Me?

Now… I said that you had to be honest! Ask yourself…

* How is this problem currently impacting on me?
* What results am I getting due to this problem?
* How are these results impacting me; my team; my business?
* When I consider this impact how do I feel about it?

Remember to consider each incidence separately.

Fear of rejection. “I’m not doing hardly any new business
generation. I know that this is impacting my potential client
base. I used to bring on new clients quite regularly but I can’t
remember the last time that I brought on a really new client. My
team don’t really see me as a new business winner and I know
that the boss thinks that I only “cherry-pick” easy business.
his makes me feel annoyed as I know that I can be better than
this. What’s more I think that I am less confident in my dealings with existing clients and this is impacting my potential revenues.”

I don’t have enough time. “Because I don’t make the time to
generate new business I am sabotaging my own chances of
success. When the others are doing business generation I am
usually doing administration. I’m not really part of the team
because of this and it upsets me.”

What Future Consequences Will Your Problem Bring?

Quite often when we don’t do something right now it doesn’t
really matter. Doing exercise today or not doing exercise today
will do little (or nothing) for your fitness levels, your physique or your health. When considered over a larger period of time however daily actions such as exercise will determine massive differences in the results that you get.

When considering your actions and their consequences you
need to look at the long-term. It’s important that you take time
to really think through and picture these consequences. The
more real they are for you, the more leverage for change will be
created.

Questions to ask yourself…

* If nothing changes in your current situation what will the
consequences be?

* What’s the likely outcome of your continued action (or inaction)?

* What consequences will this have on your sales career,
finances, business, promotional prospects and self-esteem?

* What’s at stake for you?

* How will others such as your family, friends and
acquaintances be affected?

* How do you feel about this course of events?

Fear of rejection. “Ultimately, I will not have enough business
coming in and I will probably be sacked or go bust. No business
can survive without new sales. I have been quite ambitious in
the past and have taken on loans for cars and a new house. If I
don’t make the sales then I could easily lose these. My industry
is quite small and it would not be good for my reputation or
future employability if I were sacked or made redundant. I
would hate the thought that I had failed to do my job. If I lost
my house it would put an incredible amount of pressure on my
family life too as we are hoping to have a baby next year.”

I don’t have enough time. “If I don’t create the time to
generate new business I won’t make any sales and I will lose my
job. This will make me unemployable as my reference would be
poor. I wouldn’t be able to keep up the car payments or my
mortgage. This would create massive family tensions and
personal stress.”

Take Personal Responsibility

People often ask me what the differences are between great
salespeople and sales superstars. This is a truly great question
which, I believe, has several answers. High up on my list would
be that sales superstars’ take personal responsibility for their
success no matter how hard things around them may get. Only
by taking total personal responsibility can you become totally
accountable for the results that you get.

Keeping this foremost in your mind consider how you
contributed to the current situation or problem?

I totally accept that your initial answer may well be that you
didn’t contribute. For many people this way of thinking
represents a quantum leap in their habitual behaviour so it may
not come easily.

Keep asking yourself…

If I knew, how have I contributed to this current situation or
problem?

Fear of rejection. “I have allowed myself to fall prey to my
own imagination and become fearful of generating new
business. I have focused on the times that I have not succeeded
rather than the times that I have. I have listened to people
around me who are not getting results rather than focusing only
on those who are peak performers.”

I don’t have enough time. “I have allowed myself to make
excuses and rationalise my own behaviour because of my fear
of rejection. I have listened to and adopted the mindsets of other salespeople who are making excuses rather than taking action.”

Do You Want to Change Now?

Before we start talking about what you want instead I think that
it’s important to know that you do want to change now don’t
you. So take a moment and consider…

* What you will gain when you resolve this situation?

* What results will you begin to get and why will you enjoy
them?

*How do you feel about your decision to move towards a
satisfactory solution?

Fear of rejection. “When I let go of the fear I will be able to
generate new business confidently and professionally. This will
allow me to take control of my own destiny whatever sales
challenges are thrown into my path. I will begin to create new
client relationships, new sales and new opportunities. Knowing
this makes me feel alive and ready to get going.”

I don’t have enough time. “I will gain the ability to choose
how I spend my time rather than being dictated to by my
irrational fear. I can concentrate on planning my sales
campaign so that I gain maximum benefits from my efforts. I
feel excited at the possibilities ahead.”

You + 100% Commitment

Many times in my programmes I ask you to commit yourself to
action. In the minds of sales superstars there is no greater
commitment than to yourself. Grab your Sales Success Log and
answer the following questions…

1. What is the most powerful and congruent step that you can take right now?

2. What’s going to get in the way of you taking it?

3. How are you going to deal with this challenge?

4. When will you start and complete this step (put a date on it)?

My suggestion is that you sign and date your commitment to
this step.

Welcome to the new you … let’s get going!

For the last 10 years, Gavin Ingham has been helping sales people to explode their sales performance by turning self-doubt, fear and lack of motivation into self-belief, confidence and action. With his inspirational approach to sales performance and motivation Gavin combines commercial experience, personal excellence and communications technologies in delivering personal and business sales success.

Visit http://www.gaviningham.net now to join Gavin’s free monthly newsletter packed full of sales secrets, strategies and tactics. Join now and get Gavin’s ground-breaking 9-part objection handling course absolutely free.

One of the greatest secrets to instantly increasing your online
sales is the proper use of Magic Bullets. In fact, by just using
a few on my website, I was able to quadruple my weekly income.
And it’s something that I’m strongly convinced anyone can apply
to their own sales page to quickly double or triple their online
income immediately.

So, what’s a Magic Bullet?

The short answer is a list of bulleted benefits for the product.
But the real secret of using them for high profits is in the
design of each bullet.

More on setting up your own bullets in a moment But I want you
to understand the profitability and importance of using high
impact Magic Bullets on your own website.

First, most won’t read your sales letter word for word. Magic
Bullets let a visitor scan the benefits at a quick glance. They
can see instantly what they’re getting with their purchase and
how it will benefit them.

Second, strongly written Magic Bullets can sell your product
without a lick of additional copy. That’s right. No P.S., no
guarantee. I’ve bought online products solely for the reason
that the outlined Magic Bullets promised me something that I was
willing to pay for.

So, how do you design effective high profit bullets?

Start by outlining every single benefit your product offers.
Make sure you look at it from the perspective of how your
product would benefit a prospective client.

Now go through each benefit and rewrite it so that it creates
excitement. You know, instead of writing “Learn how to make
money online”, write “The One Secret That Can Easily Make You
Thousands Online.”

Lay them out in easy to read bullets. Write a ton of them.
Explain every last benefit your reader will get with your
product and do it in an exciting, specific way. Sometimes I’ll
read three benefits and I’m ready to make a purchase. Really,
sometimes that’s all it takes.

So will it work for you? Yes, if done properly you should see a
steady stream of online profits from your work. Spend the time
to invest in this strong sales tool. Rework your Magic Bullets
until you create a short, specific, exciting benefit. Then do it
again and again for each of your benefits. Soon, you’ll see the
real charm of Magic Bullets, and that magic is huge profits for
you.