Successful Sales Tools

You Might Need A New Job If…

thesalesteam — Sat, 19 May 2012 22:08:07 +0000

In our last post we talked about Ten fields that are growing, and you should look there for opportunity for sales and for a career. At Successful Sales Tools we also want you to stay away from careers that look to be on the downside. Careers that don’t have business’s that are growing or whose futures look dim. We also included the same ranking system as the previous post. Not surprising some of the careers are low because of the inherit danger in them. We are not judging these, just reporting the data. All of these can be good careers, just not the easiest or most fulfilling. Take a look and see some surprises.

Broadcaster 1480
Butcher 1527
Dishwasher 1539
Meter Reader 1545
Waiter/Waitress 1575
Reporter (Newspaper) 1594
Oil Rig Worker 1627
Enlisted Military Soldier 1703
Dairy Farmer 1748
Lumberjack 1776

So what stands out? As a former Journalism Major I can tell you that 1 & 6 surprised me greatly. These were at one time great careers with a lifelong earning potential. The dangerous ones speak for themselves. I would never tell a soldier that his/her career is not worthy or good, but the danger with 10,8, & 7 are the reasons they dropped so low.

So if I am looking to expand my business or sell more, except life insurance, I would stay away from business’s that might be relying on these companies to keep up their revenue. Look for areas in the top 10 or 20 to expand. What do you see as potential here?

Want a New Job?

thesalesteam — Thu, 17 May 2012 21:26:46 +0000

We talk over and over about how the business world is ever changing. You need skills that will keep you relevant. How do you you that? One way we try and stay on top of things here is looking at the top careers, these are people that are getting hired with good salaries. They will go to companies that are also doing well, and thus they get paid well. At Successful Sales Tools, we look at these jobs as a way of finding potential business partners. People that might need our services, and can afford to pay us.

CareerCast.com provided a list of the top ten jobs for 2012. They ranked the jobs based on a list of factors that include, the work environment, income, job outlook, physical demands, and stress. The list should also be of interest to those that are unsure about what field to go into. Look at the list and let me know what you think.

Job Score

Software Engineer 176
Actuary 226
Human Resource Manager 282
Dental Hygienist 289
Financial Planner 300
Audiologist 311
Occupational Therapist 318
Online Advertising Manager 343
Computer Systems Analyst 370
Mathematician 392

To see the methodology of the scoring system please look here. What catches your eye about this list? It seems to me it is full of skills for people that can Sell, (3,5,8) people who excel at math, (1,2,5,9,10) and people who understand how to work on computers (1,2,8,9,10). These are the skills that companies are hungry for and will pay top dollar. So will the skills you have or have acquired over the last few years keep you relevant in any of these fields? if not you may want to sharpen that saw.

Michael Surran via Compfight

Mother’s Day Quote

thesalesteam — Sun, 13 May 2012 20:41:41 +0000

To all the Moms

“A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials, heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine, desert us when troubles thicken around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts.” -Washington Irving

Mark Cuban’s Advice

thesalesteam — Sat, 12 May 2012 02:29:25 +0000

We try and bring you tools to help make you a more successful sales person and business person. We recently read Mark Cuban book How To Win. There are many things to like about this ebook. For staters, price can’t be an issue, it’s $2.51. It’s a book that compiles his blog and his stories. In reading this book you can tell that Mark is extremly smart. One of the things that most people problably don’t believe is that is not what has primarily made him successful.

“In sports, the only thing a player can truly control is effort. The same applies to business. The only thing any entrepreneur, salesperson or anyone in any position can control is their effort.

I had to kick myself in the ass and recommit to getting up early, staying up late and consuming everything I possibly could to get an edge. I had to commit to making the effort to be as productive as I possibly could. It meant making sure that every hour of the day that I could contact a customer was selling time, and when customers were sleeping, I was doing things that prepared me to make more sales and to make my company better.

And finally, I had to make sure I wasn’t lying to myself about how hard I was working. It would have been easy to judge effort by how many hours a day passed while I was at work. That’s the worst way to measure effort.

Effort is measured by setting goals and getting results. What did I need to do to close this account? What did I need to do to win this segment of business? What did I need to do to understand this technology or that business better than anyone? What did I need to do to find an edge? Where does that edge come from, and how was I going to get there?

The one requirement for success in our business lives is effort. Either you make the commitment to get results or you don’t.”

Pretty sound advice. Now go out and buy it!

Tyler Cowen On Stories

thesalesteam — Wed, 09 May 2012 01:35:39 +0000

Click here to view the embedded video.

A great watch about telling stories, soemthing that as sales people we use too much perhaps?

I would also suggest everyone follow his blog Marginal Revolution, it is a must read.

Sunday Quote

thesalesteam — Sun, 06 May 2012 20:09:35 +0000

Entrepreneurs and their small enterprises are responsible for almost all the economic growth in the United States.

Ronal Reagan

Want Success at Retail Sales?

thesalesteam — Tue, 01 May 2012 22:25:49 +0000

Here at Successful Sales Tools we often have questions and give tip on multi-meeting, or complex sales. We also have a following that looks to us for advice on simple sales. For those of you that don’t know a “simple sale” is simply a term used to connote a sale that is made in one transaction, and often, but not always, at a lower dollar amount. Think Best Buy. There is really nothing simple about it, in fact it is often more difficult to make a sale in such a situation. You don’t have the time to really get to know the client, do research on them, and often they are “just shopping”.

Having been in the simple sale in a past profession, I can assure the readers this is a difficult to both get the sale and train sound techniques. What it often come down to is being knowledgeable and friendly. You can win a lot of sales just buy doing that. For those of you that want more I recommend taking a course or reading books & blogs on persuasion. Kevin Hogan’s books are ones that I send all my sales people to regardless of the type of sale. Recently a few professors showed that persuasion can help you make more sale.

Céline Jacob, Nicolas Guéguen, Angélique Martin and Gaëlle Boulbry had sales people in a reatil environment mimick a customers speach and behavior when selling them mp3 players. In the study those that mimicked the behavior of others sold 78.8% of the time! The non mimickers sold at 61.8% of the time.

The mimickers also were more well liked and recived as more positive by the clients.

So is you have a simple sale, what should you do? Can you try a mirror you customer to sell 17% more? How much does that add to your company and your bottom line???

Sunday Quote

thesalesteam — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 20:10:12 +0000

I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.

Michael Jordan

2012 NFL Draft

thesalesteam — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 02:39:16 +0000

For NFL fans this is an exciting time of year. The NFL holds it’s annual draft this time every year. It brings with it new hope for every NFL team that maybe this player will push you over the top. This year Andrew Luck and RGIII were the first two picks taken, they will soon become multi millionaires. Fans hope that it will help make their team successful this upcoming year. Quite often 1 player can make a huge difference in the way a team plays year over year. But this is a business blog, so what does the draft have to do with your business?

We recently had a sales person come in and apply to be a new rep. (a draft) He was star performer at another company, and different industry. Why did they let him go, cut backs because of the new health care law, (Pharm Rep) they have consolidated territories to save money to comply. The only sticking point was the money. He was making 100k +, and wanted a similar guarantee. We provide a guarantee that will keep you hungry, but also make you want to perform. What to do. Do you stretch what you would normally do for a star? (or reach early in a professional draft?)

We did what any good company would. We compared him to the average money a new employee brought in, and then we raised it 15% based on his experience. For us that means he would bring in about $162,000 in new business this year, not including future residuals. Take into account benefits and training it would cost us about $170,000.00 that first year to have him.

What would you do?

He costs more then best case scenario he would bring in. There is no telling what he would really do, you never really know in sales. But we have our numbers that we can expect. For us, it was a no. We offered him more then the normal base and guarantee. My concerns were that he was using us while he looked for something else, and then would leave. My thoughts were if he really saw an opportunity to make real money with us a lower guarantee would be a challenge. Those are the people I want on my team.

Those first round pick in the NFL can make or break a team for years. You invest millions, based on past performance. But you pay them based on the past, hoping to get better in the future.

What would you have done?

How Long Will You Be Relavant?

thesalesteam — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 15:16:44 +0000

We recently read an article here at Successful Sales Tools that reminded us how quickly business’s and trends change. The article was how the millennials will not use or purchase what many of us in Generation X can’t seem to live without. It is a reminder that all business’s need to change with the times or end up like Blockbuster. Gartner Research has a recent study that said that 46% of 18-24 year olds would choose the internet over a car! When I was 18 the only thing I could think about was what freedom a car would bring me.

If you are GM or Ford what can you do today to start getting a share of that market that looks like it is going away? Add internet to the car? Offer a Ipad to anyone who buys? Business’s that aren’t looking at what the younger generations needs and wants will lose out. The millennials want to be green, Toyota has the Prius, which one can purchase for 24K. Chevy? The Volt which most of the younger generation can’t afford, 38K.

What about email? The holy grail of most web sites. Millennials instant message, text, and twitter before they check their email. How can you or your business use this before your competitors. Do you have a Facebook page? People will look at what thier friends and other recommmed before they buy. How many fans do you have on FB?

I am not a futurist, nor can I say what the next big thing might be, but I know that with my business and our blog I am always looking and learning will things may go. I hope I can be the first to capitalize on it. Where is your business headed in 5-10 years? Will you be able to get the millennials? or they children.