By Mark I LaRosa on October 13th, 2009
Recently, I replied to a HARO request for the top 5 lessons for a new sales rep. Happily, one of my items was selected for the article. (Yes, the article is referring to an idea from me despite the fact that my name is massacred <grin> ). The resulting list that author, Brandon Mendelson, compiled is actually quite good and I’m honored to be one of the items in his list. I decided to post my entire top 5 here and provide links to my old articles that explain them in more detail:
1) Nobody cares about your product: Prospects care about their own problems – not your product. The faster you find their problem (“their pain”) that you solve through your product, then the faster you will get to the sale.
2) Embrace the word “NO”. Don’t be afraid to ask for the deal. Typical new salespeople let deals fester because they are afraid of hearing the word no. I say, get to the no. Then you find out the real reason for the objection – and eventually turn it into a yes by negotiating. Read more...
By Mark I LaRosa on October 9th, 2009
You can draw sales lessons from everywhere in life. The reason for this is that most of sales is about the interaction of human beings with each other – about the acts of persuasion and communication. I write constantly about how everyday life teaches me valuable lessons about how to become a better salesperson and sales manager. First, I wrote about Sales Lessons in a chick flick. Then I wrote about Sales Lessons from my 7 year old. Then, sales lessons from my 2 year old. I also wrote recently about sales lessons from my colorblind brother.
My latest sales lesson came from my 6 year old son (which fantastically has provided me at least one post-worthy sales lesson from each of my children). My son is playing flag football this year, and while he told me all spring and summer that he was really looking forward to playing flag football again this year, once it came time to play, he was less than interested. He whined and complained for the first two weeks of practice, and not surprisingly gave a less than stellar performance on the field during the first game. After the first game, I tried to remind him how great he did last year. I made sure he got the proper rest, and the right breakfast before his second game. Yet, he was a goofball on the field, and in many ways really provided an embarrassing display of antics on the field. The fact that many of the moms were telling me how cute and funny he was did matter. It was getting me very angry that he wasn’t trying his best and doing what I knew he could do well. Read more...
