Disciplined Sales

Review of \"25 Sales Strategies That Will Boost Your Sales\" Part III
By PAULA PARISOT
8/3/2005

"Obsession without discipline results in chaos," according to the author of one sales book, who explains great salespeople are often obsessive about what they do and disciplined in developing and maintaining a daily routine of prospecting, following through and planning.

The 25 Sales Strategies That Will Boost Your Sales Today! lists the strategies that corporate sales trainer and author Stephan Schiffman says are consistently used by top sales performers in a variety of organizations.

This last of a three-part series covers the last nine strategies Schiffman has observed and used in training over the last 25 years.

Integrating "Follow through" steps into the daily sales plan, according to the book, is a strategic way to ensure customers are getting the gratitude they deserve. Personal notes, thank you calls, and "living up to expectations," are ways of effective follow-through used by great salespeople.

Developing such routines takes "disciplined, flexible planning skills" of which the book states should be based around prospecting because it is essential to continually replenish the prospect pool. "You need to develop a routine that is flexible and predictable enough to help you move toward your goals, day by day," Schiffman writes. "Build the discipline to do the job on a continuous basis."

While following that disciplined yet flexible routine, the book reminds that it's also imperative to look ahead and anticipate any problems that might arise.

When prospecting, Schiffman says, "Develop a set of targets that makes sense for your industry and your income goals and then commit to the front end of your sales cycle by making the calls you need to make, day after day, no matter what."

Another strategy used during the sales process, the book says, is asking the customer, "Does this make sense?" to let them help guide the problem-solving task. "It gives you the information you need, encourages the prospect to open up, and raises the status of the prospect you're interviewing," Schiffman explains.

This also shows that the salesperson is "putting the prospect's interests first." A strategy that Schiffman says is a shared philosophy among most successful salespeople.

And when putting the customer's interests first, a successful salesperson would be willing to work with them "to develop creative new answers..." the book says. Understanding the customer's needs from their point of view can often create the selling solution.

Even if the selling solution isn't the right solution at the time, there might be a use for it in the future; which brings us to the strategy of using "fallbacks" or "prior rejects," the book says. As time passes, Schiffman says, things change and chances are down the line those who said "no" just might say "yes" the next time around.

In closing, Schiffman reminds that successful salespeople, "Keep the closing phase simple." He states that the closing process isn't a matter of tricking a prospect into saying yes with complex, hyped-up, dramatic phrases but a process that is formed through an intellectual understanding of what the customer needs and a trusting relationship; along with a simple closing statement, "Does it make sense to you?"

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