Set Out on a Mission to Boost Sales

Most salespeople (not you, of course) are not willing to do the hard work it takes to make selling easy. Plus, most salespeople already know everything. They already think they know the answers because they "tried that before and it didn't work." 

Business lore says that Edison tried and failed more than 1,000 times before inventing a light bulb that worked. Many salespeople quit after the third failure. Most, however, quit after one or two failures. Suppose Edison had decided to quit after failure No. 753. No way -- he was on a mission. 

Most salespeople are on the "goal" or "sales plan" mission. Win a certain number of projects or fee dollars achieved by some period of time -- usually a month or a year. I wish there were one plan that said create 100 solid relationships this year; or earn 100 unsolicited referrals this year; or keep 100 percent of your existing clients loyal this year. 

The "relationship-loyalty" mission is the only long-term plan that will lead to success for design and construction firms. 

Realities and Strategies 

Once you realize that you "sell to help" instead of "selling to total up your bonus or commission," sales success will be yours. Here are 11 things you can do, right now, to increase your effectiveness.

1. Become and stay likeable. The client buys you first. Sell yourself before you try to sell your company or services.

2. Make a list of what you say you do that your competitors do not say they do. Get creative and say something new. Hint: Add new questions that your competition doesn't ask. 

3. There are no new objections -- get rid of them. Make a list of the objections you hear over and over (not interested, happy with present AEC, fee too high, no budget, send me a proposal, and so many more), and figure out answers that win, and use those instead of the ones you're using. 

4. Get the prospect hot for you. Make a copy of your traditional client "hot list" then ask yourself the question "hot for whom?" Make a list of prospects that are hot to do business with you -- a smaller list. 

5. Try it as soon as you learn it. After you listen to a strategy or sales technique, use it within the hour. Listening followed by doing leads to mastery. 

6. Modify what you learn -- adapt it to your personality. Do it the way it suits your personality and style. Be yourself. 

7. Adapt what you learn to your capability or service. Not all sales information is about what you sell. So what? Just figure out how what they teach applies to you and try that. 

8. Keep a positive attitude by studying about attitude every morning. The secret of attaining attitude is reading for 15 minutes every morning. I've been doing it for 25 years; it's working. 

9. Join Toastmasters -- an hour per week about how to get better at presentation skills. Your presentation skills are as important as your sales skills. 

10. Stay a student -- if possible, a humble student. The best way to become a master at what you do is to combine study with practice. 

11. The daily dose. You can't do it all at once, but you can do a little each day. If you just do a little each day, at the end of a year it adds up to a lot. If you do nothing each day, at the end of the year that adds up to nothing. 


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