Tweet

Expectations- A Sales Attitude By Any Other Name

Written by: Leanne Hoagland-Smith

Article Overview: Years ago I read something that Zig Ziglar wrote: Attitudes are habits of thought. Pretty simple definition, but incredibly powerful. How many of our thoughts are really sales attitudes including expectations?

Expectations- A Sales Attitude By Any Other Name

Years ago I read something that Zig Ziglar wrote: Attitudes are habits of thought. Pretty simple definition, but incredibly powerful. How many of our thoughts are really sales attitudes including expectations?

So what are expectations? And, more importantly why are they so important in your goal to increase sales?

What I have discovered is that expectations are attitudes with an anticipated result. For example, if I make 100 phone calls, I expect to receive 50 appointments. From those 50 appointments, I expect to have 30 second meetings. Those second meetings should provide me with 20 commitments or sales. Now I expect my sales to close ratio to be 20% or 5 to 1.

Conversely because I might have meet the wrong people (A.K.A. not the decision makers), I may have included them in my calls and then all of a sudden, my sales to close ratio is no longer at 20% but possibly at 10%. Now my expectations may change and so will my results specific to the goal to increase sales.

Expectations are powerful sales attitudes because of their immediate connection to some desired result or want. Many sales people really dislike to cold call, to talk to strangers, to go to where they have not been invited. They have a negative attitude about cold calling. This attitude can be changed, but when the expectation is that cold calling does not work, this is more difficult to change.

I have seen the affect of expectations specific to marketing and direct mail. Businesses will spend hundreds to thousands of dollars on print, radio, television, billboards and even on-line advertising for impressions. Due to the numbers of people who are tuned in to a radio station, watching a TV program, driving by a billboard or visiting a website, the advertisers can claim we have thousands to millions of people hearing or seeing your advertised message. They have set the expectations that your invested dollars will generate incredible results. After all, your message is being heard or seen by the masses. Yet, how can you confirm those thousands to millions of people are truly qualified prospects who have these 4 criteria: need, budget, decision maker and urgency?

These same businesses will balk at investing far less in direct mail because it does not work. As a sales coach, I have heard sales professionals including small business owners, real estate agents, insurance agents and financial planners say that they sent out 100 postcards or 500 postcards and received no responses. We do not expect direct mail to work for us. However, if they had sent out 1,000 mailers at least 3 to 6 times to a qualified list over the course of several months, their expectations would probably change. Did you know that to expect someone to know your business name requires 13 touches? Did you know to expect your name to be the first one that comes to their top of mind demands 33 touches over the course of a year?

Expectations are indeed powerful sales attitudes that can either make or break a business as well as any sales professional. These thoughts become ingrained in your overall belief systems or foundational thought processes based upon all prior experiences. So, be careful of what you expect, you may get it or not get it, for the choice is yours.

Related Articles
  Attitude, Belief, and Confidence...the ABC's of Sales
  Positive Attitude is Power for Leadership
  LEADERSHIP IS NOT MARKETING FEELINGS BUT DEMONSTRATING ATTITUDE
  Do you have Attitude?
  Do You have a Selling Attitude?

Article Tags: advertisers, appointments, attitudes, billboard, billboards, cold call, cold calling, commitments, decision makers, direct mail, expectation, immediate connection, impressions, line advertising, negative attitude, radio station, radio television, thousands of dollars, tv program, zig ziglar



Related Forum Posts
Online Sales and Marketing vs Traditional - Hi Evan, I am noticing that many of the posts in the Sales/Marketing section deal with online marketing, SEM and and SEO and Affiliates. I was wondering if it might be a good idea to separate that section into two; 1) Online Sales and Marketing; 2) Traditional Sales and Marketing
Re: THE SECRET TO SUCCESS IS ALL IN YOUR HEAD...RIGHT NOW!!! - Yes, you are right Mal. Attitude plays a big role in it. Robert
Re: Online Sales and Marketing vs Traditional - [quote="ltrahan":31w9r2iz]Hi Evan, I am noticing that many of the posts in the Sales/Marketing section deal with online marketing, SEM and and SEO and Affiliates. I was wondering if it might be a good idea to separate that section into two; 1) Online Sales and Marketing; 2) Traditional Sales and Marketing[/quote:31w9r2iz] I second the request...
My reading log - Hi OmnivoreInk, Before starting my business, I read the following books as research: -"The Art of the Start" by Guy Kawasaki -"The AdSense Code" by Joel Comm -"Don't Think Pink" and "Mind Your X's and Y's" by Lisa Johnson And since then I've continued my "research" by reading (in this order): -"Technical Tennis" by Rod Cross -"For One More Day" by Mitch Albom -"The Twits" by Roald Dahl -"Little Black Book of Connections" by Jeffrey Gitomer -"The Secret" by Rhonda Byrne -"The Profitable Retailer" by Doug Fleener -"Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell -"Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude" by Jeffrey Gitomer -"The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" by C.S. Lewis -"Little Green Book of Getting Your Way" by Jeffrey Gitomer -"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling And I'm currently reading and am in the process of finishing the following: -"There's No Such Thing as Public Speaking" by Jeanette and Roy Henderson -"The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell -"The Book of Tells" by Peter Collett -"Little Red Book of Sales Answers" by Jeffrey Gitomer -"Chocolates on the Pillow Aren't Enough: Reinventing The Customer Experience" by Jonathan M. Tisch -"The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity" by Julia Cameron -"The Inner Game of Tennis" by Timothy Gallwey
Re: What to do at the first roadblock? - Upon first discouragement, dig in and see if things are as they seem. Sometimes, even though there are several products out there that appear comparable, they are no match. Maybe they do don't a good job of what they are intended for, or maybe there are several glitches in their system, or perhaps their customer service just plain stinks. Decide how you can "one up" all of these things and decide that you are going to create a better product that more people would want. Attitude is 95% of the battle. If you feel defeated before you've done any research on any of the other products, you're doing yourself a huge disservice. Give yourself a chance and see if you can be the BEST in every way. This will get you far no matter what the venture.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

How To Be Happy at Work? Acknowledge Yourself

Multilevel Marketing: 4 Tips To MLM Success

Small Business Internet Marketing

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.