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Sales.. It's more like Miss Universe than the Olympics

Guest post by: Dave Kurlan

Article Overview: The World series,the olympics, the academy awards, they're all great events but everyone gets rewarded even if they fail. Not so in sales, in fact it's a lot more like the Miss Universe competition...

Sales.. It's more like Miss Universe than the Olympics

Dave Kurlan is a top-rated speaker, best-selling author, sales thought leader and highly regarded sales development expert.

1st Place. Winning. #1. The Best. Top. Champion. Great, exciting labels.

World Champion. The San Francisco Giants won the 2010 World Series but the team they beat, the Texas Rangers, were still the American League Champions and each player received Playoff and World Series bonus earnings. It's OK to come in 2nd.

Gold Medalist. You don't have to win the Gold, because even the bronze and silver winners are among the medalists and their resumes will always include, "Winner of 4 Medals for the US Olympic Team". It's OK to come in 3rd!

Academy Award Winner. You don't have towinthe Academy Award; you only need to be nominated! Your movie or resume will always be able to state "Nominated for 7 Academy Awards". That's the stuff of legacy. You can leverage it. It's OK to lose!

Miss Universe. Either you win it all or you lose! Period. Who remembers the runner-up?

Sometimes I get the feeling that salespeople think that they are in the Olympics, where coming in second is OK. I hear things like, "At least we made the short list", or "That will make them think about us next time", or "If anything goes wrong they'll call us first", or, "Well now they know who we are". But it's not OK. Selling is more like Miss Universe. If you don't win, you've lost!

Let's take a closer look at those comments above:

1. At Least We Made the Short List- You should always be on the short list and what's the prize for that? You get to respond to an RFP? You get to present? You get to show up? In other words, you're such a great salesperson that they'll actually listen to you for 30 minutes? Yikes! If the prize is that you get to propose or present, that's a prize you shouldn't be shooting for. We're trying to stop you from doing that and get you to ask questions!
2. That will make them think about us next time- Really? They aren't thinking about you this time, so why will they think about you next time?
3. If anything goes wrong they'll call us first- If they thought that highly of you, they would have bought from you this time, so why would you be their back-up plan?
4. Now they know who we are- They knew who you were the minute you called them and apparently, they thought they knew enough to say 'no'.

According toCorporate Executive Board (CEB), buyers of technology say that 50% of differentiation takes place in the field. In others words, it's not your brand, your technology or your price that sets your company and products apart; it's your salespeople! And most of them aren't getting the job done.

So here's a nice contextual segue...

The Sales Awards" href="http://topsalesawards.com/" target="_blank">Top Sales Awardsare also very much like Miss Universe. The winner can leverage it for 12 months -- "Winner of the Top Sales Blog of 2010" -- and if you come in 2nd you can say, "And today's article is about motivation..." I got a late start on letting people know about this so we started last week in 10th (last) place. We began today in 2nd place but still a good 15 percentage points behind the temporary leader. In order to come from behind and win the Sales Blog of 2010" href="http://topsalesawards.com/nominations.php?award_cat_id=5" target="_blank">Top Sales Blog of 2010I'll need your votes and if you were nice enough to have already voted for this Blog - thank you very much (you can vote more than once...)! Just clickhere.

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Article Tags: closing, sales, sales person excuses, selling process



Related Forum Posts
Re: Marketing potential of virtual worlds - Hi djohnny, I know of three individuals who have made over 1 million us dollars in virtual worlds, so yes if you can find a niche there is a healthy return. Ansche Chung an avatar in Second Life was the first to earn a million. She now runs a virtual bank within another game called Entropia Universe. The second John Jacobs 'Neverdie purchased a virtual asteroid in Entropia Universe and players paid to hunt, shop, dance etc. He is also a millionairre from cyber space. Deathifier another within Entropia Universe purchased Treasure Island, again this was a place to hunt and mine which also turned him into a millionairre. I am seeing more and more of the big names for example Nike are promoting within these virtual arenas, so i can see a huge marketing potential if i can also find a new niche.
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 Best Method for Online Marketing - Thanks for the feedback GT, cartoons, pics of this or that all have their place - believe it is called Facebook. Miss the cartoon strips from the USA
3 for 1 - Thats a tough job, a single word as an expression of thought for a word like 'internet' is sure a difficult one ! However, I could think of a number of them - they are : 1. Creativity 2. Freedom 3. Universe Hope this is of help.
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...


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