The Multiplying Factor In Sales Success
Mark has an attitude! Mark had worked in an operational capacity in the plant of a mid-western uniform company for over eighteen years. He had held almost every job in the production end of the business, from janitor to purchasing. One morning the owner of the company called Mark into his office to discuss a new job assignment. Mark was floored when the boss asked him to become the company’s sales manager and take over the marketing department, which included the areas of sales and service. Mark had never sold before, nor had he managed more than a couple of people in his operational assignments. Now he was being asked by the owner of the laundry, at my recommendation, to supervise a sales team of three people, a route sales staff of nine and three service managers. My recommendation was primarily based on my observations of Mark as he gave me a plant tour a year earlier, as I started my engagement with this client.
After working for a little over a year in the sales manager’s position, Mark more than doubled the number of sales over the previous year, even though he had let one of his sales representatives go for poor perform-ance. After two years, he tripled yearly sales levels and had to ad several more routes to cover the increased business. His route sales were up significantly over the previous reporting period and customer retention levels were at an all time high as well. With literally no selling back-ground or customer contact and little opportunity to manage a large group of people in the plant, how did Mark achieve the success levels that eluded the previous sales manager, who had nearly twenty years of sales and sales management experience? If you could meet Mark, you would instantly see what makes him a success.
Mark has an attitude! I observed Mark’s positive attitude on my first and several subsequent visits to the plant. His great attitude alone was the reason for my recommendation to his boss to have Mark head up mar-keting for the firm. Mark made some mistakes as he took over the reins of the department before he was trained and coached. But a few mis-takes could be expected from his lack of formal training and promotional experience. However, Mark’s positive attitude quickly helped him to over-come this lack of experience and set an atmosphere in the department that produced unprecedented sales success levels. He is so positive and optimistic that he is contagious.
For most professionals, achieving and then consistently maintaining a high level of success is difficult. For some, it is a frustrating and futile exercise. Like a person on a diet who never seems to find just the right formula for losing weight and then keeping it off permanently, achieving consistent levels of management or sales success eludes most managers and their representatives. All too frequently sales professionals drift in and out of success producing sales and management activities and never achieve the long-term patterns of success they are seeking.
As I have studied the success patterns of top sales professionals from all types of industries and from all parts of the country, I began to make an exciting discovery. I learned that for the 20% of the sales people who sell 80% of the goods and services in the United States, achievement or failure is controlled in large measure by their strong, overpowering will to succeed--an attitude. The top sales producers in this country are driven to succeed, giving them a multiplying factor in generating consistent sales success. This achievement drive, attitude, or “personal motivation,” is the primary force leaders employ in attaining consistent sales productivity and high closing ratios. From this research, I learned that sales success for any manager or sales professional is possible, if he or she correctly applies achievement drive principles that top sales professionals consis-tently use. Once I learned how achievement drive (attitude) worked for sales people, it became clear that it was also the power in the lives of all successful people (managers, parents, athletes, administrators, volun-teers, etc.) helping people to achieve higher levels of personal and profes-sional success than their peers.
How could Mark double and then triple sales levels in his laundry, while letting one of his sales representatives go? Why are some people like Mark able to overcome a lack of experience, terrible adversity and obsta-cles to achieve greatness, while others, in spite of every advantage, turn their lives into a disaster? The answer is quite simple. Those that are successful in life have learned how to create an overpowering desire to succeed. They have mastered the art of programming themselves to build the achievement drive necessary to produce consistently high levels of success.
Studies at major universities show that successful people from every field of endeavor have a greater need to achieve success than their peers. No one ever attained a consistent pattern of success that didn't have this burning desire to succeed internalized. This desire, in turn, gives achiev-ers the energy, stamina, enthusiasm and compelling personal motivation to attain their goals in life. Psychologists tell us that when you see your-self succeeding, the very thought of success alone can often make a sig-nificant difference in the outcome of any objective that you might have.
People are motivated and directed by their dominant thought patterns. Successful sales managers and representatives have learned to develop an overall attitude of optimism, expectations of success and a vision of themselves succeeding by regularly programming their biocomputer to be successful. This programming, once in place, is the edge that pulls them toward their dreams and ideal future. You too can apply these same principles and program yourself to attain much greater lev-els of productivity and sales success and produce higher success levels in everything else that you do in life.
The Multiplying Factor In Sales Success - To learn more about this author, visit Virden Thornton's Website.
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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Dianne CramptonDianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team culture consultant, author and president of TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Dianne has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down go here. Dianne's contribution to the 2010 Pfeiffer Consulting Journal (an imprint of John Wiley and Sons Publishers) entitled TIGERS Hearted Teams is available in November 2009. Her new book TIGERS Among Us: 5 Winning Business Team Cultures And Why, Three Creeks Publishing will release in March 2010. To receive publishing discounts, subscribe to the free TigerTracks Newsletter here. - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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