Sales Training Motivational Speaker | Gavin Ingham» sales performance

Be Proud Of Being A Professional Salesperson

Gavin Ingham — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 10:14:04 +0000

On my travels as a sales motivational speaker, I meet a lot of people who “fell into” sales. Infact, when I ask people at sales conferences to ask the people sitting near to them, “How did you get into sales?” the vast majority reply, “Well, I kind of fell into it.”

So many people don’t choose sales as a career. They don’t sit in first school talking about how they want to be a salesperson. They don’t argue that they want to be Lord Alan Sugar instead of Rooney when they’re kicking a ball about in the playground and they don’t want to be a cold caller rather than an astronaut or a doctor.

And on top of all of this, many people are rude about salespeople saying that they are uneducated, illiterate, self-centred, selfish, pushy, arrogant, egotistical individuals. And they are rude about the job too saying that it is for people who couldn’t get a better job. Indeed, I once read an article in a national newspaper where the writer said that we should “feel sorry” for salespeople because they had fallen so low in life…

Is it surprising then that many salespeople do not want to be called a “salesperson”? They do not want the title of salesperson, preferring instead to change it to “consultant” or “account manager” or even “account director”.

And how many salespeople do you know who want to be sales managers? Virtually all of them.

Why? Because they perceive that this is promotion. Because they perceive that this elevates them above these criticisms. And because they perceive that it means more money, more prestige, more kudos, more respect…

And they might be right. Or are they?

Great salespeople can make great sales managers. And great sales managers can make great salespeople. But great salespeople do not necessarily make great sales managers. And great sales managers do not necessarily make great salespeople.

And these are important facts to swallow because if you don’t swallow them and you don’t apply them to yourself then it will cost you big! Big in money. Big in prospects! Big in personal satisfaction. And BIG in career opportunities.

Great salespeople need to be proud of what they do. Great salespeople need to recognize that their greatest asset is their ability to sell and to create new business. Great salespeople need to know that top quality salespeople are like world-class athletes and a selling career provides all of the rewards that anyone could ever dream of…

If you read the Sunday Times Appointments section this week you would have seen a huddle of None-Exec roles, Directors of public sector companies, MDs and FDs… but, the most interesting, best sounding and highest (stated) paid opportunity was…?

A sales opportunity…

London, New York, Singapore. £100k, OTE £250k (uncapped). Sounds interesting already right?

Success in life is about playing to your strengths and if you have worked hard to be a top salesperson then you ought to be proud of your achievements and continue to become a well-paid, well respected, sought after, world-class, sales superstar.

3 Simple Sales Tips For Sales Success

Gavin Ingham — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 14:27:27 +0000

I’ve had one of those weeks…. and it’s only Wednesday. I’m sure you have them sometimes too. Mine actually started 3-4 days ago with a nagging headache that built up and built culminating in projectile vomiting at 3am in the morning on Tuesday morning. In fact, I was still feeling nauseous, shaky and hadn’t slept at 615am and was due to get up in an hour to head down to London to give a sales motivational talk…

Over the years, I have spent tens of thousands of pounds and invested a good proportion of my time into self-development. Some of it has been personal development, some of it sales development and some of it more advanced stuff! I could bore you to death with talk of complex sales linguistics, hypnotic language patterns and the impact of using one word over another but unless you’re in my inner circle of The Ingham Academy it’s unlikely you will hear about these because for most sales and business people that I meet, it’s doing the simple stuff consistently and well that makes the difference and gets results.

Unfortunately, this is where so many people fall down. They fail to do the simple stuff well. They fail to do what they know. And they fail to keep doing the very things that made them successful in the first place.

Maybe this is because they forget. Maybe it’s because they get lazy. Maybe it’s because they get wrapped up in seemingly more important things…

No matter. Fail to do the basics and the basics will fail you. Often spectacularly.

When I speak at sales conferences and people email me or ring me weeks and months later to say that my talk helped them to double or treble their sales, I’d love to say that it’s the advanced sales techniques that I taught them, but, often times, it’s motivating, educating and inspiring them to raise the bar and do the basics with passion and commitment that gives them the sales edge.

People often ask me, what is the difference that makes the difference for successful salespeople? And whilst there are many more complicated answers that I could give, here are three basic sales principles that all salespeople should live by…

Have a PSA (Positive Sales Attitude).
Do what you say you’re going to do.
Give 100% commitment.

So you know, after an hour’s sleep, I’d stopped being physically sick so I got up and I made my way on the three hour plus journey to speak in London… Does this make me a hero? No, of course not. Like you and like every sales and business professional, it’s the simple principles that we live by that determine our destiny.

When Your Prospect Or Customer Says, ‘No!’, What Do You Hear?

Gavin Ingham — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 22:58:14 +0000

Here’s another question that came up recently. “When your prospect or customer says, “No!”, what do you hear? How do you react? Rejected or challenged? What advice would you give to somebody just starting out?”

As a sales motivational speaker I see the negative consequences of sales and business people dealing with this badly every day so here is my advice…

It’s not what is said, it is your interpretation that does the damage. How many people every year die of snake bites? The answer is none. People die of the poison, not the bites. Salespeople are not undone by “No” but by how they interpret that “No.”

If someone says to you, “We have an existing supplier”… what do you hear and what do you think?

Do you hear, like most salespeople, “We have an existing supplier so we’re not interested. Go away!”? And then think, “This job is rubbish, no-one ever has a need for our services.”

Or do you hear, like sales superstars, “We have an existing supplier which means that we’re in the market place and already see value in what you do”? And then think, “All I have to do now is find a way to demonstrate how we can provide a better service.”

One of the keys to being a top salesperson is getting, keeping and cultivating a positive, sales mindset. This can be done by reading good sales books, listening to sales audios, attending sales seminars, mixing with sales winners, employing a sales coach, learning from sales experts, focusing on what’s good about any event….

To someone starting out, avoid negative mood-hoovers,whingers and whiners, associate with sales winners, make sure you get plenty of the good stuff. Protect your positive mindset like it is a pot of gold…

Because it is!

Sales Psychology & Performance, LinkedIn Group

Gavin Ingham — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 21:21:54 +0000

Check out my Sales Psychology & Performance, LinkedIn Group. As an author and sales speaker I get asked questions every day. Many of these are face to face, up close and personal but, increasingly, many of them are “virtual”. After an inspirational sales seminar many people email me to say that they enjoyed it and then ask questions…

I welcome and enjoy these questions. After all, helping people to improve their sales results and build the businesses and the lives that they desire is one of the primary reasons that I became a speaker in the first place. Interestingly, most of these questions come via email and are never posted on the blog. Despite my best efforts this has remained the case for several years now. After conversations with my clients about this I have concluded that clients are “used” to asking questions via email and are comfortable with this medium. Whilst I do my best to answer all of them, it can get quite time consuming and also a little repetitive with me constantly “reinventing” the wheel.

Most of my clients however do use and are members of LinkedIn. LinkedIn, on the off chance that it has somehow passed you by, or on the off chance that you are still trying to ignore it and pretend that it could not add value for you is, in my opinion, the business social network of the moment. The reason for this is that anyone can join LinkedIn and you can get as involved as you like or you can be as passive as you like but you will not get spammed by idiots or have goats or pies thrown at you like you might on Facebook (*more on my plans for Facebook another day!).

So to let everyone have their say, communicate amongst themselves, get access to my blogs and videos and ask questions I have started a LinkedIn group, Sales Psychology & Performance. If you are wondering if the group is for you, then here is my description of the group…

For sales professionals, sales leaders & professionals who want to maximize sales. This group is dedicated to people who want to share sales superstar strategies & approaches that win more sales. Join the discussions, read the blogs or share your favourite strategies.

So in short, YES, if you are reading this blog or are a member of my GavinIngham.com newsletter this group is for you.

To join, you need a LinkedIn account and you may as well link up with me whilst you are there. I see this group as a good way of keeping your sales edge sharp, sharing best practice and keeping up with the Sales Joneses! The group has grown to 450+ members in under two weeks and that is just from mentioning it on LinkedIn. This is the first time I have mentioned it to my readership. If you are wavering here is an idea of the kind of conversations going on currently…

Question from me…

What’s your most effective strategy for getting motivated?

Every sales professional has faced challenges and, at some point, every sales person has found themselves in a less than perfect state of mind. What separates sales superstars from more mediocre performers is their ability to bounce back and get straight back into the game.

What is your most effective strategy for getting yourself motivated, in the right state of mind and at the top of your game?

This currently has 24 fabulous answers. Here is one of them from Angela…

Something that resonated with me was a session by Hunphrey Walters (amazing man – look him up). He talks about a winning team mentality, but it works for the individual too. Here are a few points…

i) Set and celebrate mini victories. This took me back to taking exams and having a sweet whenever I finished a section. I still do it now, it’s just that the ‘sweets’ have gotten a little bigger! So don’t wait for the end goal, make sure there are many along the way.

ii) Never leave the game early. There are a few premiership football teams that could have learnt from this one this year! It’s the same as motivating yourself to pick up the phone again when selling. Apparently it’ll take 6 contacts with a new client to gain business, on average. Most people give up on the 3rd or 4th. This knowledge helps in the sense that you can tell yourself that each call it a step closer to the 6th one.

iii) Pride in the badge. Paul Burton was right in that it really helps if you love what you do, but also if you love the company you’re doing it for. Wanting to do a good job for others is a motivator in itself.

There are 5 others, so look him up. His book is a great read too. ‘Global Challenge’ by Humphrey Walters.

Enjoy, Angela
Angela Cripps, Lander Associates

And another from Sean…

Great question!

I am not sure my method will work for everyone, but it seems to work for me.

I use the same method in the gym in the morning and the same method during the day. Quite simply I break down my day into easily achievable targets, whether it be run for the next 5 minutes at x speed, or call 10 prospective clients. Whilst carrying out this challenge, I am already thinking about what my next target will be and so my work or work out moves smoothly from one challenge to the next.

I will often summarise milestones or tasks that I need to reach or carry out during the day. This gives me a rough idea of the path my day will take.

Hopefully, not always the case, by the end of the day I have reached all of my targets and had a solid productive day.
Sean Burling, V-HR

Pretty good answers I am sure you will agree… so check out Sales Psychology & Performance and link with me on LinkedIn whilst you’re at it. Take the opportunity to sharpen your sales skills, boost your sales attitudes and get the sales edge…

Get The Sales Superstar Mindset, Video 3 Of 3

Gavin Ingham — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 00:54:31 +0000

Part 3 of Getting the Sales Superstar mindset. Sales success is about both skills and attitudes. In this the third video in this three part series we unlock the keys to the sales mindset for achieving sales success. Sales training tips and strategies for developing the mindset of a sales winner.