Know When to Say No!

I remember when I was 19 and brand new in sales. I remember the excitement and anticipation of starting a new career. I also remember the unrealistic expectations of immediate success and glory I had set. The biggest problem in starting a sales career is learning who to listen to. Some times on occasion a rookie will find a veteran who takes him under his wing and teaches the rookie the ropes with the full intention of trying to help him or her be as successful as possible. Most of the time a rookie sales person has a difficult time finding a solid mentor and as a sales professional there are only two kinds of advice...

1) Advice that works
2) Advice that is detrimental to your career.

Notice I did not say advice that has no effect. Every piece of advice both given and taken has an end result and there is no status quo. That being said one of the worst pieces of advice I have ever been given, which is thrown around far too much from sales rep to sales rep is "say yes now and figure out how to do it later".

The most productive sales professionals are...

you guessed it productive. one of the biggest ways to waste time is to work with a prospect whose needs in business do not match up with how you deliver your product or service. I learned the tough way that the easiest way to maximize sales revenue with existing customers is not in your ability to provide great customer service after the sale. Although customer service is very important I would say it accounts for about 50% of your continued relationship's success. The other half is in the alignment of expectations with your company and the customer. To simplify- If you cannot provide what the customer wants within the price they are willing to pay just understand that there may be a company out there that can, and thats okay. Your goal should be to identify your company's strengths and stick with them. If you play in your sweet spot you are bound to produce more. If you are a baseball player and you are a great fastball hitter, but are not as good with off speed pitches. Chances are you aren't going to wait until an 0-2 count to get the bat off of your shoulders. you are going to be looking for that first pitch fastball. So find out what your first pitch fastball is and focus your efforts there. You can always learn to hit a curve later.

remember, if you can delivery what the customer want, when they want it and exceed those expectations you are destined for success. If you can't; walk away and save yourself the 100 extra hours you will have to spend to make the customer happy.