Revving up Sales for Introverts, Shy and Reluctant

Please subscribe to my new blog at a new location. You'll learn more about both selling and cars! Meet me there: http://www.patricia-weber.com . Read more!

Economy Survival for Introverts and Extroverts Alike

When I received her ezine titled, Upheavals and Downheavals: The Search for Dry Land, it set me on fire with the actions I am already taking during this economic crisis talk. Yes certainly, the financial situation appears real, but it is a lot of talk. Too much talk for me. I'm a follower of Shelle Rose Charvet, Certified Speaking Professional, author of Words That Change Minds and, a true genius with NLP. You will be inspired by her words, regardless of your introvert or extrovert preference:

"Have you ever felt like the dove that left Noah’s Ark in search of dry land only to find more sea than ever and nowhere to land? Or perhaps you have been valiantly resisting the urge to bail out during all the disastrous news because you are determined to avoid buying high and selling low. And just when you were thinking it couldn’t get any worse… " Read more on Shelle's blog.

What's your biggest hurdle to overcome in sales reluctance?
Answer this online survey and get a free gift! Read more!

Sales Training – Daily Recovery Important for Introverts

While autos can go a day or sometimes more for a fill up, introverts who sell will discover accelerated sales results with a daily routine centered on three areas: release techniques, comfortable marketing activities and targeting those activities to identified prospects.

One area to fill up is your own beliefs about what success you want. Most of us, salespeople or not, have beliefs that hold us back from being all we want to be. We have that internal dialogue that is like a noisy clanking engine. “I’m not worthy,” “it doesn’t matter that others are succeeding, I’m different,” or any number of beliefs keep on ticking in our mind. Find a release technique to set your day up for success. Some most effective ones include the Sedona technique, Emotional Freedom Technique, meditation or love letters. It doesn’t matter what technique. What matters is to use one daily.

Another fill up is to identify appropriate marketing activities. What’s appropriate? First, select a mix of activities that satisfy short, medium and long term sales goals. Then, act the ones that you enjoy! The ones that you have more comfort with. Let’s say it’s the fourth quarter of the year and you are quite close to making your sales goal. The priority, the emphasis, would be on short term activities that get you the fastest results. This would include activities like: follow up with all prospects, contact all current clients to cross sell, and asking for referrals from clients. The fourth quarter is not the prime time to be using speaking engagement or article writing to attract new prospects quickly. When you need fast results, select and act on low hanging fruit sales actions. Whatever activities you select, start with activities you like the most to keep your attitude high.

A third fill up activity is to constantly be defining your perfect client. Have you noticed when driving that is you take your eye of the road for just a second or two, you may tend to drift off your lane? Well, when you take your thinking and talking about your perfect customer off in a different direction you tend to drift away from your perfect clients. Part of your daily routine can include a fill up in your mind and talk about just who is your target client. The book, Attracting Perfect Customers: The Power of Strategic Synchronicity, by Stacey Hall and Jan Brogniez, offers a strategic model for this. With clarity on your perfect customer, where ever you are networking, in person and online, your message will be attractive to those you want to hear it. You won’t drift off your lane.

Extroverts tend to be energized by many activities going on at once, and a daily fill up may not be required. But extroverts would still benefit from a routine kind of attitudinal and marketing activity fill up.

If the tendency is more toward introversion, then the three fill ups – releasing negative beliefs, acting on desirable marketing activities and focusing on your target client – are more important on a daily basis.

What's your biggest hurdle to overcome in sales reluctance?
Answer this online survey and get a free gift!
Read more!

Salespeople still sell well in this economy!

The Ferrari salesman who we bought our F430 from is making the news: he continues to sell these exotic sports cars without any problems. Just like we were on the waiting list for 3 years, he's got people on the waiting list now.

So what is the secret to selling such luxury while the market is still in free fall? Go to the eighth paragraph and first sentence.

How can you use this philosophy?

Read more!

100 Days to Sell and Meet 2008 Goals

I'm working through my own prospect list and have a buddy to report to every three days. With 127 names of prospects in the last year, there's people who may want me to call them!

Part of my report will be around Follow-up. Here's a tip - either hire a coach or find someone to be your buddy for the next few weeks. You will be using telephone and in-person whenever feasible for sales follow-up. At least once a week check in with your coach or buddy to report on your results. Make it fun! Reward yourself at certain set goals. When I'm caught up on follow up, my buddy and I are going to lunch together.

While I continue to work on a blueprint for your consideration to Fill Up, Firm Up and Follow-Up, you may be interested in a Teleseminar Extravaganza. Go to http://askpatweber.com for details. Read more!

Reach Your 2008 Sales Goals in the Last 100 Days

This is an unusual year that I don't have my sales goals met! Could it have been those 2 months of being caregiver for my husband during his open heart quintuple bypass surgery and subsequent heart attack? Add to that 2 more months of caregiving for my mother, who had 80 years old had open heart aeortic valve replacement? I've felt like my car's fuel tank on a long trip - full, empty, full and empty again in terms of energy and focus.

My strategy now it to plan out each and every week with a Fill Up, Firm Up and Follow up approach. I plan to offer this as a report to you in the next day or two.

In the meantime I found some no and low cost sales related top tips:

• Top 100 Tips for Lead Management and Sales Success;
• How To Reach Your Year End Goals Even If You Haven't Started On Them;
• and as a dog lover, Top Dog Sales Secrets.
  

Sign up for my ezine with dozens of free reports and you'll get the Year End Fill Up, Firm Up, Followup, End of Year Sales Plan.

Patricia Weber
The Sales Accelerator Coach for Introverts, Shy and the MOST Reluctant
What is the area of sales of your greatest sales reluctance?
Take this sales survey.

Read more!

Selling Like a Dog May Be Introvert Advantage

My dog, Chanel, is awesome. With a petite size tennis ball in her mouth she stands at my office door when she is ready to go out and play. She stands there with eyes on me until I say something like, “Let’s go play!” Many salespeople are mystified about how to get a prospect to listen to them to let alone buy. It’s not a requirement that your prospect be an introvert, known to be better listeners naturally. There are easier ways, as my dog knows, to introduce yourself to a prospect and have them listen.

One dog lesson is, “When it’s in your best interest, practice obedience.”

Keep your eyes on the master.

In sales, think of your prospect as your master. Dogs learn their place in a family. Well trained dogs know that they go through a door once their master goes through rather than running ahead without permission. You must focus on prospects instead of yourself through all points in selling. The salesperson who constantly focuses on themselves will lose listening points. No one wants to hear about what you have to say until you say what they want to hear! Just like the dog knowing their place in a family by practicing obedience, as a salesperson consider your place in the sales relationship with a prospect: they come first.

Keep your focus.

Chanel sits at attention with that petite size tennis ball in her month for minutes sometimes. Because she doesn’t bark or whine it can take minute for me to look up at her if I am on a telephone call or writing an article. But her eyes never leave me. Stay focused first on your intention of the result of having someone listen to you and second on your prospect. On a recent coaching call, a client told me they are assessing the ease and less stress when they go to an initial sales call with a more reasonable sales intention. Their focus is to find out more about the prospect and their intention is to get to the next step: for them this is to schedule a follow up call. They are 99% more effective than their previous approach with the intention to get the sale.

Another dog teaching is, “If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it.”

Remember what is buried.

Just like Chanel knows where she buries her dog treats and can find them easily at a later time, she also knows her tennis ball in her mouth will get time to play. It’s likely that your prospect doesn’t care to listen to you because you haven’t yet reminded them of what is buried in their mind – possibly a problem they whisked under the carpet, possibly a solution they seek that came and went through their mind. How do you help them to remember? Stay focused throughout a sales conversation on the prospect. Your listening can lead them to finding what is buried, and that can lead to a decision to buy from you.

Dig until you find the treasure.

You would laugh with amazement on how excited Chanel gets when I finally take note of her request. She goes from a statue like stare to romping with glee. If you are in rapport with your prospect while you help them to remember their pain – what is buried; or discover what solution they do want – also buried, then the time will be right for when you can present them with the treasure. Why would you want to rain on their delight by showing them the treasure before they even know what they were digging for?

Is it obvious to you I love the lessons that dogs give us about selling? Your obedience is about paying more attention to learning about the customer than to jumping in to some spiel about yourself. Then your digging about how and what to sell to your prospect will be as easy as it is for a dog.

Patricia Weber
The Sales Accelerator Coach for Introverts, Shy and the MOST Reluctant
What is the area of sales of your greatest sales reluctance?
Take this sales survey.

Read more!

Pat Weber on Jim Blasingame’s radio talk show – except in politics; going negative about ur competition is not good, http://ping.fm/zt9mB Read more!

Getting Back in the Flow: Anything to do with Introvert or Extrovert?

It's been about a week now since I took my mom back home. After her open heart surgery at 80, I wanted to be there to help her and my two single parent sisters. So even after a week of being home and getting back to work, why can't I focus on important business tasks?

Does this have anything to do with introversion or extroversion?

My sense is it, since we process stress differently, that an introvert may go to extreme "I" behaviors during difficult times. Since our brains are hardwired to process through a long path of neuron connections, that seems to make sense.

It also may be a gender specific coping with stress. There's actual physical evidence that there is 1 of 3 hormones released during a stressful situation affecting women longer term.

What do you think? I'm interested!


Patricia Weber
The Sales Accelerator Coach for Introverts, Shy and the MOST Reluctant
What is the area of sales of your greatest sales reluctance?
Take this sales survey. Read more!

Introvert and Extrovert Alike Experience Shyness

While I'm still in caregiving mode I am finding interesting articles that help to continue to clarify myths and mistaken understanding about introversion.

Here are Ten Ways to Combat Shyness regardless of your energy tendencies. Number six is a natural for introverts!

What do you think?

Patricia Weber
The Sales Accelerator Coach for Introverts, Shy and the MOST Reluctant
What is the area of sales of your greatest sales reluctance?
Take this sales survey. Read more!

How fast is speed in blogging?

This blog is getting ready to move. I can't fight it anymore because, the new look is already getting picked up. Yikes. This is not comfortable. I mean as an INTJ, with not everything ready, I'm nervous.

Since Google alerts is picking things up as my webmaster gets closer, I decided to go more with the flow.

If you want to see the new look: http://patricia-weber.com

What do you think?

Patricia Weber
The Sales Accelerator Coach for Introverts, Shy and the MOST Reluctant
What is the area of sales of your greatest sales reluctance?
Take this sales survey. Read more!

Top Salespeople Secret Number 6 During a Recession

Watch for a new blog look coming soon!

The USA talk is we’re knee deep in a recession, with rising and not as quick falling gas prices and the feds have just bailed out the infamous mortgage lenders Fannie May and Freddie Mac.

Do NOT get beaten down with all this.

Just a quick review before I get to the sixth thing that top salespeople do to avoid devastating affects:

Top salespeople CHOOSE to be a thermostat of sales results, not a thermometer. A thermometer measures temperature – like you finding your sales go up in a good economy or down in a downturn. A thermostat controls the temperature in your home – like you deciding to take some actions to regulate your own sales results.

Top salespeople choose not to be uncomfortable with a thermometer’s ups and downs. They either repair or replace the malfunction!

The top seven things I’ve found in 32 years of sales and sales management is that top producers don’t fall victim to negative chatter. Instead they: Read more!

Networking for introverts: is it any easier on the internet?

There's FaceBook, LinkedIn, Fastpitchnetworking, ecademy, Naymz, myspace and the number of social and business networking online websites grows daily.

Here's one introverts plan of approach. Javen Ackerman outlines his approach with his top three online networking sites of choice. Then he considers how to make a smoother ride of it your local business community.

What do you think? Are you online at any of the social and business networking sites? I am interested!

Patricia Weber
The Sales Accelerator Coach for Introverts, Shy and the MOST Reluctant
What is the area of sales of your greatest sales reluctance?
Take this sales survey. Read more!

Sales career for introverts?

Chris Berry has an encouraging blog post for introverts considering a sales career,

Should Introverts Consider A Career In Sales.

If you are considering whether to go B2B or B2C, he makes some observations from his personal experience, and as an introvert.

Personally I think as innovative as introverts are we can plan around the downsides of retail sales: time to recharge between customers, purposefully planning our quiet times before and after hours, just a couple of ideas. I love that here is another introvert saying, Go for a sales career!

What do you think? I am interested!

What do you say? You know what I would say!

Patricia Weber
The Sales Accelerator Coach for Introverts, Shy and the MOST Reluctant
What is the area of sales of your greatest sales reluctance?
Take this sales survey. Read more!

Two Qualities for Top Sales Strategies

What would you guess to be at least two qualities to create more relationships and more opportunities?

OK; what would just one quality be?

Well, in Crain's Manchester Business being a good listener is one of them. He too claims that as introverts, or those with more introversion, there's a distinct advantage for this to be more natural.

Whether you are in sales or a small business owner, listening is a people skill to develop.

What do you think? Is he right? Is this yet another skill we tend to let limit our abilities?

What do you say? You know what I would say!

Patricia Weber
The Sales Accelerator Coach for Introverts, Shy and the MOST Reluctant
What is the area of sales of your greatest sales reluctance?
Take this sales survey. Read more!

Introvert Salespeople Have Some Superior Traits All Through Selling

Breanne Potter has many years with administering the MBTI. I was commenting on another post at youngentrepreneur.com and SOMEHOW I found her article with a most relevant comment about introverts in sales.

Read Misconception #6: I found out I’m an Introvert, but I’m in a sales job. I guess I should find a new career, in her "Top 10 Misconceptions about the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator®."

What do you think? Is she right? Can it be our preferences do not limit our abilities?

What do you say? You know what I would say!

Patricia Weber
The Sales Accelerator Coach for Introverts, Shy and the MOST Reluctant
What is the area of sales of your greatest sales reluctance?
Take this sales survey. Read more!

Elevator Pitch Design for Introverts to Love and Customers Want to Listen

For whatever reasons, I've seen an increase of talk about a salesperson's introduction to potential prospects and connectors. In marketing jargon, this introduction is called the elevator pitch. It takes about 60 seconds and the top salespeople have 15 and 30 second versions as well. When I read some methods or formulas I can tell they come from a "me" focus.

Here's a way that is comfortable for me as an introvert that I am hoping is comfortable for you as well. After all, more interesting introductions can lead to more results in your networking efforts.

It might seem sad to think salespeople have reduced themselves to soundbites like this in doing business. Then again, selling today stretches our communication abilities. For salespeople, particularly for those who are shy or introverts or otherwise reluctant to even make an introduction, an attractive elevator speech is a must have to have to connect in a way that the customer knows whether you are focused on them or yourself.

The six steps to crafting an elevator pitch that is customer-focused are: more...

What do you think? Can you comment below?

Patricia Weber
The Sales Accelerator Coach for Introverts, Shy and the MOST Reluctant
What is the area of sales of your greatest sales reluctance?
Take this sales survey. Read more!

Are introvert jokes really funny?

In my daily searching for all things of interest for introverts who sell, I came across a series of jokes by RJ: Randy's Brew.

Reserving my right to stating my opinion right now.

What do you think? Can you comment below?

Patricia Weber
The Sales Accelerator Coach for Introverts, Shy and the MOST Reluctant
What is the area of sales of your greatest sales reluctance?
Take this sales survey. Read more!

When Doctor and Nurse Are Not Enough: Patient Advocate to Protect

It's exhausting enough when interacting with many people. Now mix in the additional element in the caregiving role. When Doctor and Nurse Are Not Enough: Patient Advocate to Protect

Would you leave a comment at the article? Read more!

Who says an introvert lack humor?

Do you want to get involved with the USA elections campaign?

If you haven't already decided on your candidate, and who really has, then get caught up now.




GOT Ya! Good one, heh?

Patricia Weber
The Sales Accelerator Coach for Introverts, Shy and the MOST Reluctant
What is the area of sales of your greatest sales reluctance?
Take this sales survey. Read more!