All posts by The Irreverent Sales Girl

Take the 20 minute challenge to speed up sales!

Take the 20 minute challenge! Business was moving at the speed of molasses.

Deals were stacking up. All that was required was SOMEONE putting pen to paper, but no one was doing it.

The roadmap to RESIGNATION

I was on my way to the land of RESIGNATION! Where booze flows freely, the entertainment is On Demand, the food is decadent, but it is an empty, empty world. Nothing is getting done … and escape seems the only good thing about my day.

As appealing as a trip to the land of RESIGNATION seemed, I thought that this time I would take a detour. I called my dear and very successful friend whose business has been EXPLODING lately and asked her for her advice. How was SHE blowing business out of the water and I was stuck?

And here is what she said!

She told me that she had been creating a “clearing” for business to come in. Huh! Taking actions that create a new context for her day and for the way her business goes.

Wondering how to go from 5 to 6 figures in sales? Check out this Free eBook: http://ebook.solidsixblueprint.com/solid-six-ebook/

I wanted something a bit more concrete – more actionable.

She said. Play this game with yourself. Make it a point to return every email, every phone call, every communication within 20 minutes. Be a RESPONSE machine!

WOW! Interesting.

So, I agreed. For one week, I was going to play the game. Between 8 am and 7 pm every day, I was going to respond to people within 20 minutes.

Know what happened?

1) My pipeline got even MORE full with truly interested and qualified buyers
2) I closed a deal and another one is on its way this week
3) My activity went WAY up – so that I am meeting those goals, too!

Now, if you think this is all a little “woo woo”, I assure you it is not.

Let’s take a look at what is in play here.

Meeting People Where They Are

The golden KEY to sales is being where your buyer is. It is our biggest challenge. We have entire marketing teams dedicated to it.

When your buyer sends you an email, they are thinking of you and they are interested in engaging with you in that moment. You have about 20 minutes before their mind moves on to something entirely new and you are forgotten.

The LEAST EXPENSIVE and EASIEST way to be where your customer is at the right time, is GET RIGHT BACK IN TOUCH with them – when they are thinking of you!

Activity Breeds Activity

As you get active, you will see other actions that you want to take. You will communicate more and more often. If you make more requests, you will get more responses. Period. You will get more meetings. You will get more “no’s” which you can move out of your pipeline. You will get more “yes’s” which you can move into your pipeline. You will get ideas and inspiration! You will be a communication machine!

Putting the Universe on Notice

When you get in touch with EVERYONE (I mean everyone! Not *JUST* customers!), you are telling the universe that you are open for business! Not in a “woo woo” way – although, we all have heard that when you create a true intention that the universe moves to fulfill on that intention. I don’t know much about that, but I DO know about this natural law called INERTIA.

A body in motion tends to stay in motion. A body at rest tends to stay at rest. Why argue with natural laws? You fight authority, but authority always wins. If you put things off, you will get put off by others!

If you want to BREAK THE BACK of RESIGNATION, you are going to first have to get your body in motion. Which means – it will take some extra energy to get you moving, but once you do, it will ACTUALLY take extra energy to STOP being in motion! Inertia is your friend or your mortal enemy. You get to say!

Take the 20 minute challenge!

I challenge you today to take the 20 minute response game on! For one week, play the game of getting back to EVERYONE within 20 minutes, then tell me what happened! I think you will be amazed!

Love ’em ALL UP!

The Irreverent Sales Girl

 

Spice it up a bit this week!

Spice it up a bit this weekIt’s mid-winter.

It’s mid-quarter (sort of).

The bloom of the New Year has worn off a bit – and it’s too early for Spring Fever.

So, what can you do to spice it up a bit?

This week, I want  you to come up with some BIG reward for yourself. Something to put a little action in your step. Pick something that you rarely do for yourself, like take an afternoon off, or that great bottle of champagne, a massage, a night full of guilt-free TV. Something you don’t normally do, but will really enjoy.

Wondering how to go from 5 to 6 figures in sales? Check out this Free eBook: http://ebook.solidsixblueprint.com/solid-six-ebook/

NOW, pick a goal to accomplish this week.

A S-T-R-E-T-C-H goal. Maybe it’s an extra ten cold calls. Maybe it’s getting your CRM all-the-way-up-to-date. Perhaps it’s setting up 3 extra meetings for next week. Whatever, it is…put THAT at stake this week. Make sure it’s an ACTIVITY goal – not an outcome goal. Activity is always the key!

If you hit your goal – you get the reward!

Then, tell someone else about your game. Your spouse, your boss, a fellow salesperson. (It doesn’t work if you keep it to yourself).

Get to work! Have some fun! Blow your goal out of the water and ENJOY your reward.

It’s too easy to get on the treadmill of doing, doing, doing – make sure you’re taking great care of YOU when you win.

BONUS EXERCISE

Write a comment and tell me what your goal and reward are for the week! I want to see you get CREATIVE!

Let’s get spicy and…

Love ’em UP!

The Irreverent Sales Girl

When you just get stuck

It will happen!Are you stuck?

Even if you are the best in the biz…

Every now and then, you WILL lose your passion and you will lose your way.

The deals you used to be reliable for will not close.

You will worry that you’ve “lost it”.

WHAT TO DO?

You’re not going to like the next idea, but it is CRUCIAL..

Wondering how to go from 5 to 6 figures in sales? Check out this Free eBook: http://ebook.solidsixblueprint.com/solid-six-ebook/

GET IN COMMUNICATION!

If you feel stuck, one of four things has probably happened:

1) You have had a major life event (like a death in the family) that has taken you off your game

2)  You have exhausted your “reliable” leads and you are focusing only on them

3)  You have recently lost a deal you were sure would close and you have lost your confidence

4)  You can’t see the pathway to closing the deals you need to close to make your number

 

The answer is simple, but most people don’t do it!

Get in touch with your favorite salespseron and ask THEM what they would do!

KEEP SELLING!

 A deal WILL come through and it will re-ignite you.

NEVER STOP!

You’ve got what it takes…and you KNOW it. (Or else you wouldn’t have read so far!)

PLEASE get in touch with me if you are stuck. I will do whatever it takes to get you un-stuck!

Try me!

Love being a salesperson UP!

The Irreverent Sales Girl

Where are you living a “what if” life?

Living a "what if?" lifeIn my 20’s I got engaged to a drummer.

He was all the things a drummer should be. Long hair, bar tender, you know the guy. The one the girls swoon over and your mother warns you about.

A bunch of things were a perfect mis-match, but I was head-over-heels CRAZY about this guy. You know, the movie kind of – “he’s the one” –  kind of CRAZY? (I still think he’s an awesome guy, btw). And I’m SURE he thanks his lucky stars he found his right girl, too.

Wondering how to go from 5 to 6 figures in sales? Check out this Free eBook: http://ebook.solidsixblueprint.com/solid-six-ebook/

We had to go for it, though. I had to see it all the way through to the disaster it was DESTINED to become.

Why? You ask.

Because I am unwilling to live a “what if” life.

Can you imagine if – all these years later – when I’m annoyed about doing the dishes ore something perfectly normal – like my husband leaves me with an eigth-of-a-tank of gas… I start thinking. “Remember that drummer guy? I was so CRAZY about him. I BET we could have made it work! Yeah! Why didn’t I GO FOR IT?”

Now, I know the answer! And I am even MORE CRAZY about the guy I’m with now. The wonderful match!

It’s the same reason I jumped in with a partner in a company and started it from scratch. Now, THAT one worked out great!

Where are you living a “what if” life? It could be “What if I just picked up the phone and asked for that meeting?” or “What if I just took the chance on this dream job?” or “What if I moved to California?”

Fact is, you just really don’t know what you are capable of until you call your shot and take it!

If you wish you’d started it when you were 10 years younger, it is even MORE imperative that you try it today.

How about living a NEED TO KNOW life instead!

Love it ALL UP!

The Irreverent Sales Girl

The great salesperson: Admin vs. Action

Great salespeople vs. Good salespeopleTo be truly great as a salesperson, we must think like a policeman.

WE LOVE THE ACTION

But, the lasting power lies in the ADMIN (paperwork)!

Here is one place where great salespeople are greater than good salespeople.

THEY ARE DILIGENT ABOUT THEIR SYSTEMS

They record their interactions They are organized They keep their records diligently – including expense reports.

Their systems allow them to be RESPONSIVE.

THEY KNOW WHAT IS IMPORTANT

Relationships and being on top of as many interactions as possible is KEY!

GOOD SALESPEOPLE have their activity plan in place and are great with people

GREAT SALESPEOPLE have THAT and impeccable systems

Wondering how to go from 5 to 6 figures in sales? Check out this Free eBook: http://ebook.solidsixblueprint.com/solid-six-ebook/

What can YOU do to improve your systems to make you GREAT?

Love your business UP!

The Irreverent Sales Girl

The power of “No Problem”

I was in the audience of greatness.The power of "No Problem"

The woman who was mentoring me was letting me listen in on her calls…

Every time an obstacle came up, Reliably, she said “No Problem”…

It immediately put her buyer (and me) at ease!

Try the magic of “No problem” and see what happens!

Wondering how to go from 5 to 6 figures in sales? Check out this Free eBook: http://ebook.solidsixblueprint.com/solid-six-ebook/

It gives you three things!

1) Time to breathe and re-assess – puts YOU in control

2) Grace to your buyer when sellers are putting on the pressure

3) Partnership – you are on their side and making them feel important!

So, NO PROBLEM. Period. (Even when it might seem there is a problem from the start)

Love ’em ALL UP!

The Irreverent Sales Girl

Is my calendar mocking me?

Is my daily calendar mocking me? I received a Daily Inspirational Quotes calendar from a dear friend this holiday.

Each morning, I reach for the new day to read the quote, but am met with the first page – that I cannot bring myself to tear out.

This page says, “What one bold change will you make this year? Write it down on the last page of the calendar.”

And I find myself at a severe and serious loss. It seems like such a daunting task, picking a BOLD change I will make and committing it to the last Inspirational Quote day of 2014. Will I get to that day and feel a swell of pride, that indeed I did make that change? Will I feel the agony of defeat and head for a second bottle of champagne?  What forces will I invoke if I do this exercise?

Wondering how to go from 5 to 6 figures in sales? Check out this Free eBook: http://ebook.solidsixblueprint.com/solid-six-ebook/

Yet, each morning, it mocks me again. I must do something about this!

What would YOU say? What would YOU write?

I really want to know!

Love it ALL UP!

The Irreverent Sales Girl

DANGER! Maybe THIS is why you aren’t meeting your goals!

A good friend of mine complained to me yesterday that she hadn’t met her sales goals in over three years. Danger! This is why your are missing your goals!

THIS IS DANGEROUS!

“Dangerous?”, you ask!

YES! DANGEROUS!

Confidence is EVERYTHING and if you are not meeting your set goals over and over and over… it is worse than creeping gangrene!

What did we do?

We looked at her sales cycle. Interesting.

Her shortest EVER time to close a deal is 3 months. THE SHORTEST has been 3 months … from first conversation to signed contract. Last year she closed a deal she has been working on for TEN years. This person has a business with a LONG sales cycle. Average closed deal is 18 months.

Wondering how to go from 5 to 6 figures in sales? Check out this Free eBook: http://ebook.solidsixblueprint.com/solid-six-ebook/

BUT, she keeps setting quarterly and yearly goals. NO WONDER she is missing the mark! Her goals are not in-line with her true time horizon.

And here is what is ESPECIALLY deadly!

When my good friend is looking at what she needs to have happen this year, she feels hopeless and un-motivated. Of course she would! She has NO control over what is going to happen this year – what she did six or eight or nine months ago will dictate what happens this year. The subconscious realization of this brutal fact keeps her from being motivated now.

I mean, REALLY! It’s LUCK to her when she closes a deal. The activities that led to them are so far in the past.

Know what we did?

We started to create her goals for 2015 and 2016. Looked at “what are the deals I want to close 18 – 24 months from NOW”.

NOW she has power. She realizes that what she does today affects future years. YAY!

Also, the added benefit is that when she understands that what she does TODAY affects her success, she does exciting things, takes action NOW, which will DEFINITELY impact her performance THIS YEAR, TOO!

Do yourself a favor.

Look. Are your sales goals aligned with your sales cycle?  If you are a month-by-month producer, then preparing for one or two months from now is probably appropriate. If you are a year-over-year producer – start thinking WAY out! Your results will become WAY OUT!

Love your future UP!

The Irreverent Sales Girl

Check your Confidence Quotient FIRST this year!

Welcome to 2014!Check your Confidence Quotient

Before we get started together this year, I recommend we look at one CRITICAL thing.

How is your MIND SPACE?

THE NUMBER ONE indicator of your success this year, is the level of self-confidence you have going in!

SO, let’s take a look.

On a scale of 1 – 10, how confident are you that you will meet your goals this year?

If you are anywhere below a TEN, let’s take a look at what might be happening and churn up some ideas to whip your confidence RIGHT UP THE SCALE!

Wondering how to go from 5 to 6 figures in sales? Check out this Free eBook: http://ebook.solidsixblueprint.com/solid-six-ebook/

First, let’s take the advice of Jack Canfield. Instead of asking ourselves how we are going to move from a 5 to a 10, we are going to ask ourselves – “Hmmmmmmmm…..why so high? Why am I as high as a 5?”

(You will find some interesting things about what you DO feel good about).

Next, we are going to continue to take the advice of Jack Canfield again and ask “What would it take to move me up to a 6?” No need to jump all the way to the 10. This answer will be much more informative and much more actionable.

Now, look to see what might still be an open, gaping wound from the previous year (or even previous years).

If you’ve lost your swagger, you probably got a good swing (or two or three) to the face with a (hypothetical) two-by-four. Perhaps you missed your quota last year. Perhaps you came in at number 3 when you were sure you were headed for number one. Perhaps you lost that DEAL YOU HAD COUNTED ON to a competitor at the last minute.

Take that two-by-four moment and confront it. Can you see clearly WHAT happened and WHY it happened?

Often, when you look straight at the problem, you can see where YOU had a hand in the negative outcome. Find out if you can forgive yourself . The good news is that if you are the one who caused the negative result, you are also the one who can get the positive result in the future. Huzzah!

Some things you CAN’T control. It is possible that something knocked you off your game and you had nothing to do with it. Take a moment and call a trusted mentor (or even a therapist) to get this sorted out – and sorted out all the way. Until you are completely restored to your brilliance and natural FANTASTIC-NESS!

Restored to FANTASTIC-NESS

Finally, play a game with some friends. 

I was chatting with a couple of my closest girl friends yesterday. We all three realized that we were lacking a bit in the area of self-confidence around our goals this year. SO, here’s what we’re doing:

1) Writing down our top 10 qualities that take us to success

2) Writing down the top 10 qualities of the OTHER two of us – that WE know helps them to success

3) Writing down our top 5 accomplishments from last year –  and identifying how WE made those happen

4) Writing down our top 5 disappointments from last year – and identifying how WE made those happen

5) Getting together again for a chat next week to share what we found with each other

So, what are YOU going to do to make sure you go screaming and proud and confident into your 2014 – armed with all the swagger and pomp you can manage? I would love to hear! 

Love your confidence UP!

The Irreverent Sales Girl

Be part of something BIG!

Have you ever wanted to use your talents to make something GREAT happen for someone else?

Pretty sure you have!

Recently, the publisher of the Salesforce.com blog told me that she is DYING for Marc Benioff (CEO of Salesforce) to recognize her efforts to support the sales community.

SO, let’s help Jennifer win her game, shall we? (It’s easy, I promise!)

I spend HUNDREDS OF HOURS animating this video (don’t believe me? try animating a video!)

http://youtu.be/HsblniyanTo

You will LOVE IT!

So have fun watching me take my first ever steps, but please hit SHARE, too. If you help us, we can go viral! How fun! And Jennifer will be abl to keep her job! Works for everyone.

Thank you for being awesome!

Wondering how to go from 5 to 6 figures in sales? Check out this Free eBook: http://ebook.solidsixblueprint.com/solid-six-ebook/

Love ’em UP!

The Irreverent Sales Grl