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September 2010
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Order Takers are not Sales People

The day of products selling themselves, services selling themselves and
anybody being able to sell, simply are gone.

Guess what?
This economic down turn has made us wake up and take notice.  Many
sales people have found that after years of being able just to take orders, it
is now time to get down to selling.

The days of order takers being able to survive in a sales position are gone.
Period.
Gone.

As a sales person today, we have to find business, build relationships, close
business and generate sales.  We have to pump the customer up to buy.
We have to help the customer build their business and show them how
working with us will help them.

It is that simple.  We have to stop with excuses – as sales people we are
graded on our ability to sell. It is that simple. Simply put we have to sell.

If we don’t have the tools to do it – then what are we doing to get them.
If we don’t have all the help we need to do it – then we need to get it.
What the heck is holding us back?

We need to stop making excuses – we either are a sales person, or we
we are an order takers.

Dr. Alan Zimmerman puts it very simply, “Companies often report that their
top sales people listen to positive, motivational, inspirational material
every single day of their lives.”

Are we doing this?

What are we doing to motivate, educate and inspire ourselves?  Further
Dr. Zimmerman states a simple fact, “Great sales people don’t listen to
this material because they are good, they are good because they listen”.

John Onberg says, “if you want to walk on water, you’ve to get out of the
boat.

How about we get out of the boat today and starting to build our business.

Today I hear sales people say, “But I did not need to prospect in the past
10 years – why should I be doing cold calls today?

Well – as sales people we have to do what we have to do to win. Maybe
we have to go back to the basics. Maybe we have to do what we have
not done in years. So what, we do it.

In professional baseball, if you won the world series last year are you done?
Does the fact you won last year have anything to do with this season?
What happens if you rest on the fact you won last year?
What happens if you keep celebrating all this season?

What happens to teams who keep celebrating – plain and simple – they lose.

What happens to sales people who spend all their time thinking about last
year’s success? Teams have to win every year to remain champions. Sales
people have to produce every year – regardless.

So we need to leave the past behind and go figure out what we need to do
to sell.  Champions have bust their butt harder than they did last year.
Everyone is after them now – they are the sitting champions.

Do we want to repeat as champ or just settle?  Great we did well over the
past 5 years. We built our business up well. So what has that got to do
with today – we still have to get out there and do it again.

So our business is down. What are we going to do to get it up. Taking about
how bad it is will not do it.  If we lost ½ or our customers we still have to
go on?

Winners step up Losers whine.
Which are you?

The days of order taking are gone.
We have to sell, sell and sell some more to be successful today.

So let’s get out there and do it.

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