How a Down and Out Sales Crew Rose from Ashes to Win at Sales

This story is completely true. It is not a fantasy. It will tell you how what seems to be magic can be used to create phenomenal sales.

The last thing I wanted to do was to be a sales manager, because I loved to sell using my system of "The Magic of Numbers and Statistics in Sales." Teaching it to others would not be easy because other salespeople consider my system a fantasy.

I was assigned to our Newark, Ohio office, a terrible, poor performing office that was being completely overhauled. Even the current sales manager thought it was a disaster., and he was convinced no one could make any sales in Newark, Ohio.

The Newark sales manager's negative thoughts were so strong that everyone in the office believed there was no way to make sales in the city. I had been told to shut down the office but I persuaded senior management to let me try to rehabilitate the office, rather than shutting it down.

I knew this was a last ditch effort, and all the salespeople had been infected with negative ideas. I knew I had to correct that or Newark wouldn't produce any sales.

But I absolutely knew that people in Newark were not different than in any other town we had successfully sold. I knew the Newark office could make sales.

Because my system had been successful everywhere, all I needed to change in Newark was the negative thoughts.

Immediately I let everyone go. I told them that they were correct, this city would not produce sales, and they might as well go find work elsewhere. I knew that in their frame of mind it was an uphill battle and I was better off starting with a new crew.

One young woman begged me to stay. She said she loved her work, and didn't want to find another job.

But, I had to explain that I expected a lot more than the previous manager. Before she was expected to sell only five hundred dollars per week. I, however, would expect three times that as a minimum.

Teary eyed, she told me she would do whatever it took to make the new quota, she said she would be excited to triple her sales, if only she knew how.

Standing before me was a woman who was clearly open to learning a new way. I had no doubt she could do it with the methods I could provide.

I explained exactly how she needed to follow the system step by step and I showed her how that would lead to making her quota. I showed her every single thing that needed to be done to succeed.

I explained to her that sales was more than just coming to work. You have to actually work while you're at work. You have to believe while your dialing that the people want what you have. You have to be kind, you have to be sincere, you have to transmute the feeling you have about the products and services to the prospect on the phone. Without this, nothing will ever happened.

I also explained to her that you can keep track of your results by percentages. If for instance, you start out making one sale for every 10 prospects you talk to, that can be a number you can count on no matter what.

So if she wanted to make a certain amount of money in sales per week, that she would have to do a certain amount of presentations each week in order to get a certain amount of sales. And because she would know how many presentations she had to do per sale, she would know how many presentations she had to make each day to make a certain number of sales in a week.

She was amazed the first week when she actually hit her goal. And she had done it herself! The truth of my system became more real and more true to he as week after week she made that quota. Finally she understood that it was all up to her to do a certain amount of presentations, and that would lead to a certain number of sales, that would create an amount of income she could count on.

And then I introduced her to the next step: increasing her ratio of sales from yes's to nos, by raising her belief level, and her consistency. And of course that would lead to even more increases in income.

I hired more salespeople, and trained them side by side with the young woman who was aliving example of the things I was teaching them. Slowly I built up a group of five top salespeople, including the young woman. Everyone was making quota with the system.

At this point I had a blended crew, some new members, and some members from the old sales team. Over time two others had come back to me and I allowed them to come back one at a time, and I taught them the new way. Everyone used the new system, quotas were being made. And then it was time for a test of my great team.

We were able to convert them to the thinking that Newark was a great place to work and makes sales, and that people wanted our products.

It was afternoon and I pulled out of the drawer the same sheets of numbers that had been used by the previous manager. They still held bookmarks of the unfinished area and notes about who had said no, who was not home, etc..

It visibly affected the team members from the old sales crew when they saw me pull out the old sheets. They thought those were bad sheets, they thought the numbers were just bad numbers. But I insisted. "These are wonderful numbers," I told them, "There is nothing wrong with the numbers. We will make out fine with them."

To say they really didn't want to call those numbers was an understatement. Hang ups, complaints, faithless sales that could not be collected.

I explained to them, you are now a powerful crew. You are some of the finest people in this company. We have been setting records over every other office in the company.

It was quite an accomplishment for this sales team to have the top sales records in our very large multi-statecompany. I looked each of them in the eye and said, "TIt's different this time, and when you call those people, they will say yes!" There is nothing to fear from the old numbers, as long as you have a different attitude, you have new sales skills. You have sold Newark before. My dejected group told me it would would "Try". That was the warning.

I did everything I could to keep the environment positive. I created a bright, friendly atmosphere in our office. I offered them gourmet coffee, and sweet treats, and joked with every one all day long. As the sun set we had not made even one sale.

I had never left at the end of the work day without having made at least $700 in sales. .I had made a promise to my supervisor to never leave at the end of the day without at least $700 in sales. But all day my team had been calling, and the day was winding down. Normally we did $1200 or more per day in sales. I wasn't worried yet, even though we had made no progress.Certainly my people together could sell at least $700 in sales in only one hour if they put their skills to work.

Two hours left now. I told everyone to stop. The room was gloomy with fear and negative thoughts that had been part of their office life from the old manager. These old thoughts had taken control of them again. It was almost as if the negative thoughts had been imprinted in the number sheets and was rubbing off on all my sales crew.

I insisted that their success came from the changes they made in their beliefs about sales possibilities. It was not about the old manager, or the old numbers, or even the new manager or the new numbers. My role had simply been to point out to them their own innate sales skills, and to help them put those into action. Since their success had come from skills they had already demonstrated, they could still take these numbers and make sales.

Calling resumed, but I knew I was losing them. They were whining and complaining. I was losing my cool. Half an hour left and no sales.

I asked everyone to stop. I told them that I had made a promise never to turn in less than 700 dollars for one days sales to my supervisor and I am going to keep that promise even if we have less than half an hour left today. I have listened to your concerns, even your complaints and whining all day.

I know that you are the best crew I have ever had, and probably one of the best I will ever have. But you have let me down.Now that is fine, because I have let people down also. But mostly I am concerned that you have let yourselves down. You have let this poison of negative thought infect you, and I have to show you that it is only yourself stopping you. It is not the people we are dialing.

They knew I was angry when I asked them to give me the very worst sheet of numbers in the room. They agreed with little delay on a specific sheet on numbers. I took it, and I announced that we would make that $700 today if I had to do it all myself. I told them to get the drivers ready to deliver product and pick up checks. I warned them that we were going to be very busy in a short while.

I selected two of my sales people to write down orders as they heard me make them, because I knew I would not have time to write down these sales, so they would have to listen closely as I worked on the phone. In order to make $700 in less than half an hour I'd have to make 20 sales in about 20 minutes.There was no time for a no. For my plan to work, veryone had to say yes. But I knew, that if I had the belief, no one could say no to me. I knew that if I was sincere, if I believed I was doing the right thing, If I believed I was doing something good for someone, it would work, and no one would say no.

I picked up the phone and I started dialing, I sold the first person I talked to, I sold the second person I talked to, I sold the third person I talked to. No one could say no to me. My concentration was higher than it had ever been. I had to prove to my crew, that this poison in their mind was at their control. That they could get rid of it if they chose to do so.

When the time clock told us the working day was over and I was down to what my people told me were the "worst of the worst" numbers, I made the seven hundred dollars of quota I told them I would make. The drivers who had been made ready successfull delivered product and collected the checks. My sales team was floored. They had seen it with their own eyes.Now they knew I would never, ever accept "bad numbers" as an excuse for lack of sales.

From that day on, we made even more amazing accomplishments. My crew of 5 people outsold other offices with crews of 12-15 people. I was very proud of them. Later, when I was only allowed to have 3 telephones to work with, in a territory that was considered a disaster, and unwanted by the Columbus office, we had our highest sales ever.

They knew they could do it, and we still outsold many of the offices with 12-15 phones and 20-25 salespersons.Although my 5 people had to share 3 phones, and we were calling an area no one else wanted, my people knew that did not matter.

The rest of the company averaged 5 sales out of each 100 contacts. But in our sales room, at least half of everyone we talked to became a sale. The sales team I had trained was doing better even than I had done as an individual sales person, and I had sold approximately one out of every three, which was a very respectable number and made me a top salesperson. The sales were unbelievably high. But my sales team knew it was true, because they were doing it.

Article Source: http://www.content.onlypunjab.com

Timothy L. Drobnick Sr. is still helping people learn how to become the best salespeople. Visit our slideshow to see how Tim can teach you to be the greatest salesperson you can be.
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