The excuses made by sellers as to why they don't sell can at times be as inventive, while at other times it can be considered to be ludicrous. I'm continually told that, "Friday is not a good selling day," "You can't make calls before a holiday," "Seasons make a difference to results," "Larger companies only see people on Mondays," and so on. Each time I hear anything of this nature quoted, I simply ask "Why?" So allow me the indulgence to pass on a story of two shoe salesmen sent out on a special assignment to Papua New Guinea, just after the Second World War. After a week the first salesman cabled in stating he was coming home, stating, "No-one here wears shoes. It’s impossible to sell shoes here." Weeks went by, and no-one had heard from the second salesman, and as the company executives were becoming fearful for his safety, a tea chest arrived at the office filled with orders written on official order forms, old paper and even palm leaves. On top was a note, "Send as many shoes as you can spare, especially the slow selling lines, this place is a gold-mine, no-one here wears shoes." So in future, whenever you tell yourself it can't be done, ask yourself "Why"? Then wait for the answer. And it better be a good one. DO YOU SAY “MY CUSTOMERS DON'T ALWAYS CO-OPERATE” As I get older, I seem to attract more and more sellers who are dissatisfied with their companies. Many of these organisations have superb training facilities, so I know the training at least was foundational. In the main their complaint is about the number of dissatisfied customers they have to service. After investigation, most agreed they had encountered no more than 5 to 10% of complaints of a total of all they sold. But, after further probing, the complaints they canvassed mostly related to the follow-up the company made, and of that 5 to 10%, in most cases, most customers weren't happy with the performance of the product. And as a final note, the salesperson should remember that in most sales organizations, it’s generally not the salesperson that goes back to re-install or retrain the staff until they were completely satisfied. It is usuallly always someone else's job. ***************************************** This Article is by Peter Collins - In a sales career spanning more than 50 years, Peter Collins has focused on helping and bringing out the best in others - whether it involves training or mentoring salespeople, managers, business consulting to SME’s. Since the 1970’s Peter has built a reputation as a Nationally and Internationally Published author, and has 65 books to his credit, but he is mainly known for one book based on the Audio Tape series of the same name, Over 50 Ways of Closing the Sale. In his personal life, Peter has been sought after as an encourager and motivator that has given of his time and talents freely despite his busy schedule. Subsequently, he has assisted churches, pastors, community and charity groups, as well as individuals through his teaching, training, development and on-going mentoring. © Copyright Peter Collins, Profit Maker Sales, Sydney, Australia, 2015, all rights reserved. Peter can be contacted through his website – profitmakersales@gmail.com - Submit your articles to AMAZINES.COM
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