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Archive of articles authored by Wes Schaeffer, The Sales Whisperer™.

These articles cover topics such as sales recruitment, pre-employment assessment, motivation, retention, word of mouth advertising, sales prospecting, and finding peers to support progress toward your goals.

Why are sales people afraid to prospect? Pt. 1 (March 2007)
Your garage door slowly closes behind you and you are once again in the warm embrace of the cocoon you call home. As you settle into your favorite chair. . .

Why are sales people afraid to prospect? Pt. 2 (April 2007)
Your garage door slowly closes behind you and you are once again alone…with millions…in the concrete jungle…running the race…with no beginning…and no end.

Why are sales people afraid to prospect? Pt. 3 (May 2007)
“I DID NOT DIE TODAY”. From 2:06 pm to 3:39 pm on April 16th I made 35 outbound calls to people that never heard of me…and I survived!

Successful business owner = frog kisser; find & keep sales professionals (June 2007)
How many frogs must a business owner kiss before the perfect sales person is found? Toyota kisses 10 to get 1.

You can make money, or make excuses (July 2007)
How do you react when you are unsuccessful in your attempt to make a sale? Do you blame external factors or do you accept responsibility for your lack of success?

Are you stuck in a comfort zone? (August 2007)
You’re “comfortable”? Business is “ok”? Was that your goal when you began your career?

Learn from the pros; Larry, David, and Oprah (September 2007)
What can sales pros learn from laughing at David Letterman, listening to Larry King and observing Oprah?

When your tongue smacks your brain (October 2007)
Nestled near the shadows of downtown Nashville between government housing and $295k condos is a 127-year old vine-covered time machine.

It's friendly at the top (November 2007)
Morning - the view over the bars is spacious under the brightening sky. The saddle feels good at this hour, and the bike rolls evenly over the black velvet pavement.

4,000 pound walrus trapped by doggie door (December 2007)
When I read about the trouble in Euvula, CA, my first thought was - who is recruiting walruses?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Toolbox
A potential client asks for a referral. What will a Sales Whisperer say?

Objective - Identify this as a stalling tactic.

Response: Certainly, I will give you some referrals. Do you want the good ones, or - ?

Using humor, a sales professional brings some reality back to the moment. Realistically, less than 25% of people will ever call a referral, and would we truly give them a bad referral for ourselves? No. If the client is asking for a referral, they are either stalling - which should be handled - or they have not established enough trust with the sales professional.

This is covered in Week 2 Belief Systems and Week 7 How to Connect With The Client of the Sales Whisperer training program.

Before training, a sales pro sees this as a buying signal, and says 'oh sure' then scurries back to marketing. They spend a couple of days gathering marketing brochures, as well as contacting existing customers for updated testimonials and referrals. Best case, this extends the sales cycle by days if not by weeks.

 
 

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E-mail: wes@thesaleswhisperer.com