WorldWide Drilling Resource

Are your sales results not living up to your expectations? by Tim Connor There are many reasons why sales effort, a lot of time, allocation of many resources, planning, and so much more can still lead to slow or poor sales results. Having been observing and teaching sales strategies and practices around the world for over 35 years and witnessing numerous stupid, as well as genius, tactics used by individuals and organizations, I believe there are five basic reasons why sales decline or slump regardless of the economy, industry, consumer desires, and competitive philosophies, etc. Many sales trainers and experts might suggest it’s just poor execution of “Sales 101” - prospecting skills, poor presentation skills, or the inability to effectively disarm objections and close the sale. Although all of these traditional sales methodologies are important, I believe even if you have all of these and lack the following five, you will never achieve sustained, increased sales results and income. I’ll keep this simple. Here are the five reasons: j A lack of consistent execution of a proven process. To achieve sustained and lasting success, a process is required. If one minute you are selling this way, and the next minute you are selling differently - I will guarantee you will get inconsistent results. Let me give you a quick example. Let’s say you have a prospect who needs and wants your product or service, and you have been trained to sell it a certain way, but because this person seems more available or affinitive to you, you decide to adjust your approach and get friendlier than normal - open or whatever. As a result, you create a different sales envi- ronment deviating from your standard approach - one you are unfamiliar with and one the prospect may feel is a bit forward. You have abandoned your process. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying you shouldn’t tailor your sales message to the style or interests of each prospect, what I’m saying is, if and when you abandon proven sales techniques, strategies, and approaches for something new or different, you will get less than historical proven positive outcomes. I’m not implying any or all processes are successful, the best approach, or any process should not be open to change, improvement, and updating. I don’t want my heart surgeon sticking with the process when it’s his or her instincts to adjust or adapt, but I do want them to stick with protocols when situations or circumstances warrant it. If you don’t have and stick with a proven sales process, I will guarantee you live with a great deal of frustration, uncertainty, unknowns, disappointment, and even regret from time to time. j Reliance on a single marketing approach. Yes, you need a website if you want to succeed and compete; you need to do public relations from time to time; advertising can help your sales efforts; e-mails are necessary occasional- ly; and yes, you also need to pick up the phone once in a while. Get it? You need a successful blending process when it comes to marketing and its support and endorsement of your sales efforts. When sales efforts rely on a single marketing Fredericksburg Expo & Conference Center Fredericksburg, Virginia Office: (804) 387-8395 Info@VAWaterWellAssociation.org www.VAWaterWellAssociation.org Virginia Water Well Association Winter Conference February 19-20, 2020 Conference Schedule Tuesday, 18th 10:00 am - 7:00 pm Exhibitor Set-Up Wednesday, 19th 6:00 am - 10:30 am Exhibitor Set-Up 7:00 am - 5:00 pm Registration Open 8:00 am - 5:00 pm Educational Courses 9:30 am - 10:30 am Orientation & Keynote Address 10:30 am - 5:00 pm Exhibition Hall Open (includes lunch) 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm Cash Bar in Exhibition Hall 6:00 pm - 10:00 pm Dinner Banquet and Live Auction Thursday, 20th 7:00 am - 8:30 am Breakfast & General Meeting 8:30 am - 2:00 pm Exhibition Hall Open (includes lunch) 9:00 am - 5:00 pm Educational Sessions 2:00 pm - 7:00 pm Exhibitor Teardown 10 CEUs available 19 WorldWide Drilling Resource ® DECEMBER 2019 Connor cont’d on page 26.