The question of whether you are in the right business to succeed is SO important. This mini quiz and information is a great way to determine what your levels of sales success will be and what you can do to improve your prospecting, leads and profit!
Are you in the right small business to succeed in sales?
By Kirsten McKay-Smith
How many small business owners want more sales? How many want easier sales? And how many want both?
We are all in sales. Every one of us! It started for me when I was a child and had to sell my parents on the idea that even though we were dirt poor, I was going to play Basketball, Softball and Soccer. Then I moved into adolescence where I had to sell some guy on the idea that I would be the perfect girl for him.
My first sales job was delivering and collecting on a newspaper that was FREE! Talk about tough. I had to convince people to pay for a free community paper.
Next I graduated to waitressing where I worked at several restaurants over the next nine years. Now this is where sales really stared to matter. My pay actually depended on what I sold. While working in Saratoga Springs during track season, I waited on a group of friends celebrating their wins for the day. If they ordered a $40 bottle of wine, I sold them on a $70 bottle instead. Their total bill went from approximately $500 to almost $1000 and my tip reflected a percentage of the total bill. That is when I realized sales can really make a difference in my life.
This brings me up to Dec 2005 when I signed up as a Passion Parties consultant. Another commission based business where I am selling not only the products, but the parties AND the business opportunity. Because of what I am going to teach you today, I have been super successful. Within 15 months of starting, I was an Executive Director, the highest pay level in the company, and two years ago, I was the top recruiter in the entire company. Out of 15,000 consultants in the US and Canada, I was #1 in selling the business opportunity to others…and I’m going to share with you HOW I did it!
There are really only two parts to a sale, the beliefs you hold and the action of asking. We are going to spend most of the time on the first, your beliefs, because if your beliefs are strong enough, the asking is easy.
There are four beliefs that are essential to selling anything and they are all equally important, so I like to think of them as legs of a table. If one is weak or missing, you can not stand on it and ask for the sale, so before you ask for ANY sale, you MUST strengthen your legs!
The first leg is a strong belief in your industry. I am in the industry of Direct Sales, as are Mary Kay, Pampered Chef, Arbonne, PartyLite, Tastefully Simple, and more. Direct sales is a PHENOMENAL industry that lets you start a business for under $500, make your money back in the first month of business, and manage your own time. Direct salespeople can make as much or as little money as they are willing to work for, and get paid to help others succeed at their own business. I have 100% believe in the Direct Selling industry, a 10 out of 10. Where are you at with belief in your industry? Give yourself a number from 1-10.
The second leg is a strong belief in the company you work for, whether you work for yourself or another company. Do you have faith in the company mission, vision, goals, pay structure, training, management, corporate office, etc. The president of Passion Parties is 65 years old and has a 20 year plan for the company. I like that! Where are you with belief in your company? Give yourself a number between 1-10.
The third leg is a strong belief in your products or services. Would you pay the price you are asking? Would you recommend them to your friends, families, spouse? Do you solve problems and enhance the lives of others?
I save marriages EVERY day! The two things that most couple fight over are intimacy and money, I can help with both! I feel I am doing a service to the world and I will tell everyone I meet. I have a girl on my team who has been doing Passion Parties for over a year and her party sales are always very low at her parties. After coaching her for a few weeks, she finally said to me last month, “People just don’t have money right now to buy this stuff, so I don’t want to ask.” Her belief is about a 1 out of 10 in our products. I believe a healthy relationship and sex life will reduce the stress that most people have in their lives right now, therefore buying my products are worth every penny they spend! People still have money to spend, they are just a lot more picky about what they are spending on. I believe that spending money to enhance your relationship, relieve stress, and improve your happiness in money worth spent. How strong is your belief in your products or services you offer? Give yourself a number between 1-10.
The fourth and most important leg is a strong belief in yourself. If you don’t believe you deserve whatever it is you are asking for, you will never get it. Let me repeat that…this is a HUGE reason why so many people aren’t successful in sales. If you don’t believe you deserve whatever it is you are asking for, you will never get it. How strong is your belief in yourself? The belief that you deserve what it is you’re asking for, the belief that you can actually make your goals and live the vision you set for yourself. Give yourself a number between 1-10.
Now add all four of your legs and divide by four. Add a zero and this is the percentage of your success you are getting in your business. If your total “leg” percentage is 60% and your sales goal each month is $4000, you are probably getting sales of about $2,400. If your “leg” score is 50% and you are trying to sponsor four people into your business each month, you are probably sponsoring two. If your “leg” percentage is 70% and you’re goal is ten new clients a month, you’re probably getting seven.
So what can you do? Work on your weakest leg first and build it up, then your next, until they are all a ten. If you can not find a way to make them all a ten in your current business, you may want to start looking at some other business options.
A quick note about sales… Every business on the planet revolves around money. If your business is not making money, it is not a business, it is a hobby. Most businesses revolve around making sales in order to make money. Keep that in mind, it is more important than people make it out to be.
Author:
Kirsten McCay-Smith, Executive Director
www.MovingTowardPassion.com
facebook.com/passiondivakir
twitter.com/passiondivakir
The How To Marketing Magazine features free marketing and sales articles and resources for small business owners. We are serving the Small Business, Retail, Restaurant, Non Profit, Real Estate, MLM or Direct Sales sectors. The articles included in this issue include:
