<h1 BIG>TEN COMMON ENEMIES (10)</h1>

By Hank Trisler

Whew! We're heading for the barn. I'm NEVER going to commit to writing a 10 part series again. But the fact of the matter is that we've run through the first 9 of the 10 COMMON ENEMIES, leaving only a

LACK OF DAILY PRACTICE

It took a lot of practice for our friend on the right to be able to twist his body that way. Practice does not make perfect. Practice makes permanent. If you practice swinging a golf club from the outside to the inside, you will perfect an ugly slice. First we need some instruction to be sure we’re practicing methods that are proven, or provably successful. Then we need to practice those methods every day.

The true key to professionalism in any endeavor is practice. Our practice can come in the form of cold calls, in person and on the telephone. That practice will make us stronger, and at absolutely no risk. You can’t lose, as you had nothing going in.

As long as we've come this far together, let's quickly sum up our trip.

Our EGOS make us think that what we have to say is more important than what the customer has to say. This leads us to

TALK TOO MUCH. The customer should talk 80% of the time, while we talk only 20% of the time. Our 20% should be largely questions to keep the customer talking. Talking causes

POOR LISTENING HABITS. It is far more important to understand than to be understood. From an income point of view, the pay is greater for asking the right questions than for knowing the right answers. Because we listen poorly

WE ASSUME WE KNOW WHAT'S ON THE CUSTOMER'S MIND. Assumptions are lethal in selling, as in many other areas. Because we don't know what the customer thinks

WE TALK ABOUT THINGS THAT DON'T INTEREST THE CUSTOMER. We need to talk only about those things interesting to the customer. We support the customer when they make statements that take us closer to our sales goal, and withhold support when they make statements that take us away from our sales goals.

WE INCORRECTLY EVALUATE THE CUSTOMER'S ATTITUDE. There are only three attitudes available to the customer: Acceptance, Objection and Indifference. Only if we know how to correctly determine the customer's attitude and then how to appropriately respond can we expect to achieve friction-free selling. Because we don't know the customer's attitude

WE DON'T ASK FOR COMMITMENT. We're afraid of being pushy, so we become a conversationalist, rather than a salesperson. The sales interview does not begin until we've asked someone to do something. Ask and ye shall receive. Don't ask and you don't get. That simple.

LACK OF WELL-DEFINED GOALS AND OBJECTIVES. Not just your normal annual goals that sales managers have been harping about since the beginning of time, but specific goals, descending in order of importance, on each sales call. The only reason we lose is that we don't give ourselves enough opportunities to win.

WE DON'T TAKE NOTES AND KEEP RECORDS OF THOSE NOTES. If we can't remember what the customer said was important to him, we'll talk about what is important to us and therefore should be important to him. That causes us to consistently miss the mark.

And lastly, A LACK OF DAILY PRACTICE, the problem of which is set forth above.

Defeat these ten common enemies and 2009 will indeed be your finest year ever.

Please let me know what you think of this series and how it might be useful to you.