Don’t share your business card and get more sales! Learn to Sell or Die- Douglas Vermeeren

Do you really think that handing out your business card is your best strategy? We all know what happens next, your “prospect” is simply going to throw it in his pocket and it will either go through with the laundry or they’ll put it in a big stack of others cards with an elastic and they’ll forget about it for 6 months until they get back to it. At that point they’ll have forgotten who you are and either throw it out onto it for another 6 months and then throw it out. Sounds like a great way to generate sales… Not. There is a better way to do it.

The first suggest that I want to give is that you don’t hand ourt cards at all. If someone is interested in your busienss or your offering, YOU should be the one to ask for a card or contact informaiton. That puts you in control of the upcoming contact. Now you aren’t waiting for someone to find the time to reach you.

I encourage you to try this and see how many of the time wasters will identify themselves by either suddenly not having a card themselves, or be unqwilling to give you their contact info.

May I also suggest that just like you have a process set up for qualifying propsects for a sale you qualiy people to receive your business card. I know some people suggest you should give your business card to everyone. (And perhaps there are some industries where that works well) But if you spread your card everywhere as though it was cheap and available you are teaching people how to treat you and your business. Invest a little more effort to make the cards you hand out more valuable to your prospect.

Surprisingly as I have taught this to my students they have noticed that they aren;’t dealing with as many time wasting prospects and the quality of their cusotmers has risen dramatically. Give it a try and you’ll see what I mean.

#douglasvermeeren #learntosellordie #dontsuckatselling #sellmore #salestips #businesscardfail #1salestraining #1salestrainer #1salesspeaker #thesalessuccessacademy #sellingsuccess

Don’t suck at Selling – The Book!

Did you see the cover of my latest sales book? This one is actually really really fun! And it will m are you some money and improve your sales! It will be available in about 2 weeks. #learntosellordie #douglasvermeeren #dontsuckatselling #sales #salestips

How Storytelling can increase your sales – Learn to Sell or Die minute with Douglas Vermeeren

Studies have shown that stories about your product and how it has helped other actually increase sales dramatically by sticking to the old features and benefits routine. In fact. most customers already know most of your features and benefits through their research on the internet. What they don’t know are the ways your product has actually been applied to help real people in real life. Think about that. #learntosellordie #douglasvermeeren

Sales Skills? Do you need them? Learn to Sell or Die Minute by Douglas Vermeeren

Your skills are within your control and can also be the difference between success and failure. Recent studies also demonstrate that when you have skills your confidence goes up and so does your will power. Skills are also a reflection of how much you belief in your purse. If you believe you’ll get to work and develop yourself to do the job. If you don’t you won’t. #douglasvermeeren #learntosellordie

One quick thing you can do to explode your sales – Learn to Sell or Die minute with Douglas Vermeeren

I was reading an interesting article yesterday that talked about attention spans and was comparing it to another book I read on sales this month. Both suggest that most people make their decision within the first 10-12 minutes of a sales presentation. But isn’t it interesting to notice that most sales people don’t use that first few crucial moments to say anything useful.They take too long to get to anything that could wow a prospect or convince them they are there to solve their problem. And when they do talk often its a long monologue. Time to reconsider your approach! #learntosellordie #douglasvermeeren

Your secret weapon in Sales – Learn to Sell or Die minute with Douglas Vermeeren

It’s so important to ask questions in the sales process. Without questions you can’t possibly understand the needs, preferences, abilities and desires of your prospect. I have observed that the number of questions a sales person asks is in direct relation to the number of sales they close – think about that! While we are on the subject of questions I should point out that not all questions are equal. Take some time to craft some good questions that help the prospect talk openly about what they really want and feel understood. (more on questions later) #learntosellordie #douglasvermeeren

Are you an Influence Seller™?

Doug Vermeeren was recently just looking through social media to identify how many posts are directly related to asking for something or selling something. My goal was to see engagement. Do you know what I found? Those who actually shared value first (and often much more than once) had far more engagement than the others. This goes to prove the point that I am writing about in the Learn to Sell or Die Book – We live in a time of Influence Selling™ not transactional selling. (That is not to say that transactions don’t happen – they need to if you are going to stay in business.) But the point is that there has been a massive shift and if you don’t understand that people expect you to deliver high value and future a relationship before selling then you will struggle in this marketplace. The funniest part of this is that almost everyone agrees with me. The problem is that no one is doing it in practice. Here’s the question for you. What are you doing to create value in the marketplace right now before you ask for anything? What are you doing? #DouglasVermeeren #learntosellordie #influenceselling #sales

Why Do You Need Someone To kick Your Ass?

Douglas Vermeeren

Simply put. You need someone to kick your ass because you are average. Your results are average. You aren’t doing things at the high level which you know you could be. Everything that you do is generally based on your patterns and how easy and accessible things are for you today. You haven’t decided to stretch to your potential and you are holding back your very best.  Don’t make excuses. You know that everything I am saying is true.

If you want to expand and grow your results YOU need to start with you. You will never grow results larger than yourself. Get out there and get to work.

When I meet with entrepreneurs, sales people, business owners and those pursuing increased results the prescription is so often the same – GET TO WORK!  Hustle is the name of the game, yet the activity of choice is to try and find the easy way.

Don’t do it. Get to work. Work hard.

Get your momentum going so you can enjoy your results in the future. That is the only way.

The End of my rant.

Are you ready to take your organization higher?
Are you ready to give them the tools to sell more?
Are you ready to help them become more productive?

Then look no further.

Doug Vermeeren is considered one of North Americas top speakers and trainers on the subjects of productivity and sales. ABC calls him the modern day Napoleon Hill for his first hand research into the lives of more than 400 of the world’s top achievers. These insider Success secrets are the basis for everything he teaches and shares with his audiences.

He is the regular go to expert on sales and business for FOX, FOX business, CNN, ABC, NBC, CTV and others. He is a regular business and sales contributor for the NY daily News, Forbes, INC, CNN online and others. He is a regular sought after expert in the both radio and TV.

He is the also the producer and director of 3 of the top 10 personal development movies of all time. (The Opus, The Gratitude Experiment and The Treasure Map.)

He has authored 3 books in the world famous Guerrilla Marketing series. (Guerrilla Achiever, Guerrilla Millionaire and Guerrilla Masterminds) Several of his book have reached best seller status and have been translated in more than 20 languages worldwide.

He has spoken on nearly every continent on the globe and is a sought after speaker at business and sales conferences worldwide. He has also spoken and served as MC at multiple TED and TEDX events around the world.

Douglas Vermeeren has been rated as one of the top business speakers worldwide consistently by organizations like the Professional association of speakers and trainers, The Public Speakers Association and The Professional Speakers Academy.

And why does his stuff work? Because I don’t hold back. I call it like it is. No candy coating here.

Douglas Vermeeren | Sales Doesn’t Have To Freak You Out

ARE YOU FREAKED OUT?

Why do sales and selling freak people out? Now Douglas Vermeeren not saying everybody gets freaked out but there are lots of people who get freaked out about sales and I used to be one of them. The prospect of selling used to make me afraid, I would hold back and retreat and my results reflected my fears.

The more I held back the more my fears found justification and the harder everything got. Even when I would sell I would do so with my heart pounding and gut twisted in knots. I was literally freak out each and every time.

Things were going nowhere good crazy fast.

So what was it that changed to help me learn to love sales and create profitable results.

Douglas Vermeeren : Wealth & Success Principles From The Modern Day Napoleon Hill

The bottom line is that the best way to sum it up is that I decided to get:

1. Authentic. In other words I stopped trying to be what I thought a salesperson should be and I just decided to come real. Become yourself and things will flow better. Prospect prefer to connect with the real you than an artificial version of you that really doesn’t exist. Be someone else and you’re a ghost. Be real and you’re human.
2. Connect. Focus on connecting with your prospect. Connect with your product. Look at how your product and your prospect connect. Connect with a belief in your ability to help. Don’t think of your opportunities as sales jobs. Really connect with the moment and how you can support your prospect.
3. Just do it! The only way you can break a fear is to face it. The only way a kid overcomes the fear of jumping off the high diving board is to jump. You need to face the fear and do it anyways. It’s okay to be afraid, it’s another thing to do nothing about it. When you get momentum, even if you don’t begin by creating a ton of success in the beginning at least you have started. And with each presentation you get better and things get easier.  My personal experience has taught me that it takes about 4 or 5 times doing something you are afraid of or find challenging to get into my groove.

So don’t freak out! Get started. Get out there and Learn to Sell!!!!!

Are you ready to take your organization higher?
Are you ready to give them the tools to sell more?
Are you ready to help them become more productive?

Then look no further.

Doug Vermeeren is considered one of North Americas top speakers and trainers on the subjects of productivity and sales. ABC calls him the modern day Napoleon Hill for his first hand research into the lives of more than 400 of the world’s top achievers. These insider success secrets are the basis for everything he teaches and shares with his audiences.

He is the regular go to expert on sales and business for FOX, FOX business, CNN, ABC, NBC, CTV and others. He is a regular business and sales contributor for the NY daily News, Forbes, INC, CNN online and others. He is a regular sought after expert in the both radio and TV.

Vermeeren is the also the producer and director of 3 of the top 10 personal development movies of all time. (The Opus, The Gratitude Experiment and The Treasure Map.)

He has authored 3 books in the world famous Guerrilla Marketing series. (Guerrilla Achiever, Guerrilla Millionaire and Guerrilla Masterminds) Several of his book have reached best seller status and have been translated in more than 20 languages worldwide.

He has spoken on nearly every continent on the globe and is a sought after speaker at business and sales conferences worldwide. He has also spoken and served as MC at multiple TED and TEDX events around the world.

He has been rated as one of the top business speakers worldwide consistently by organizations like the Professional association of speakers and trainers, The Public Speakers Association and The Professional Speakers Academy.

If you are looking to lead your team higher then look no further than Douglas Vermeeren. http://www.DouglasVermeeren.com

3 Reasons Why Everyone Hates Sales People

3 Reasons why everyone hates salespeople
…and how you can be liked.
By Douglas Vermeeren, Learn to Sell or die!

Why do people hate Salesmen?

According to Douglas Vermeeren Sales people have a bad reputation. It seems that no matter where you go sales people are interrupting your life to offer you things that you don’t want, need or have an interest in. Their timing is terrible as they show up at your office, on your doorstep or on the phone. Sales people are often seen as scripted robots on a mission to separate your from your cash and often their tactics leaving people feeling cheated or swindled.

If you find yourself nodding along to the sentiments above it might be time to slow down. The truth of the matter is that all people are sales people. You included.

Sales is an essential part of human existence. Sales is often perceived as transactional encounters where people are exchanging money for goods or services. While this is an essential part of sales, (you couldn’t eat without these kind of exchanges) sales is much broader than this limited view.

Sales includes all forms of influence and sharing of ideas. Sales includes even the way we talk to ourselves. (More on that another time.)

So why do we hate sales people so much. Recently I conducted a survey online in the hopes of understanding why we all have such contempt for sales people and for those of us who are dedicated to becoming likeable and trusted sales people what we can do to become more likeable. The following are the top three reasons why salespeople are hated:

1. We hate being sold. You’ll notice in the title of this article that I did not say everyone hates all sales people. Doug Vermeeren‘s experience and research shows that the ones that we hate are the ones who make us feel as though we are being sold. This is painfully obvious with sales people that have not taken the time to develop a relationship with us before selling us their gizmos. These obnoxious salesmen go directly for a sale and are pushy and overbearing. Your relationship with the customer should be the priority. Recently I had a sales person come to home to share a presentation. I am constantly inviting these people into my home to observe and learn from their techniques. Needless to say that this young fellow dove right into his verbatim presentation complete with images on his iPad without even first asking my name. He continued even asking his canned questions where they were inserted in his script and nodded as I answered and then continued onwards. At the conclusion of his rehearsed monologue he asked for the sale. I declined. He then tried two or three prepared objection responses and then gave up. As he packed up his things he stopped and started talking to me like a real person. As he looked around my home for the first time he noticed what was on my walls and we began to talk about our common interest in a certain artist. He then saw the picture of my family and asked about that. For the first time in the presentation I actually started liking this guy. I could feel him becoming less of a salesperson and more of an interested friend. If only he had begun this way things might have been different.

 

Cure: Slow things down and take a real interest in those you are selling to. Take the time to discover the problem your customer is trying to solve. Don’t put the money first or you won’t get the money.

Douglas Vermeeren – Create Wealth Today

2) We hate being lied to by sales people. Sales people must be very strong. They are in a culture of exaggerations and pressure to perform. It is very easy for them to fall into the same traps. Their bosses and supervisors need numbers so they tell them what they are offering is the best, they give them contests, bonuses and prizes for performances, they live in a culture of competition with other associates from their office and so on. As I started my sales career just out of high school I took a job for a few short months selling vacuum cleaners door to door. What drew me into that position was a lie. I responded to a newspaper ad that promised $1750 per month guaranteed. Back when I started that was a lot of money. Only after I worked hard for several weeks was I told about the fine print to qualify for that guarantee. It really gave me a bad taste for sales. Thankful I learned there is a better way. Some sales people do exaggerate and stretch the truth. Ethical sales can only come from ethical people. I have often thought that the sales profession will magnify the kind of person you are at your core. When there are good days your best self will come out, but when there are bad days your worst self will appear. sales is not an easy job. For those who try to take short cuts through embellishments and stretching the truth they may prosper temporarily in the short term but they will never make it long term.

Cure: Begin by finding a product or service you truly believe in. Stay honest, upfront and manage expectations and you will thrive in the sales career. Those who put the customer first and manage expectations will eventually have more customers to manage.

3) We hate being not he receiving end of tactics. There are a lot of great resources for training sales people to be more effective. Many of these tools and tactics when used properly will help those who are genuinely there to help and serve. However for sales people who are unwilling to practice and integrate these sales tools seamlessly into their presentations these tools are painful to participate in. No one likes to be on the receiving end of multiple obvious tie-down questions, trial closes or objection counters. The minute that sales loses the feeling of a natural conversation our defences go up.

The best sales people don’t come across as sales people at all. They make everything look natural and conversational. They are interested in us as people and they are there to support us on our journey to solve problems. Perhaps this is why some salespeople fail. They assume that since it looks so natural that it must spontaneous. Recently I spoke with a new salesperson who expressed that this was her reason for winging it. “If I prepare too much,” she said, “then it won’t feel natural.” The opposite has demonstrated itself to be true. When we don’t prepare and practice it becomes obvious when we use a tool designed to move the sale along. When we practice it becomes natural.

Cure: One of my hobbies is to train Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in fighting with others on the mat it’s that when we think we hesitate. When your sales skills aren’t practiced you have to think about it. When you think about it the tactics become obvious. Practice does make perfect.

My challenge to you is to focus on the cures I have presented in this article. As all of us are involved in sales in some capacity we owe it to ourselves to become good at it. We don’t get what we want in life we get what we earn through selling.

 

Are you ready to level up? You’ve come to the right place. Douglas Vermeeren is considered one of the top leaders in sales, personal development and achievement psychology. He is considered by many to be the modern day Napoleon Hill for his extensive research into the lives and psychology of more than 400 of the world’s top achievers. Douglas Vermeeren is the creator of “Learn to Sell or You’ll die” program which helps you sell more.

Vermeeren is the author of 3 books in the Guerrilla marketing. He is also the creator of the personal development films The Opus, The Gratitude Experiment and The Treasure Map. Enterprise magazine calls him Canada’s Tony Robbins! He is the regular featured achievement expert on FOX, FOX Business, CNN, ABC, NBC, CTV, CBC and others. http://www.DouglasVermeeren.com