Although my world of sales training and consulting is the electronic security industry, this particular post is universal… every great salesperson has the respect from their customers and prospects, but many of the other average salespeople are treated like garbage.
Do you find that you’re constantly competing on price and not getting a shot to win (even the greatest and most respected have to compete on price sometimes, but they get the call before the decision), are you not receiving return phone calls, are your customers showing up late for meetings, or do they often dismiss your advice?
If so, great news. Why is this great news? Because the sales production on which you’re surviving can dramatically increase by simply earning respect from your customers. How? Well, I could write a book on how, but instead I’ll share one idea.
It’s simple: respect yourself. Respect your time, respect your judgment, respect your sales team, respect your company, respect your competition, and respect your craft as a sales professional. If you let your clients and prospects run all over you, all you are is a “yes man”. Your clients deserve more - they deserve a true sales professional who can advise them and guide them through today’s maze of technology and services. If you respect yourself enough to be that professional, then your clients will start looking at you as the most important entity in the security industry over the next 10 years – the expert.
So … don’t accept meeting with the assistant if your meeting was supposed to be with the manager; don’t stick around all day when your meeting was scheduled to be done at 2:30; don’t jump at the first time offered for a meeting. Yes, you’ll lose a few meetings and might anger some people, but you don’t want their business – those customers are bullies that beat up sales people for fun. Respect yourself, and you’ll be amazed how your customers will begin to show you more respect, the bullies will drop off your map, and your numbers will skyrocket.
