Month: October 2024

Listen closely and I’ll tell you a tale Of an epic and gruesome salesperson fail. Heed my warning and you won’t face doom. When dealing with leads, don’t ever assume…

Where it all began… Once, I encountered an exciting lead that seemed like a slam dunk. It seemed like the cards were in my favor that day… but I never suspected how horribly things could go.

I called the company line and was greeted by a friendly woman who informed me that my prospect — let’s call him Tim — wasn’t in the office. When I asked about the best time to reach him, she kindly offered up a number I assumed was his direct line. At this point, I was just starting out and forgot the Golden Rule in sales: “never assume.” 

Where it all went wrong…

I excitedly dialed the number and waited patiently to the ringing on the other end. Unfortunately, I got voicemail, and that voicemail uncovered the number was a personal cell number. It threw me off, so I decided against leaving a voicemail.

During my lunch hour, Tim called me back from his cell and didn’t leave a message either. It was official: we were playing phone tag. This game is lighthearted when between friends or family members, but it can be extremely annoying when you have no idea who the other person is or why they’re calling.

However, Tim’s company was a great fit, so I opted to call him back on his personal line…

I spent about four minutes absorbing his rant about the absurdity of calling his personal cell and how I was “playing games” with him. He did not understand that the number was given to me by his office administrator — or even what “phone tag” was.

Eventually, I found the nerves to politely hang up and spent the next 10 minutes shaking and replaying the call in my head. 

The spook-tacular call.

So there I was, sitting straight in my chair, ready for Tim and the chance to end this game of phone tag. He picked up after only one ring and I jumped right into my explanation of why I was calling. I identified myself, told him how I got his number, and made a casual joke about playing phone tag. Apparently, Tim did not think I was very funny — in fact, he immediately started yelling at me.

The Lesson Learned.

I certainly learned a valuable lesson from this sales horror story: Never assume and always leave a voicemail — that way, you’ll cover your bases and avoid the potential for flip outs like this one.

Happy Selling and Happy Halloween,

David

All of us will experience pain at some point in our lives. Pain is inevitable. The good news is that pain does not have to be something negative. Pain can be turned into something very positive if we learn something from it. The truth is, pain can be a very powerful motivator.

If we choose to use our pain to help us make changes, we can create a passionate and powerful life. Pain can drive us to achieve our goals and create the life that we truly want. All of us will go through difficulty and we will feel pain. That does not mean that we are defeated.

Pain is an inevitable part of being human. We must understand that challenges and difficulties are part of the process. Do not think of pain as a negative thing. Instead, use pain as a tool to help you achieve your dreams and goals.

Make the decision to transform your pain into passion and power. Far too many people think that if you are going through pain, you cannot be feeling pleasure at the same time. The truth is pain and pleasure can coexist. This is why it’s important to use pain as a motivator for success. Take a moment and reflect on how you felt when you made great accomplishments. I am sure you felt a sense of pleasure. When we achieve our goals, it’s a great feeling, which motivates us to do even more things that will give us positive emotions.

Pain works pretty much the same way. When we go through a difficult time, we are often motivated to take action and to do something about it. Pain can be a powerful motivator. If you’re not happy with your current situation, you may be motivated to change it.

Everyone that has achieved high-level success will tell you that the road was full of difficulty and pain. They did not allow the pain to win.

They used that pain as a motivator toward reaching their goals. Going forward, understand that pain is part of the process. Do not be afraid of pain and do not avoid it. Use it as a motivator to reach your goals and achieve greater success than you ever thought possible.

So when you’re going through pain, assess the situation and see it as an opportunity for growth. You can turn that pain into pleasure. Don’t run from it. As a matter of fact, embrace it. You will be amazed what you can achieve.

So when you’re feeling pain, remember, that’s normal and it’s necessary. Embrace both pain and pleasure along your road to success. You will find that you need both pain and pleasure to achieve your ultimate goals. Your future looks amazing. Keep plugging away and enjoy your success journey!

Embrace the pain and you see the gain! 

Happy Selling,

David

All of us are lazy at times.  We can’t always go, go, go and constantly work.  The way we use inactivity or laziness will differentiate us.

Here is a very important concept for building a business.  Understand the difference between these two totally different things:  

1.  Working IN your business 

2.  Working ON your business.

To work IN your business, you must first and foremost be an employee.  Whether you are a W-2 employee or an independent contractor, think of it as a job.  You are the owner and employee of  your business.

Now let’s discuss the other side of this concept:  working ON your business.  There is only a certain level of success which can be achieved by working IN the business.  Then time must be set aside to work ON the business.  The time comes in a single member organization to wear both the employee and the manager hats.  Take time to think about the organization itself, how to delegate things, how to create new procedures, thinking outside the box about changing the structure of your business.  There are some pitfalls of being the only worker in an organization.  By working IN your business on and on, day after day, you’ll get burned out. 

You may be saying, “I’m making sixteen sales a month and can’t seem to make any more than that.  I have customers for whom I need to care.  I have other things going on in my life.  I’m making decent money, but how do I get past this?”

• First, continue working IN your business as you have been.

Continue making those sixteen sales every month and working the same hours.  If you’re burned out and feel you can only give ten hours a day [or whatever number], do that.  But then take thirty minutes or one more hour and work ON your business.  Do this at the beginning of your day when you’re still fresh.   Prospecting, closing deals, and paperwork become so mundane that you could probably do those in your sleep at this point.  Now take some time every morning to think –

*Is there something that I could delegate?

*What daily tasks could I pay someone $10 or $12 an hour to do?

*How can I put procedure in place?  What is step one, step two, etc?

*Think on creating the work load you can delegate.

That is called working ON your business!  There are going to be pitfalls during this transition…

• Hire your first employee. I have used Fiverr and Workup for virtual assistants.  Maybe you have a friend who could do it as well. 

Your mind will be filled with all kinds of bad scenarios when you hire the first person.  You’ll be terrified he/she is going to make a mistake.  Let me save you a lot of time and heartache by assuring you the first new hire WILL make a mistake – every possible mistake you could imagine and other mistakes you didn’t even think of!  That IS going to happen when you hire your first person.  Just embrace it and enjoy the exciting transition.  Making mistakes is awesome; it means we are learning, growing, and expanding.

• Delegation

Don’t delegate a core task to new hires.  For a sales professional who is successfully selling, the new hire should not be the person who closes deals.  If he/she sucks, then you just ruined your whole business!  No, no, no – have the new hire do the paperwork when you close the deal.  Or have him/her do the follow-up phone call.  After establishing procedures and taking the new hire with you a few times, have that person eventually do installation.  Another possibility would be hiring someone to go prospecting for you.  Unless you plan to pay somebody as much as you are making, don’t expect your new hire to do everything as good as you would!  You probably want to hire someone younger and less experienced.  Pay a new hire $25,000 to $35,000 a year while you train him/her.  Then increase the compensation as his/her value to the organization grows.

Think about making a procedure for delegation.  Know where it’s written down or where the screen shot video is.  Then you’re prepared to plug the next new hire right in by saying, “Watch these four videos.” Or “Read these procedures and let me know if you have any questions.”

• Resentment toward your new hire will set in.

You’ll feel the new employee is stealing your attention from more important tasks.  This is a bold-faced lie which every leader faces when hiring begins.  The feeling is, “Why am I spending two hours with this person to help him/her learn how to do something I knew how to do six months ago?” (I learned this the hard way) You don’t ever want to have to do that job again.  So, you must delegate it to be free of it!  Then create a procedure through that delegation process.  When your new hire inevitably moves on and leaves the organization, the next delegation will be even easier.

• Lack of communication.

Lack of communication with your employees is absolutely an irrevocable death sign for your organization.  Without communication your business cannot grow; it will die.  The business will rise no higher than the leader.  The organization will make no more than those sixteen sales you were getting before hiring.  Maybe there’ll only be fifteen sales, instead, now that you’re also dealing with new hires.  You’re wasting time with the new hires if not really communicating with them.

In summary, leverage your laziness by converting thirty minutes to an hour to work ON your business.  That’s the key to growing your organization to the next level. 

Keep working IN your business just as zealously.  Decide how to delegate the things you’ve created which are successful. 

Wear the employee hat AND the manager hat.  You will be set for success!

I hope these tips help you grow your merchant services business.

Happy Selling,

David

On our success journey, we all WILL experience difficulties, defeat, failures, setbacks, and many trials.

The road to success is always under construction. Always remember that this is part of the process. The important thing to understand is that you have a choice.

Whenever you face these challenges, you can listen to all the naysayers and throw in the towel or you can remember WHY you began in the first place.

When you understand that challenges are part of the journey and you are committed to achieving your goals, nothing will stop you. No matter where you are in life, you are never too old to set another goal or dream another dream.

Whenever you fall flat on your face, that’s a good thing. At least you know that you are moving forward. Get back up and go at it again. Things are not always going to be smooth, but you must keep marching forward and not let the small things get to you.

Your dream is worth it and your goals mean something. Nobody ever said it was going to be easy. No matter how difficult the journey may be, it is always worth it to keep fighting, to keep striving, and to keep marching forward.

It’s important that when you do face challenges you understand you will get through them. It’s just a temporary season. Use any failures you encounter as learning opportunities. Once the storm is behind you, it is gone.

One of life’s lessons is to always keep moving on. It’s okay to look back to see how far you have come, but always keep moving forward. When you are facing difficulties, make sure you are surrounding yourself with good mentors and people who are going to encourage you to keep moving forward.

Never allow those who do not know where you are going derail you from your path to success. You must always believe in your dreams and believe in who you are. You are created for greatness.

Your dream is real and you will accomplish it. Nothing will get in your way. Believe in yourself and all that you are. There is something big inside of you that is greater than any obstacle that comes your way. Everyone who is successful has a list of things they have failed at. That list is not kept in our minds to remind us of the things we did wrong. It is there to motivate us so we do not let those failures be what we are known for.

It’s the commitment to the dream and never giving up no matter what comes our way. We must always keep going and, when we do that, we will achieve our goals. So if you are going through a storm right now, be encouraged. The challenge will make you a stronger and better person.

Someone once said,” If you’re going through hell, keep going.” Keep marching ahead and keep climbing. The fruits are on the top of the tree. Stretch out your hands and keep stretching them further and further. Success is at the top waiting for you.

No matter what obstacle comes your way, KEEP GOING!

Happy Selling,

David

Transform your relationships into growth opportunities with these proven strategies for success. Fostering strong relationships with your customers is essential for business growth. In this blog post, I’ll explore the Top Ten actionable strategies that can help you cultivate lasting connections, achieve your goals, and create a success-oriented mindset. 

From the Home Office in Alligator, Mississippi,

Here are the Top 10 Ways to Get Out of a Sales Slump

10. Leverage existing customers. 

Your current customers are your best asset for generating more business. Focus on deepening these relationships to unlock new opportunities.

9. Give more referrals. 

We all enjoy receiving referrals, but it’s important to give them too. When you provide referrals, it energizes you. 

Don’t forget to ask for referrals in return!

8. Contact old customers. 

Do you have former customers who you haven’t seen in the last year? Reach out to them. Find out how they’re doing. A simple check-in can lead to resigning them and valuable feedback. Often, past customers are happy to hear from you and may share fresh ideas.

7. Gratitude and thankfulness. 

Show appreciation for your customers regularly. When I am thankful for my existing customers, I’ve got my context. 

Start each day by writing down five things you’re thankful for. This practice shifts your mindset and strengthens relationships, making customers feel valued. It’s amazing how it begins to change your perspective. You can demonstrate it by picking up the phone, calling people and saying, “Hey, I’m thankful for you.” 

6. Set achievable goals. 

While aiming for big achievements is great, focus on smaller, attainable goals. Success creates success.

5. Build a Mastermind. 

Consider forming a mastermind group with a few like-minded individuals. You connect, you support one another, you help each other out. You motivate each other, challenge each other, celebrate successes. 

4. Help others achieve their goals. 

Zig Ziglar said the fastest way to achieve your goals is to help enough other people achieve their goals. There’s something magical when you help others achieve their goals. 

3. Establish an early morning routine. 

The day will quickly get away from you unless you control it. Top performers prioritize their mornings, setting the tone for a productive day ahead.

2. Celebrate your wins. 

No matter how small, celebrate every achievement. Avoid thinking, “this win is nothing compared to…” If that’s your tendency, I recommend you stay off of things like Facebook and Instagram and so forth. Comparing yourself to others can be discouraging; instead, focus on your progress and recognize your successes.

And the #1 Way to Get Out of a Sales Slump is …

1. Have a mindset of success. 

By implementing these 10 strategies, you’ll naturally develop a success-oriented mindset. This shift in perspective will help you see opportunities and challenges in a completely different lens.

A sales slump could be caused by external factors, such as an economic downturn or by your own emotional state. But whatever the cause, you can beat your slump by working proactively on your process, shifting your focus, practicing mindfulness, and surrounding yourself with people who motivate you to give your best.

Remember: Motivation isn’t a one-and-done affair. Consistency is key.

Have a Great Weekend,

David

Master this concept and close more deals. Use buffer statements so you can close multiple times without making merchants angry.

 Learn how to close three or more times without making merchants angry. This one concept distinguishes that 1% of sales professionals who make double or triple the average revenue.

I believe a salesperson should always close at least three times on every single appointment. Here are two prerequisites to that:

1. The merchant has all the needed information [not what the merchant thinks is needed, but what you know is necessary] to make a decision.
2. YOU believe the decision the merchant should make is to go with your services. Have the integrity and transparency to admit it if you know deep down this isn’t the best decision for the merchant.

As long as both those prerequisites are in place, you should always close at least three times.

Salespeople often say, “David, even closing once, they just about kick me out of the store. How could I try to close again after they’ve said ‘NO’?”

What’s missing that would allow more than one close?    (Check out Using Buffer Statements  and Getting Them to Agree) More on this below. 

This will help define you as a Top Salesperson.

Learning to close multiple times without making merchants angry is the definition of top salespeople, in my opinion. I’m referring to the top 1% who have a six- seven-figure income, making $30,000 to $50,000 per MONTH!

I know an independent agent who closed 600 merchant accounts in one year. He had a team which helped with telemarketing, etc. But he closed all those accounts himself. The same agent recently told me he closed at least 300 accounts last year while only working three days per week.

Closing multiple times is the way the top sellers get those numbers. These salespeople want to get the deal. They don’t seem to be closing hard because even the ones they don’t sell are still happy.

Use Buffer Statements

Using buffer statements is the key to closing at least three times without making merchants angry.

Using the permission close, your closing could be, “With your permission, I’d like to go ahead and get the paperwork started and get the ball rolling to move forward.” Then be quiet; see if you get permission.

However, inserting buffer statements before that close is much more powerful and less offensive:

“LD, I want to thank you so much for your time investment today. I know you have a lot to do. I really appreciate your time. I’m very confident in everything we’ve talked about that this is going to be a great value for you. I’m confident we can make this work and give you the value you’re looking for. With all that in mind and with your permission, I’d love to go ahead and take a few notes on the paperwork so we can get the ball rolling.”

Notice the buffer statements used in that close. If you failed to thank the merchant for his time, you are losing many sales! Some of you go through your entire presentation and even the close without thanking the merchant!!! I can’t believe that. Thanking the merchant generates great positive momentum.

If I have a prescheduled appointment, thanking the merchant is usually the first thing I do.

“Thanks so much for agreeing to meet with me. I’m a local business owner just like you and am busy just like you. I know how hard it is to carve out even 15 minutes to talk to someone. I really appreciate that. I want you to know I’m definitely using the time wisely today, so let’s jump in.”

As you move toward close, thank merchants again. They’ve actually given you their time. Leverage that positive momentum.

Sales Psychology

Here is some deep sales psychology that may help you. Saying “no” takes a little of the energy of the day out of a person. Saying “no” is hard – harder for some people than others. I know some people who can’t say “no” to anyone. But others can say “no” more easily.

Business owners are also like that. Saying “no” is much harder if you really like the person. The owner realizes that saying “no” will damage or lessen the connection established with that person.

Saying “no” to someone you don’t like is not as difficult. Become a person merchants like; they’ll have a much harder time saying “no” to you.

After your first close, the prospect may say, “I need to think about it.” That’s the time to use a buffer statement,

“I certainly understand where you’re coming from. Let me just say I would never want you to make a decision with which you’re uncomfortable. Let me just throw one other thing out real quick.”

That usually encourages merchants to express the real reason for delay. They might say, “I need to check with my business partner,” etc.

Another Close

Use the buffer statements to make merchants think you’re done. Then remember something else. (The proper tone of voice for this is vital.)

“That’s a really valid reason. I totally get where you’re coming from with that. I believe you’re wise to think along those lines. I definitely want to follow up with you. How about we set a time on Thursday at 4:00 o’clock? [Remember something else.] You know what, though – one thing I just thought of. If I was able to do _____, would that make you feel a bit more comfortable about moving forward? Just a thought?”

Practice these concepts in the field. Take time to be accustomed to them and get good at using them.

Then you’ll be at the top of your game.

Happy Selling.

David

There is one universal, undeniable and crucial-to-know truth in sales…

Your Pipeline Should always be FULL! King Pipeline!

It’s the most important thing in sales, that’s what we’re trying to say here!

One of the main reasons sales professionals miss target is because they haven’t built enough pipeline. If you look back at when you’ve missed target, how many times would you have actually hit target if you had generated a few more opportunities?

Sales pipelines work like this… Let’s say you have to make 5 sales to hit your sales target. You need to prospect and build a pipeline of opportunities that you work to close at least 5 to hit target.

The problem is it’s not that simple! Here are 4 of the common mistakes that salespeople often make with their pipeline:

1. THEY DON’T FIND ENOUGH OPPORTUNITIES TO HIT TARGET

A lot of sales reps don’t generate enough opportunities each month to hit target…

Let’s say you need 5 sales to hit target as we mentioned above. Unfortunately, a common trap that salespeople fall into is only building a pipeline of 5 opportunities. The reality is if you build a pipeline of 5 opportunities, not all 5 opportunities will close. Which is why a lot of salespeople end up not hitting target.

The key is to understand your close ratio.

If you close 50% of your pipeline, you’ll need 50% more to hit target. So to hit 5 sales, you’ll need at least 10 opportunities in your pipeline to hit target. If you close 25% of your pipeline you’ll need at least 20 opportunities to be able to hit target.

2. THEY LIVE IN PIPELINE DENIAL

Far too many salespeople refuse to accept the reality about their pipeline…

They’ll always tell their sales managers that their sales pipeline is amazing, but in reality it’s not. Unfortunately whilst this attitude will keep their sales managers off their back, it rarely results in the salesperson hitting target and often results in the salesperson struggling in the long run.

Pipeline honesty is key to sales success.

If an opportunity has gone cold, if they’re not responding to you, if you haven’t fully qualified them, anything that makes the opportunity questionable, take it out of your pipeline. Leaving it there will only cause problems.

3. THE CELEBRATE THE OPPORTUNITY OVER THE SALE

Some salespeople make the mistake of celebrating the opportunity before it becomes a sale…

We’ve encountered many sales professionals who make SO MUCH noise when they generate a sales opportunity.

Now don’t get us wrong, we’re all for celebrating in sales, at every stage of the process. The problem is, to a lot of sales reps, that’s the peak. They celebrate the opportunity so much they no longer have the drive to do all the work required to close the sale, and what often happens is the opportunity goes cold.

Pipeline is king, but closed deals are life.

Build your pipeline up with more than enough opportunities, and then make sure you put in the hard work to close as many of them as you can. It’s ok to celebrate creating a new and exciting sales opportunity, but true success comes the moment the deal is signed (and when the customer is happy!).

4. THEY STOP PROSPECTING WHEN THEY’VE GOT “ENOUGH” OPPORTUNITIES

Some salespeople spend ages building their pipeline or they run out of leads, and then stop…

Now we know it’s hard work building pipeline, it’s exhausting!

All the efforts required to make loads of calls, send loads of emails, send loads of LinkedIn messages along with everything else, it is draining. So when you do finally have enough opportunities, it’s easy to want to just focus on converting those. The problem is, each time one closes, your pipeline shrinks.

“Building pipeline is a 24/7/365 thing”

All-day, every day, every week, every month, every year, prospecting and building pipeline should never stop if you work in sales.

The best sales professionals out there are prospecting all the time and never stop, because they know they need to keep feeding the funnel. For each sale that you close you need to generate several more opportunities, to be able to continue closing sales.

THIS IS WHY PIPELINE IS KING!

No pipeline = no sales.

It’s not just “Always Be Closing” in sales, it’s also “Always Be Prospecting”. You need to keep that pipeline full and work on adding new opportunities all of the time. Here are our top tips:

• Qualify, qualify, QUALIFY – Put as much effort into qualifying your opportunities to make your pipeline as refined as possible. Understand their budget, their timeframe, their urgency, their needs etc. All this information will help your pipeline quality massively.
• Never stop FEEDING your pipeline – Prospect all the time, make it habit, make it a part of your daily routine. Remember for each sale you close, you’ll need at least 2-3 new opportunities to replace it (as some won’t convert).
• Be HONEST with yourself – Pretending that your pipeline is great and you’ll definitely hit target will only hold you back. Be honest, if you need help, ask for it. If you need more opportunities, focus on prospecting. If you need help closing, ask for it.
• Celebrate your opportunities AND your sales – Creating a new sales opportunity is an achievement, be proud of that! But also remember that’s only part of the process, you need to then work on closing the deal to really win.

What would tips would you give for salespeople when it comes to building and managing their pipeline?

Happy Selling,

David