The world currently is in its crucial fourth week of the coronavirus outbreak. Practicing social distancing and staying indoors to restrict the spread of the virus is the need of the hour. It is time to slow down, recharge, spend time with your loved ones at home and do things you always wanted to but wouldn’t normally have time to do. I’m for instance working on my book that I’ve been writing on sales and intend to publish in the near future. It’s about making time to tackle some of the things that have been collecting dust in your mental backlog.     

To help you do something productive whilst you are locked indoors during such a time of the pandemic, I’ve put together a list of some ideas. Once you’ve picked your favorites, try using one or more of these awesome to-do-list tools to keep yourself engrossed and productive.   

1. Play around with new technology: There’s never a good time to learn and update your computer skills when you’ve got so many other things going on, but learning those new technologies is important to keep yourself updated with times. So why not use this time to download and play around with some of these new technologies?

2. Write thank-you notes: Take advantage of the opportunity to make someone’s day by writing them a meaningful, personal thank-you note. It’s a way to distinguish yourself in our increasingly informal, digital world.

Thank-you notes are an easy way to show your appreciation. You can send these notes to your customers, your channel partners and even your friends, family and colleagues.

3. Learn a new skill for your job: Most people have a skill they’ve always wanted to learn to advance their career but simply haven’t gotten around to. Many programs and certifications are free online and take only a few hours to complete.

4. Learn a new skill not for your job: Skills that aren’t related to your job are usually even more fun to learn. What about learning how to paint art to decorate your home? Taking a new type of online workout class?

Try to pick something that uses parts of your brain that you don’t usually tap into during the workday. It can do wonders for your happiness, creativity, and wellbeing – and hey, you may even find a new passion that makes a huge impact on your life.

5. Do any work-related tasks in the morning: Use the morning hours when everyone else is asleep to get your work-related tasks done. By the time everyone wakes up, you’ll have checked off a few key to-dos, and will be able to focus on spending time with your family.

6. Start building a habit: Some say it takes 21 days to build a habit. Others say it takes a lot longer. But exactly how long it takes doesn’t really matter. The point is, you’ve to put the work in upfront if you want a habit to stick. So why not use these days to get started? Whether you want to start gardening you always wanted to, or write in a journal before bed each night, take the time during such days to start habit-forming and set yourself up for success.

7. Get your planner or calendar organized for the future: This break is a perfect time to fill out your planner with the appointments and trips you’ve already planned. When you’re not spending time on everyday work tasks, you can experiment with new organizational formats such as the bullet journal to make sure you’re as productive as possible when you head back to work.

8. Set goals for the future: Setting goals gives you a baseline for measuring success, and the motivation to stay on course when things get crazy. Setting goals can be as simple as creating two lists: one of your accomplishments this past year and one of your goals for the next. To get more specific, you can break larger goals into smaller ones by month. Setting SMART goals that I always talk about-Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-bound goals.

9. Organize your inbox: Organize your inbox because a cluttered inbox distracts you from being productive and planned. Now is the right time to do so.

10. Call your long-distance friends: You know that list of friends and family members you’ve been meaning to catch up with, but never seem to find out the time? Open your phone, find a comfortable spot to sit, and give them a call with your full attention. Now’s the perfect time to connect with people you don’t see regularly but want to stay in touch with.

11. Catch up on reading: Here’s a classic but essential tip: Catch up on those books or articles you’ve been wanting to get to so badly. It’s hard to find time to read when you’re busy with work. You can cuddle up with a blanket and a book.   

12. Find a quiet space to let your mind wander: Take some time to remove yourself from your day-to-day -even from your family- to be alone and reflect. Daydream about being your own customer, or your competitor, or what it’s like to be the product you produce/sell. Analyze how you’ve been spending your time over the past few months and whether you’d like to make changes in the times to come.

13. Get exercise in: Staying active even just a little bit each day can be, easy and fun. Not an athlete? Don’t mind… physical activity doesn’t have to be intense. Find an activity like walking on the treadmill, vacuum cleaning and dusting your home, or even mopping floors. Something is always better than nothing, get your blood flowing and keep it up even when you head back to work.

14. Talk to your friends and family about what you do: Work is such an important part of our lives and takes up a huge chunk of our waking hours, so sometimes sharing that with family and friends can actually be a bonding exercise. If your friends and family aren’t familiar with what you do or are interested in learning more, now’s the time to fill them in on what you do all day, why you like or don’t like it, and what you are hoping to do in future. Who knows, you could pick up some great insights from people who are removed from your day-to-day.

15. Schedule your appointments: Think of all minor inconveniences you just can’t seem to get to when you’re on your regular schedule and check and schedule them for the future. Some of these may be scheduling your insurance premium payments, getting the oil changed in your car and so on.

16. Watch a documentary: There are documentaries on almost every subject imaginable, and you might learn about a topic or an issue that inspires you.

17. Prepare meals: In such times, its typically healthier, advisable, and more affordable to make your own meals or help your loved ones to do so than to buy them. But when you’re busy with work, it’s hard to make time to prepare wholesome meals for yourself and your family. Cooking being my passion, I’ve tried almost everything on earth during these days.

Use this time to unwind and refocus. Use this time to calm your mind, energize and relax. What you do during this forced break time could have an impact on your workplace mental health forever.

I urge you to remain indoors and protect yourself and your family.      

If you improve by 1% every day, in 1 year your efficiency would increase by 365%.

That is the philosophy of Kaizen, Japanese for continual improvement. Using Kaizen as a sales strategy will consistently improve your daily tasks by reducing waste and unreasonable work methods. This ultimately results into good quality and optimal efficiency.

One small change at a time…. That’s all it takes to enhance productivity and sales strategy. Philosophy of Kaizen works well as small changes are easier to make than big changes. These small changes result into exponential results over a longer period of time. The same thing applies to your sales career.

Ideas that will help you to tap into the principle of Kaizen:

>> Work on one skill at a time- Working on just one skill at a time will achieve much better results. Focus on one skill you are weak at and make commitments to improve just a little bit on this one skill every day for the next couple of months. Once you master this skill, you will be able to practice this efficiently. Every step you take progresses you higher and higher.

 >> Work at it until it becomes a habit- Activities are disciplined into habits we have created a long time ago in the past in our childhood. It is like learning to ride a bicycle until it becomes a habit and comes naturally with no conscious efforts to perform. So work on one skill at a time until it becomes a habit and comes naturally.

 >> Never stop improving- One must take inventory of your weak areas and find mentors to help you grow and develop. You must find mentors in your superiors, friends, colleagues, sales coaches, trainers, workshops, seminars or even Google. The Kaizen principle states that we must continuously improve and you will see the results in the long term.

>> Examine your daily routine: According to the Kaizen principle, you should break your daily routine into minutes and separating smaller and bigger tasks and important and unimportant tasks. Priorities need to be set up for bigger tasks to be accomplished and small and unimportant tasks come later into priority. One must understand why and how you do things. 

>> Improve productivity by delegating tasks– One must analyze carefully if you are devoting enough time to important tasks that really matter. Other tasks may be delegated to someone else. If you reduce the amount of time you are wasting on unimportant things, your productivity improves automatically. Once you pin down your daily routine into important things for yourself, you will feel less stressed and motivated to keep going throughout the day. Reducing wasteful and stressful tasks, your productivity increases substantially over a period of time. 

 >>Take risks- For some reason, people are so afraid to look like fools that they don’t want to do something challenging. It’s the people who take risks that get rewards. If you do not take risks and being scared will keep you in the same spot you’re in now. The biggest lesson about Kaizen isn’t to not worry about getting quick results but it teaches you to take the risk but be aware of the consequences that may arise from the risk. Seek help for improvement and be ready for criticism as without criticism there is no way for self-improvement.

Remember, the Kaizen principle is a sure shot formulae for success but it will take patience and dedication. It won’t be easy and it won’t happen overnight. You will have to make an effort to be willing to change your thinking in order for it to work. If you are not open to change, do not expect Kaizen to work. It will only work if you have the desire to change.

Are you ready?    

With each passing year, buyer preferences continue to change. Tasks have gotten harder for salespeople in recent years. Top sales professionals are now struggling to survive because most are not prepared on how to be successful in playing on the new field.

Sales priorities, challenges, and trends need to be benchmarked to meet upcoming challenges in 2020. Sales professionals must today be street smart and quick-witted. Possessing effective selling skills is important but the need of the hour is to quickly read the selling scenario and apply the required skill at the right time. The ability to shift from one skill to another is equally important. Sales professionals who prevail will win big as new opportunities escalate amid today’s robust business climate.

Top sales challenges of 2020:

1. Selling skills– Asking insightful and relevant questions to understand customer needs and challenges would prove to be the most valuable selling skill of 2020.
2. Relationship building– Information moves freely with an established relationship between the sales professional and the buyer. The buyer is likely to reach the sales close through a complex buyer decision-making process if the sales professional has successfully built a strong relationship and has prepared some groundwork.
3. Price competition– Strong sales professionals would need to overcome this challenge by converting demands to needs. Once options are offered for meeting the customer need, it would not require concessions on prices.
4. Prospecting– Getting to the right customers is part of the challenge behind creating a targeted prospecting strategy. Reaching and connecting with the right prospects in a short span of time would be a crucial challenge in 2020.
5.  Communicating product value– Communicating product value and differentiating clearly and concisely would help the sales professional to convey innovation and create a lasting memorable engagement with his customer. This will also enable him to stand out from the crowd.
6. Standing apart from the competitors– Sales professionals would require to be selfless and offering expert knowledge and helping customers. Great customer service will turn your customer into brand evangelists and will make you stand apart from the competition.
7. Low-priced competitors– Sales professionals would need to educate customers to justify an investment in quality and sell value over price. Authentic customer testimonials that focus on value need to be collected and used effectively. Social networking will have to be used effectively to promote long-term value.
8. Upselling– Nurturing your current clients will keep them invested in your brand. It is not only easy to upsell a happy client but can actually bring more revenue than signing new customers with much lesser effort.
9. Effective team selling– The sales process works best as a team. It helps develop innovative solutions to challenges and allows everyone to benefit from each other’s knowledge and experience.
10. Motivation– Difficult times and new challenges at every step affect a sales professional’s productivity. Companies will have to set tangible goals that the sales team can work to accomplish. Then celebrate your team’s wins to boost morale. Sales training and coaching at regular intervals would play a crucial role in meeting challenges in 2020.

Whatever the challenges, there are solutions to solve them. With the right combination of strategy, communication, and skills, sales professionals will be able to develop meaningful dialogue with prospects, accelerate the sales cycle and close more deals.

Problems and challenges are nothing but wake-up calls for creativity. How you respond to these tough sales challenges would differentiate leaders and followers.  

They say ‘people come into sales not by choice but by chance’. Is it?

I do not think so… A job in sales could be a stepping stone to incredible wealth, an influential career and a satisfactory level of work-life balance. There are hundreds of reasons why people today want to consider launching a career in sales by choice.

 I, however, was the fortunate few who chose to sell by choice. I always believed being good at sales means living a rich life. People aspire for it, get it, and make a career in it. Great salespeople are considered heroes and are featured in magazines. Every industry needs more sales. Who do they need to make that happen?

A ‘Sales Person’.

Sales are the wheels of an organization. Nothing moves till a product or a service gets sold. Nothing Happens! With companies gearing up for massive production facilities, impetus on vigorous selling is getting equal importance. Plenty of sales jobs are likely to keep growing in the next several years and pay handsomely as well. Thus, the future of work is looking pretty bright. Selling is not just one of the highest-paid professions in the world but also carries umpteen benefits that are individually sufficient to attract people towards selling as a career. ‘Sales’ has been listed in the top 20 highest paying jobs in 2020.

Some enticing reasons people choose sales as their career path:

• Great earning potential: The financial rewards can be significant and if you are willing to create new opportunities and have the drive to succeed, the earning potential can seem limitless. The salary structure will vary at each company but will generally involve a basic salary plus incentives, bonus and additional benefits. 
• Continual learning: As the earning potential is unlimited, so is the learning potential. 
• Transferable skills, creating a challenging career: The skills developed in a sales career are abundant and provide a desirable career path for many professionals. Unlike many careers you will not feel pigeonholed in one industry; once you develop skills to sell successfully, you can transfer your skills and move between industries providing new challenges and the opportunity to move your career in the direction you desire. I have done this successfully in my career selling various product segments ranging from intravenous fluids to dialysis machines to total parenteral nutrition to contraceptives to tiles, faucets and bath accessories and now my training modules.  
• Freedom: A day in sales is what you make out of it and there is little time for the clock –watching and a nine-to-five mentality.
• Networking: Meet a wide variety of people. There is never a dull day.
• Non-stop personal growth: If you are into sales and you do well over a period of time, I can guarantee you non-stop personal growth. There are so many different types of people you will encounter, so many barriers, so many challenges-that it is not possible to do well in sales without focussing on growing yourself as a person. 

Whatever limitations you may have- lack of patience, anger issues, self-esteem issues, lack of persistence, lack of social intelligence, lack of focus, attention deficit, lack of charisma, problem with public speaking, problem with authority figures- whatever it may be, you will have to work on each and every limitation and sort them out to continue to grow as a salesperson. There is perhaps no job other than sales that bring you in front of your worst insecurities, fears, rejections and failures every day.

• You become an excellent conversationalist.
• Develop initiative.
• Sales jobs are the safest jobs: Companies would not like to lose a good salesperson as long as they produce and need to sell their produce.
• Quick reward and fast growth.
• Unlimited job opportunities.
• Derivatives of sales jobs are plenty:  When salespeople transition out there are opportunities as marketing specialists, corporate strategist, consultant, operations manager, business owner or a trainer and a coach.
• Sales is a global skill: If you are a good salesperson in India, you can probably be as good in the USA, UK, Dubai or Singapore. The best of the best Indian salespersons often migrate to economies that pay more and offer better lifestyle. It is not possible with most of the other professions. 

• Can you stay calm and genuinely peaceful when a dissatisfied customer shouts at you?
• Can you get a terrible rejection and then again pick up the phone and talk to the next customer with the same enthusiasm as if nothing has happened?
• Can you love and respect customers who avoid follow-ups, break promises, pretend to know things they don’t?
• Can you charm people all day?

I bet you will face all that if you are into sales. That is why average people run away from sales. They do not have the courage to face such experiences. It takes immense courage to stick to sales and a lion’s heart to succeed in sales. 

For those who love challenges and competition, who value rewards for their efforts, and want a role that recognises success, a career in sales awaits you.  

RECESSION IS APPROACHING…..ARE YOU PREPARED?

Tough economies can be ruthless to an unprepared salesperson. He tends to be meek and timid while approaching a prospect and seems to mumble: “I’m just bugging these people. They are busy. I should leave them alone. I’m actually not cut out for sales.”

In good times, things are rosy and people are willing to spend money and are prepared to make purchases. Selling seems to be so easy. Come recession, when the economy gets tight, uncertain and contracted, selling becomes a nightmare for a few as there are more excuses, more competition, and more objections.

Salespeople, who have braced themselves for these tough times by honing up their skills, will look at this as an opportunity. You will be better placed against your competition as you are prepared with better solutions to your customer’s problems that answer their pain and thereby increase hope and demand.

How to operate in a tough economy?

• The time spent on panicking should be replaced by working smarter and utilizing all your sales tools.
• Be proactive and efficient in everything you do- your meetings, prospecting efforts and even networking.
• Be prepared with a Plan B.
• ROI doesn’t stand for running out of income. It stands for return on investment. Create a reason for your customers to buy and then appreciate their decision to invest in you.
• This is the time when a customer wants to feel heard and listened to. They don’t want you to tell them what they need.

Are you stopping your sale?

Your confidence and drive are determined in your voice and posture. If you are feeling negative or unsure, your attitude, tone and gestures are surely going to be transferred to your prospect. 

Here are some reasons why you stop your sale:

1. Lack of selling skills: As discussed in one of my previous blogs, salespeople are being hired and thrown into the market without even basic sales training. Such untrained salespeople prove to be fatal to the organization.

These untrained salespeople require sharpening their skills in any way possible. Knowing about your products, services, and industry is a must. One must take inventory of your weak areas and find mentors to help you grow and develop. You may find mentors in your superiors, friends, colleagues, sales coaches, trainers, workshops or even Google. There is nothing holding you back except yourself.

2. Self-Image: Never-ever approach your prospects timidly and tentatively. You should be an expert in your field, a bearer of good news and a problem solver. This naturally would come by practice.

3. Negative Self-Talk: Negative thinkers say negative things to themselves all day long:

“I do not belong to sales.”

“I sound like a broken record. Nobody wants to hear about this.”

These kind of talks holds you down, and the negativity is automatically and instantly transmitted to your prospects. Substitute these negative thoughts with the positive ones, such as: 

“It’s their job to learn about my solution. The only way to stimulate a bad economy is when somebody buys something.”

“My timing is perfect. He will enjoy my call.”

1. Fear of Rejection: How many times have we heard a salesperson telling his prospect- “You seem to be busy; I’ll come some other time.”

He instead seems to be saying-“I fear rejection, so I should get out.”

If you fear rejection, selling is the wrong profession for you. Do not let the fear of rejection wear down your motivation to sell.

In selling, you create your own economy rather than being a participant in what everyone else has agreed upon as the economy. Take a recession in your stride. It’s actually an opportunity. 

In my last blog, I shared about sales being given a back seat in B-Schools compared to marketing and the rising need for sales education programs in academic institutions.

If you haven’t read that blog yet, I request you to pause and read that one first here, it will make more sense. 

How can Sales Training Programmes help?

As we look across the landscape of sales education now, it seems that universities are beginning to see the opportunity. High-quality sales education serves students well, serves universities well, and serves our economy well. Why, then, do we not see more of it?

Bringing senior sales professionals into the classroom gives students an authentic glimpse of what it is like to work in the field and the different kinds of people who can excel in it.

It is time to change the general attitude of college students toward a career in sales. These attitudinal barriers can be overcome. As it happens, sales positions offer qualities that appeal to Millennial: autonomy, rewards linked to personal effort, and the opportunity to interact with a variety of people. When we communicate the reality of sales, we see those who value such qualities approach it with real enthusiasm.

How will the student benefit from Sales Training Program?

To prepare a new generation of sales professionals, sales education programmes would talk to students and prepare them in fundamental sales (basic, one-to-one methodologies), advanced sales (complex, multi-buyer methodologies), advanced valuations (analytic processes for customer development), sales management (channels and individuals), business communication (personal and group skills), and sales technology (sales-effectiveness tools).

All aspiring B-school students have the drive to learn and be the best. A good sales training will help them and contribute its bit to get them there.

How will the institution benefit by facilitating Sales Training For Students?

Your institution gets a cutting edge over other institutions.

Students develop a broad understanding of all the functional areas of business, not just sales, and often study live cases.

Students are exposed to multiple techniques and skills required for a successful career in sales.

Students are better equipped with selling techniques, attributes, and traits required for better placements. If students are better prepared, companies will have a better supply of talent to choose from.

Students attain degrees in business, marketing, finance, and management, but sales is rarely a major or minor offered. The sales industry as a whole appears elusive to many students until they graduate, entering “the real world” to find that sales is a major industry and profession. A trained student in sales would be a better fit in the sales industry.

I have spent 30 years pursuing sales as my career and in the process, sales has given me a lot. I am privileged to have the opportunity now to contribute my bit in giving something back to sales. As a sales trainer and coach, I help students develop and grow to build a successful sales career.