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To Keep Growing, Replay The Call Every Time

Most salespeople continue to make the same mistakes over and over, never recognizing their errors. Therefore, beyond a certain point, they never really get much better at what they do. How can you avoid that trap?

Top salespeople never stop improving because they 'replay' every sales call they make.

To continually improve your performance, you need two things. First, you need a systematic, step-by-step approach to planning and conducting the sales call that gives you a clear picture of what the whole process looks like when it's done right. Second, you need a strategy for critiquing your own performance regularly in light of that ideal approach.

The nine-act structure of Action Selling provides you with the systematic process. And by mentally reviewing your performance in each act after every sales call you make, successful or not, you ensure that you will never stop improving as a sales pro.

Here are some sample questions that top-performing salespeople ask themselves after every sales call:

1. What Commitment Objective did I set for the call? Did I achieve it? If not, what commitment did I gain from the customer and how?

2. Was the person I called upon the ultimate decision maker? If not, did I gain a commitment that will take me closer to that decision maker? Why or why not?

3. What needs did I uncover and agree upon with the customer? Are they needs that will let me differentiate my product?

4. How did I show that my company would be a good match for the customer's company? Could I have done this better? How?

5. Did I tie the needs that I uncovered to the capabilities of my product? Did I describe my product's benefits in terms that address those needs specifically and powerfully? How could I have done better?

Objections are the customer's response to unasked questions. Ask The Best Questions early in the sales call, and customize your presentation so that you'll hear far fewer objections later. If you do hear an objection late in the call, figure out the question you should have asked and ask it now.

In The Field:

After the conclusion of an Action Selling Sales Training Workshop not long ago, I was approached privately by one of the more mature attendees. "If I had only learned this 30 years ago," he said ruefully, "my life would be much different today."

Naturally, I had to ask: "What would be different?" I will never forget his response. "Everything," he said. "I wouldn't be working at this stage of my life. This workshop has pointed out so many mistakes that I have been making throughout my sales career. Those errors have hurt my income for 30 years."

Those may be the saddest words I've ever heard. If you have a feeling that you may be repeating the same old mistakes in your sales approach, take charge now.

Duane Sparks

Duane Sparks is chairman and founder of The Sales Board, a Minneapolis-based sales training company that has trained and certified more than 200,000 salespeople in the system and skills of Action Selling. He has personally facilitated more than 300 Action Selling training sessions.

In a 30-year career as a salesperson and sales manager, Duane has sold products ranging from office equipment to insurance. He was the top salesperson at every company he ever worked for. He developed Action Selling while owner of one of the largest computer marketers in the United States. Even in the roaring computer business of the 1980's, his company grew six times faster than the industry norm, differentiating itself not by the products offered but by the way it sold them. Duane founded The Sales Board in 1990 to teach the skills of Action Selling to others.