Getting Paid Is Good !!

By Jim Masson

"Getting Paid is Good!!" is jam packed with innovative concepts, tips, effective strategies and "Golden Words' that will help establish anyone who wishes to succeed in the selling field as both a high earner and a true sales professional. You will find that "Getting Paid is Good!!" is written in an easy to read, conversational style that proves to be thought provoking and very informative.

Whether you consider yourself a sales professional, a sales rookie or simply someone eager to enter the sales arena and partake of the many great opportunities and rewards available today in the selling field, you will find that "Getting Paid is Good!!" is an indispensable part of your sales training and your reference library. You will want to refer to it again and again throughout your selling career.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing
• Release date: Sep 14, 2003
• ISBN: 9781412213844

Jim Masson

Jim Masson sold his first car at only seventeen while working part time for a General Motors dealership in a small Northern Ontario town. He was rewarded with a commission for that sale and discovered that getting paid was good! After attending college in Ottawa, Ontario, he had a successful selling career before relocating to Vancouver, British Columbia, in the early 1980's. In Vancouver he partnered for almost ten years in an automotive service business. After selling that business, he continued his career as Sales Manager with major automobile dealerships that achieved new levels of sales success. A number of sales people who he helped train were nationally recognized as Sales Leaders and Sales Masters and several are Sales Managers in the industry today. Recognizing the need for professionalism and training in all areas of selling, Jim has written, "Getting Paid is Good!!" in order to share his extensive experience and success with those pursuing a career in the selling field. Jim and his wife, Wanda, make their home on southern Vancouver Island. Jim is available on a limited basis for sales training and consulting and can be reached at [e-mail].

Book preview

YOUR  

 #1  

 JOB,  

 GET  

 PAID

© Copyright 2003 Jim Masson. All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

National Library of Canada Cataloguing in Publication Data

Masson, Jim, 1948-

Getting paid is good!! / Jim Masson.

ISBN 1-4120-0618-X

ISBN 978-1-4122-1384-4 (ebook)

I. Title.

HF10 08.M3 8 2003   650.1   C2 003-9044 3 0-0

TRAFFORD

This book was published on-demand in cooperation with Trafford Publishing.

On-demand publishing is a unique process and service of making a book available for retail sale to the public taking advantage of on-demand manufacturing and Internet marketing. On-demand publishing includes promotions, retail sales, manufacturing, order fulfilment, accounting and collecting royalties on behalf of the author.

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Web site www.trafford.com TRAFFORD PUBLISHING IS A DIVISION OF TRAFFORD HOLDINGS LTD. Trafford Catalogue #03-0988 www.trafford.com/robots/03-0988.html

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Contents

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION

SECTION ONE

SECTION TWO

SECTION THREE

SECTION FOUR

SECTION FIVE

SECTION SIX

SECTION SEVEN

SECTION EIGHT

SECTION NINE

SECTION TEN

SECTION ELEVEN

SECTION TWELVE

SECTION THIRTEEN

SECTION FOURTEEN

SECTION FIFTEEN

SECTION SIXTEEN

SECTION SEVENTEEN

SECTION EIGHTEEN

DESIDERATA

About the Author

PREFACE

This book began as a hobby in 1997 and as a training aid for new sales people that I was helping develop. I have been involved in the selling profession for over thirty-five years as a salesperson, business owner, sales manager and as a sales trainer. From the very beginning I have worked for and with some wonderful and very talented individuals who have been kind enough to share their knowledge, expertise and their skills with me over the years.

I have achieved many successes throughout my career in no small part due to the training received from my employers and my managers as well as the many lessons I have learned from people who have worked with or for me. To all of them I am very grateful.

Without a doubt, I could have achieved more in less time and earned significantly more money if all of this knowledge had been available to me when I was beginning my career. This was my underlying reason for this project. My greatest rewards have come from training people in the skills of professional selling. Watching these individuals develop their skills to a level that ensures their careers are secure and that they are able to provide for the financial future of their family has rewarded me with satisfaction at the highest level.

By writing and compiling this material, it is my goal to help you develop your skills so that you can enjoy similar successes in your life. I have tried to be concise and informative while providing material that is easy to read and to understand. Hopefully, I have succeeded.

Without a doubt, this project would not have been possible without the unwavering support of my wife, Wanda. Thank you, I really appreciate it. This work is dedicated to my late mother, whose recent brave battle with cancer has taught me what courage is all about. Her kindness to others remained unfailing and an inspiration to all those who witnessed it. Thanks Mom! It is also written in memory of Wanda’s mom who lost her fight with cancer just over two years ago.

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INTRODUCTION

Nothing Happens until Something is Sold

As a professional salesperson, your number one job is to get paid. Everything you do should be to that end, whether it’s building rapport with your customer, doing an effective presentation or doing a follow-up call. It’s how you feed yourself and your family. It’s how you please your employer. It’s your reason for being a sales professional.

The best and most lucrative sales positions are either entirely commission based or a combination of a base salary and commission. Commissions are our incentive and our opportunity to be financially rewarded for doing our jobs with passion and professionalism. It’s where we get paid based on our production. When we sell our products and services, we get paid. If we don’t sell our products and services, we will not get paid. It’s that simple.

The purpose of this book is to give you the necessary tools, not only to survive in the business, but also to become a true sales professional who earns a professional’s income. When you have the skills, as a professional salesperson you are in the position to literally write your own paycheck. You never need to fear being unemployed because true sales professionals are in constant demand in virtually every sector of the economy.

There have been hundreds of books and manuals written about selling skills and techniques. What makes this any different from the rest? For the seasoned salesperson, many areas will be familiar but the psychology of selling and human interaction will be the target of this book even more than focusing on techniques. You will discover the Contrarian approach to many sales situations.

You will learn how to obtain the 2% advantage in order to win. My goal is to help you get on the fast track to personal achievement and financial success.

The information that has been compiled here comes from a multitude of sources, gathered over a long career in the sales and service sectors of the marketplace. It taps the knowledge of some of the acknowledged high profile gurus of the automotive industry, sales trainers of other industries, owners and sales managers that I have worked with and some that I worked for, as well as psychology specialists and motivational speakers.

Many of the sales and service people whom I have worked with or who have worked directly for me have shared some of the information presented here. Interestingly, some of the best information that I have gathered has been gleaned from listening to the wishes, thoughts and fears of my customers over these past years. Some ideas simply came to me and, as a result, I developed certain techniques presented in this book. I am grateful to have the opportunity to share this knowledge with you so that you may learn and reap the rewards of your efforts.

Selling can be one of life’s most rewarding careers. It drives our economy every single day because, truly, nothing happens until something is sold. Selling is a profession where only truly dedicated professionals survive and prosper.

If you haven’t yet reached the levels of success that you have dreamed of, chances are that you have been following the wrong path. Fortunately it’s not too late to change direction. Don’t regret what has happened in the past. You have no control over the past. But you can choose to make the right choices for the future. Adopt this concept today. If it’s to be, it’s up to me.

As you go through the material presented here you will notice that many of the examples I use will refer to the selling of hard goods marketed in a store type environment. I chose this format because I believe that most people will find it easier to relate to the sale of a tangible rather than an intangible item. That even includes those who are selling or will sell intangible products.

That does not mean that representing or selling intangibles is a significantly different set of skills. The same rules and techniques will always apply to both tangible and intangible items. The sale of intangible items takes one particular skill to a higher level than is required for the sale of most hard goods. That is the skill necessary to present mental pictures and to generate acceptable feelings concerning ideas and concepts without the aid of a physical demonstration of the product. In selling a tangible we have the ability to employ many or all of the physical senses. When selling an intangible we often must rely much more heavily on emotions and on feelings.

Now open your mind to new ideas, prepare to have some sales industry myths destroyed and most importantly be prepared to Get Paid.

Getting Paid is Good !!

SECTION ONE

The Marketplace and Professional Selling

♦ An overview of needs, wants and value

Buying and Selling is all about Needs, Wants (Desires) and Value, tied to affordability. Think about that for a moment.

Sales are made only when there is a perceived Need or a Want (Desire) coupled with the acceptance of and the affordability of the Value presented.

This is what drives virtually every successful purchase and, therefore, every sale opportunity.

Need, want and value all represent different things to different people at different times. Each individual has his or her personal perception of each.

That is how consumers make decisions in the marketplace today. A person’s perception becomes his or her reality. That reality can be, and often is, different than that of others in the same or similar demographic group, even within the same family. Fortunately, that reality can be influenced and altered.

This is what makes professional selling such an interesting, challenging and rewarding career. Professional salespeople can create, uncover or fill needs, satisfy wants and build the value necessary so that the customer’s personal reality will coincide with the offer being presented and will result in acceptance.

Think about the thousands upon thousands of goods and services that are available in the marketplace today. The success of any product in the marketplace is dependent on whether a need already exists or can be developed. Then that need is turned into a want or a desire created in the mind of the targeted consumer. Suitable value must then be demonstrated to justify the price being sought and it must be affordable to a segment of the targeted group.

All this requires professional marketing and professional salesmanship. Thousands of the products available today were not available only a few years ago. In fact, new products arrive on the scene daily. Some products exist to fill needs that already exist while others create needs and wants in the marketplace as they come onto the scene. There are still other products that the public just wants because of a sharp marketing campaign.

Who really needs many of the products available today? Yet sales of these products take place daily because of a perceived need that has been created by clever marketing. Marketing then has created a desire to own the product. In other words, a want is created in the mind of the consumer.

As consumers, we can’t even begin to own a fraction of all the products or services available to us. We must make judgements as to what we will pursue and what we will shun. Always remember that we make our decisions based on our personal value system and our perceived needs at any given point in time.

As a salesperson, you should always be aware that your perception of the need or value of any product or service may be considerably different than that of your customer. That’s OK.

It is your job to attempt to alter your customer’s perception of his or her reality so that your offer may be desired and accepted. A true professional will not misrepresent or deceive to accomplish this task.

There will be times when, if you state truths, often the customer will interpret what you have said in a manner that is different from what you intended. Always remember that people often hear only what they want to hear in forming their perceptions and their realities.

Consider for a moment some of the products that are offered on those television commercials that show a relatively low cost item that, in some people’s opinion, is of questionable use and value.

First the product will be identified, then demonstrated for you while a couple of benefits are given to create interest. Then you might hear that this product is worth, as an example, let’s say $29.95. Probably the next step will be to double the order for no extra money and then out comes a special extra bonus of another add on product if you are one of the first fifty callers to order in the next ten minutes. You will probably hear that this now represents a $79.95 value for the unbeatable value of $29.95 plus $6.95 shipping and handling.

All of this is found in a thirty or sixty-second commercial. This stuff actually sells! A certain segment of the population will find that they need or want this product. They will see the value. They will order now because they what the bonus and they are willing to wait in some cases four to six weeks for delivery.

They could also probably go down to their neighborhood store and find a comparable product for equal or less money. Why then does this product sell? In this case, the television salesperson did the whole job of filling or creating a need, turned that need into a want, showed benefits to build the value and showed affordability all in thirty seconds. The consumer may need to see that commercial fifteen times or more before the order is triggered.

There are those who would say that that type of commercial or selling may be deceitful. The charge of deceit may be levied because they personally do not believe the statement of value presented. To that I would say, So what?

I personally believe that no product or service has any value until its value is established each time that it is offered in the marketplace. If just one individual person has ever bought the item at that price, then the value stated was correct. If a customer decides that he or she needs and wants it, sees sufficient value for the price being asked and can afford it, then who are you and I to say that the customer shouldn’t buy it.

Values will rise and values will fall based on perceptions generally created by salespeople or marketers at one level or another. The more proficient we become at building value the more successful salespeople we will become and the more we will get paid. Remember that Getting Paid is Good!

As we explore the selling process needed to sell the more substantial products, you will find that you won’t be able to do the same selling job in thirty seconds. However, you will see that in order to sell any product or service, most of the same elements will make up the sales process.

Needs and wants are developed or uncovered by providing benefits, real or perceived, to the prospective buyer. As long as that is being done in a truthful and honest fashion it will remain as one of the foundation blocks of the free enterprise system.

Today we live in a consumer driven society. We have been collectively conditioned, especially since the end of the Second World War, to want and to possess both the tangible and the intangible. Possessing these goods and services has become for many a measure of their success in life. Therefore, an enormous opportunity exists for those professional salespeople who will assist these people in obtaining the things that they need and want.

Although true need and want are, in my opinion, really quite different, they are often seen as interchangeable in the consumer’s mind. Remember that the customer’s perception is his or her reality.

The fact that you or your boss may want your prospect to purchase your product or service is clearly not enough to make that happen. A salesperson, regardless of the product or service being offered, must develop skills that will help create desire (i.e. want) as well as developing skills that can uncover hidden or unacknowledged needs.

Then through strong presentation and demonstration skills, he or she must build the perception of value in the customer’s mind to the point that the value exceeds the price being asked.

You should now understand what creates and generates sales activity in the marketplace. This activity is what will create the abundance of opportunities in which you, in your capacity as a professional salesperson, can confidently expect to share.

SECTION TWO

The Successful Salesperson

It has often been said that successful salespeople are born not made. I believe that this is one of the greatest myths of the sales profession. Selling is not a physical sport. There are no natural or physical traits to a successful salesperson. We are not talking about a 7’8" NBA center or a 350 pound NFL lineman who, through their genetics, obtained size or weight which gave them a physical edge as a result of an accident of birth. Selling is a psychological undertaking not a physical one. The only thing that we need rely on from birth is our brain. How we train our brain will determine our successes in sales.

It’s often said that eighty percent of the money made in sales is made by only twenty percent of the salespeople and this is probably reasonably accurate. The lingering question is, why is this so? There are developed identifiable traits associated with the successful salesperson. I say developed because no one is born with any of these traits. These traits are all a matter of personal choice. So, let’s take a few minutes to focus on what these common denominators are.

♦ The magnificent dozen salesperson traits Trait #1 Has Inner Passion

In all my years in the selling business, I have never met a truly successful salesperson that wasn’t really passionate about his or her sales career. Salespeople all love selling. They all believe that theirs is an honorable profession and a most valuable service. They are, of course, right. In our economy, nothing happens until something is sold. Without salespeople our economy would grind to a halt in relatively short order. Selling is a deliberate choice of career for the successful salesperson and passion burns inside the mind. That passion is what some people would call self-motivation. It’s what turns on the internal switch. You are the only person with the finger on that switch. Your manager, your family or your friends might try, but they can’t turn it on. It’s totally under your control.

Trait #2 Pursues Constant Improvement

Successful salespeople never believe that they have all the answers or know it all. As much as any of us might like to think we have all the answers, that is just not reality. Target markets change, products change, economies change and the moods of people change. The only constant is change itself. If we are not prepared to change and adapt to the changing conditions around us, we will become extinct in our profession only to be replaced by people who have remained open to new ideas.

Most professional governing bodies, such as the ones for accountants, require that their members undertake continual professional development courses in order to maintain their membership in good standing and stay abreast of the newest developments.

Would you want to be treated by a doctor or a dentist who was not up to date on the latest techniques? Would you want to have your taxes prepared by an accountant who last checked the tax act five years ago?

Salespeople wanting to stay at the top of their professions need to make regular investments in their education though reading and attending training seminars. These relatively small cash outlays will be returned many times over with big paydays. Sales organizations wishing to lead their fields must encourage and support the ongoing training of their salespeople.

Trait #3 Takes Personal Responsibility

Successful salespeople take personal responsibility for their own successes and failures. They do not look for someone else to blame for their problems. Rather, they take personal ownership and they seek out workable solutions for these challenges. While they will actively seek assistance from others, they don’t sit around and wait for someone else to bail them out of a situation. Like it or not, you are personally responsible for the size of your paycheck. You are personally responsible for your successes in life. You are personally responsible for your shortcomings. You are personally responsible for your happiness. You are your own puppeteer. Are you pulling your own strings?

Trait #4 Steps Out of His or Her Comfort Zone

When we avoid risk taking, we put shackles on our human spirit and our potential for personal growth.