Hot Wings........................................................... 1Love Of Money ................................................. 2Casual Sex ..........................................................4Blame game ..................................................... 5Suction ............................................................... 7Porcelain God ...................................................8Chase the Dream .......................................... 10Saint or Sinner ...............................................12About Rob Liano ............................................13

The 7 Deadly Sales Sins

7 Fatal Flaws that can KILL your Career

by Rob Liano

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“Sin is sweet in the beginning, but bitter in the end.” ~~The Talmud

Everyone who enters into sales should look at a sales position as something that requires a skill set in order to succeed, just like any other career choice. Do not be misled into thinking otherwise.

It’s a common misconception that you don’t need any pure sales skills. Some people think that if you’re breathing, or have an outgoing personality, you can land a sales job with ZERO experience. And chances are in your favor that someone out there might give you a shot and hire you.

Taking a job that way is like deciding you want to become a brain surgeon, and immediately cutting open your friend’s head. Not pretty.

Let’s look at this from another angle. Can you imagine if you went to apply for a job as an accountant or a dance instructor without having any skills or experience? Even though there might be a minor chance that you could get an entry-level position it’s more likely that you’d be sent on your way, looking pretty foolish for wasting everyone’s time.

BUT . . .

The fact is that you would never actually apply for a job as either an accountant, a dance instructor or a brain surgeon without prior training, because you knew you couldn’t possibly get the job! You’d

successfully.

The same philosophy should apply to sales. Yet many people still pursue sales positions without having any training or experience. And what happens after you get hired? Well, if for some

quit. Then one of two things will happen.

1. You leave sales forever with less than fond things to say about it.

2. The revolving door starts. You seek out and apply for other sales jobs, after all there has to be some reason you got

always work out either, but why?

What if you didn’t get a fair shot? What if you weren’t initially trained properly? What if you didn’t put in the time? What if you got discouraged because it was tougher than you thought? What if? Those two words loom large in many people’s lives . . .

“What if?”

Well what if you could turn that “what if” from a negative into a positive?

It’s time you took your sales career into your own hands.

First you should realize that you’re self-employed, no matter who you work for. You always work for you. You pay your bills, reach your goals, and achieve your wildest dreams. Regardless of who signs the actual paycheck.

We all pick up bad habits along the way. What if it was correctable? What if you could take full responsibility for your success? What if you could have a more successful career in sales?

Everyone can learn what to do and avoid what not to do. The 7 Deadly Sales Sins focuses on what NOT to do. Since even minor adjustments can have a major effect on your success, I’ve outlined some sins that you can eliminate or correct.

Even though it’s possible that you may be familiar with some or all of the 7 Deadly Sales Sins, I can assure you this will be a new perspective offered up in digestible tidbits of insight designed to inspire, provide reminders, refreshers or even an aha! moment or two.

1

Too many salespeople operate without a plan regarding what they should be doing. They stammer through a vague or generic voicemail message or sometimes leave no message at all.

Maybe they received minimal training, if any. They often have no direction during a sales presentation. Sometimes they’re lucky to even have a script or a format to follow.

If you try to wing it, you will crash and burn!

Sometimes others try to encourage (or discourage) you by saying, “don’t read a script” or “the best salespeople don’t have to close.” Realize that what they should say is, “the more you master what you’re doing, the easier and more natural closing is”. They should also tell you that it’s good to learn by using a script or format, but you don’t want to sound like you’re reading it. Don’t be monotone or stumble over it, as if you don’t know what’s coming next. Do you know how it would look if an actor did that? I’d say they wouldn’t be preparing an acceptance speech any time soon, now would they? That’s because this type of behavior can come off as unprofessional to your audience, the client.

Get organized, make sure that you’re prepared. Have everything that you need to properly present your product or service and write a sale,

salespeople show up without an order form. Were they planning to write up the sale on the back of their hand?

Aside from the obvious; if you aren’t prepared to sell, you’ll get discouraged, embarrassed and feel defeated. You won’t have the

show up, and close that sale.

Winging it is unprofessional. Sales professionals don’t wing it, they execute.

Hot Wings

2

The love of money is not only the root of all evil, but it has also played a part in giving the sales profession as a whole a bad rap.

A career in sales is a legitimate opportunity for someone to earn a great income. However, even I have to admit that there have been some notoriously bad sales people throughout history.

The cause is pressure. Being pushed to reach a quota, or stressing about paying your bills is likely doing a disservice to your clients, by shifting your focus off of the client’s needs, and onto money.

Stress doesn’t help your sales, but it does change the tone of your interaction with the client. They can smell fear, sense tension or just feel that something isn’t quite right.

You should always care more about your clients than the commission. In fact if you worry about taking care of the client, you don’t have to worry about the money, because it will take care of itself, as a by-product of exemplary service.

Another example of focusing on money is when salespeople are encouraged to (or choose to) pad the sale with non-essential items, like . . . the notorious car salesperson, adding foreign objects on the order form just to increase the price of the car and their total commission.

Let me be clear: I’m a big fan of offering additional items or services to my clients that might interest them. That’s different. I’m referring to the little creepy crawly things hidden in the contract that you tacked on, and will need to explain as the client shifts in their seat or calls you later (post sale) asking about it. If you do get a “stuffed” sale like that, afterwards that client will not feel warm and fuzzy. It leads to buyer’s remorse, or possibly another salesperson taking that sale out from under you, all because you were too concerned

Love Of Money

3

with money. More concerned with getting a sale than gaining a customer.

If you offer only what’s best for your customer, you cannot fail and you cannot be outsold.

Think of it this way. Have you ever been the target of a bad salesperson who seemed concerned about how much they could make off of you? How did that feel? Would you use that salesperson again? You don’t want to be “that guy.”

Legitimate sales are the only ones that have value to you and your company. Sales that stay on the books, and bring in additional business through referrals and repeat business. That’s the money that everyone loves.

4

Okay, so I’m guilty of trying to get your attention with that title. If it worked, great, that’s sales. But there’s actually a method in the madness.

this is exactly how many salespeople go about their career, casually switching about from job to job, skipping the training or skimming through a brochure. And they ultimately screw themselves.

Rather than studying the product or service that they are offering, and

just enough to dig in, and start selling, usually prematurely. Or maybe

tend to learn at different paces. If you don’t take responsibility for learning more, or speaking up, you’ll be stuck not knowing exactly what it is you need to do to succeed.

This can be extremely detrimental. Training is a crucial component of a successful sales career. When you don’t sell as well as you’d like, or quickly enough, you get frustrated, which leads to discouragement,

yourself “am I cut out for this?” “Should I have taken that other more secure position?”

When negativity creeps in, it can end a great opportunity before it even gets started. Stop fooling around, and re-commit to the choice you made. You were once excited about this sales opportunity, what changed? You or the opportunity?

If you’re discouraged about your sales career, you might need a jump start. Why not invest some time in reading a great sales book, watch some training videos or attend a live seminar? And remember this: if you’re not training, someone else is training so that they can kick your butt!

Casual Sex

5

I’ve seen so many salespeople blame the client when they don’t close a sale. They’ll call the client a timewaster, a tire kicker,

only the people who DON’T buy from us are to blame, right? It couldn’t be possible that we might have something to do with losing a client, could it?

Once I heard a salesperson hang up the phone after 20 minutes, and say “well that guy wasn’t interested in buying so why’d he waste my time?” Well, if he was interested enough to stay on the phone for 20 minutes, it’s obvious that he was initially interested in hearing what the salesperson had to say. Maybe after he was done, the client just wasn’t interested in buying from that particular salesperson. It’s possible that the client hung up the phone feeling

time. If anyone should be frustrated, it should be the client.

I’ve also heard salespeople gripe about their boss or manager. Even if your boss isn’t able to dedicate the time you think is necessary to get you going, or keep you selling, this is still is your job. Your success is your responsibility whether the circumstances are optimum or not.

You must take matters into your own hands. After a failed sales call

out what may have went wrong. This allows you to consider ways that you can improve.

Did you answer all of the client’s questions?

Did you build value in the product or service?

Did you qualify the prospect?

Blame game

6

Don’t keep doing the same thing the same way and expect different results. Don’t blame the client, the boss, or the lead sources, unless everyone is failing in your business. If that’s actually the case, then something really is wrong and you may want to seek other employment. But if other people are selling, then you can too.

The more you practice accountability, the more you’ll have the ability to count more money.

Stop taking advice from the people who, if you had to write their annual evaluation, you’d be tempted to say they suck.

Were you overselling minor points that might not be relevant to the client?

7

Why would you listen to those that are generally negative or average? Is that where you want to be? Don’t get sucked in by the mediocre masses hanging out by the water cooler talking about how no one buys on Fridays, or discussing the sale that got away or the latest reality show. You may even hear them talking trash about the salesmen who are actually spending their time selling as if that’s a bad thing. “Look at Bob, working through his lunch hour.”

Would you rather attend the VIP party or the pity party?

To counter this, you have to take it upon yourself to break away. Make a point of learning more, and in turn you’ll earn more, but only if you learn from the right sources.

Seek out those with a track record of success, not of failure. Don’t envy the top dogs, engage them. Who has the most clients that stay on the books? Who wins bonuses and trips? Offer to take them to lunch or dinner, and use that time to pick their brain. How do they get in the door? How do they handle rejection? How do they close? What’s their secret? Believe me, bribing someone with food can go a long way.

The point here is rather than complain and remain, act - don’t just hope it will get better. Don’t waste your time during “money hours”

media sites. Yes, use these types of resources to grow your business, or to add value to your career, or someone else’s. Even then, be stingy during work hours, commit most of your time to selling. Don’t allow anything to distract you, that will only take money out of your pocket.

Suction

8

Just because you have been fed an overload of product knowledge and

you’re on the phone with a client. Stop throwing up all over yourself, and keep things simple when it comes to explaining the details of what you have to offer.

In practically all sales it’s best to be concise. Flush any confusing terms from your mind. Just because you get it, doesn’t mean a client gets it. I’m not saying to dumb down everything, but start simply while you gauge the customer’s reaction. You can always go more in depth if they seem to grasp the concepts immediately, or if they appear to have done their homework. You don’t have to force feed them.

Usually the very reason someone will need your assistance is because they may not be as knowledgeable as you are in that area, so meet them at their level. You can tell if someone has a sense of what’s going on; some have done research, some have not. Part of your job is to be able to discern their level of comprehension and explain things accordingly.

All of us are intelligent in some areas and ignorant in others. That’s why they have the phone a friend, and ask the audience lifeline on Who Wants to be a Millionaire, no one knows it all.

If that’s the case, why do many salespeople feel the need to talk and talk and talk? It’s as if they need to prove that the customer needs what they’re selling. If you have to prove it, they don’t need it, or they don’t want it.

Porcelain God

9

If you meet people at their level, clients will feel more comfortable, and they will never feel inferior or stupid, which can happen unintentionally if you over load them with information, relevant or not.

Remember when you were in school and at one point the teacher was speaking about a new topic and to you it sounded like Charlie Brown’s teacher? “Wah wah wah wah wah wah.” You probably wanted to hide in your desk and pray you wouldn’t get called on to answer a question, because you really didn’t understand how it was explained.

That’s the client’s perspective. This may all be new to them, so you

escape hatch as quickly as they can, to spare themselves those feelings of embarrassment or ignorance.

I don’t have to say to someone “I’m really a nice guy” because my actions and demeanor should prove whether I am or not, and that’s for them to decide. If I say something like that it seems as if I’m trying to prove something, and comes across as - well - like a pushy salesman.

10

Is this scenario familiar?

You meet with a client, either over the phone, or in person. You go over your product or service and at the end, the client decides that either they have to think about it or speak to their boss or spouse. They might tell you to leave some information for them to review, and you oblige because you did such a great job that of course they’ll still buy from you, right? Only, afterward, when you call them back, they often don’t answer the phone or even bother to return your call.

I know many people teach you to keep calling these potential prospects that you’ve pitched, but haven’t closed, until they either tell you to drop dead or change their phone number in self defense.

Are you wasting a ton of time following up with clients who don’t ever return your call? Have you ever considered that maybe they’re saying a lot by saying nothing? I understand why you would still call them. You’ve put time and effort into this client, and you would like something to pay for your time, but you have to let them go. If they come back they’ll be yours forever, if not, they never were.

You might want to look at this example: Let’s say I went on a blind date with a nice woman and had a great time. Logic says I would call that woman for a second date. Now, if she DID NOT return my call, would I keep calling her? Of course not, I’d seem pretty desperate, wouldn’t I? But what if a week or so later I received a call from her and she said, “hey, so sorry I didn’t get back to you, I was called out of town and didn’t have your number but I had a great time too.” Boo yah! Now, I know that she is interested, and it’s a safe bet to call her back.

Chase the Dream

11

you’re there if they need you, meanwhile you can attend to your current and future clients. You know, the ones that pay your bills.

I had someone call me once a month for well over a year. Every single time he called he left me a message about new specials saying “I know you were interested at one time so . . .” . I never once called him back.

What if he’s calling ninety-nine people who “were” interested, leaving all of us voice mail messages every single month? I’m sure his manager thought he was working hard, and he too might have felt like he’d been hitting the phones calling people all day long, but wouldn’t his time have been better spent calling on new prospects?

Call clients that respect your time and attention. It’s even more

calling a client who is clearly not interested.

Don’t continue to call clients long after the desire and any form of response has passed. Send them an email or a postcard periodically to let them know

12

Here’s your chance to confess.

Are you sinning in your sales career?

Saint or Sinner

Rob Liano, the Rock Star Sales Trainer ™ is the founder of Integrity First Consulting Group, Inc. A company designed to inspire success and impact the lives of others. Through logic, insight and humor, Rob Liano has brought a fresh perspective to sales training and methodology.

In his late teenage years he was an understudy to his Father, and was taught how to successfully sell vacuums door to door. He learned priceless fundamentals

“When you let someone go, to think it over or talk to their boss or spouse and you lose that sale, do you think they’re not buying any longer, or just not from you?”

Rob has been called edgy and rebellious. Known for going against the grain, he discovers new “seeds” of selling techniques which he plants in both his everyday life and in the business world.

school techniques just don’t cut it any more, you’ll realize that Rob Liano’s modern, cutting edge, easy to implement sales insights will simplify your life and open the door to closing more sales!

For more by Rob Liano, visit his website at www.rockstarsalestraining.com or contact him directly in regards to having him speak at your next corporate event.

Rob LianoIntegrity First Consulting Group Inc.630 Shore rd Ste 718Long Beach NY 115611.888.379.8315

robliano@rockstarsalestraining.comwww.rockstarsalestraining.com

About Rob LIano