A Sales Fitness Workout Designed to Get You in to Sales Shape for 2011

The New Year is a great time to make a resolution or five in effort to stay in sales shape. It's highly unlikely that the market conditions and inevitably, the consumers' confidence will be back to "the old days," anytime too soon so it's time to face the new reality, put on your spandex "sales" suit and get ready to "Pump-it-Up"! 

1. WORK FAST: That need driven consumer is going to choose between you or your competitors in 30 to 45 days.  So start dead-lifting that telephone. Curl that pen to paper. Get your creative juices flowing and start closing!   
 

2. OPEN THOSE EARDRUMS: When you have sales fitness you can breathe better and hear better.  Mystery Shops continue to reveal our biggest sales weakness is listening. So close your mouth (besides that means fewer pieces of post-holiday fruitcake), and listen. It only takes 3-4 good questions to learn all you need to know.  Commit to that 20/80 rule (20% talking and 80% listening)....now, suck in that gut!

3. PUSH UP THOSE TOUR RATIOS: If your Inquiry to Tour ratio is less than 60%,  Read More     

What's #1 When Leaving an Effective Message?
 

While we're at this, here are a couple more quick tips worth mentioning. 
 

Speak Clearly then Rinse and Repeat: Because our name and phone number are the one part of the "script" we have memorized beyond forgetting, we often spew through this critical information so quickly that the person who finally woke up after your lengthy message can't understand it or write it down fast enough.   Be sure that you speak slowly, clearly and repeat your phone number a second time...just in case they didn't get it down the first time!

Keep It Short: Thirty seconds or less! When you hold yourself to thirty seconds it forces you to be succinct and to focus on the most important information...your call to action. Script it if you like but start off with "The Purpose of my call is", then tell them why you are calling, what they need to do, then repeat your contact information!  The End!

Katie Burckhardt, Sr.VP of Sales at A Place for Mom, re-established the value of professional referral relationships, identified current obstacles and challenges that prevent the cultivation of those relationships and shared proven processes that generate MORE leads when implemented. Ms. Burckhardt discussed how to establish quality outreach goals guided by current benchmarks and gave tips for creating a measurable outside sales plan that will create a strong pipeline for sales growth.      

Outlined below you will read just a few of the key insights shared by Ms. Burckhardt:

FACTS:

1.     Next to family and friends, professional referrals are the highest converting

      lead source in Senior Housing.

2.     Referral leads convert up to 4 times greater than other lead sources. 

3.     Referral leads have a 20-30% conversion rate and for every 10 qualified

      professional leads, usually 2 move-ins results. 

TIP: The 5 Top Reasons Referral Sources Don't Refer: Read More