Everyone is in sales whether they realize it or not. We sell in every aspect of our lives. We sell our ideas to other people. We sell our love to our spouse and children. We sell our friendship to our friends. We sell our leadership to our customers, team members, and staff. Selling is an all encompassing function. It is also the single most important element in any business.

How can you cultivate selling skills in employees who don't normally think of themselves as salespeople? People in your company who are tentative, introverted, and are not really inclined to engage and embrace a prospect or a customer to get them to buy from you.

You can cultivate the sales skills of everyone in your company by teaching them "strategic selling.” Strategic selling means having an advisory relationship with your prospect or customer. It is when you put the interests and well-being of your prospect or customer ahead of your own.

Strategic selling means never recommending that a prospect or customer buy or acquire any products or services from you that you don't feel will be of benefit to him or her. It is when you assume the role of guiding, leading, and helping each prospect and customer to recognize the advantages and opportunities they will receive when they purchase your product or service.

Everyone in and around your business, whether they realize it or not, plays a selling role that can either help or hurt you in very significant ways. For example, suppose a prospect comes into your business, and a well dressed, well groomed employee meets him or her at the door with a warm and friendly welcome. Five minutes later the prospect makes a purchase.

Who made the sale the salesperson or the salesperson with an assist from the employee who greeted the prospect? The answer of course, is that they both made the sale. If the employee who greeted the prospect had been poorly dressed, poorly groomed, and had scowled at the prospect instead of smiling and greeting him or her. The prospect's first impression would probably have been very different as he or she entered your business

The fate of a business isn't just in the owner's hands. Rather, it is in the hands of every employee or person that has contact with prospects and customers. And that's true for your business as well.

Never take courtesy, friendliness, and caring on the part of your employees for granted. Discuss courtesy regularly with your staff, make courtesy a regular feature in your company newsletter and regularly spotlight "Smile of the Month” awards for your most courteous people.

What if you're a one person shop and don't have any employees? You should remind yourself constantly, starting first thing in the morning that you owe everyone you come into contact with today a smile, some words of encouragement, and a helping hand. This may sound silly, but it works.

To put your employees in the right mindset, don't use the word "selling.” Instead let your employees know that they are a "business consultant” or a "service consultant.” Encourage them to recognize that they have been given a great opportunity to share with your prospe

cts and customers all kinds of overlooked benefits about the products and services your business sells.

As important as the knowledge of the valuable contribution they make to a prospect or customer's life is, you also need to give your employees some motivating economic incentives.

Depending upon the cost structure of your product or service, you should offer every employee who has a hand in selling, some direct or variable compensation for the results he or she produces. This can mean so much per bonus above quota or so much per transaction. You can also offer a special compensation for new customers brought into the fold for the first time.

Rewarding your employees will mean different things to different people. To some people, it's a comfortable salary and variable bonuses. To other people it will mean being compensated in direct proportion to the tangible results they produce. Yet to some people a special plaque or award is recognition enough.

It is up to you to know what motivates your employees. Raises, bonuses, and commissions should be tailored to fit the business you're in. Understand, that money is only a small part of the compensation. To get your people to do outstanding work, you also need to lavish them with praise and recognition.

It is important that you and everyone of your employees understands that your business is a system that starts with your suppliers or your vendors, and then moves to the creation or distribution of products and services. But this system will not work unless everyone who is part of your business understands that he or she has an important part in transferring your products and services from your business over to your prospects and customers.

The key to getting everyone in your business involved in selling is letting every employee know every day that he or she is a critical and highly respected part of your selling system. Once everyone in your business understands and believes this, everyone in your business will be highly motivated to make more sales.

Copyright©2006 by Joe Love and JLM & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.

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