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Don't
Reinvent the Wheel:
Manuals Share the Secrets of Selling
Supplies
By Linda Benson, Sales Specialist
Reprinted with permission of
Recharger Magazine, 702-438-4025
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Every
once in a while, life hands you a wonderful bonus. This
was the case three years ago, shortly after I was hired
by Doering & Brown, an office equipment company in
London, Ontario, Canada. My mission, which I unwittingly
chose to accept, was to build a supply department from
scratch. The company was impressed with my management,
sales, training, and building skills and they chose to
overlook the fact that not only did I have no computer
skills to speak of, I also knew nothing of the supply
industry and could not identify a cartridge if my life
depended upon it.
Can you imagine a more
auspicious beginning? Needless to say, my learning curve
was one of
gigantic proportions. That notwithstanding, my mandate
was to get this division up and running
and to do it quickly.
Enter Ann
Barr to the rescue. My boss, a copier guy at heart
rather than a detail-oriented supply
person, had somehow gotten his hands on one of Ann’s
manuals. He handed it to me and said “Here, read
this.” He wisely beat a hasty retreat before I could
pepper him with a million questions. This was my
introduction to Ann’s book entitled, Telemarketing
Sales Training- Winning Strategies. It consisted of
both a Workbook and a Manager’s Guide. This was the
forerunner to Ann’s current book, 28
Days to Increased Telephone Sales.
I began to read voraciously,
and was amazed at what I saw. Her knowledge of this
industry was outstanding and her advice was rock solid.
Here, before me, was a perfect blueprint to success!
If there was one thing I’d learned during my many
years of experience in management and sales, it was, if
you find something that works
brilliantly, don’t reinvent the wheel. Just
use it and apply it over and over again. This is exactly
what I did with Ann’s material. Her book introduced me
to powerful telephone scripts, the ten step sales call,
TimeBlocks and time robbers, handling objections and
much more. All of the information was extremely specific
and gave me tangible tools with which to work.
Everything in the book proved
to be exceptionally valuable. The two most critical
elements to me were the ten step sales call and working
in TimeBlocks. The ten step sales call warms up any cold
call and allows you to “ask for the sale” in record
time. Working in TimeBlocks can and did increase sales
by up to 25%. These became my way of life and the
results speak for themselves. I started with sales of
zero and within 16 months had achieved sales of
approximately $60,000 monthly. I finished my
first fiscal year as the company’s
top producer, achieving 268% of my quota. This
would not have happened without Ann Barr’s book. It
was definitely my shortcut to success.
Next I began
to expand the Supply Division. Once again, a book of Ann
Barr’s was my lifesaver.
Her Secrets
of Successful Supply Sales, told me
everything I needed to know to create a
successful supply department.
It included information on wording of ads, hiring,
necessary elements for a successful work environment,
supply agreements and much more. It also contained the
scripts, and TimeBlock information from her previous
book. Within a year, armed with all of this information,
I had hired a staff of four supply sales representatives
and had built a winning team. One of my new reps
qualified for President’s Club in his first year in
sales. Once more, this would not have happened so
quickly without the aid of Ann’s book.
Throughout my tenure with Doering & Brown, I also
worked with Ann’s book Telephone Sales
Scripts, now titled How
to Win the Sale and Keep the Customer It contains highly effective scripts for every situation
imaginable.
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