What Is the First Rule in Sales (in 2024)?

Shawn Casemore • No Comment
Posted: May 27, 2021

What is the first rule in sales? Sales is one of the few professions that don’t have a lot of rules.

There are plenty of selling strategies and best practices you can use.

As with any profession, knowing how and when to apply the right strategy is important.

But at the end of the day, there is only one rule.

It wasn’t until later in my career that the first rule in sales really became clear to me.

Today, it’s the first thing I tell all my clients to focus on.

Is There More Than One Rule in Sales?

If you were to ask me early in my sales career what the first rule in sales was, I would have listed off at least a dozen different responses.

I often hear similar responses from my coaching clients, confused with what the golden rule of selling is.

Their responses often include:

1.      Treat the customer as you would want to be treated.

Consider how you would want to be treated by a sales professional, and then treat your customer in the same manner. Be polite, not pushy; be helpful; and most of all, make the customer feel comfortable.

2.      Don’t forget to close.

If you are good at talking, sometimes the biggest challenge in making a sale is closing. Be prepared in every discussion to move towards the close.

3.      Have a goal going into every meeting.

Enter every meeting with a clear goal in mind. What would you like to accomplish during the meeting? Being clear on your goal will ensure you avoid wasting your time, or that of your prospect.

4.      End every meeting with a clear next step.

Never end a meeting without a clear next step. You are the only one who understands your sales process and what is required from your prospect. Be clear and communicate what that next step is for you and the prospect.

5.      If the customer says “no,” ask for a referral.

You can’t win every sale, but with each rejection comes new opportunity. When a prospect decides not to buy from you, it’s been proven that they often carry some guilt in saying no. Capitalize on the opportunity by asking if there is someone else they think might appreciate what you are selling.

6.      Remember everything you’ve been taught.

When I ask what the first rule of sales is, the response I receive is often to “remember everything you’ve been taught.” This may lead to a successful career in sales, but it’s not the first rule you need to follow.

7.      Listen before you speak.

Many people who enter the sales profession believe that selling is the result of being comfortable talking. In fact, it’s the opposite. We need to listen to our prospect if we want to understand where to direct the conversation.

8.      Ask probing questions.

What better way to learn about your prospect than to ask probing questions? Using questions that begin with “why” or “what” are always great tools. “Why is now the best time to make this investment?” or “What would this solution provide for your company?”

9.      Seek to understand your customer.

Spending a bit of time planning before each prospect discussion is a great best practice. Getting reacquainted with where you left off in the conversation will help you identify what your customer is looking for and how you can address their needs.

10.  Be different than your competitors.

The internet and technology in general have made customers more educated. They will often come to a meeting already knowing who the competitors are, and what the pricing should be. To get and keep the attention of your prospect, you need to be different than your competitors. Stand out to get the sale.

11.  Solicit objections.

Don’t wait for objections to be raised. Instead, ask for objections. “Is now the right time to move forward with this purchase?” or “Does this investment meet with your expectations?” By soliciting objections, you demonstrate readiness and avoid delays in closing the deal.

12.  Be respectful of your customer’s time.

Today, time is a valuable resource. If you want to stand out from competitors and move the sale forward, always be respectful of your customer’s time. They’ll appreciate you for it, and it’ll help you to capture more sales meetings in your day.

Reading this list, I’m sure there were a few of these possible rules that you’ve heard before.

Maybe some even seemed like the golden rule in selling.

They’re important, but not the first rule in sales.Thursday Thrive Opt-In

The First Rule of Sales

Sales is a numbers game.

The responses above all presume you have someone to talk to.

Which in turn is where the first rule in sales comes from.

Always be prospecting.

That’s right, if you don’t prospect, you won’t have anyone to speak to.

In which case, all the responses I mentioned earlier won’t apply.

What can you do to ensure you are always prospecting?

  1. Understand your sales math (i.e., how many calls you need to hit your sales targets).
  2. Set aside time to research new prospects on a weekly basis.
  3. Have targets for the number of people you will reach out to each day.
  4. Hit your targets by making all calls early in the day (when you and your prospects are fresh).
  5. Document your efforts in a CRM software and use reminders for prompts to follow up.
  6. Use a follow-up campaign to automate the process of moving prospects forward.

Applying the First Rule in Sales

Without prospects, there is no opportunity to sell.

If you want to have success in sales, you need to be constantly prospecting for new opportunities.

This is where the first rule of sales applies.

Start by setting up your prospecting schedule above.

Watch your sales results go through the roof!

 

 

© Shawn Casemore 2022. All Rights Reserved.

Build On Your Success, First Rule in Sales

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If You Want to Sell More, You Need to Be Doing This Consistently

Shawn Casemore • No Comment
Posted: May 24, 2021

Marketing When the Mood Strikes You?

The importance of strategic marketing should never be minimized.

I was speaking with a client this past week, discussing ways he could find and close more customers.

When I asked about what he did for marketing, he paused.

“Well, we have a website, and we post on Facebook sometimes” was his only response.

Thinking there’d be more, I waited.

There wasn’t.

He was practicing what I call “marketing when the mood strikes you.” Treating marketing as something you do when you remember you need to do it.

Sound familiar?

If that’s how you approach marketing, that’s not good.

This might have been a good approach 15 or 20 years ago, when the internet was less popular, but today?

Well, let me ask you, how often do you use the internet to search for products or services?

My guess is almost all the time. In fact, the pandemic and lockdowns pushed us to rely even more so on the internet for research and making purchasing decisions.

You’d likely agree as well that younger generations (such as those in their twenties and early thirties) use the internet almost exclusively.

Look, marketing when the mood strikes you, or when you remember you should, is ludicrous.

You Need to be Marketing All the Time

But what does this mean exactly?

Where should you market your product or service? To whom?

What are the best ways to market for your company (that attract leads)?

Is social media really the best way to get in front of your target market?

When it comes to marketing, I’m a fan of being pervasive.

You need to be “everywhere” your ideal customer or client might be seeking your product or service.

If they’re on LinkedIn, you should be too—and be active.

If they read weekly newsletters for tips and strategies—you should be sending one.

If they research for your products or services on Google—they need to find you there when they search.

Does this require time, money, and some effort?

It does. But the results (if done correctly) far outweigh any efforts.

Finding new leads to drive sales isn’t just about prospecting. In a perfect world, potential customers start finding and reaching out to you directly.

You need to attract your ideal customer.

This is the very foundation of building your own Unstoppable Sales Machine (the title of one of my books).

The Importance of Strategic Marketing

Strategic marketing is essential in helping businesses reach their goals and create a successful marketing plan.
By taking a strategic approach to marketing, you can develop a plan that effectively reaches your target audience and generates maximum ROI.

By implementing a well-thought-out marketing strategy, you can gain an edge over your competition and capitalize on opportunities in the marketplace.

Ultimately, the purpose of strategic marketing is to bring sustainable success to your business.

Spend some time this week considering the following questions, and then if you’d like to discuss where to get started on the most effective marketing for your company, just send me a note and we can set up a call.

This Week’s Exercise >>>

  1. Where are your ideal customers searching for your product or service today?
  2. Will they find your company, product, or service when they do this search?
  3. Will it be easy for them to reach or engage with you once they find you?

I put together what I call a Pervasive Marketing Wheel. It identifies all the different ways you might market today to get in front of your ideal customer. If you’d like a copy, send me a note and I’ll send it right over.

Thursday Thrive Newsletter

© Shawn Casemore 2021. All Rights Reserved

Look, marketing when the mood strikes you, or when you remember you should, is ludicrous.

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12 Steps to Selling to Big Companies (in 2024!)

Shawn Casemore • No Comment
Posted: May 21, 2021

Whether you are new to sales or you’re a seasoned pro, selling to big companies can be a challenge.

There is no direct route, such as when you sell to a smaller company.

What’s even more confusing is identifying who has the budget to spend.

Sure, you might luck out and connect with your prospect quickly, but if you are working your way in, the process can be painfully slow.

(more…)

sell-to-big-companies

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How to Increase Customer Confidence (Starting Today!)

Shawn Casemore • No Comment
Posted: March 30, 2021

If you’ve ever considered how to increase customer confidence, you’re not alone.

Confident customers tend to buy more without haggling over price. They tend to openly promote the company behind the products or services they are buying.

Best of all, they refer others…

What underlies customer confidence is trust.

They essentially go hand in hand and are a key component of any proactive sales strategy.

If someone trusts your company or brand, then they are going to continue to purchase products and services from you. But once the trust is broken, the relationship (and in turn confidence) is eroded.

If you’re thinking that your customer confidence is low due to employees irritating them, read this first.

Otherwise, try these nine strategies to rebuild your customer confidence starting today.

9 Ways to Build Your Customers’ Confidence

 

9 Ways to Increase Customer Confidence

Building your customers’ confidence requires effort. You need to do what you say you will do.

Here then are 9 ways you can quickly build customer confidence in today’s new marketplace:

1. Have a Customer-Centric Culture:

Make sure everything you do as an organization focuses first and foremost on your customers, from the products you design, to how you respond to customer questions and concerns.

2. Create Clarity Around Your Brand:

What do you stand for? Why is it important for you?

3. Make a Clear and Compelling Offer:

What will customers gain by buying your products or services?

4. Deliver on Your Promises:

Make sure every customer’s experience aligns with exactly what you offered.

5. Stand Behind Your Product or Service:

If something goes wrong, deal with it immediately.

6. Share Successes Broadly:

Use social media and other outlets to share the stories and successes of your customers. If you don’t toot your own horn, there will be no music.

7. Be transparent (about the good and the bad!):

When things don’t go as planned, be up-front. Share successes as well as challenges or failures. Be clear on what you’ve learned and how you as a company will do better.

8. Respond to Customers Quickly:

With today’s customers highly distracted and having short attention spans, it’s critical to respond quickly.

9. Have a Growth Strategy That Draws Upon Customer Confidence

Keep customer confidence as a driving force behind your strategic objectives.

 

It’s not enough to simply build customer confidence. You need to find ways to keep it once you get it.

After all, once you lose confidence, it’s difficult to gain it back.

Moving the Needle on Your Customers’ Confidence

Which of the 9 steps above are you already focusing on to build customer confidence? What changes (if any) should you make?

Remember, without trust, there is no customer confidence.

And without confidence, there are no customers.

Thursday Thrive Newsletter

 

© Shawn Casemore 2021. All Rights Reserved.

assumptive-sales-close

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Build On Your Success

Shawn Casemore • No Comment
Posted: June 22, 2017

I am fierce about setting goals and achieving them, almost to a fault. When I decided to quit my corporate career to start my consulting business 10 years ago I set some key goals and followed them to a tee. For example, I launched my business exactly when I planned to launch. Since this time, I’ve continued to use goals to drive success in both my business and personal life.

My ability to set and achieve goals has left me somewhat frustrated with the inability of others to do the same. I’ve found that most people miss their goals because they don’t take responsibility for their success.

Of course, I’m doing my part to change perspectives. Coaching and advising dozens of individuals to support them in their mission to launch, build and grow their businesses. My frustration however comes when I meet someone who tells me that my success inspires them. My response is always the same “I’m honored, but there is nothing stopping you from achieving similar if not even greater success.”

Most listen; some ask me to explain further; however only a distinct few actually apply what I advise and this is where my frustration sets in.

Setting goals is a historically proven and repeatable process dating back to the 1960’s, yet so few actually take responsibility for success in achieving their goals.

I’ve found that there are three predominant reasons for this:

  1. Self-Limiting Beliefs: We are what we believe we are. If you think you can do something, then you can. When challenges set in (and they will), your continuous belief in your success will set you apart from everyone else. This one factor will be a leading contributor to whether or not you actually achieve your goal.
  2. Action Paralysis: Nothing is achieved without taking action, consistently and frequently. Achieving goals requires a fervent focus on taking action, regardless of the barriers or obstacles that present themselves. Most people fail to hit their fitness goals simply because it becomes too difficult to get to a gym. You must be oriented towards taking action which means getting creative when obstacles present themselves!
  3. Social Conscious: If Alexander Graham Bell, Henry Ford, or Steve Jobs had listened to those around them, we wouldn’t have experienced the world changing inventions they brought forth. Read the biography of any successful entrepreneur, inventor, business or political leader and you are likely to find stories of being shunned by the majority of the general public because their ideas (and actions) don’t conform to what everyone else is doing. If you are too worried about what others think, you will never pursue or even set goals that move you out of your comfort zone.

[Tweet “It’s easy to reflect on what didn’t go well, but what about everything that did?”]

I advise CEOs to include the following in their daily activities:

  1. Start your day considering your goals. What are you striving to achieve that keeps you pressing forward? Don’t worry about setting boundaries and stop writing the same goals every day. Write what comes to mind; Write what invigorates you.
  2. Schedule time for reflection. It’s virtually impossible to reach your goals if you don’t take time to reflect on how your life will be improved if you pursue them. Take a few moments every day to reflect on your life, your successes and most importantly what you will do to make your goals a reality.
  3. Build on your successes. It’s easy to reflect on what didn’t go well, but what about everything that did? End every day considering what went well. What successes did you and your team have?

These steps will not only help you to get your mind right but will also help you to achieve your goals. Remember, once you’ve achieved your goal take responsibility for your success. Heck, go out and celebrate. Taking responsibility for your success and getting your mind right isn’t just crucial to your well-being, it’s crucial to the future success and stability of your business.

© Shawn Casemore 2017. All rights reserved.

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How Meetings Can Kill Productivity

Shawn Casemore • No Comment
Posted: June 19, 2017

In my most recent book “The Unstoppable Organization: Engage Employees, Empower Customers and Grow Revenue”, I wrote about the value of collaboration in driving better communication. I also discuss more robust decision-making and heightened levels of creativity amongst employees. In the book you will find a strong warning from a CEO I once interviewed.  This CEO talks about how the wrong approach to meetings can not only curve collaboration, but kill productivity. Specifically he said, “Holding meetings between employees is not a form of collaboration. The environment you create is what breeds and drives collaboration.”

[Tweet “The environment you create is what breeds and drives collaboration.”]

Increase Collaboration and Productivity

During the interview, three key considerations this organization went through in order to improve collaboration and productivity were discussed.  At the same time, significant focus was placed on addressing the structure and frequency of company wide meetings:

1. How many meetings are too many meetings?

2. How long should a meeting be?

3. When should technology be used in place of a face-to-face meeting or in supplement too?

The answers to these questions, as I discuss in the book, vary by organization. This said, I learned through multiple interviews that:

  • Meetings that begin to interfere with employee output and productivity (as identified by employees) mark the sign that alternate solutions need to be found.
  • Meetings with an “open” agenda should be held daily amongst teams. Focus on initiatives that everyone is engaged in (and how others are affected).
  • Meetings should be built around objectives, not time. A calendar is only a place to schedule a meeting, however time on the calendar is not a determinant to the value of a meeting.
  • Any meeting that lasts beyond 45 minutes has diminished engagement by those in attendance. Preferably meetings should be held in 30 – 45 minute increments at most. Time beyond this signals a need for another meeting.
  • The incorporation of technology like zoom, Skype and various other online platforms like Adobe Connect, can facilitate valuable face-to-face dialogues. Technology can reduce the time it takes for employees to travel to and from meetings. As a rule, if employees are in the same building technology should be set aside in favor of a face-to-face interaction.

[Tweet “Meetings should be built around objectives, not time.”]

Better Manage Your Time

How many meetings are your employees engaged in on a weekly basis? How much time are they (or you!) spending in meetings, and are the meetings necessary?

These are significant questions when it comes to effectively managing both your time and that of your teams. Using the guidelines set out above, try meeting with your employees this week and determine how you might improve (or better yet reduce) the frequency and duration of meetings. Test these changes for 30 days and then re-assess their effectiveness with your employees.

Maintaining a focus on managing interactions and communications through effective meetings is one of the key tools that unstoppable organizations hold as a priority.

© Shawn Casemore 2017. All rights reserved.

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6 Characteristics of a Great Leader

Shawn Casemore • No Comment
Posted: June 15, 2017

Are you a great leader?

Leadership has been studied and analyzed for years through various theories, models and  and assessments. As time progresses however we seem to make the concept of being a great leader an unattainable objective.

Based on my experience working with leaders of various Fortune 500 and Fortune 100 companies, here is my list of six characteristics of a great leader. This is based in reality, not theory.

Great leaders are:

1. Action Oriented: Great leaders do not wait to take action, they seize the moment.

2. Process Driven: Speed in execution comes from having clear and nimble processes.

3. Success Oriented: Delivering results of any kind demonstrates success. Greater leaders do not engage in analysis paralysis.

4. Priority Focused: They have complete clarity around the priorities for the week; the day; even the hour.

5. Flexible: New information can impact outcomes; flexibility in managing is key.

6. Internally Motivated: They have a burning desire that drives their performance despite obstacles and challenges that might present themselves.

Now comes the difficult question. How do you measure up against these characteristics? How do your employees or team members think you measure up? The results might surprise you.

© Shawn Casemore 2017. All rights reserved.

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Dealing with a Negative Employee

Shawn Casemore • No Comment
Posted: June 12, 2017

A client recently shared with me that one of his senior employees, a leader in the organization, always had a way of looking at the negative side of a situation rather than searching for the positive. They were in effect highly pessimistic despite being very knowledgeable, skilled and dedicated to their team and employer.

In the past my client, the CEO of the organization, had learned to simply ignore his negativity. However, as we were embarking on introducing a new approach to communication across the organization, the leaders pessimism  was having a detrimental effect both on his subordinates and their willingness to consider if and how they might follow the new process.

[Tweet “Negativity and pessimism are not something to be taken lightly, especially in leadership roles.”]

Negativity and pessimism are not something to be taken lightly, particularly when it comes to a leader. In fact in my work with clients, identifying pessimism is one of the areas we explore before considering the hiring or promotion of a leader, and for one reason…

Negative people (and in turn highly pessimistic people) resist change.

It’s difficult enough to introduce improvements and create a culture of continuous improvement, never mind spending additional time attempting to overcome the constant objections of a highly pessimistic person. Fortunately, there are practices you can apply if you already have someone in a leadership role who is pessimistic. That’s right, pessimism can be reversed to some extent.

In reversing or reducing pessimism, there are three key steps to focus on:

Awareness: Increasing the awareness of the individual as to how they sound to others is the first step. This can be accomplished by repeating their statements back to them and in a similar tone and context it’s presented.

Alternatives: Engaging the individual in a dialogue about the pros and cons of alternatives to their response begins to broaden their perspective. The key here is not to tell them what the alternatives are, but together exploring possible alternatives together.

Assistance: Transitioning from alternatives to action is the final phase of reducing pessimism. Providing support in creating and following through with action plans while providing assistance along the way is the final step. Assistance can be provided through coaching, mentoring, encouragement, etc. The key is to continue working with the individual to help them introduce the very alternatives and changes identified. In effect they will experience and witness the results themselves (and often learn that there are in fact solutions).

[Tweet “Leaders who are pessimistic can be detrimental to building and creating the culture you desire.”]

Having leaders who are pessimistic can be detrimental to building and creating the culture you desire. By providing specific and ongoing support in the form of the three steps above you can overcome this tendency…that is unless you are pessimistic about my approach.

© Shawn Casemore 2017. All rights reserved.

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Are You Too Sexy for Your Industry?

Shawn Casemore • No Comment
Posted: May 29, 2017

During this past week I’ve interacted with several CEOs, Presidents and Senior Managers, discussing their greatest challenges in today’s marketplace. Despite the varying sectors that each individual was in, from food processing to automotive to electrical components, the consensus is that sales and future growth opportunities are strong. Many mentioned that this was a much needed relief to erratic sales and slow growth during the past several years.

What’s interesting however is that as a result of market conditions being strong, each of the executives is now struggling with another challenge… finding talent. One President put things into perspective when he shared that he is now marketing not to appeal to his customers, but to appeal to potential employees.

Are you facing an existing or pending shortage in talent for your organization?

I wanted to share with you this week something from “the vault” so to speak. It’s a video I produced about a year ago now (you’ll notice differences in the intro slide and background music – but it’s still yours truly!) entitled “What if talent came to you?”

The strategies contained in the video are just as relevant today as they were a year ago.

Take a few minutes to watch this brief video, and then consider the following questions as they pertain to your organization or department:

1. What is the environment that your current employees are working in?

2. Are you focusing as much effort on selecting employees that fit your cultural norms as you are on work experience?

3. How to get employees to share benefits of your organization to people they know who might be good future employees?

[Tweet “The key to attraction is first creating an environment that is appealing.”]

Interestingly this is also the key to employee retention. What strategies are you using to make sure you are an employer of choice who attracts talent? Send me an email.

© Shawn Casemore 2017. All rights reserved.

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Why Employee Engagement is an Investment of Time

Shawn Casemore • No Comment
Posted: May 22, 2017

Well over a decade ago I worked for a fairly large organization that had an employee engagement problem… Everyone knew it (employees, managers, executives), and eventually the CEO decided to invest in having an employee engagement survey completed. Although I’m not privy to the cost, I know from those who were part of the initiative that it was well into a six-figure investment.

The survey was completed, some training for supervisors and managers rolled out, and the executive responsible for human resources at the time presented on a few occasions what the feedback was suggesting needed to be resolved.

Fast forward nearly fifteen years later and I remain connected with many who still work for this company. In fact, only a few weeks ago I ran into a past co-worker and asked him how things were. “Worse then ever,” was his response. With a new CEO and several new executives in place, many of the changes and initiatives that were introduced when I was an employee were being scrapped in favor of new ideas – mostly from the minds of the new executives and their teams. He put it best when he said, “work used to be fun… not anymore.” On the bright side, he informed me there was only another ten years left until he could retire…

How engaged do you think he is? Moreover, how engaged do you think the twenty or so staff are that report to him?

I’ve mentioned before that employee engagement surveys are useless in my experience, because they serve to allow an avenue for complaints and concerns, but do not ensure that the actions that result (if they result from the feedback) actually serve to resolve the initial concerns, and can create more issues than they solve.

Checking on the pulse of engagement in your organization need be nothing more than a consistent dialogue with employees. In my first book, Operational Empowerment: Collaborate, Innovate and Engage to Beat the Competition, I outlined one CEO who has made it a habit for years to meet each week with at least one employee. No fixed agenda, and no set time. He has found it is the only way to stay connected with his people, and although his business is not large (approx. 150 employees), his employees appreciate his commitment, which serves to ensure he remains in tune with any concerns or issues that are in the air, without having to pay $100,000…

[Tweet “Employee engagement is not an annual event, but an evolution.”]

Your Challenge:

Engagement is not an annual event, but an evolution.

What engages an employee today may not cause him to be engaged tomorrow. It’s for this reason I’d suggest that as a leader you incorporate the following into your regimen.

1. Set aside time each week to mingle and interact with your team. Drop by meetings, stop by their desks, and most importantly ask questions and listen.

2. Identify trends. What issues arise frequently? These become your responsibility to address or resolve.

3. Observe emotions. Although everyone responds differently when it comes to their emotions, the level of emotion either through words or actions suggests how important an issue or concern is to an employee. Use this as your gauge to prioritize a response.

At the end of the day, employee engagement is both simple and complex. Simplicity comes in how you gauge and respond. The complexity results from the fact that every one of your employees is an individual. Make time to gauge engagement and not only will you save yourself the cost of an annual survey, you might actually build some engaged employees in the interim.

© Shawn Casemore 2017. All rights reserved.

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