The Best Sales Advice I’ve Ever Received

1. If you throw enough $#@% against the wall, something's gotta stick. Prospecting is the most important part of the sales process. The single biggest reason salespeople don’t do enough business is because they don’t talk to enough people. They don’t “show up.” As long as you keep getting in front of prospects, the law of large numbers says you’ll eventually be successful. You might have a lot of clients today, but if you don’t constantly keep that pipeline filled, somewhere down the line your business will collapse. Ten percent of your client base will leave you every year for reasons totally beyond your control. So no matter how busy you are, a portion of every day must be spent looking for new business.

2. If you sell enough dresses, you can burn down my office. This was a direct quote from my old boss in the Garment Center in New York. It taught me a number of very valuable lessons.
Great salespeople are worth their weight in gold. Just like superstars on a baseball team, superstar salespeople can pretty much do whatever they want. What are they going to do? Fire you? Every competitor would be at your doorstep in a minute. Of course, just like the superstar athlete, you better be ready to put your money where your mouth is and keep producing. Remember, a superstar ballplayer who’s a pain in the butt is called a “flake,” but a mediocre ballplayer who’s a pain in the butt is considered a troublemaker.
The beauty of sales is that your numbers are on the board for everyone to see every day, which means no one can ever tell you you’re doing a poor job if you’re not, and, conversely, you can’t convince anyone you’re doing a great job if you’re not.

3. The way you break them in is the way they’re always going to be. It’s human nature to try to take adavntage of people. Who do most of us take advantage of? Our friends and family usually. And it's simply because we can. Clients and prospects are always looking for salespeople who can be kept waiting or who can cut their price in return for a vague promise of future business.Let clients and prospects know up front that you will not be one of those salespeople. Establish the ground rules for a win-win relationship right off the bat and you’ll be amazed how easy it will be to get the clients to fall in line. They’ll just go and find someone else to be their patsy. And believe me, there are plenty of them out there.