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The Sales Evangelist

Voodoo Selling, Forecasting, Sales Forecasting, Robert Harper, Donald Kelly Are you a voodoo seller? Are you relying on crystal balls, bones and feathers, and teabags to know whether you would hit this month’s goals or not?

Well, been there and done that and I’m telling you, “voodoo selling” just doesn’t work because you can’t quantify it.

In today’s episode, I am talking with Robert Harper and together we will shed light on the repercussions of voodoo selling and what you can do to ultimately be HIGHLY effective in sales. I have talked about this over and over, and again, PROCESS is key. Rather, GREAT PROCESS is key.

More about my special guest: Robert is a serial entrepreneur who currently owns five companies, four of them are in the midwest that do B2B integration, like access controls and CCTV, making buildings safe and comfortable. His other business endeavor is a virtual company that provides virtual solutions to business owners.

Here are the highlights of my conversation with Robert:

What is “voodoo selling?”
Selling based on guessing and hope rather than on planning, implementing strategies, or using metrics.

Why proper planning is a major challenge among salespeople:

Salespeople and entrepreneurs are creative thinkers. It makes us less interested in the process of selling and thinking of sales as a science since we tend to think of it as more of an art.

Sales as a science vs. sales as an art

The repercussions of voodoo selling:

It is a waste of time because you’re trying to sell to people who CAN’T say no to you

How to better gain scientific concepts in your sales presentations:

  1. Sell to somebody who can say no. If they say no, do it as quickly as possible so you stop wasting time.
  • Break the theory and move on to the next.
  1. Determine your budget on how much you’re going to sell.

Instead of targeting “X” amount of dollars a quarter, target how many phone calls or meetings it would take you to make that dollar amount.

  1. Start today. Start keeping track honestly of:
  • How many phone calls you make?
  • How many of those phone calls will get you a meeting?
  • How many of those meetings will get you a proposal?
  • How many of those proposals will get you a sale?

Tracking your information allows you to introduce a change into your process and see how it affects those numbers.

The telltale sign of a salesperson or entrepreneur that doesn’t know their numbers:

Split testing every appointment, so you’re changing everyday. You will never find a system that’s going to function for you if you’re doing it this way.

  1. Have the process for the actual sale itself.
  • Analytics and a great process are keys.
  • Know your customer’s pain points
  • Bring out the numbers and give precise information
  • Look at the metrics
  • Provide real data to the customer

Terms that tell you they don’t know where they are in the process: “verbal,” “feel,” “great connection”

Understanding BIG DATA:

  • Case studies/best practices: Sears & Walmart

What Robert did for his company:

A customized tracking system for their sales team

*Robert will make a master copy of this and put it on his website for you to grab and utilize the template.

A special tip for sales managers:

Don’t talk about the numbers. Don’t judge people based on how many phone calls they’re making. Otherwise, your people will lie on those forms. The numbers are for them and not for you to judge them.

Robert’s current projects:

  • Involved in K-12 education working with 43 school districts in and around the Kansas City area
  • Helping companies transfer their physical phone systems to virtual phone systems

Get in touch with Robert through his personal blog www.harpermind.com

Check out Robert’s blog post about voodoo selling plus a link to the template they use to track statistics for their sales staff.

Robert’s Major Takeaways:

Don’t ever be afraid to ask every prospect if they have the ability and if they are willing to say no if this isn’t a good fit for their company. But, if it is a good fit, are they able to say yes?

For every sales meeting, have an agenda and send it to your prospect at least 24 hours before the meeting. In the agenda, go over what you want to cover and leave room for them to edit it for what they want to cover. During the meeting, follow the agenda. Ex: budget, decision process, the decision maker

The Sales Evangelizers, Donald Kelly, Sales Facebook Group

About the Author The Sales Evangelist

Donald is the host of the popular sales podcast,"The Sales Evangelist". He is the founder of The Sales Evangelist Consulting Firm where he helps small companies develop killer sales process to scale their business and increase growth.

Donald is also an award-winning speaker, sales trainer, and coach. He's a big fan of traveling, South Florida staycations and high-quality family time. Donald has a belief that “anyone” can sell if they have the desire and receives the proper training.

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