Attention Sales Leadership... Average Sales Reps Deliver What Is Expected, Sales Professionals Go The Extra Mile!

“Most people spend their lives scheming, looking for ways to do as little as possible, the bare minimum to get by…and then they have the audacity to expect superior rewards for inferior performance.”

Gary Ryan Blair

Unfortunately, doing the bare minimum ravages the sales world. Mediocrity has become the norm.

Yes, I just called out a huge elephant in the sales room.

This is why I believe average sales reps deliver exactly what is asked of them. While exceptional sales professional deliver more. These professionals routinely deliver novel and astonishing ways to go the extra mile.

They turn skeptics into fanatics and customers into clients.

A few questions for all you as we get started...

What are you willing to do to turn skeptics into fanatics?
What are you willing to do to go the extra mile for your clients?

To kick start your thinking... Allow the following quote from Napoleon Hill to sink in...

"Every seed of useful service you sow will multiply itself and come back to you in overwhelming abundance.”

Sometimes it’s subtle, sometimes not. Yet unequivocally, the practice of this single principle can change the very experience of one's entire personal and professional life.

As this starts to happen, how people respond to you changes, events around you change, and even what you focus on changes.

GOING THE EXTRA MILE

During a 1908 conversation with Andrew Carnegie, and after a compelling invitation, Napoleon Hill embarked on an epic journey interviewing and studying some of the most successful and influential people in American history.

His mission, his burning desire, was to construct a philosophy of achievement based upon the common traits and practices that defined Andrew Carnegie along with his contemporary’s successes.

It was his goal to pass this knowledge on to anyone that wanted to hear it and embrace it.

The fourth principle of Napoleon Hill's 17 principles of success is the habit of going the extra mile.

What is forever old is forever new. My sales friends, this one principle alone will set you apart from all the empty sales reps and broken promises.

To quote Napoleon Hill,

"Going the extra mile, it means that you are rendering more and better service than you are paid to render and that you are doing it all the time as a regular, established habit. You are doing it without regard to the attitude in which that service is received by anybody, and you will do it in a pleasant, pleasing, positive mental attitude. You will not do it grudgingly."

In a world full of me-too and vanilla experiences, is the sales world willing to go the extra mile for their clients?

What does going the extra mile look like for you?

How would you describe it?

More importantly, how would your clients describe what going the extra mile means to them?

"You will never command more than average compensation until you become indispensable to somebody."

Napoleon Hill

To all the sales leaders out there... Are your salespeople going the extra mile? How would you even know? Now think of your clients... What would they say?

THE EXTRA MILE EXPERIENCE

Are your salespeople creating business betterment or are they more worried about pushing products?

It becomes massively difficult to go the extra mile with a transactional mindset. Can this transactional mindset be caused by you? I will let you think about it.

I believe your clients hold the keys to your success. They're no longer at the mercy of you, your team, or even your company. In fact, they're more interested in the experience your team provides rather than the products or services being sold.

Your clients and their needs are constantly changing, it's up to your sales team to understand how to help?

Would you know how well your team is keeping up with what they need?

Is your team going the extra mile? What would your clients say?

"Start going the extra mile and opportunity will follow you."

Napoleon Hill

I believe the client experience and how it is perceived is about going the extra mile. It's about going above and beyond without asking for or attaching something to it.

In a few words, how would your clients best describe the experience they're receiving from your salespeople?

Come on, I'm waiting for the words. What would they be?

Are they personalizing the level of service?
Are they in consistently consistent with their level of service?
Are they listening to your clients?
Are they going above and beyond the call of duty?

DEEP RELATIONSHIPS ARE BUILT ON THE EXTRA MILE

“What we really need is a mindset shift that will make us relevant to today’s consumers, a mindset shift from telling to selling to building relationships.”

Jim Stengel

Deep client relationships turn into a long-term, consistent and profitable business.

It's about going the extra mile in deepening the relationship.

Can you honestly answer the following?

How well do your salespeople really understand what your clients want?
Do they understand what they desire?
Are they even relevant in their eyes?

Gut check time, isn't it? All of this happens when they go the extra mile.

Your clients are the single most important factor towards your long-term success. Therefore, the more successful your salespeople become in understanding and forming meaningful relationships with your clients, the more successful you will become.

The more they go the extra mile, the more they grow with their clients.

In a world where trust is at rock bottom, no wonder many (yes some of your clients) are skeptical about what your salespeople say, how they say it, and why they say it.

Does the first mile of their walk match the second mile of their walk?

GO THE EXTRA MILE

“Going the Extra Mile is providing extra service, with the highest possible quality, then you are being paid to do. It is more than ‘dotting the I’s’ and ‘crossing the T’s’, it is seeking to provide an unexpectedly positive experience to the receiver. Going the Extra Mile allows you to leverage your Pleasing Personality, Enthusiasm, and Personal Initiative as you actively share yourself with your environment."

Robert Newell

Are you leading by example in going the extra mile?

You can't expect your salespeople to go the extra mile if you haven't taken the first step.

When you become intentional with going the extra mile, your salespeople will become intentional about going the extra mile.

When you go the extra mile, you are sowing for the future. Any extra in-mile action is an investment in the future.

When you go the extra mile, you are paving the road to sales excellence.

Going the extra mile transforms your team from sales reps to sales professionals.

I believe it’s the little things that matter to your clients. Simply put, people appreciate when others put even small amounts of time and effort to make them happy and satisfied. The same can be said about your clients.

It is usually not about moving heaven and earth to meet their expectations, but rather about showing that you care. Here at Selling from the Heart, we call this giving a rip.

As we bring our time together to a close, I'm becoming concerned.

I believe very few salespeople are having meaningful conversations with their clients outside of the selling process nor going the extra mile.

This begs the question... What's preventing your team from truly getting to know your clients and going the extra mile?

You and your salespeople all have a choice. You can decide if you're going to leave your efforts at ‘this is good enough’, or you're going to push yourself and your team to achieve better results.

"Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle." "The ladder of success is never crowded at the top." "The more you give, the more comes back to you." "Think twice before you speak, because your words and influence will plant the seed of either success or failure in the mind of another."

Napoleon Hill

The road towards that extra mile all starts with the first step.

As a leader, are you willing to take the first step?

Welcome to the Selling From the Heart podcast. Today, we chat with Daniel Dominguez, MBA, the Chief Growth Officer at the WHY Institute. Selling from the heart is all about being authentic to your prospects and clients.

Dan shares his thoughts on the indicators that show you are successful in selling from the heart. Conversations that flow naturally are the start of great relationships, and even if you are not a good fit today, that relationship keeps you top of your mind for future opportunities.

Dan’s favorite thing to ask is what gets you excited today? This works externally with clients but also internally with your sales team. Knowing a person's WHY OS provides insight into what is important to them, their strengths, and how you can most effectively work with them to reach common goals.

HIGHLIGHT QUOTES

Aim to start a relationship, not close a sale - Dan: "When we're having a great sales conversation with either a prospect or a current client, that conversation just flows and at the end when you get to the part as Mark Hunter likes to say when you get to start the relationship, not close the sale when you get to the start of the relationship, it's almost like, hey, how do we get started?"

Each team member has different strengths that leaders need to figure out - Dan: "You've got a sales leader and he's got all different kinds of people on his or her team, and they've got to figure out okay, what are their strengths? And you talk to each of them differently. So you're going to talk to Larry differently than you're going to talk to Darrell."

Connect with Dan:

LinkedIn: https://lnkd.in/evYEMift...

Email: dan@whyinstitute.com

Learn more about Darrell and Larry:

Darrell: https://lnkd.in/dysZHTyE

Larry: https://lnkd.in/eTP6JEcW...

Website: https://lnkd.in/dZX8cZj

Got a video about how you sell from the heart? Share it by texting VIDEO to 21000.

Selling from the Heart Experience tickets available HERE

https://sellingfromtheheartexperience...

Please visit WHYINSTITUTE.COM

https://whyinstitute.com/