Change Your Priorities. Grow Your Sales!

Do you watch reruns?

Are you a fan of Seinfeld, Friends, or even Gunsmoke? How many times have you watched Top Gun?

My wife and I are a little odd in this way. When we find a movie we like or a show we enjoy, we tend to watch it over and over.

For example, we watch the entire Jesse Stone series featuring Tom Selleck every year. It's a detective drama series that incorporates just the right amount of humor and suspense to entertain the two of us.

There is a standard line in each one of the Jesse Stone's I Love.

"The information is out there; all you gotta do is let it in."

The line refers to finding evidence to solve a crime. The intent is to encourage thinking differently, stopping overthinking, and letting in the obvious. Hmmmm?

Is there something you need to let in? Think differently about? Here is a thought you may consider letting in.

In business, like solving a crime, we are solving a puzzle. How do we grow revenue? Be profitable? Pretty obvious, right?

Weekly, I coach and speak to corporate executives, entrepreneurs, and business leaders who want to grow top-line revenue and grow their businesses. Many have teams; they collaborate and pay for developing websites, increasing social media presence, building their brand, pay for marketing, SEO, creating sales funnels, buying leads and CRMs, and the list goes on and on.

There always needs to be more it seems. And what about you?

Is there a measurable and immediate ROI? And what are the opportunity costs? If you are doing it all, prioritizing those activities or some of them and still feel stuck. Your sales are stagnant. You need to grow. Expenses are climbing.

If you are wondering where to turn and what to do next, then know this.

"The information is out there; all you gotta do is let it in."

Some, if not all of the previous methods are good; depending on your specific business model, they may have some merit, but business growth still has a common denominator. It's sales. And sales is communication.

"Sales is the lifeblood of any business." ~Paul Martinelli

If you aren't selling or having conversations, if you or your team lack competency or expertise in this one area, you are destined for stagnation and possible failure.

You are either growing or failing—no such thing as inertia.

You can turn everything around by re-prioritizing. Prioritize differently. The first area of expertise should be developing and investing in a sales training program. Years ago, I attended IBM Sales School in Atlanta. It was required for a reason. Do not discount the value of sales skill development. Let it in?

There is a learned science to effective sales communication. If you are unaware or assume it's something when it's really something else, you make a critical error.

Let's wrap our heads around this. Here is what selling is NOT!

It's not coercion, ugly, or misleading. It's not "overcoming some objection." It's not in the ABCs (always be closing), it's not in building trust; it's not simply a "numbers game." Those are all old and misquoted, antiquated notions of what sales is. If you feel differently, I'd like to chat with you. I can improve your results drastically. I guarantee it!

Even if it's just for the moment, please get those notions out of your head!

Instead, think of it this way. My personal mentor, Paul Martinelli, defines sales this way. "Sales, at its highest level, is Serving to solve a problem." That's it!

How effective are you at solving your prospect's problem?

In other words, you don't have a sales problem. You have a communication problem.

If you were to take all the money you have invested in everything else, prioritize differently, and invest in yourself and in your sales team, through an actual professional sales course, not simply a look-alike digital make-believe program, but a six-month course, you would increase your success by up to 84%, and I guarantee you would more than double your return on the investment, and build success for a lifetime.

• You will build long-term profitable relationships.
• You will learn precisely how to build and maintain rapport with your customers through communication skills.
• You will build trust by solving problems and providing solutions and not on commonality.
• You will become the authority and respected advisor in your market.
• You will understand that effective sales conversation is not at all about talking but in developing NINJA-like listening skills.

Complete the loop. Identify sales as the missing component and take action. You'll be glad you did! And remember,

"The information is out there... all you gotta do is let it in."