How to Sell Anything to Anybody Ch 19

Building a Successful Sales Business

• Early Success: In 1963, sold 267 cars; next year, 307; and in 1965, 343. Demonstrates effective sales strategies.
• Identifying Strengths: By 1966, developed a focused approach using direct mail and promotion.
• Impact of Professionalization (1966): Increased sales dramatically to 614 units, but increased workload became a concern.
• Accountant's Advice: Accountant advised hiring help freeing up time to focus on key selling skills (closing).
• Financial Justification for Hiring: Hiring help is a capital investment, recouping more profit than the cost. Salespeople earning over $20,000/year can often benefit from it.
• Leverage through Help: Hiring help (various roles) isn't just about efficiency; it's about leveraging others' skills to enhance personal productivity.

Hiring a Sales Assistant

• Initial Assistance: Initially hired a young man to greet customers, enabling increased individual time for closing deals.
• Improved Efficiency: Customer waiting time was reduced, and interruptions were decreased.
• Training the Assistant: Trained the assistant to qualify leads, conduct demonstrations, gather critical info.
• Communication Process: Assistant reported to the speaker in the speaker's closing office setting. Facilitating reporting on the customer provided helpful, important info.
• Increased Sales and Income: Successful hiring of assistance resulted in higher personal income.

Business Growth and Efficiency

• Growth Trend: Growth emphasized by the author to justify continued investment, but work-life balance is important to ensure good health.
• Customer Focus: Emphasis on understanding customers' needs and motivating them.
• Maintaining High Performance: High performance through maintaining an aggressive sales strategy is crucial to business success.
• Employee Effectiveness: The employee is trained to gather information as a "sales intelligence agent".
• Maintaining Customer Focus: Ensuring the sale respects the customer's financial situation by offering favorable repayment terms.

External Support

• Support Team: Further leveraging the team by hiring other support to handle post-sale administration, freeing up the main sales person.
• Long Term Success: Growth was maintained and increased over time by hiring multiple staff members, allowing for increased focus on selling.
• Adapting the Sales Strategy: Adapting the strategy to use all forms of support available.
• Maintaining Control: Remaining in control of each sales process, while utilizing others for support functions.

Comparison to Dealership

• Desire to Sell: Emphasis on the enjoyment and fulfillment of selling contrasted with the possible greater financial reward of running a dealership.
• Business Fulfillment: Comparison to a dealership highlights the speaker's desire for continuous growth within the sales role.
• Specialization in Selling: The speaker's unique approach emphasizes the ability to be most effective in the closing role.

Additional Sales Activities

• Speaking Engagements and Training Films: Uses the platform to spread expertise and sell knowledge to other salespeople.
• Value Proposition: Speaker's expertise is valuable and in high demand and benefits from leveraged hiring approaches.
• Building a Career Path: Illustrates how the sales success led to further opportunities in training and knowledge sharing, building an expert presence in the industry.

Building a Sales Organization

• Building Relationships: This process of leveraging help is vital to building a strong relationship between coworkers and leadership.
• Leveraging Growth: Leveraging the extra profits from the investment to hire more help for continued growth within the business.
• Employee Importance: Speaker's employees are essential parts of the system and crucial for continued success.