Articles

Where Do I Need to Get Better?

By Tom Stoyan

Since there is not enough time to learn everything you might be interested in, how do you decide what to learn? What follows is a three-step plan that keeps me in good graces with my clients, ahead of my competition and interested in my work. Perhaps it will work for you.

Step One

Develop an opportunity audit. An audit is a single question following by 15 to 35 statements that identify various aspects of your clients' potential issues. When talking to a prospect, have them pick the issues that are most pressing for them. This allows you to ask questions that focus on gaining a greater understanding of their specific and immediate needs. This also gives you an up-to-date finger-on the-pulse indicator of where you can spend your professional development time.

The key question of my Professional Sales Audit is, "What do you need to sell more?" followed by thirty-five statements, such as:

• A better understanding of buying motives
• Learning how to develop trust more quickly
• Learning how to more effectively deal with voice and email

Step Two

Commit to learning three new ideas you can apply to solving, resolving or helping your client cope with their issues.

You can learn new ideas, of course, from reading magazine articles, major newspapers, books, and academic or trade journals. You can also engage in primary research by surveying your clients and prospects on the three major issues facing them in their industry and what they are doing to resolve them.

Step Three

Track and rewrite the ideas you discover. (Remember as an author I cannot copyright an idea, only the expression of an idea. That means you can take my ideas and rewrite them into your words.) Consider taking the ideas you underline or highlight from your reading and input them into your computer. Discover how to turn the ideas into useful pieces of knowledge to you and your clients. What I do is turn the ideas into "Revenue Generating Tips" for my clients interested in selling more effectively. Examples include, "Don't tell me, unless you ask me if I want to know" and "Control the sales process, not the person".

For each project I get involved in, I tabulate from my audit the top three to five issues for that client. Those subjects then become the focus of my professional development. Over the last decade, I have found it a profitable way of staying in the good graces of my clients, ahead of my competition and an easy way to keep me continually interested in my own work.

Known as Canada's Sales Coach, Tom is the founder of the Toronto CAPS Chapter when it was called the Ontario Speakers Association. He was the first inductee of the Canadian Speaking Hall of Fame.

Tom's Sales Tip of the Week is available by email. He can be reached at TomStoyan@CanadasSalesCoach.com.