You can measure how much WOW is in your sales effort by looking at the following ten aspects of what makes up WOW:
1. Be totally persistent – To reach the prospect, to get the prospect your information, to get information about the prospect, to appoint the prospect.
2. Be totally knowledgeable about the prospect – Your knowledge of the prospect and his or her business is often critical to completing the sale. Use the famous “Mackay 66? questionnaire as a guideline for how much information is needed.
3. Be totally prepared – Have a perfect presentation that you’ve rehearsed. Have a written proposal for what you want to accomplish or sell. Develop support tools and support documentation. Identify all possible objections and pre–script, test, and rehearse responses for each of them.
4. Be 10 minutes early – It is always favorable to arrive a little early, it is always a disaster to arrive late. Carry a light load (only what you need for the show).
5. Be totally professional – Great clothing, professional accessories – brief case, business cards. Have everything crisp and clean.
6. Get “to the point” quickly, then question, listen and question – Talk straight to the point. Get your meat out in 5 minutes or less. Write down your thoughts when the prospect is talking – don’t interrupt.
7. Totally separate yourself from everyone else and your competition – Have creative, new ideas; have the sale in finished form (design done, preliminary layout, sample); have a WOW computerized presentation (multimedia); have a comparison chart of key areas where you beat the competition. Do things (professionally) no one else would do.
8. Be totally confident in what you say and the way you act – build rapport first and keep building it during the presentation; use humor, use humor, use humor; act and speak as though the deal was done; use total manners – think back to your mother screaming at you about how to act civilized – do that. Don’t confuse confidence with cockiness. One works the other fails.
9. Don’t be afraid to use sales tactics – but don’t be obvious. Get tie downs, approvals, and commitments along the way; don’t leave without knowing where you stand; don’t leave without a written down next action, deadline, and/or meeting.
10. Be WOW yourself – You must be positive, enthusiastic, focused, polished and convinced. You must be outstanding enough to be memorable.
Here are fifteen characteristics/words that epitomize a WOW salesperson
1. Persistent (relentless)
2. Prepared
3. Best
4. Creatively different
5. Funny
6. Truthful
7. Real (genuine)
8. Compelling
9. Fast and to the point
10. Skillful
11. Knowledgeable
12. Courageous
13. Memorable
14. Long–term
15. Able to get to yes
Are you WOW? Check back tomorrow for a self test and find out!
