Silence Does Not Mean No

 

Do you fear the “sound of silence?”

 

Sales professionals can become fearful of rejection at times, and their fear can lead to inaction and procrastination. This reaction often rears its ugly head when a customer goes silent and is not returning calls or messages. 

 

To overcome the fear of rejection, understand that Silence does not mean No. 

 

In his book The Success Principles, best-selling author and success coach Jack Canfield says: 

 

“Rejection is really a myth. It doesn’t really exist. It is simply a concept that you hold in your head. . . . remember the following: Some will, Some won’t; So what—Someone’s waiting.’” 

 

Don’t take it personally. The faster you progress past the “No” and “Not interested” responses, the faster you will reach those prospective customers who are waiting to engage with you and who are interested in improving their business and their financial results. 

 

Ignore the Sound of Silence

It is too easy to give up when a target customer becomes unresponsive. It is too easy to quickly assume that they are not interested, that they are too busy with other projects. If you are not getting return calls or messages and there is only silence on the target customer’s end, do not give up, because . . .

. . . silence does not mean NO. It just means silence. 

 

Don’t get all tangled up in worry and wondering why there is silence. You don’t know the reason for the silence. Just stay focused on your regular follow-up. Your persistence could eventually get rewarded.

 

I’m DJ Sebastian, for more info on what it takes to become an Elite Seller, visit my website at thetechseller.com 

 

The Coming Threat – Artificial Intelligence PART 3

 

This is Part 3 of a three part briefing on the Coming Threat of AI.

 

How You Respond to the Onslaught of Artificial Intelligence Is Crucial

There will always be a need for talented sales professionals to drive customer engagement and win lucrative business. However, if you spend most of your day working on tasks that are amenable to automation, your career in the sales field is vulnerable. If you don’t pay attention to this threat, you could be relegated to lower-paying positions or be forced out of your sales career altogether. 

You might be responding with skepticism, believing there is no way your job will go away. Those were also the words of the highest skilled welders, machinists, and equipment operators in the 1980s and 1990s who were shocked when robots phased them out of their well-paid factory jobs. Do you really want to take a chance and ignore the obvious signs? 

While a Selling Revolution is clearly on its way, the intent here is not to raise alarms but to help you survive as a sales professional and even prosper during this transformation. It is a call to action, sounding the warning cry for two critical reasons. 

First, you need to be aware that changes are coming, and 

Second, you need to sharpen your skill set, embrace the technologies that will increase your productivity, and become empowered to achieve even greater success.

Those who survive will need to have a laser focus on continuously developing and retaining elite selling skills. This includes building and refining great communication skills, developing industry expertise, and adopting many of the lessons you will be introduced to in these flash briefings. 

Master these skills and you will have the opportunity to become an Elite Seller, one who will strengthen customer relationships, win more business, and be well-positioned to achieve your career and financial goals even in the face of some turbulent times ahead.

 

I’m DJ Sebastian. For more info on how AI is fundamentally transforming  the sales profession, and how you can prosper in this new world, check out my book at my website at thetechseller.com

 

The Coming Threat – Artificial Intelligence PART 2

 

This is Part 2 of a three part briefing on the Coming Threat of AI.

 

There are Four Reasons that such a Selling Revolution is on its Way.

 

1) Low Productivity and High Turnover in the Sales Force 

 

Sales organizations suffer here as companies usually operate with an extremely short-term mindset. They look to technology that can reduce the overall cost of sales.

 

2) Social Communication Trends

 

Non-vocal communication is now acceptable for interaction with customers. Conversations that once required a face-to-face meeting or a phone call can now usually be handled through  email or text messaging. The relationship with a customer becomes very impersonal and, of course, less effective.

 

3) Customer Buying Trends

 

It is now easier than ever for customers to buy without having a sales professional engaged every step of the way. Customers often conduct their own web-based research to figure out what they think they need, and then bring in salespeople at the last minute.

 

4) Emergence of Advanced Technologies

 

Which are available today and are converging to form the foundation of sales process automation. This includes: 

• Smart communication between machines and humans that conduct conversations to simulate human interaction.
• Cognitive reasoning that “thinks” like a human brain to evaluate multiple alternatives and determine the best response.
• Advanced analysis of large volumes of data to predict the most likely outcome and make the best possible recommendation.
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems having robust databases that are widely used today by sales teams large and small.
• Cloud Technology, an environment that supports ready access to these capabilities from any device anywhere in the world.

 

The coming transformation of sales functions won’t happen overnight… but the progression will have a dramatic impact on the sales force.

 

… We’ll continue this discussion on AI in sales in the next flash briefing. 

 

I’m DJ Sebastian… and For more info on how AI is fundamentally transforming  the sales profession, check out my book at my website at thetechseller.com

 

The Coming Threat – Artificial Intelligence PART 1

 

This is Part 1 of a three part briefing.

 

“Will your job be eliminated by the upcoming technology revolution being driven by Artificial Intelligence?”

This question is often splashed across the news media and you may have wondered what, if anything, it means to you personally.

As a business-to-business (B2B) sales professional, you might believe that you won’t be impacted by current major advances in technology, including robotics, automation, and what is referred to as Artificial Intelligence, or AI. Many expect AI to dramatically change the makeup of the workforce in the near future and to fundamentally alter how human workers are utilized—and even to determine whether they will be needed to perform certain jobs. 

If you believe your sales job isn’t vulnerable to the upcoming shift in how salespeople work, think again! 

During the 1980s and 1990s, when our economy was fueled by the industrial sector, millions of manufacturing jobs disappeared because of automation. Production tasks previously performed by humans were overtaken by robots, computers, and other advanced equipment. Productivity soared, quality increased, and costs were dramatically reduced. But these technologies also meant fewer humans were needed to produce goods. Factories that previously operated with thousands of workers often required fewer than half of that number to manufacture at a higher level of output.

A revolution that draws parallels to manufacturing automation is poised to occur in today’s sales-centric, services-based economy. Simply put, Artificial Intelligence could eliminate nearly half of the sales force in three to five years. Many current sales positions will become obsolete for the same reasons that technology enabled our economy to advance past the labor-intensive manufacturing base.

 

I’m DJ Sebastian… and we’ll continue this discussion on AI in sales in the next flash briefing. 

 

For more info on how AI is fundamentally transforming  the sales profession, check out my book at my website at thetechseller.com

 

A Theme for your Pursuit

Our team was preparing for an important meeting with customer executives. Our sales lead asked our sponsor within the customer’s company for guidance so we could confirm what we needed to accomplish in the meeting and gain their commitment for the deal. 

Our customer sponsor told us this:

“It’s Simple.”

“Trust Your Game.

Bring Your Game.

And you will 

Win The Game.”

We believed we had a well-thought-out plan, but unexpected events and unforeseen circumstances occurred throughout our sales cycle and our engagement with this customer. There was some adversity along the way and even though we had a solid plan, we were still uneasy and it impacted our confidence. 

The important thing is not the circumstances that created the adversity—it’s how you respond to that adversity. Always consider that adversity is the preparation needed for greatness.

We won this deal and then adopted this theme as a motto for future opportunities… Each time we ran into adversity in a sales opportunity, we called up our customer’s sage advice: 

Trust your game, 

Bring your game,

And you will 

Win the game. 

Love this!

I’m DJ Sebastian, for more info on what it takes to become an Elite Seller, visit my website at thetechseller.com