Coop Harper - Adventures In Paradise

I’m a big reader. I was fortunate enough to have worked for a company early in my career that put me through a rapid reading course. Their one-time investment in me has paid life-long dividends for my career. I’m able to read and digest large amounts of information efficiently. Why tell you this? Because I’ve used the training I received to find and read a ton of excellent articles on how to be a sales professional and not just a salesperson. One brief, yet impactful piece I’ve come across during my 32 years in sales and sales management is entitled Make Up Your Mind. I’ve never been able to identify the author of this little gem, but following the simple advice it provides transformed me in several important and valuable ways. The benefits it has given to me pale in comparison to the resulting value it has delivered to my customers. You’ll find the piece below. Over the next five weeks I will highlight and expand on two bullet points contained in the article per week. I hope it...

SELLING BEYOND PRICE By Gene Lambert “Your price is too high.” These are five words that can strike fear into the heart of many sales people. Yet it’s a known fact that the lowest priced quote most often doesn’t win the business and that low pricing doesn’t keep the customer long-term. Why? What are the key differentiating factors you must be able to communicate to your prospective customer? How do you deliver this message so the customer will fully understand your added value? Let’s take a closer look at this important issue and how to win the business and keep it, not buy it and lose it. Price, Cost, Value You’d be surprised how many salespeople believe these three terms mean the same thing. They don’t. Let’s take a moment to look at the actual definition of these important words in the world of sales: 1.       Price – the sum or amount of money or its equivalent for which anything is bought, sold or offered for sale. What did I pay to obt...

In my last article, I shared some of my experience on a number of the things that make great sales professionals great. The topic of this piece deserves exclusive attention as a vital characteristic of top level sales performers. Attention to the details involved with helping your customers will build a defensive “moat” around your customer’s castle that the competition will find very difficult to breach. Not everything is an emergency, unless of course your customer thinks it is! Being there when your customer needs you is a key component of your value proposition. Think of it as making your moat as wide as possible. Schedule a specific time with your customer to discuss your plan for being accessible to them. TALK My advice is to make voice contact with you easy for your customers. I like to pick one number for them to use as my contact number. Since I’m always in and out of the office, I use my cell phone number. If I’m in the office I forward my cell there. If I’m out or on ...

Most of us in the sales profession have heard of the “80/20 Rule.” The rule states that 80% of the business in a given industry is done by 20% of the salespeople. After 32 years as a salesperson and sales leader, I’ve found this rule, as a rule, is true. In my role as a sales trainer and consultant I’ve taught many salespeople across several markets and these stats have held true. What separates the 20% from the 80%? Do they put in more hours? Maybe. Are they smarter? Sometimes. Is it company politics as the 80% often believe? Rarely. Sales winners share a common set of fundamental skills that get them to the top and keep them there. What are these sales fundamentals and what role do they play in getting a salesperson to elite status? Let’s take a look at what I like to call the “L’s” of professional selling. LISTENING It might come as a surprise to many sales folks that the 80/20 rule comes into play here too. Elite salespeople spend 80% of their time listening and only 20% of ...

I made the unfortunate choice of watching quite a bit of news over the last two weeks. As the reports of economic, political, business and personal tragedy piled up I noticed something. What hit me square in the face was the negative tone in each story. Ingrained in the assessment of every situation we face today were the consequences of failure. I’m not talking about your run of the mill everyday failure. I’m referring to failure of the devastating and catastrophic variety. Armageddon, if you will. Before I felt an overwhelming desire to head to the knife drawer in the kitchen, I turned off the TV. I also started looking into TV news rehab. Since I’m afraid of knives and was unable to find a rehab focused on this particular malady, I decided on a little self-help. I’m an amateur therapist so I kept it simple. The obvious cure for pessimism must be optimism. The opposite of negative is positive. I set out to find examples that would prove my hypothesis. Some facts came to light quick...

I’ve been very fortunate in my business career. I worked with leaders who were excellent teachers. They understood the difference between a sales professional and a salesperson. They taught me the importance of becoming an expert on the products I sell and helped me become that expert. More importantly, they showed me what it meant to help customers. Not sell customers, but help customers. They invested the time to help me become a professional at helping people get what they need to accomplish their goals. Thank you Craig, Janet, Charlie, Kim, Bob, Russ, Doug, Steve, Augie and Todd. I’d like to especially thank my brothers Art and T.J. They’re also business coaches I’ve learned from and who have left a slew of talented, well trained sales professionals in their wake. I guess I’m lucky that way. When I became an executive, I believed it was my responsibility to share what I’d learned. Since a leader’s role is that of a guide and mentor, I used the excellent example I’d been given and...

Serendipity is defined as good fortune, luck, or an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident. I prefer “Serendipity Pitch” over “Elevator Pitch.” If you’re in sales, you know the drill. A hard to reach customer just happens to get on an elevator with you, alone. You both get on at the bottom floor and are headed to the top. It will give you a precious minute of uninterrupted one on one time with this impossible to reach customer. The clock’s ticking. What do you say that gets you the appointment, or better yet, a sale right on the spot? In many ways, I’m old school when it comes to what you need in your selling tool box. Skills like active listening, strong questioning techniques and efficient time management are timeless. Perhaps the most important of these fundamental skills is preparation. Being prepared frees up the mind. It allows us to process information we are getting from a customer, without having to think about facts we should already know. You’d think the...