How salespeople manage their connections

Network resources are a potential intangible asset and a potential wealth. Everyone has certain interpersonal relationships, and sales work is to establish good interpersonal relationships and make full use of them. As Joe Girard said, behind every customer, there are about 250 people standing. These are people who are relatively close to him: colleagues, neighbors, relatives, and friends. A salesperson must establish his own personal network and find his own high-quality customers to do sales. Only by broadening his personal network and having his own personal network can he find more valuable customers and improve his performance step by step. . 80% of performance comes from 20% of customers. These 20 customers are your high-quality customers and they are the core of all your customer resources. If you lose these 20 resources, you will lose 80% of the market. The research report issued: It is more important to manage your 20 core resources well than the 80 people who come to the door for the first time. So, where do these 20 very detailed resources come from: my own connections. Therefore, it can be seen that handling customer relationships well and broadening one's personal network are very important for sales. If you want to find more and better customers, the most effective way is to broaden your interpersonal relationships. However, establishing personal relationships is not that easy. Many salespeople lament that the most difficult thing is the inability to establish stable and solid cooperation with their customers and to find more customer resources. So, how to manage your own network? 1) Pay attention to customers with a relatively wide network of relationships. A strong old customer is of great help to the sales staff. Every word he says will have a great impact on the customer. Big impact. Therefore, salespeople must find strong recommenders. Only such people can recommend more quality customers to you. But usually not all people will recommend it to you. If he doesn't have any trust in you, he won't introduce the other person to you. Most of the clients' clients are close relatives and friends, or people who have been kind to him and want to repay the kindness. Just imagine, old customers will not easily recommend customers to a salesman. Unless you have established an extraordinary friendship with your client, the recommender will be willing to recommend regardless of the consequences, no matter what the outcome. When you walk into a typical chamber of commerce event, you'll basically see the same scene every time. Most of the attendees sat at the bar or milled around the cold plates table, drinking, eating, and talking to one another. They all believed they were in business because they were in it, yet the most valuable thing they did was meet people they didn't know every once in a while and exchange business cards. Sometimes, out of sheer luck. There will be some business happening: one person's stuff may happen to be needed by another person to sell. However, the chances of this happening are too rare, and the probability of it happening is far too small. Plus, people looking for business there basically treat everyone else as a new prospective customer. The difference is that you think of each one as 25 new prospects. So, how do you introduce yourself to more people in these ordinary social activities and let them serve you? 2) Follow the rules of communication between people. People usually follow the rules of communication from near to far. , the principle from the outside to the inside, in layman's terms, is to approach people close to you first, such as your classmates. Friends, colleagues, etc. Then, under the introduction of these people, you can get to know people related to them. In this way, you can expand your social circle and get to know more people layer by layer. How to manage connections

(1) Remember other people’s surnames or first names, take the initiative to greet them, and address them appropriately, so that others feel that you are being treated politely and valued, and give people the impression of being approachable.

(2) Be generous and calm, making others feel relaxed and comfortable, and stimulating motivation for communication.

(3) Develop a cheerful and lively personality, so that the other person feels happy to be with you.

(4) Cultivate humorous words and deeds that are humorous but not inappropriate, interesting but not frivolous, and provide people with beautiful enjoyment.

You must be humble when interacting with others, be kind to others, and respect others, otherwise things will be counterproductive.

(5) Be calm and don’t complain. This way you will not only be happy and nurturing, but others will also be in a happy mood.

(6) Pay attention to the charm of language: comfort the traumatized and encourage the failed. Compliment those who have truly achieved something and help those who are in need.

(7) People who are decisive, independent, energetic, and confident can easily inspire others' motivation to interact, win their trust, and create a charm that makes people willing to interact.

People with higher analytical skills also have higher social skills. When they interact with parents, teachers, friends and people they dislike, they are better able to achieve their communication goals and are better able to improve their friendship. There is also evidence that people with high analytical skills have more pleasant interactions and are less likely to suffer from depression. It needs to be emphasized that "adapting measures to the times" does not mean blindly changing one's behavior to follow changes in the situation, nor does it mean blindly complying with the other party's will.

Insight into other people’s psychological states is also an important part of social skills. When some people see other people's behavior, they don't try to understand the other person's situation and feelings when doing things, and they immediately judge what kind of person the other person is from their behavior. This emphasis on judgment over understanding is a major obstacle to the development of social skills.

We also measured the results of the subjects' interactions with parents, teachers, friends and people they disliked, and found that the more people tend to judge moral character, the worse their social skills will be. On the contrary, the more people tend to do inner analysis, the higher their social skills will be. People who believe that personality cannot be changed pay more attention to evaluating the character and morality of others, while people who believe that personality can be changed are more attentive to other people's behavioral motives and emotional states.

4. Break through the three aspects of social interaction

(1) Cultivation of good expression skills

People who are popular and charming in social interaction , must be someone who has mastered social eloquence skills. The basic skills of social eloquence are manifested in three aspects: timely, appropriate, and moderate.

First, it must be timely. Say it when you should say it, and stop where you should stop. This is called the right time. But some people don't say what they should say in social situations. They don't say hello in time when they meet; they don't say goodbye in time when they break up; they don't apologize in time when they are rude; they don't respond in time to inquiries; they don't respond in time to requests for help... On the contrary, some people There is no stopping when one should stop. They chattered about their misfortunes in a lively and festive atmosphere; laughed and joked when others were sad and sad; they continued to publish huge discussions when the host was upset; they happily talked about "road news" in the homes of their elders. Please imagine, if you met the above person in social life, what kind of impression would you have on him?

Second, it must be in moderation. The right amount of social eloquence also includes the right amount of voice. The volume should be louder when speaking in public, and the volume should be moderate during private visits. If it is a conversation between close friends or lovers, speaking quietly can express a special relationship of closeness and affection, giving people a sense of intimacy. These are all skills you should master when talking to people in social situations.

Third, social eloquence must be moderate. It mainly refers to grasping the depth of speech according to different objects, grasping the appropriateness of speech according to different occasions, and grasping the propriety of speech according to one's own identity. Secondly, body language must be just right.

Where does the ability to speak eloquently come from? Is it natural? Some people have been trained since childhood, so their ability to express themselves appears to be stronger than others. But most people's eloquence is acquired through conscious and hard practice in adulthood.

(2) Cultivation of interpersonal integration ability

To integrate into society, you first need to adjust your own concepts, face the world bravely, and accept the world. Of course, accepting the world does not mean that you wait passively and give in to difficulties, nor does it mean that you agree with negative and backward things without any principles, or even join in the trend. It requires you to accept reality with a proactive attitude, and have the courage and determination to eliminate negative phenomena in life, carry forward the main theme, and fulfill the responsibilities of contemporary college students.

Of course, interpersonal integration ability is not simply reflected in the ability to accept and identify with the world. It is also a reflection of a person's comprehensive quality. The strength of interpersonal integration ability is closely related to a person's ideological and moral character, knowledge and skills, activity ability, creative ability, ability to deal with interpersonal relationships and health status. Generally speaking, a college graduate with relatively high quality, strong abilities in all aspects, and good physical and mental health can quickly adapt to the environment and work after entering the society, even under difficult conditions and poor environments. You can also turn unfavorable factors into favorable factors and achieve good results through your own efforts.

(3) Cultivation of problem-solving abilities

Dealing with various problems in daily study and life is our most important responsibility. However, when problems come one after another and their complexity continues to increase, it is time to test our problem-solving abilities by how to systematically find out the causes of the problems, prescribe the right medicine, and solve the problems in the most efficient way.

First, define and clarify the problem: first collect and analyze the data, and after confirming that the problem does exist, write the problem down and make it a statement that everyone can understand. Concrete the problem so that the relevant people can understand it. .

Second, analyze the problem: you can use management techniques to assist, such as fishbone diagrams, etc. Or hold a discussion meeting with subordinates to classify the causes of problems and list the priorities for solving them.

The third step is to work out possible solutions: Invite colleagues to brainstorm, and the most important thing is to sort out these results in a systematic way. Based on whether the problem can be truly solved and whether management support can be obtained, and whether it can be put into practice and other principles.

Fourth, choose a solution and formulate an action plan: Choose the solution that has the greatest impact and is easiest to promote, and formulate an action plan immediately.

Fifth, promote solutions and track results: define 'success' before proceeding, constantly review the implementation of decisions during the process, and establish milestones at each stage to ensure that actions achieve their goals.

Read more books and observe other people’s interactions /

Make yourself a “living business card”. After that, it is about spreading your own value as much as possible. This process of spreading personal "usefulness" is much like the process of blogging. I have previously introduced the example of Japanese entrepreneur Daisuke Iwase who accumulated contacts for himself through blogging and achieved success. In fact, blogging is not just a tool for managing connections. The process and method of blogging actually vividly illustrates the process and methods of spreading yourself and managing connections. Of course, we are not telling everyone to open a blog, and the only way to expand your kit network is to open a blog. People in some industries may be very suitable to use blogs to manage their connections, while for others, blogs may not be as effective. Many people say that their blog is their "diary" and their "inner home", and they don't care about its popularity. This type of blog is not our research object. And that kind of "cleverly popular" blog can teach those of us who want to expand our network a lesson: In the second step, we will look for other attractive blogs with similar content to our own, and interact with each other. Visit, discuss with each other, form a "circle", and have in-depth discussions on the same topic. We have found that popular blogs often have the following characteristics: The topic of the blog is very "useful" to most people, or can arouse the interest of most people. In short, for most people, it has clear "value"; the blog theme is very specific, and the blogger rarely changes the theme, and the content of the blog articles is also consistent; the blogger rarely changes his "nickname" , blog name, etc., which makes the blog easy to remember; bloggers are very open about their own relevant information, such as often uploading photos to let netizens see their "true face", and often showing their work and life " Current situation"...; Bloggers have spontaneously mastered some skills in building a "personal brand". For example, there is a blogger named "Little Fat Star" whose blog is dedicated to explaining cooking techniques.

So she designed a "trademark" for herself - a fat smiling face like a star. Every photo on the blog, especially the pictures of delicious food, is marked with this fat star. Naturally, people quickly remember this blog and this "smiling star". First of all, you must have a "label" that is concise, attractive, easy to remember, and as fixed as possible. This "label" must be closely related to the value of your work. For example, "I am a computer expert", "I am a potential brand customer", etc., let your "label" be spread by others in the work circle; at the same time, you must show openness, unless You must use "mystery" as your "value label". Otherwise, you must take the initiative to reveal yourself to your friends. This will not only make you easy to get close to, but also your personality characteristics will be attached to your "value label" , promoted to a wider range by friends. In addition, you should always pay attention to learning and "make a name for yourself" in your own professional circle like a "brand" and a packaging star. And those unpopular blogs are also "negative teaching materials" for us to manage our connections. Many people will say: "I don't expect to become famous through my blog. My blog just records my mood and is only for me to communicate with a few friends." Such an idea is of course understandable. But in the process of managing contacts, if you also overemphasize your "privacy", then no matter how many activities you participate in and how many business cards you exchange, you will not be able to quickly develop good contacts. For such deserted "mood blogs", "private blogs", or blogs where bloggers also hope to increase their popularity, but always get the opposite result, they often have the same characteristics. Naturally, your new friend cannot introduce a person who is "no one" and "lives around" to the "important people" in the circle. Your noble person is actually rejected by yourself! Therefore, if you want to have good connections, you must bravely promote your value at work just like creating a "popular blog"! At this point, I have only given a rough outline of the method of "managing super-powerful connections from scratch", and further utilizing various techniques and updating various concepts will be discussed later.

This is a science! It's not something that can be explained clearly in a few words... You say so... Please accept it

Be yourself. How do salespeople serve as business consultants for customers?

Being able to serve as a good consultant for customers and provide some reference opinions or solutions for their operations and development is indeed an important responsibility of new additive company personnel. This is a trend and at the same time, it will also be a difference in the future. competition is inevitable. How to interview a salesperson?

So, how to grasp the applicant’s information during the interview process? Generally speaking, six types of typical questions are often used during the interview process. After clarifying these six types of questions, you can have a more comprehensive understanding of the candidates. If corresponding testing methods can be used to match these six types of questions, it can be more accurately defined whether a salesperson is suitable for a new position. These six questions are: ·Work experience questions ·Industry understanding questions ·Personal characteristics questions ·Working habits questions ·Sales concept questions ·Self-development questions 2. Interview question example analysis questions : Please briefly introduce yourself. This question is designed to find out two things: some meaningful background information about the candidate and the candidate's ability to organize that background information into a statement that fits the situation. By examining the strategies he/she uses to describe his or her experience, we can learn about the strategies he/she might use to vividly describe our company. Information that is exaggerated, riddled with errors, or that rambles on about past events that has no relevance to your current job is dangerous information. If we can feel it, customers will feel it too. Q: How do you plan to apply your previous experience to our company's sales work? This question is to look at the examples he/she used to demonstrate his or her abilities. These examples may be directly or indirectly related to sales activities.

In addition to these obviously relevant episodes, note any statements that highlight the candidate's ability to set goals and achieve them. Q: Why did you decide to apply for this sales job in our company? We don't want to see him/her give a blank stare and shrug, and then hear a vague statement: "You put an ad in the newspaper and I applied." We want to find evidence that this is somewhat basic to the following situation: Understand: What does our company do? What are our sales items? Why is selling our products or services to those people a professional level challenge? Of course we also know that he/she is also interviewing at another or even multiple companies at the same time, but we want to see his/her sense of mission and appropriate hints of interest in the job. If we don’t find things or details that express inner enthusiasm, we have to be careful: when a customer asks, “Tell me why you do sales for this company,” and he/she responds hesitantly, that’s not us. Just what was expected. Q: Please tell me a difficult problem you encountered and a specific example of how you handled it appropriately. We can get to know his/her true situation through questions like this. That is, we can find a case to prove his/her tact, communicative skills, and ability to respond quickly to unexpected challenges. Of course, the details of the case should have been verified by current or past managers, and even if the case the candidate has experienced is related to one of our current sales people, the resilience we require is obvious. To gauge the candidate, we can ask them to provide another example of his/her experience at another company. We want to gather evidence that the candidate knows how to give a persuasive verbal account of past achievements. If he/she stammers and tells a story that we can barely understand, we won't believe in his/her sales ability. Q: Can you tell me, what skills do you think you have that can make you achieve significant sales results? How to manage sales staff

Marketing team building

Increasing market competition and market downturn often increase sales staff’s frustration. Different companies and different sales staff will experience this at different times. There are different mentality issues. Usually, the main factor that affects the mentality and morale of salesmen is the incentive mechanism. Insufficient incentives, unclear rewards and penalties, and failure to honor reward policies will all affect the morale of salesmen. For companies with poor operating performance, salespeople are more likely to feel pessimistic and disappointed about the future of the company, with low enthusiasm. They often muddle along and have poor cohesion.

Managing salespeople has become a major problem for companies. Many companies mainly use phone tracking and surprise inspections to track salespeople’s actions. Some companies also use itinerary verification and customer tracking.

Currently, the most confusing issues in sales force management mainly exist in two aspects: mentality; sales skills and abilities. ① In terms of mentality, the performance is as follows: the sales enthusiasm and initiative of the sales staff in the team are not enough; the sales staff's mentality is not good and they are very competitive; the sales staff's cohesion and loyalty are poor, and the sales team is unstable. ② In terms of sales skills and abilities, the main manifestation is the lack of professional knowledge of salesmen, and the sales skills and abilities of the sales team need to be improved urgently.

Measures for sales force management.

1. Implement sales target management Sales target management can prompt salespeople to self-manage and strengthen self-control, so that salespeople can change from passive and negative to automatic, spontaneous, and self-control. Sales goals should reflect the principle of gradual progress. The use of a progressive goal management system can enable salespeople to create the best sales performance with the least supervision. Progressive means setting a series of continuous goals. For example, each quarter must achieve a new goal based on the previous quarter, and finally reach the final annual goal at the end of the year. Daily goals include completing sales, controlling expenses within plan, increasing potential customers, etc. Creative goals are to increase pressure on salespeople, raise goals, and encourage them to maximize their potential. When setting goals, two goal ranges should be set: realistic goals; ideal goals.

In summary, when setting goals, you should consider the following questions: ① What results do you want to achieve at the end of the year (year-end goals)? All quarterly goals should be subordinated to year-end goals. ② What obstacles do you face in achieving these results? ③ What are the advantages and disadvantages of your sales area? ④ If the current (quarterly) goal is not successfully achieved, what impact will this have on achieving the final goal? ⑤ Among the goals achieved in the previous period (quarter), which ones are progressive? ⑥ How did you make these progress? ⑦ Do you have other ways to make up for the goals that were not completed in the previous period (quarter)?

2. Strengthen the training and guidance of sales staff. Meetings for training, accompanying visits, and joint visits are all effective methods. ① The sales manager should try his best to communicate one-on-one with the salesperson and provide guidance. He should provide guidance to the salesperson based on his own strengths and weaknesses and combined with the characteristics of the market and customers. Both parties can discuss and formulate a plan together Improvement programs and action plans. ② The sales manager also needs to conduct tracking management and regularly check the progress or formulate next plans. ③ The sales manager can also accompany the salesperson on joint visits. During the joint visit, the salesperson plays the leading role and the sales manager plays the supporting role of coach. After the joint visit, the sales manager should further analyze and examine the salesperson's performance in visiting customers and point out areas for improvement. Only through continuous improvement and follow-up cycles can you continuously improve the overall sales capabilities of your sales team.

3. A two-pronged approach to improve morale and improve capabilities. Corporate culture construction should be strengthened and corporate vision should be designed. Managers and salespeople should maintain good and effective communication and develop effective incentive policies to strengthen team spirit and ensure that salespeople maintain high morale and enterprising spirit. Sales managers should also pay attention to developing the potential of salespeople so that their abilities and performance can grow simultaneously.

4. Conduct performance evaluations fairly and objectively, and try to quantify and standardize the assessment indicators. For example, you can set the following goals and conduct assessments: ① Sales target achievement rate ② Gross profit target achievement rate ③ Accounts receivable Recovery rate ④ Average number of visitors per day ⑤ Number of customers ⑥ Product proportion; etc.

5. Improve the efficiency and effectiveness of sales meetings. Usually, two methods, quantitative and qualitative, can be used to evaluate performance: one is to evaluate based on the company's reward policy, which is a quantitative method; The first is to conduct qualitative analysis and evaluation of sales staff's performance through sales meetings, discuss the real reasons for failure to achieve performance, and study and formulate improvement strategies. Holding a sales meeting is a job that a sales manager needs to invest a lot of energy into. Any good sales manager should attach great importance to this work and strive to improve its efficiency and effectiveness