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Reinvent the Wheel:
Manuals Share the Secrets of Selling Supplies
By Linda Benson, Sales Specialist
Reprinted with permission of Recharger Magazine, 702-438-4025 |
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Every once in a while, life hands you a wonderful
bonus. This was the case three years ago, shortly after I was hired by Doering &
Brown, an office equipment company in London, Ontario, Canada. My mission, which I
unwittingly chose to accept, was to build a supply department from scratch. The company
was impressed with my management, sales, training, and building skills and they chose to
overlook the fact that not only did I have no computer skills to speak of, I also knew
nothing of the supply industry and could not identify a cartridge if my life depended upon
it.
Can you imagine a more auspicious beginning? Needless to say, my
learning curve was one of
gigantic proportions. That notwithstanding, my mandate was to get this division up and
running
and to do it quickly.
Enter Ann Barr to the rescue. My boss, a copier guy at heart
rather than a detail-oriented supply
person, had somehow gotten his hands on one of Ann’s manuals. He handed it to me and
said “Here, read this.” He wisely beat a hasty retreat before I could
pepper him with a million questions. This was my introduction to Ann’s book entitled,
Telemarketing Sales Training- Winning Strategies. It consisted of both a Workbook
and a Manager’s Guide. This was the forerunner to Ann’s current book, 28 Days to Increased Telephone Sales.
I began to read voraciously, and was amazed at what I saw. Her
knowledge of this industry was outstanding and her advice was rock solid. Here, before me,
was a perfect blueprint to success! If there was one thing I’d learned during
my many years of experience in management and sales, it was, if you find something
that works brilliantly, don’t reinvent the wheel. Just use it and apply it
over and over again. This is exactly what I did with Ann’s material. Her book
introduced me to powerful telephone scripts, the ten step sales call, TimeBlocks and time
robbers, handling objections and much more. All of the information was extremely specific
and gave me tangible tools with which to work.
Everything in the book proved to be exceptionally valuable. The
two most critical elements to me were the ten step sales call and working in TimeBlocks.
The ten step sales call warms up any cold call and allows you to “ask for the
sale” in record time. Working in TimeBlocks can and did increase sales by up to 25%.
These became my way of life and the results speak for themselves. I started with sales of
zero and within 16 months had achieved sales of approximately $60,000 monthly. I
finished my first fiscal year as the company’s top producer,
achieving 268% of my quota. This would not have happened without Ann Barr’s
book. It was definitely my shortcut to success.
Next I began to expand the Supply Division. Once again, a book of
Ann Barr’s was my lifesaver.
Her Secrets of Successful Supply Sales,
told me everything I needed to know to create a successful supply
department. It included information on wording of ads, hiring, necessary elements
for a successful work environment, supply agreements and much more. It also contained the
scripts, and TimeBlock information from her previous book. Within a year, armed with all
of this information, I had hired a staff of four supply sales representatives and had
built a winning team. One of my new reps qualified for President’s Club in
his first year in sales. Once more, this would not have happened so quickly without the
aid of Ann’s book. Throughout my tenure with Doering & Brown, I also
worked with Ann’s book Telephone Sales Scripts, now titled
How to Win the Sale and Keep the Customer
It contains highly effective scripts for every situation imaginable.
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