The Secret Ingredient of Sales Success: Add Red!
By Jeffrey Gittomer

“How do I make more sales?”

“What’s the secret of sales success?”

“What can I do to get out of the sales doldrums?”

“My product is becoming a commodity, what can I do?”

Take heart, salespeople and sales managers, these are NOT problems. All of these questions are nothing more than sales symptoms. The problem, or better stated, the core of the problem, is the heart of the issue, or rather the lack of heart. Your lack of heart.

Why do you lose sales to competitors?

Why do prospects not return your call?

Why can’t you get to the real decision maker?

When confronted with reality, or sales truths that are uncomfortable, salespeople and sales managers tend to be defensive and tend to have answers for situations that are more of convenience than of fact.

They are quick to blame everyone else and their dog, but almost NEVER take responsibility, much less admit that the fault is their lousy sales skills or mediocre effort.

Why do some salespeople moan and complain, while others are out making big time sales in the same marketplace? In every market product or service, there’s a sales-leader. And more often than not, that leader is not the lowest price. Where’s the commodity issue there? Answer: there isn’t.

Let’s get back to the salesperson. That would be you. What are you complaining about? It seems to me if you took the same effort and energy that you used complaining, and converted it into creative thought, all of your problems, symptoms, and barriers would disappear as you developed answers.

To combat this dilemma I began to write a series of ideas and principles about “how to succeed while others were whining.” The body of work became so substantial that it’s now in book form called, “The Little Red Book of Selling -- 12.5 Principles of Sales Greatness”, subtitled How to Make Sales Forever.

The reasons for “red selling.” are obvious. Red is the color of passion. Red is the color of love. Red is the brightest color. Red is the most visible color. And red is fire.

Salespeople need to love what they do, be passionate about what they do, believe in what they sell, be bright about their selling process (both intelligent and visible), and salespeople have to be on fire.

You may not love what you do enough to create the passion and the drive to go beyond your problem or symptom and prevail. And if your competition DOES have that passion and DOES have that drive they will prevail even if they are not the lowest price.

The good news is so can you.

The question is: how passionate are you? How much do you love what you do? How bright are you? How visible are you?  How on fire are you?

The answers to these questions will reveal your inside thinking and your inside feelings. And it’s those thoughts and feelings that determine your outside success. Your sales numbers. Notice I did not ask how low priced are you.

In the Little Red Book of Selling, you will have the opportunity to understand the elements of why sales happen and why people buy. And by mastering the elements, make sales happen for yourself -- forever. The difference between success and mediocrity in sales starts with philosophy. Most salespeople think “end of the month.” But you have to begin thinking “end of time.” That’s how I think.

If you think “end of time,” each time you are in a selling situation, the sale will always be long term, relationship driven, and referral oriented. And it has nothing to do with sales manipulation, or other seedy tactics, that have given real salespeople a bad rep. The Little Red Book of Selling could also be titled the Little Red Book of Buying. The subtle difference in sales between the successful and the unsuccessful, is the difference between trying to sell what you have, and creating the atmosphere where the prospect will buy what you have. ‘People don’t like to be sold, but they love to buy,’ has become more than a registered trademark to me --it’s my mantra.

If there is a secret of selling, it lies within YOU, not your techniques. At the very heart of your sales success is how deeply you believe in the validity of your company, your product, and yourself. I’ve just chosen the word RED for the book because it seems universally transferable.

Now it’s time to ask yourself a few hard questions. Are you at your job every day because you want to be the best at sales? Are you at your job everyday because you want to help other people? Are you at your job everyday because you love your company? Are you at your job everyday because you love your product? OR, are you at your job because you think this is a place where you can make some money?

When you’re not making enough money you’re looking around to see who is to blame. Let me give you some easy targets. The competition, the quality, your pricing, your management, the economy, your production schedules, the warehouse, the computer system, and in general, everything and everybody else except you.

To me, blame indicates lack of passion, lack of dedication, lack of understanding, and lack of belief. To me blame is the easiest way out. If you’re blaming lack of sales on market conditions, or your company, you’re probably also complaining about the weather.

SECRET: Maybe you need to also re-address the way you “go for the sale.” Your approach is probably backwards. You’re still out there “selling.” What are you doing that for? I just told you, “People don’t like to be sold, but they love to buy.” The Little Red Book of Selling is also a book about uncovering about buying motives.

If you know “how to sell,” and I know “why people buy,” I’m gonna win every time. Full understanding of that simple truth, that simple strategy, will change your selling process forever, and double your sales.

Suppose you could have any sales job in the world. What would it be? Is it just a dream? A dream muddied by financial obligations and geographic obligations that you think you can’t do anything about. Think again. Anyone -- salesperson or sales manager -- who dislikes their job and wants to quit for a “better job” or “better opportunity” usually does it for all the wrong reasons.

I counsel people in sales at all levels. To those thinking about leaving, I tell them to become the number one salesperson in the company, then quit. If you leave a job angry, you’ll get to the next job angry. If you leave a job as the number one salesperson, you’ll arrive at the next job thinking you’re number one before you ever make the first sale.

HOPE: Salespeople can create their own work environment, their own success process, and their own victories; it’s easy to do. All you have to do is sell a bunch of stuff. It’s easy for me to write about it, but the reality is it’s harder for you to do it. Unless you enter the “red selling zone.” Here’s how: By choosing something that you love, by becoming more visible, by building your passion, you become “red.” And that red is easily transferable to your customer.

Belief in what you do drives your passion to succeed at it. Self belief is one of the strongest and most valuable characteristics a salesperson can possess. And it’s not an option. Salespeople who are in sales “for the money”, rarely make it.

Mediocrity in sales does not come from lack of skills, it comes from lack of belief in what you’re selling.

You may know “red” by some other words; drive, focus, belief, positive attitude, and enthusiasm. I’m challenging you that this is not about sales-skills analysis or market analysis. Rather, it’s about self-analysis and self-actualization that will lead you to the reality of where you are today. The best news is, if your reality is not where you want it to be, you can change it.

When you find your passion, when you find your love, you will find your red. Forever.

Jeffrey Gitomer, author of The Sales Bible, The Little Red Book of Selling, and Customer Satisfaction is Worthless, Customer Loyalty is Priceless. President of Charlotte-based Buy Gitomer, he gives seminars, runs annual sales meetings, and conducts internet training programs on selling and customer service at www.trainone.com. He can be reached at 704/333-1112 or e-mail to salesman@gitomer.com