The Certifiable Salesperson: The Ultimate Guide to Help Any Salesperson Go Crazy with Unprecedented Sales! TOM HOPKINS LAURA LAAMAN John Wiley & Sons, Inc The Certifiable™ SALESPERSON The Certifiable™ SALESPERSON THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO HELP ANY SALESPERSON GO CRAZY WITH UNPRECEDENTED SALES! TOM HOPKINS LAURA LAAMAN John Wiley & Sons, Inc Copyright © 2003 by Tom Hopkins International and Laura Laaman All rights reserved THE CERTIFIABLE is a trademark of Executive Training Consultants Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey Published simultaneously in Canada No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400, fax 978-750-4470, or on the web at www.copyright.com Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, 201748-6011, fax 201-748-6008, e-mail: permcoordinator@wiley.com Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation You should consult with a professional where appropriate Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages For general information on our other products and services, or technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the United States at 800-762-2974, outside the United States at 317-572-3993 or fax 317-572-4002 Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books For more information about Wiley products, visit our web site at www wiley.com Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: Laaman, Laura L., 1965The certifiable salesperson : the ultimate guide to help any salesperson go crazy with unprecedented sales! / by Laura Laaman and Tom Hopkins p cm Includes index ISBN 0-471-28913-2 (alk paper) Selling Sales personnel I Hopkins, Tom II Title HF5438.25 L325 2002 658.85—dc21 2002013631 Printed in the United States of America 10 Contents The Road to Sales Lesson 1 The Mind and Body of a Great Salesperson 10 Lesson Discipline of a Top Salesperson 19 Lesson The Likeability of a Great Salesperson 24 Lesson The Voice of a Great Salesperson 33 Lesson The Image of a Great Salesperson 36 Lesson The Need for and Art of Friendly Control 40 Understanding Different Personalities 45 Lesson Using Your Instinct to Read Others 55 Lesson Anatomy of a Sale 59 Lesson 10 Networking 63 Lesson 11 Getting as Many Appointments as Possible 66 Lesson 12 Overcoming the Fear of Rejection 74 Lesson 13 Great Greetings 78 Lesson 14 Qualifying 81 Lesson vi The Certifiable™ Salesperson Lesson 15 Shutting Down the Competition 91 Lesson 16 Powerful Presentations 97 Lesson 17 Objection Prevention 111 Lesson 18 Commandments of Closing 114 Lesson 19 Overcoming Final Objections 119 Lesson 20 Facts and Fears of Follow-Up 127 Lesson 21 The Competitive Advantage of Referrals 132 The Vision of a Great Salesperson: Goals 136 Lesson 23 Time Planning 143 Lesson 24 Self-Analysis of Great Salespeople 147 The Lunch 152 Months Later 154 Endnotes 157 Index 159 Lesson 22 About the Authors Laura Laaman Since 1989, Laura Laaman has been WOWing audiences filled with salespeople, managers and customer service representatives with powerful and entertaining presentations Laura shares the stage with other top speakers including master sales trainer, Tom Hopkins and world-renowned motivational speaker, Zig Ziglar Laura’s road to sales success started when she was just 16 She quickly went on to break numerous national sales records Many remain unsurpassed today Due to Laura’s success, several companies studied her strategy and then modeled their training program around her techniques, producing tremendous results After proving her techniques were replicable, Laura discovered she possessed a unique gift for teaching others and founded Executive Training Consultants in 1989 Since then, Laura and her staff have helped thousands of companies in the United States and Europe SELL MORE by using the vital techniques she delivers at her training seminars and presentations As an award-winning speaker, new salespeople and veterans alike look up to Laura because of her credibility, and powerful, yet approachable manner For more information on Laura Laaman’s products and services contact Executive Training Consultants at 1-888SELL-MORE (1-888-735-5667) or visit her Web site: www lauralaaman.com viii The Certifiable™ Salesperson Tom Hopkins Tom Hopkins is world-renowned as America’s No sales trainer For more than 30 years, he has helped millions of sales professionals around the world serve more people through proven-effective selling skills His simple yet persuasive how-to strategies have increased the incomes of salespeople and companies alike many times over Tom was not always successful His first 90 days in sales, he earned only $150 Through self-education and persistence, however, he soon learned that selling—as a skill like any other—could be honed and fine-tuned He went on to set real estate sales records that still stand today His public seminars sell out, and his customized, private programs receive rave reviews Tom’s books have sold in the millions, and hundreds of thousands of people benefit from his recorded audio and video programs every day For more information on Tom Hopkin’s products and services, contact Tom Hopkins International at 1-800-528-0446 or visit his Web site: www.tomhopkins.com A Message from the Authors Many professions, including accounting, law, and medicine, have a certification program that sets the standard for success within that particular profession Until now, the sales industry has not had such a widely accepted tool Some progressive businesses have developed a certification program within their companies Unfortunately, many programs focus on product knowledge and fall short of the sales skills needed to excel Perhaps not having such a generalized program contributes to the reason why sales has not