Todd Duncan's Fatal Sales Mistake #10: Stagnating

"Stagnating" is Todd Duncan's tenth fatal sales mistake. See: Todd Duncan, Killing the Sale; the 10 Fatal Mistakes Salespeople Make and How to Avoid Them (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2004), pp. 181-198.

Duncan defines stagnating on p. 181 as "Losing your sales edge by neglecting your growth curve." He says, "Everything changes, all the time. Therefore, to overcome the fatal mistake of stagnating, so must you." [p. 191]

On pp. 192-195 Duncan gives four things to do so avoid stagnating

:1. Study your product like a consumer.

2. Survey your customers regularly.

3. Play the market. By this, he means, "become a buyer in your own market."

4. Survey Yourself Annually. Do an annual review of your skills, mission, everything. Obviously you will want your best clients playing the biggest part in helping you succeed."

I will add a fifth one. Read all the time. Read stuff coming out about your industry and be an expert. One of the things that differentiates us as our expertise and knowledge. If we don't keep abreast of customer trends we will lose. When the rate of change increases every day, staying abreast of things becomes harder and even more important.

What do you think about this? Are you becoming irrelevant? Post a comment to this blog.

This is some of the stuff that will go into my entrepreneurship course. The ideas in it supply the life's blood of my professional activities: teaching, writing, and real estate. For entrepreneurial real estate go to www.yourstopforrealestate.com/blog and for entrepreneurial writing to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot/com.

Todd Duncan's Sales Mistake #9: Skimming

Duncan includes skimming, "focusing on surface profitability instead of client satisfaction [p. 159]". See: Todd Duncan, Killing the Sale; the 10 Fatal Mistakes Salespeople Make and How to Avoid Them (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2004), pp. 159-179.

Duncan argues that to avoid this mistake, you have to move your business from relying on prospecting to reliance on partnering. He calls that moving "from solo to symphony."

On pp. 173-9, Duncan gives five rules for "transitioning your existing clients into productive partners." [p. 173]:

1. Take inventory. "Determine your current clients' value. Who are your lead players--your clients who can give you loads of their own business and lots of referral business."

2. Determine your investment level. "Once you know which clients can be lead players and which can provide consistent accompaniment to your sales business, you must then determine how much time and money you will invest in each of them in order to sustaining their business and tap their resources."

3. Cast your vision to your clients. "On an individual basis, schedule meeting with each of your clients who made the cut in the first step."

4. Orchestrate what parts they will play. "Obviously you will want your best clients playing the biggest part in helping you succeed."

5. Strike up the band.Literally. "The greatest partnership arrangement isn't going to make a bit of difference in your selling career until you put your wand in motion.

I've argued elsewhere in this blog that your business does not operate in isolation. Your business and it's context is your business. That includes competitor and collaborators. You should pay attention to this.

What do you think about this? Have you ever been guilty of gambling? I'm trying to create more skilled entrepreneurs. Do you think this helps?

This is some of the stuff that will go into my entrepreneurship course. The ideas in it supply the life's blood of my professional activities: teaching, writing, and real estate. For entrepreneurial real estate go to www.yourstopforrealestate.com/blog and for entrepreneurial writing to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot/com.

Todd Duncan's Sales Mistake #5: Begging

P. 142 of Todd Duncan, Killing the Sale; the 10 Fatal Mistakes Salespeople Make and How to Avoid Them (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2004), gives his eighth selling mistake as "Begging," or "Seeking your customers' business before earning your customers' trust."

Duncan gives five rules for ensuring your prospects buy into you before you ask them for their business:

1. Say something new.

2. Be the first to add value.

3. Be the first to say think you.

4. Respect your prospect's time.

5. Don't stop once the sale seems imminent.

You should pay attention to this. It's good stuff.

What do you think about this? Have you ever been guilty of gambling? I'm trying to create more skilled entrepreneurs. Do you think this helps?

This is some of the stuff that will go into my entrepreneurship course. The ideas in it supply the life's blood of my professional activities: teaching, writing, and real estate. For entrepreneurial real estate go to www.yourstopforrealestate.com/blog and for entrepreneurial writing to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot/com.

Todd Duncan's Sales Mistake #7: Gambling

Todd Duncan, on p.123 of Killing the Sale; the 10 Fatal Mistakes Salespeople Make and How to Avoid Them (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2004), as "Making unplanned calls on unknown customers."

Duncan gives these rules for prospecting (see p. 133)

1. Never make a call on prospects who don't know you're going to call on them.

2. When you make the call, make sure they're excited to have you call on them.

3. Never leave a call without adding more value than you received.

Duncan lists four "fundamentals" of productive prospecting (see pp. 135-140):

1. Consistently sew a common thread, that is, "by far the best method is via a referral call from someone whom both you and the prospect know."

2. Regularly stretch client satisfaction.

3. Get out more.

4. Take your focus off selling.

Check out his book. These are good rules to go by.

Duncan doesn't mention the Internet anywhere in his book. That's because the principles of salesmanship persist regardless of technology. The Internet makes it easier to follow these goals, if people would just do that.

What do you think about this? Have you ever been guilty of gambling? I'm trying to create more skilled entrepreneurs. Do you think this helps?

This is some of the stuff that will go into my entrepreneurship course. The ideas in it supply the life's blood of my professional activities: teaching, writing, and real estate. For entrepreneurial real estate go to www.yourstopforrealestate.com/blog and for entrepreneurial writing to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot/com.

Todd Duncan's Sales Mistake #6: Arguing

Todd Duncan says that "arguing," which he defines on page 103 as "Selling your product before knowing your customer," is a mistake. See Killing the Sale; the 10 Fatal Mistakes Salespeople Make and How to Avoid Them. (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2004).

He means trying to sell something to people before you have gotten their trust. Duncan, on pp. 117-120, points to 5 practices which help to establish trust:

1. Forget about the sale. Put the sale on the back burner and listen to your customer so you can focus on what he or she really needs.

2. Ask, don't argue. Concentrate on asking the right questions.

3. Listen with your fingers. Take notes.

4. Seek to understand. Verify what people tell you. Ask second or third questions until you understand.

5. Listen again. Review your notes and think again what people are telling you as you go along.

He says forget about trying to impose an agenda and genuinely listen to what is really needed and wanted in a situation. (p. 117)

What do you think about this? Have you ever been guilty of arguing? I'm trying to create more skilled entrepreneurs. Do you think this helps?

This is some of the stuff that will go into my entrepreneurship course. The ideas in it supply the life's blood of my professional activities: teaching, writing, and real estate. For entrepreneurial real estate go to www.yourstopforrealestate.com/blog and for entrepreneurial writing to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot/com.

Todd Duncan's Sales Mistake #5: Muscling

Duncan defines "muscling" as: "Taking Lone Ranger Actions instead of using team-connected strategies." See pp. 83-102. The quote is from p. 83 of his great book, Killing the Sale; the 10 Fatal Mistakes Salespeople make and how to avoid them. (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2004).

For those not old enough to remember the lone ranger, he was a Texas Ranger, something like a state policeman in Texas who was the sole survivor of a massacre of Texas Rangers who, with his faithful Indian friend, Tonto, dedicated his life to finding the men who killed all his buddies and wears a mask so no one will recognize him. Come to think of it, why is he wearing that mask?

To overcome muscling, Duncan suggests that you analyze all the things you do in terms of production (Money, referrals, sales, etc., not just hours spent). Then make a priority of doing the first two things and either delegate or eliminate the remaining activities.Here are some strategies Duncan recommends to implement this:

1. Hire yourself for no more than 2 hours per day to take care of the less productive but necessary tasks.

2. Hire a responsible young person that you know. A college student or teenager might be willing to spend a few hours a day taking less productive tasks off your hand.

3. Hire a coach, for that fresh pair of eyes.

4. Share an assistant with a co-worker or colleague whose values you share.

5. Let your assistant hire an assistant.

6. Promote your assistant.

To get the whole scoop, check out his book.

What do you think about this? Have you ever been guilty of posing? I'm trying to create more skilled entrepreneurs. Do you think this helps?

This is some of the stuff that will go into my entrepreneurship course. The ideas in it supply the life's blood of my professional activities: teaching, writing, and real estate. For entrepreneurial real estate go to www.yourstopforrealestate.com/blog and for entrepreneurial writing to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot/com.

Todd Duncan's Sales Mistake #4: Moonlighting

Duncan discusses moonlight on pp. 61-72 of his great book, Killing the Sale; the 10 Fatal Mistakes Salespeople make and how to avoid them. (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2004). He says, if you have to work longer for no more result, don't.

"Building a business-based life instead of a life-based business," is what Duncan says on p. 61 The point is central: work smarter not longer.

Many salesmen think that working more means producing more. They confuse activity with productivity. The central point here is that your business should support your life. Duncan says: "Do away with the notion that business and pleasure--selling and living--are two separate things. Selling and living must complement themselves." (p. 72).

If you're working 80-90 hours a week, you're guilty of moonlighting.

What do you think about this? Have you ever been guilty of posing? I'm trying to create more skilled entrepreneurs. Do you think this helps?

This is some of the stuff that will go into my entrepreneurship course. The ideas in it supply the life's blood of my professional activities: teaching, writing, and real estate. For entrepreneurial real estate go to www.yourstopforrealestate.com/blog and for entrepreneurial writing to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot/com.

Todd Duncan's Sales Mistake #2: Posing, part 2.

Duncan rightly ascribes sales success to learning the language of your prospects. He says, "to do away with posing and close sales in an effective manner, you must communicate in the language that is most easily understood by your prospects and clients, and that language is trust." [p. 34]

On pages 34-6, Duncan identifies five traits that communicate trust:

1. Timeliness: Talk to people only when they expect you to do so.

2. Relevance: Talk to them only about what they care about.

3. Understanding: Understand their needs before you try to sell them something.

4. Sincerity: Treat your customers with respect.

5. Thoroughness: Cover all the bases. Don't make them wait for you to get back to them.

I would update Duncan by adding authenticity and permission. Authenticity in that your communication comes from your heart and is not put on. Permission, such that you have their permission to talk to them.

If you don't have their permission, ask for it. It's the basis of all successful interactions.

See Todd Duncan, Killing the Sale; the 10 Fatal Mistakes Salespeople make and how to avoid them. (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2004).

What do you think about this? Have you ever been guilty of posing? I'm trying to create more skilled entrepreneurs. Do you think this helps?

This is some of the stuff that will go into my entrepreneurship course. The ideas in it supply the life's blood of my professional activities: teaching, writing, and real estate. For entrepreneurial real estate go to www.yourstopforrealestate.com/blog and for entrepreneurial writing to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot/com.

Todd Duncan's Sales Mistake #2: Posing, part 1.

Todd Duncan, a pretty smart guy, and I took away many things in his book. This is specifically about sales, but since entrepreneurs are salespeople, they are words to live by. They help in everyday life, too.

He defines posing as "trying to sell before training to sell." (p. 17). He calls it "in the merciless worlds of sales...the equivalent of putting on on a clown suit and jumping into a corral with a two-thousand-pound rodeo bull." (p. 19)

He calls this "improvisational selling [p. 21]," and on pages 22-28 points to six ways to know if you are merely improvising:

1. False Confidence, such that "you never cultivate a genuine self-image."

2. Accidental Success, such that your results are never productive nor consistent."

3. Selling Reluctance, such that you "make a point to sell something you are really proud of selling."

4. Under performing Clients, "you...give them no reason to return to you or refer them to others."

5. Overworking: pursuing "a hit-and-miss approach to selling. If one costume doesn't work on the prospect, then you...try it on another." If not on that second on the third, and so on.

6. Job Turnover: "posing leads to short-lived sales positions."

This comes from Todd Duncan, Killing the Sale; the 10 Fatal Mistakes Salespeople make and how to avoid them. (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2004).

What do you think about this? Have you ever been guilty of it? I'm trying to create more skilled entrepreneurs. Do you think this helps?

This is some of the stuff that will go into my entrepreneurship course. The ideas in it supply the life's blood of my professional activities: teaching, writing, and real estate. For entrepreneurial real estate go to www.yourstopforrealestate.com/blog and for entrepreneurial writing to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot/com.

Todd Duncan's Sales Mistake #1: Hyping.

Hyping, "relying on 'you can do it' propaganda to maintain your sales motivation." )p. 1) It's relying on external stimulation to gain energy and maintain your enthusiasm for selling. He would say you have to put yourself into the equation, find your true motive. Only then will you be successful and feel satisfied.

I agree with Duncan on all these points. You should get a copy of the book and read it. And if you feel like you've been guilty on this count, go through the exercise he suggests on pp. 12-14.

This comes from Todd Duncan, Killing the Sale; the 10 Fatal Mistakes Salespeople make and how to avoid them. (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2004).

What do you think about this? Have you ever been guilty of it? I'm trying to create more skilled entrepreneurs. Do you think this helps?

This is some of the stuff that will go into my entrepreneurship course. The ideas in it supply the life's blood of my professional activities: teaching, writing, and real estate. For entrepreneurial real estate go to www.yourstopforrealestate.com/blog and for entrepreneurial writing to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot/com.

Core Mission

Okay, you have your entrepreneurial capital in line. You've ramped up your passion, honed your leadership skills. You're expanding your network, and you have some money to devote to this project. What is your core mission in life? What are your core vales? What were you put on earth to do? What satisfies you? How will you know if you are successful? These are questions each of us needs to get a handle on in our lives.

Todd Duncan, in Killing the Sale; the 10 Fatal Mistakes Salespeople Make and How to Avoid Them. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2004, says:

Success in sales has everything to do with keeping personal priorities. In other words, salespeople can increase their success only by putting boundaries on their businesses that help them up hold and promote their priorities throughout the day. If you don't put boundaries on your business, you'll never achieve balance in your life. Success by definition is supposed to produce satisfaction. Therefore, your sales career, if it is successful, should produce more life satisfaction. But if you don't know what makes you a satisfied person in the first place, you'll frequently invest time in things that don't matter and strive for things that don't add value to your life. [p.73]

Duncan has an exercise that you can use to help you answer these questions. He says it is you can find it at www.killingthesale.com, but when I checked on it, Google said it's not around. If you want to follow up, email me and I'll send it to you.

I first did this exercise in the fall of 2006. I was given the book and read it on vacation just to see what it was about. It turned out to be revolutionary in my life, and I'm going to go further into it in this blog. No I do it every 6-9 months to make sure I'm still on track.

This is some of the stuff that will go into my entrepreneurship course. The ideas in it supply the life's blood of my professional activities: teaching, writing, and real estate. For entrepreneurial real estate go to www.yourstopforrealestate.com/blog and for entrepreneurial writing to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot/com.