Lord Coe's Paralympics inspiration to selling

Whether Lord Coe sees himself as a successful salesperson I am not sure, but he  and his team not only sold the winning bid for London 2012  all those years ago, but have seen the project all the way through.


There is much talk and expectation of legacy and asking how the slogan " Inspire a generation" will really turn out beyond the rhetoric and hype.


Lord Coe, himself a two-time Olympic 1500m champion, said at the opening of the Paralympics opening show last night :

"Sport is about what you can do,

 what you can achieve,

 the limits you can reach,

the barriers you can break.

Sport shows what is possible.

Sport refuses to take no for an answer."

"And everything sport stands for we are going to see right here, right now. Everything sports stands for we are going to experience with these Paralympic Games."

His words are inspirational and it got me thinking that the endeavours of both sport and selling have parallels.

Substitute the sports word for selling and his words become .....

My sketch of a blade runner

"Selling  is about what you can do,

 what you can achieve,

the limits you can reach,

 the barriers you can break.

Selling shows what is possible. 

Selling refuses to take no for an answer."

So here is another set of 5  to add to our 5-a-day series of selling tips inspired by the paralympians.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

 

       26.       Ask my manager for help and support with critical calls.

       In the opening parade at the Paralympics the athletes entered the stadium with members of their support team including  technicians, sports psychologists  even their guide dogs  !

        27.       Make more appointments – don’t just call on the off chance.
        Like paralympians realise that the word 'success' comes before 'work' in a dictionary!

28.       Don’t pounce.

As with paralympians salespeople need to listen patience and interest.

29.       Use appreciation technique for answering objections.
Don't argue and contradict rather persuade clients.

     30.    Make a list of objections you meet most often,  and prepare answers  for them.

Like paralympians learn from your mistakes and by getting it right.


For some worked examples click this link
http://fruitsofsuccesswithhugh.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/5-of-most-common-sales-objections-and.html