The Ultimate Sales Machine summary

Imagine this scenario: a salesman from a carpet-cleaning company visits an old lady’s house. She asks him to take her dirty rug to be cleaned and, as he rolls up the rug, he notices that the the pad underneath is dirty and threadbare. Surely, it needs replacing, but the salesman doesn’t want to come across as pushy, and so he doesn’t make the pitch to sell a replacement rug.

This sales approach sure won’t bring in many customers. To avoid lost opportunities like this, you should ensure your team is well-trained.

Imagine this scenario: two furniture stores open in the same city and, within four years, the first has grown by 10 percent annually and remains a single-store location. The other store, however, grows into a six-store firm within the same time span. What did they do differently?

Furniture Store 2 engaged in the more effective marketing approach: namely, education-based marketing. In other words, rather than just trying to sell its products, Furniture Store 2 actually educated its customers about everything involving its brand.

Have you ever had to work with someone who didn’t fit into your team? This isn’t just bad news for them; in fact, the average “bad hire” costs a company a whopping $60,000.

It’s therefore vital that your business attract and find the right candidates – which is especially true for your sales team. So how can you ensure that you acquire the best people for the job?

Imagine you’re a company that sells office equipment. To attract clients, you’ll probably advertise your services by sending mail to all the companies in your area.

However, this strategy isn’t very productive. In fact, chances are that only a small minority of people will actually contact you. So what can you do to improve your advertising?

Many companies spend loads of money marketing their various products. Yet, their marketing strategies often aren’t connected to one another. Instead, they use isolated campaigns without any formal unity, such as radio ads, direct mail, public relations efforts or internet advertising.

This kind of marketing strategy won’t give you the best bang for your buck, so you’ll need to find another way, for example:

If you plan to pitch your services to potential clients, you’ll likely be asked to make presentations to audiences at conferences and marketing events. Your success on the podium depends on how compelling your presentation is.

Unfortunately, though, the majority of the audience will only remember about 20 percent of what you said. That’s why you need to find other ways to hold their interest.

Unfortunately, your dream clients are not out there just waiting for you to make a sales pitch. In fact, they probably have no idea who you are. So how do you create awareness and interest in you and your company?

One method is to send letters and gifts to your Dream 100, i.e., the clients you wish you had, but don’t. In order to attract their attention, send them a letter every two weeks offering them something they’ll value. For example, if you’re a media consultant, you could offer them a free web seminar about industry trends and challenges in the media industry.

Although you’ve now made contact with your dream clients, you haven’t made the sale just yet. They might still hesitate even after you’ve convinced them that it’s in their best interest to buy.

So what can you do now to seal the deal?

Getting a sale is cause for celebration, but if you want to build the Ultimate Sales Machine, your job’s not over yet: you have to follow up post-sale to keep your clients. But what’s the best way to go about it?

They key is to develop superior follow-up procedures that will produce more business with your client.

Picture yourself wandering through a busy train station. There are a million things happening all around: advertisements vie for your attention and a thousand conversations take place simultaneously, yet you can ignore all of it when, suddenly, somebody calls your name and your attention is immediately drawn to them.

How is this possible?

When you enter your office every morning, you’re probably confronted by stacks of emails and memos waiting for your attention. As the day progresses, more of them accumulate in your inbox and you react to these new memos instead of finishing what you wanted to do.

How can you avoid this?

The key message in this book:

According to Chet Holmes, every business can double its sales by applying just one of his twelve key strategies with iron discipline and determination. These strategies give businesses the tools they need to attract their dream clients, hire superstar salespeople and outpace their competitors.