Can I Have 5 Minutes of Your Time?: A No-Nonsense, Fun Approach to Sales from Xerox's Former #1 Salesperson

by Hal Becker

Overview

This national bestselling book on sales strategies and techniques is a “fast read” because “Becker knows what he’s talking about” (Business Week).

Can I Have 5 Minutes of Your Time? is one of the bestselling books on sales to come along in over twenty years. The ideas and concepts inside have been used by tens of thousands of people to increase their sales performance, from the novice to the seasoned professional. Hal Becker understands that hard work, common sense and close attention to customer needs are trademarks of a good salesman. His book echoes that same insight for those who want to achieve sales success.

A great training manual for anyone involved in sales.” —Allbusiness.com

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781600379185
Publisher:	Morgan James Publishing
Publication date:	12/31/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	204
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Hal Becker is a nationally known expert on Sales, Customer Service, and Negotiating. He conducts seminars or consults to more than 140 organizations a year. His client list includes IBM, Disney, New York Life, Continental Airlines, Verizon, Terminix, AT&T, Pearle Vision, Cintas, and hundreds of other companies and associations. At the age of 22, he became the #1 salesperson among a national sales force of 11,000, for the Xerox Corporation. Six years later in 1983, he survived terminal cancer only months after launching Direct Opinions, one of America's first customer service telemarketing firms that facilitates more than two million calls per year with offices throughout the U.S.A. and Canada. In 1990, Hal sold Direct Opinions to devote time for consulting and presenting lectures around the world. He has been featured in publications including The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Inc Magazine, Nations Business and hundreds of newspapers and Radio/TV stations around the world.

Table of Contents

Foreword     xiii
How To Get More Dates     xiii
Acknowledgements     xv
Ten Steps...to Getting the Most out of This Book - and Out of Life!     xvii
What It Takes to Be the Best     1
Desire and attitude are vital     1
All of us sell every day     2
"I'll never go back there again!"     3
Picasso, Renoir, and Jones     4
The plumber's secret     5
The fable of the two woodsmen     6
How to be the cream of the crop     7
Think back (shudder!) to the last time you bought a car     8
12:00! 12:00! 12:00!     10
Do you sell confusion?     14
Take the winning athlete's approach     15
What's new under the sun?     16
All you need to know about human relations     17
The Five Habits of a Top Salesperson     21
These five habits will set you apart from the pack     21
How to make resolutions that work     23
The secret of the top pros - in sales and sports     30
Working smarter is fine as long as you keep working harder     31
Make it fun!     32
Effective Listening is Essential for Effective Selling     35
Favorable attitudes and listening     35
How can you get customers to trust you?     36
How good a listener are you?     38
Spare-thinking time     39
Tips to help make you a better listener     41
Ask questions the way doctors do     43
Your job is to investigate and to satisfy the customer     44
Confidence: You Must Earn It. It's Worth It!     47
The benefits of confidence     47
You have to earn it and you can     48
How to make a positive impression     49
Price is rarely the issue     51
Testimonial: confidence sells     53
High-impact workout to build self-confidence     55
How bad can it get?     57
The Use of Questions in Selling     59
The art and absolute importance of using questions     59
It's not cheating. It's being prepared     60
The art of conversation and your class reunion     61
Questions give you the initiative     63
Questions allow you to tune in to your customer's style and needs     63
You have license to ask questions     64
The trial close: the question that establishes commitment     65
How to use questions to probe for real wants and needs     66
The anatomy of a real live sales call in eight steps     70
The girl of my dreams     78
Another proof: the art of cross-examination     81
Simplify!     81
Make Columbo your hero     82
Remember Dale Carnegie?     85
Overcoming Objections     87
How to understand and handle objections     87
Techniques that help you deal with objections     87
Gang up on objections     89
Why do you want objections? Consider these amazing facts     90
When the girl of my dreams says no     90
Cold Call Selling     93
There are only two ways to get new business, and they aren't marketing and advertising     93
When you really want to dance     94
The truth about Babe Ruth     95
Which is better, in person or by phone?     96
How many cold calls do you make each day? Consistency counts     97
Smarter, okay. Harder, yes!     98
The screen     100
Screens were not born yesterday     101
Work while you wait     103
Your cold call is not a sales call     104
You can learn a lot on 1,400 tours     105
When to take a rain check     106
How would you like to get six days of work done in five?     107
Bob's secret     107
My favorite blizzard     108
How to use the telephone in cold calling     109
A great phone technique with the screen     114
Fax Becker     115
A strategy for under a buck for prospects who won't return your calls     116
Another technique that works and costs less than a buck     117
Customer Care     121
To your customers, your company is you and everyone in it     121
Pray for problems     122
What to do when your contact keeps changing     123
It's 4:45 on a Friday afternoon     124
When customers don't know what they want     126
Take care of your customers: the satisfied ones and the dissatisfied ones     127
How to make your customers comfortable with the decision to buy     128
Protect your reputation     129
"The Guy in the Glass"     130
The dissatisfied customer     131
The nicest thing about the 2000's     133
You have more dissatisfied customers than you realize!     134
Smarter? No. Angrier? Yes!     135
A week in the life of a customer      136
Reputation: it's all you've got     138
How about dessert? And-on sales     139
A Case in Point     141
What does the customer want? Let's look again at the car dealership on your corner     141
Goal Setting and Time Management     147
Goals: your rudder     147
Two ways to save time on proposals     150
Setting goals     151
Manage your time if you want to succeed     153
A {dollar}10 daily planner will change your life!     155
How to plan your day     157
For a buck or so, you can get highly organized     158
Keep it all in perspective     160
The Art of Closing     163
When should you close?     164
So you don't die     165
Do you think it's harder than it is?     167
Symptoms of unnecessary fear of closing     168
Traits of a successful closer     169
Half the game is in watching     171
I took the manual off the shelf and made it a game     172
The order blank close     173
The alternative choice close     174
The free trial a.k.a. puppy close     174
The Ben Franklin close      177
The call back close     178
The lost sale close     178
The "I'll think it over" close     179
The question close     179
The similar situation close     180
Develop flexibility and variety     181
From the buyer's side     182
Getting through the valleys     183
Why salespeople fail: David Sandler's four general assumptions     185
About the Author     191
More Information     193
Sales Warranty Card     195
The 10 Simple Steps of Sales Success     197
Notes     199

Editorial Reviews

Hal Becker understands that hard work, common sense and close attention to customer needs are trademarks of a good salesman. His book echoes that same insight for those who want to achieve sales success.

From the Publisher