I just finished reading “The Ultimate Sales Machine” By: Chet Holmes.

I really loved the book and got a lot out of it, any book about sales, marketing and branding is always something I am interested in and looking to learn more in.

In the ultimate sales machine chet shares 12 key strategies to turbocharge your business and take it to the next level.

Here are the 12 strategies…

1.Time Management secrets of Billionaires – In this chapter chet shares with you secrets of time management that he learned from billionaire charlie munger.  There are six steps to time management according to this chapter.  They are…

1. Touch it once

2. Make Lists

3. Plan how much time you will allocate to each task

4. Plan the day

5. Prioritize

6. Ask yourself “Will it hurt me to throw this away?”

2. Institute higher standards and regular training – What you inspect get’s respected.  The higher standards you set the more your employees and organization will live up to them.  Regular training is important, it’s a must to keep your team running like a fine tuned machine that becomes more productive and efficient daily.

3. Executing Effective Meetings – These are important because the more connected and aligned your company is the more effective everyone will be.  Focus on the three P’s, they are “Planning, procedures and policies”

4. Become A Brilliant Strategist – Most leaders are tactical meaning they get one thing done at a time and work on one thing at a time.  The best leaders are tactical in the moment, getting things done and being productive but they also are strategic in the fact that these tactics are a smaller part of the bigger strategy which benefits them as well.  Be a tactical and strategic leader and you will be more effective in your organization.  One more tip, be an education based marketer who teaches then sells not just a salesperson.  Experts make more money than salespeople.

5. Hire Superstars – One thing I really loved from this chapter was “DISC personality” this is an acronym that stands for different personality types.

D – Dominance – These people are dominant.  Their ego’s are a big part of their lives… this is not necessarily good or bad.  Trump and Hitler are both examples of dominant personality types.

I – Influencer – High influence people love people, they are naturally empathetic, easily putting themselves in other people’s situations and understanding their points of view.

S – Steadiness – With these types of people it’s about how patient and thoughtful you are.

C – Compliance – These people are about structure and organization and they always plan ahead.

No trait is “The best” what you want to look for is an ability to possess multiple traits and use them effectively.  I would say that I am mostly Influencer and somewhat compliance personality type.

6. The High Art Of Getting The Best Buyers – This is simple! Have affiliates, be the best you can be and ask for referrals.  Give the most value you possibly can for the price and ask for referrals.  You can do this one, just over deliver every time.

7. The Seven Musts Of Marketing – The 7 musts of marketing are 7 ways you can and should be marketing to have an effective marketing campaign and presence in the market.

They are…

1. Advertising

2. Direct Mail

3. Corporate Literature: brochures and promotional pieces

4. Public Relations

5. Personal Contact: Salespeople and customer service

6. Market Education: Trade shows, speaking engagements, education based marketing.

7. Internet: websites, email marketing and affiliates

8. The Eyes Have it – One of the biggest mistakes salespeople and marketers make is to not use visuals.  The effectiveness of whatever you are presenting or selling increases dramatically when you include visuals with color.  Certain colors have certain effects on people so be sure to understand that, you can read more about that in the “Color Affects Marketing” post here.

9. The Nitty Gritty Of Getting The Best Buyers – A great approach to get your dream clients is to make a list of your 100 dream clients, then get a gift (useful one) and send them a letter with that gift giving them something for free… this is the front-end of your education based marketing.  It could be a report, a presentation or anything that is of value to them that also positions you and your company as a solution that can help them cut costs or increase profit or do whatever it is that you do.

10. Sales Skills – Establish Rapport, Qualify The Buyer, Build Value, Create Desire, Overcome Objections, Close the sale.  I’m getting sick of typing! Pick up the book to learn those in more detail! it’s juicy!

11. Follow Up & Client Bonding Skills – Be sure to follow up after the sale, send a follow up letter that tells them how else you can help them.  That letter should include a compliment, a story (from meeting) and a close.

12. All Systems Go – In order to make all of this as successful and beneficial as possible you need to set goals, measure effectiveness and activate your master plan.   Be sure to track and follow what’s working and what’s not, keep what’s working and dump what’s not.  Spend time giving more value than you are getting paid in return.  Develop personal relationships with business clients to build loyalty with them so that they want to continue doing business with you.

This book was amazing,  I really got a lot out of it and be sure to pick up this book and thanks to Chet Holmes for writing it!

Pick up the book below and take care!

David King