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Every salesperson gets a report card every day. Most salespeople ignore it.

Every time a customer gives you an order, he or she is grading you for your quality, your value and how you compare against what else is out there in the market.

The rest of the report card you get from customers and prospects requires listening and understanding, thinking and observing – discerning is the word. It means to perceive or recognize something barely visible to others.

Grading yourself on a sale is an easy grade.

What about your other grades?

No one actually gives you a card with grades on it. Prospects and customers will tell you how you’re doing by their words and actions.

For example, when a prospective customer says, “Great question! No one ever asked me that before,” that is an EXCELLENT grade. Try to get at least one of those per day.

Or existing customers say, “WOW!” when proactively responding to a service call they placed an hour ago to comment on what happened. That is an EXCELLENT grade. Try to get at least one of those per week.

Then there are the subtle grades. Grades that prove you’re making progress and you have the customers’ attention. When the customers or the prospects say, “I didn’t know that,” or they say, “I’m glad you told me that,” or better, they say, “I wish we had more suppliers like you,” that is high praise. A great grade.

It should be music to your ears when a customer says, “I wish all salespeople I talk to were as good as you.” That’s not praise. That’s a blessing.

Here are some other positive grades based on your customers’ actions:

• They think of more ways to use your business or your products BEFORE you suggest them.

• They call YOU to say thanks.

• They smile when they talk to you.

• They call you to praise an individual in your company.

• You get a testimonial letter – unsolicited.

• You are invited to join an inside supplier group (asked to participate or speak).

• They ask you out for lunch.

• They offer you tickets or invite you to an event.

All good marks – some great marks. Some of these marks might indicate that loyalty is emerging.

But there are also REALITY MARKS on your report card. I gave you all the pretty ones, all the nice ones. Now it’s time for the bad ones:

• No return phone call.

• They told you your price was too high.

• They stood you up for an appointment.

• They hung up on you.

• The prospect refused a meeting or an appointment.

• You got underbid.

• You got outsold.

There are lots of others, but I think you get the idea.

NOTE: You don’t get a “B” for a bad mark – you get a ZERO. Unless you BLAME. If you blame, you get a SUB-zero rating for ducking responsibility.

Back to the good marks. You never get the bad ones anyway, right?

There are three TOP marks. Here are the biggest three marks and most profitable marks you can get on your sales AND profit report card:

MARK ONE: You get an unsolicited re-order. What a profitable and rewarding surprise. You got it because you earned it.

MARK TWO: You get an unsolicited referral. One of your customers has urged a potential customer to call you with a desire to do business. This is a REAL high mark. It means your customer is willing to risk a business relationship with someone else, in favor of the trust he or she has have for you.

MARK THREE: You become a trusted adviser to your customer.

Jeffrey Gitomer can be reached by phone at (704) 333-1112 or by e-mail at salesman@gitomer.com. © 2007 Jeffrey H. Gitomer