Recently I attended a webinar by Tom Batchelder of Perficency, the author of "Barking Up A Dead Horse" (isn't that a great title!?) on why stalled deals happen. Tom did an excellent and clear job in laying out the causes and in giving people some suggestions on what they can,or can't, do about it. While the slides here speak for themselves, I would pay special attention to slides 5 and 10-14. If the slide viewer is small, notice the "Full Screen" button in the titlebar.Incidentally, I respect and agree with Perficency's intention for salespeople: "Get real! Be yourself to sell more". Amen!
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Build A Sales Machine
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Why Stalled Deals Happen
5 Jun 2009 | 11:07 am -
5 Questions with Aaron Ross: How to Make $ and the Most Out of Life! (Genius.com post)
1 May 2009 | 6:55 pmI just did a blog post for Genius.com touching on making money through enjoyment, leadgen and "Seeds, Nets & Spears", ColdCalling2.com, and more...Today I ask five questions of Aaron Ross. Aaron is an original and was one of the original sales guys at salesforce.com. While at salesforce.com, he inventedCold Calling 2.0 for his inside sales team that sourced $100 million in recurring revenue. Aaron Ross founded PebbleStorm to help people and CEOs “make money through enjoyment.” Prior to founding PebbleStorm, Aaron Ross was an EIR (Entrepreneur-in-Residence) at Alloy Ventures, a venture… -
Create Predictable Pipeline By Moving Prospects Through an "Assembly Line"
2 Apr 2009 | 10:17 amYou can't predictably create revenue without predictable pipeline, and that requires ways to measure and track how pipeline gets created. Here's how you can do that with your sales development reps / new business people.An effective, easy-to-use sales automation or CRM system makes it convenient now to use a simple idea, the assembly line, as a model to "manufacture new pipeline", implying a sales organization that can measurably, consistently and predictably produce new sales opportunities.Besides a marketable product, effective message, a sales automation system, and other tidbits necessary… -
Bessemer's Top 10 Laws for Being "SaaS-y"
13 Mar 2009 | 7:47 pmBessemer Ventures collected a great set of learnings around what it takes to build a successful SaaS ("Software-as-a-Service") company: Bessemer's Top 10 Laws for Being "SaaS-y". It's excellent! Your key monthly business metrics are: CMRR (Committed Monthly Recurring Revenue), Churn, and Cash flow - “Bookings” is for suckers Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) and Customer LifeTime Value (CLTV) are the best indicators of long term value creation Tune before you scale: the Sales Learning Curve is even more critical for SaaS and it takes at least $300k MRR to climb it. Stop at three sales reps… -
DataSalad: "Fresh B2B Marketing Data"
9 Mar 2009 | 8:03 pmLast year, Brian Mackley of Tech Advocacy and I started a business called DataSalad, to offer marketing lists based around the user and customer lists of vendors (such as lists of salesforce.com or NetSuite customers).We created DataSalad because we were sick of all the "junky" lists and data sources out there. DataSalad creates databases of contacts and companies through primary data-gathering and research, and guarantees them. Like organic food, which costs a little more but is worth it, we build quality lists, not quantity lists, that deliver more bang for your buck.So many companies now…
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Heavy Hitter Sales Blog
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The Truth About Older (50+) Salespeople
15 Jun 2009 | 7:03 amIt hard times for salespeople (and sales managers) over 50 today. As companies downsize, they find themselves five times more likely to be let go when compared to their younger counterparts. They also have a more difficult time finding new jobs because younger sales managers have five basic fears about hiring someone older than themselves: They are Un-coachable. Younger sales managers fear older salespeople are set in their ways and won’t take their directions. They aren’t Technically Savvy. Younger sales managers fear they haven’t ingrained technology (PDAs, e-mail, and… -
7 Reasons Why Indy Racing is Like Sales
23 May 2009 | 3:18 pmOver the years I have met some pretty interesting people on airplanes—people both famous and unknown, from all walks of life. One of the most fascinating conversations I ever had was with a fellow named Scott Goodyear on a flight to Indianapolis. We were seated next to each other and started chatting. When I asked him what he did for a living, he replied that he was a former Indy racecar driver who now works as a television race commentator. For the next three hours we had the most fascinating discussion about racing and life in general. As he spoke about his racing days, I could not help… -
Recession Sales Management: Reassign Accounts
1 May 2009 | 7:10 amIn eleventh century England, King William was making preparations to go hunting in the forest. As he was getting ready with his attendants, six exquisitely crafted arrows were presented to him. After praising their craftsmanship, he kept four for himself and handed two to the knight of Poix. “It is only right,” he said, “that the sharpest should be given to the man who knows how to shoot the deadliest shots.” Usually, it is a very difficult judgment call for a manager to reassign an important account from one salesperson to another. Whether the change is initiated by the… -
5 Recession Sales Tips (Einstein, Insanity & You)
16 Apr 2009 | 6:09 amThe saying “If it were easy everybody would be doing it” certainly applies to selling today. It requires more effort, skill, and courage than ever before to achieve sales success. With this in mind, here are five recession sales tips. 1. Crank Up the “New” Call Volume. With less business happening, your ability to take deals away from your competition is the most critical factor that will determine your success this year. Therefore, you must unabashedly contact and strategically penetrate your archrival’s customer base. This should be one of your top goals during a… -
Handling Tough Questions and Congressman Calvert
31 Mar 2009 | 7:15 amThe best way to improve your skills and learn something new is by studying a successful practitioner. That’s why I always provide examples based upon role models in my books and on my blog. For instance, in Heavy Hitter Selling I review Ronald Reagan’s communication techniques so they can be emulated. In Heavy Hitter Sales Wisdom I compare the speaking styles of Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and John Kerry so that the reader can better understand his own. On my blog, I have written about the language patterns of Barack Obama to introduce concepts of neurolinguistics (the study of how the…
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Understanding the Sales Force
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Sales Management Requires a Different Mindset Than Sales
1 Jul 2009 | 2:08 pmUnderstanding the Sales Force by Dave KurlanIt was on the corner of 82nd Street and 37th Avenue in Queens where 12 year-old Mark Berezow learned to approach strangers and provide them with some compelling reasons to vote for his friend's dad. He believes that experience had a great impact on his ability to sell, manage salespeople and for the past 20 years, help companies grow their sales.Mark was my guest on this week's episode of Meet the Sales Experts.Mark shared some great insights about sales management, specifically how the the sales management mindset differs from the sales… -
10 Steps to Record-Breaking Sales Revenues
29 Jun 2009 | 10:17 pmUnderstanding the Sales Force by Dave KurlanWhen things loosen up (and things will loosen up) and companies and consumers both begin spending money again, you could be in for a significant windfall. You may even have some record breaking revenue months if, and it's a big if, you have your sales force doing all of the right things, even while companies and consumers aren't spending money.Here are ten requirements for having and continuing to have record-breaking months in the not-too-distant future:1) Over stuff the pipeline. Just because opportunities are being placed on hold,… -
Sales Are Probably Down if You're Doing These Three Things...
26 Jun 2009 | 5:03 amUnderstanding the Sales Force by Dave Kurlan"When your market isn't growing, it is not business as usual and holding your breath and hoping is not the right strategy." This according to Casey Coffman, my guest on the most recent episode of Meet the Sales Experts. He went on to say that if you sell the same thing, to the same people, the same way that you did 16 months ago, he would be shocked if your sales aren't down. Casey talked about the importance of confidence, courage and conviction, especially in this economy and he shed some light on CEO's who are still stuck in… -
Why Most Sales Training Doesn't Work
24 Jun 2009 | 1:22 pmUnderstanding the Sales Force by Dave KurlanIf you invest in sales training, especially now, you also need it to work now, not in 12 months. Why does it take so long for most sales training to make a difference and why does most sales training fail to make the difference you expect? There are a lot of possible reasons and I'll attempt to explain them here. Sales trainers want to sell sales training so they skip or gloss over the more important issues likea sales force evaluation to determine the real issues and answer questions about possibilities;helping you create the appropriate… -
Sales and Sales Leadership Lessons from Lou Piniella and the Umpire
22 Jun 2009 | 10:55 pmUnderstanding the Sales Force by Dave KurlanLast night on the MLB Network, I heard Don Denkinger, a former major league baseball umpire, tell a very funny story about former Yankee player and current Cubs manager Lou Piniella.The pitch came across the plate and Denkinger called strike one.Piniella thought the pitch was low, turned, and asked, "where was that pitch at?"Denkinger responded, "Lou, don't you know that you can't end a question with a preposition?"Piniella steamed for a moment and called time out. "OK, where was that pitch at, ass hole?"There are some great sales and sales…
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Jill Konrath - Selling to Big Companies
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Top Sales Resources, June 2009
30 Jun 2009 | 6:27 amSelling to Big CompaniesAn Interview with Jill Konrath David Wolf from Smallbiz America asks me lots of questions about how entrepreneurs can land bigger corporate clients. As you might imagine, I have a few things to say! Click here to listen in.Don't Cold Call, Social CallBy Nigel Edelshain, Sales 2.0Learn how to prospect with Sales 2.0 tools and social networks. Just one of the techniques in this ebook causes an approximately 8x improvement over a cold call. Click here to get your free copy. Top Sales Experts Share Their Top ArticlesThis free ebook features articles by a whole bunch of… -
A Great $20 Investment to Increase Your Sales
25 Jun 2009 | 6:19 amBecause I've been in the sales field a long time, it's not often that I come across material that really stretches my own thinking. That is until I read Buying Facilitation: The New Way to Sell that Influences & Expands Decisionsby Sharon Drew Morgen.The author offers a truly fresh perspective on selling. In short, she shows you how to become a true consultant to your buyers, by teaching your buyers how to make sense of their buying decisions. More specifically, you'll discover new ways to: Differentiate yourself from your competition. Help your buyers bring all their… -
Web Leads: Pounce, Pause, Nurture or Wait?
24 Jun 2009 | 7:20 amMike Damphousse, CEO and CMO of Green-Leads approached me with a great question the other day. Leadlander, a Sales 2.0 company, tracks when people visit your site and lets you know when it's happening. Here's what Mike asked ... Within a day or two of sending an initial email to someone, leaving a phonemail or posting a blog article or tweet, I see they (or someone from their company) have visited our site.How aggressively do I go after them? Do I pounce immediately? Do I pause and call shortly thereafter? Do I just nurture them? Do I wait a couple days then call?Great question! Mike… -
Want Expert Sales Training Without Paying the Big Bucks? Then check out these videos ...
23 Jun 2009 | 7:27 amRecently I was invited to New York City by The Customer Collective to be filmed for their new video tutorial series, "Access to the Experts." I was joined by Josh Gordon, author of Selling 2.0 and social media expert Richard Nacht. We were asked tough questions on hot sales topics - and we shared our best stuff. Check out these new F'R'E'E video tutorials at: http://tinyurl.com/accesstoexperts What's the Secret to Customer Loyalty in a Disloyal World? Jill Konrath (Yup! That's me!), author of Selling to Big CompaniesIn my videos, I share my unconventional… -
Must Watch Video: Triumph of the Human Spirit
20 Jun 2009 | 9:46 amIn a Chinese modern dance competition, one unique couple won a top prize. The lady was a dancer who'd trained since she was a little girl. Later in life, she lost her entire right arm in an accident and fell into a state of depression.Someone then asked her to coach a children's dance group. From that point on, she knew she needed to dance again. It took a long time before she could even make simple turns or spins without falling. With only one arm, it was hard to balance.Then she heard of a man who'd lost a leg in an accident and fallen into a depression. She was determined to persuade him…
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Professional Outside Sales
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I Was Not Amazed and Didn’t Want to Buy the Super Widget
29 Jun 2009 | 6:24 pm -
Into the Education File…
27 Jun 2009 | 8:04 amSome people have the forethought to avoid mistakes, I’m not always one of those people… I like to charge ahead and make mistakes… learn from them and charge again. This attitude of jumping in with both feet can get me into trouble and not liked by everyone. I think it helps me be a better sales person… sales people need that drive. When I screw up at work my manager is great, he allows me to understand why it went wrong and then ends the conversation with “put this one into the education file”… that simple statement from him lets me know I screwed… -
No Appointment is a Waste of Time
23 Jun 2009 | 10:52 amI was traveling with my manager when I was still ‘new’ to the industry and we went into an appointment where we knew we were not one of the current suppliers. During the meeting we learned that there was little chance of becoming a supplier because of previous commitments. The meeting was professional and we walked out with an understanding if anything changed they would call us or we could call on them anytime. I received the following positive points from the meeting; I was able to meet another long standing business owner in a small industry I developed a better understanding… -
Don’t Be a Topper
17 Jun 2009 | 11:04 amAs sales people we have a built in ego and commitment to be the best… don’t let this ability turn you into a Topper… no one likes a Topper. -
Top 100 Sales Blogs
15 Jun 2009 | 7:02 pmOur blog was recently featured with the Top 100 Blogs to Boost Your Sales Skills.
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Ad Sales Blog
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Are we in a social media advertising bubble?
29 Jun 2009 | 2:35 amToday's issue of Media Week lays out a compelling case making the current enthusiasm for social media sound a lot like the "irrational exuberance" leading up to the dot com bubble crash of 2001. Consider: "The fact is, it's a good bet these social networking sites will never figure out a workable business model because there may not be one. On the internet, it's accepted faith that if you build traffic, revenue will follow, typically from advertising. But it simply may not apply to social networking sites such as MySpace, Twitter and Facebook. That's… -
Will there be print media in 10 years?
27 Jun 2009 | 5:56 amNO! Rubert Murdock, News Corp CEO "Within ten years, I believe nearly all newspapers will be delivered to you digitally, either on your PC or a new—on a development of the Kindle..." Read the whole interview NO! Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO "...within 10 years all traditional content will be digital and yet, Google aside, publishers are failing to generate serious digital revenues." Read the whole speech YES! Readers. Let's not forget the readers. When asked if newspapers and magazines will exist in 10 years... (From a survey by The Rosen Group as reported by Mr. -
Free sales training videos on selling through a recession
22 Jun 2009 | 12:42 pmJosh Gordon, is interviewed by Susanna Pollack, Sr.VP at BBC worldwide. In a series of three interviews Gordon reveals how to rethink, reorganize, and redevelop persuasion for effective recession selling. Part 1(Time 10:46) A recession is mo or so re than just selling in a slow time of sales, it is a highly strategic time where sellers who understand the patterns can gain advantage. Part 2 (Time 10:38) Reorganizing and refocusing for recession selling Part 3: (Time 15:46) Persuasion in a time of recession. Also, download Josh's award-winning report, "What is… -
Message to publishers: social media is now your business
16 Jun 2009 | 3:59 pmThe finding of my recent study should point the way for many traditional publishers. Social media is currently most often used as a general communications tool in public relations and marketing, but there is a major shift underway. In my research for the new white paper The Coming Change in Social Media Business Applications, I found that companies are now viewing social media as a primary tool of customer engagement, enabling lead generation, immediate customer contact, and customer interaction. Now for publishers who are paying close attention, all the ads and sponsorships you sell… -
Study: Reduced recession advertising = negative consumer perception
15 Jun 2009 | 3:02 amMore than 48% of U.S. adults believe that a lack of advertising by a retail store, bank, or auto dealership during a recession indicates the business must be struggling. Likewise, a vast majority perceives businesses that continue to advertise are competitive or committed to doing business. The latest Ad-ology Research study, “Advertising’s Impact in a Soft Economy,” analyzes consumer perception about businesses that continue to advertise, and those that do not, in the current economy. The study finds advertising appears to play a key role in consumers’ view of how a business is…
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B2B Lead Generation Blog
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B2B Marketing Zone launched
2 Jul 2009 | 6:45 amA new B2B marketing community that I am participating in was just launched. The B2B Marketing Zone is a marketing community site that was launched as collaborative effort between Tom Pick and Tony Karrer.The community features content from other B2B marketing bloggers I enjoy such as Ardath Albee (Marketing Interactions), Paul Dunay (Buzz Marketing for Technology) and Jon Miller (Modern B2B Marketing) as well many others. If you’re looking for insights from other experts in B2B marketing I recommend you check it out. -
On Lead generation: Insist on lead quality over quantity
1 Jul 2009 | 10:19 amUnder increased pressure to help drive revenue in this challenging market, many of us are tempted throw as many leads as we can to our sales team. We can tell ourselves that more leads is better because it lowers the cost-per-lead and gives the sales team more activity. But don’t be one of those lulled by this false sense of security. If you really want to make a difference in your company’s sales, dig deeper. Focus on metrics that go beyond cost-per-lead, and more importantly, focus on quality first then quantity. Do you know how many of your leads are actually impacting the sales… -
7 Tips on how B2B marketers can leverage social media
29 Jun 2009 | 7:15 amIn B2B sometimes we need to remind ourselves that people don’t buy from companies, they buy from people. That’s why why I think social media has a lot of potential for B2B marketers and sellers. Why? Social media tactics are wonderful for building and supporting business relationships and making yourself more available to connect with your current and future customers. If you are still on the fence or if you are still struggling with how to fully utilize social media, I encourage you to check our Ambal Balakrishnan’s article, “Tips on how B2B marketers should leverage social… -
Moving Marketing Leads to Sales Pipeline best practices data
23 Jun 2009 | 6:00 amA key challenge B2B lead generation is driving leads from the marketing funnel to the sales pipeline. MarketingSherpa just published a chart that shows which best practices are marketers NOT using to effectively manage their marketing-to-sales pipeline process. Check it out. The one that stands to me is the last one, "have a process for handing leads back to marketing" when they are not sales ready. We call that lead reengagement and it's a form of lead nurturing. Lead reengagement is one of the most powerful ROI tools marketers have available to them. Why? You're getting… -
Inbound lead nurturing presentation slides available
22 Jun 2009 | 7:07 amI had a great time with being a professor at the inbound marketing university. Here's my presentation deck on inbound lead nurturing (CV201) via #IMU for those who missed it. #8 IMU: Inbound Lead Nurturing (CV201)View more OpenOffice presentations from Hubspot Marketing. You can check out all the other classes or register at: http://www.inboundmarketing.com/university
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C-Level, Relationship Selling Blog
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Capturing C-Level Quality Leads
24 Jun 2009 | 8:22 pmLearn how to generate high quality leads with C-level executives using passive and active marketing effectively. -
C-Level Sales Management -- Helping Salespeople Handle Gatekeepers
22 Jun 2009 | 12:46 pmSales management can shorten sales cycles substantially. Sales people charge ahead until they are stopped by gatekeepers. That’s when sales starts to drag. This C-level sales management article provides proven coaching to prepare sales people to dodge the blocks that stall closing sales. -
C-Level Selling -- The First Rule for Handling Gatekeepers and Blockers
17 Jun 2009 | 4:17 pmThis C-level relationship selling article will help avoid and /or handle gatekeepers and blockers before they become impenetrable. -
C-Level Selling: Proposals and Presentations Strategy 30, Each Team Member Introduces Him/Herself
11 May 2009 | 8:04 amhttp://www.sammanfer.com/Proposals/Index.htm has 40 tips on Strategies for Winning Proposals and Presentations for sales managers, business development people, professionals and rainmakers. -
C-Level Selling: Proposals and Presentations Strategy 29, Hold Off on Handouts
8 May 2009 | 8:01 amhttp://www.sammanfer.com/Proposals/Index.htm has 40 tips on Strategies for Winning Proposals and Presentations for sales managers, business development people, professionals and rainmakers.
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CASKEY Sales Training
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Sales Podcast: Are Your Clients Really Loyal?
2 Jul 2009 | 10:00 amIn Bryan Neale’s absence this week, I enlisted Phil Bounsall of Walker Information to talk about the issue of client loyalty. As sales professionals, a loyal client is a referring client. And since most of us count on referrals to grow our business, keeping your eye on loyalty is a MUST DO. Phil has excellent insight and tips on how to improve client loyalty. -
You Say You’re Different, But Are You?
26 Jun 2009 | 10:00 amLast week I was with one of my clients who was thumbing through some resumes when he came across a marketing person’s application. On the resume in the summary it said, “I think differently than most people, and I can bring new ideas—out of the box thinking—to your business.” As I reached over and grabbed it and put it up in the air, I said, “This is part of the problem. A person sends this in on a resume just like the other hundred that you got, but says they’re different. The fact is they aren’t different. To you, the CEO or hiring authority, all of them look alike. Which… -
Sales Podcast: “How Do I Prospect When I’m Already Busy?”
25 Jun 2009 | 10:00 amIn this episode, Bill Caskey and Bryan Neale address a question from an audience member on how to prospect when you’re already busy. And Bryan reveals a communication technique that helps as you’re explaining to a prospect what you do. Watch the video below. Advanced Selling Podcast-June Episode from Bill Caskey on Vimeo. -
Think Big
24 Jun 2009 | 10:00 amI recently spoke at the Whale Hunting Women Summit (www.thewhalehunters.com) in Indianapolis. The idea behind Whale Hunting is that of conquering big deals, big clients, big ideas. All of the women who spoke had an incredible story of a whale they had harpooned, beached and harvested! I thought I would share the basis of my talk. I realized, when thinking about what I wanted to share, the biggest whale that I have to conquer (almost on a daily basis), is the crap that I put in my head—how I speak to myself, how I think about myself, how I don’t trust myself. I think all of us struggle… -
Sales Podcast: First Call Protocol
11 Jun 2009 | 11:31 amIn this week’s podcast, Bill is going “solo” and talks about the first call “protocol.” We’ve received a lot of mail recently on “filling the sales funnel,” but the first discussion you have with a prospect is still vital. You have to set the tone in the right way. And to do that, you MUST have the right frame of mind going in.
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The Growth Guy
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Number One Business Question
25 Jun 2009 | 12:26 pm"...keeping you great" HEADLINES: Half-day Rockefeller Habits Workshop -- last-minute addition -- July 30 Atlanta, GA -- it's the last workshop I'll lead in the U.S. before heading to Barcelona for a year...DetailsWho Are the 250 Most Important Relationships To Your Business? -- and who are the 50 most vital! This is a very powerful and strategic question -- the key question posed by Keith Ferrazzi on our Growth Series video webcast Tuesday. He's been sitting with CEOs of top companies around the world and working on this very question. We've started our list for… -
Why You Need One of These People in Your Business
19 Jun 2009 | 12:02 pm"...keeping you great" HEADLINES: Private Equity Firms -- do any of you have connections with Private Equity Firms? If so, let me know vharnish@gazelles.com -- thanks.Eleven-Page Must Read e-book -- Matt Heinz, Heinz Marketing, sent along his new e-book entitled Six Essential Social Media Tools for Every Small Business -- it's both concise and specific on what businesses should do re: Facebook, Linked In, Flickr, Blogs, YouTube, and Twitter. Review at your next one-hour marketing meeting (you have this meeting, right?).How Twitter Will Change the Way We Live -- Raghoo Potinii,… -
CEOs Only; Success Isn't Tied to Intelligence; Keith Ferrazzi Webcast
16 Jun 2009 | 11:59 am"...keeping you great" HEADLINES: (Learning opportunities) Keep your team smart -- Keith Ferrazzi LIVE Video Webcast -- Tuesday, June 23, noon -- 1:30pm ET (US) -- a dose of first class monthly execution education for your management team, but first...For CEO/Founder's Only (and former BOGers) -- join 35 top-notch CEOs from around the globe -- evening in suite at NY Met's new ball field with Hall of Famer; Jack Daly, Cameron Herold, Simon Sinek, Stephen Jagger, Jamie Flinchbaugh as faculty; Poker Tournament; 35 CEOs from MIT's "Birthing of Giants" executive… -
Bank Refuses to Finance New Stores -- Scott Nash's Response
12 Jun 2009 | 8:47 am"...keeping you great" HEADLINES:Best Year in Profits and Revenues in 23 Years -- Scott Nash, founder of MOM's Organic Markets, was filling out an application for "best business in Maryland" award. One of the questions "How have you made your company better as a result of the recession?" prompted the following answer, another indication that this "black swan" moment in our economy can provide once-in-a-lifetime opportunities...Bank Refuses to Finance New Stores... "This recession is one of the best things to happen to me as an entrepreneur. -
Richard Branson's Question; Number One Book; Ferrazzi Webcast June 23
9 Jun 2009 | 12:23 pm"...keeping you great" HEADLINES: Do You Have an Elegant Business? -- one that flows, is almost effortless, that scales naturally. This is the question that's been haunting me since I read pages 13 -- 15 in Keith Ferrazzi's new book Who's Got Your Back: The Breakthrough Program To Build Deep, Trusting Relationships That Create Success -- And Won't Let You Fail. Keith is the acclaimed author of Never Eat Alone. Join us June 23 for his 90 minute LIVE video webcast -- next in our "Growth Series" Number One Non-Fiction Book -- and this past weekend Who's…
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Garth's World
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How to Stay “At Will” Employed
29 Jun 2009 | 4:42 pmLast week I received an email from a friend of mine that matches a commonly seen one in these economic times- “please change my contact email to jimmyjoejoe@gmail; Acme Software and I have parted ways.” The main difference in this particular case was that my friend is a successful sales guy for a technology company that is doing well. He was not only tracking well above quota for 2009, but had literally just returned from club (top sales guys go to Hawaii with their families) for knocking it out of the park last year. No warning, no official layoff, no performance “plan,” no incident… -
Checking out of the Hotel California
17 Jun 2009 | 5:19 pmAfter 15 years in the Bay Area (think Beastie Boys:“livin’ on borrowed time-and borrowed money”), I’m packing up and returning to the East Coast. As much fun as it has been ringing up debt while living in a glorified doublewide trailer on a postage stamp size lot, I finally have decided to proactively apply a tourniquet to my main financial artery. If all goes according to plan (what could possibly go wrong?), I will be adding money on a regular basis to my long forgotten savings account- and will no longer have intimate knowledge as to my neighbors’ (in three compass… -
Drinking “The Speed of Trust” Kool-Aid
9 Jun 2009 | 4:58 pmLast week, I was informed by my marketing department that I needed to drop everything and get on a plane to fulfill another founder-type duty - in this case, hosting a Jigsaw- sponsored “Business at the Speed of Trust”seminar in Seattle. At first I was totally annoyed for a number of reasons:1) My wife hates surprises, particularly ones that involve me leaving suddenly2) It’s the other founder of Jigsaw that loves reading trendy business books and trying to implement changes based on his learnings.3) My first job was selling at a similar business celebrity seminar and I was ready… -
Sales 2.0 Alive and Well
28 May 2009 | 2:30 pmLast week I returned to where it all started for me in sales (Boston) to attend the 4th installation of the Sales 2.0 Conference.As one of the original sponsors and self professed member of the Sales 2.0 Mafia, I might be somewhat biased (if you haven’t noticed that fact while reading this blog then you are seriously tone challenged), but the conference has really grown from a choir of insiders and vendors singing to itself into a valuable networking and learning experience for Sales and Marketing VP’s. After his introduction of the dorkiest “Sales 2.0 greeting” of all time, Selling… -
Feeling the Flow
18 May 2009 | 12:46 pmOn every sales team I’ve worked on there has always been at least one guy (sorry, it is usually a male) that has worked his way into a comfort zone of hilarity on the telephone. Walking by his cube while he is on the phone with prospects, you always pause to listen, like catching a Barry Bond’s at bat back in the day. While everyone else seems to fumble and grope their way past daily objections and other borderline (and outright) insults, this person just smilingly deflects and chuckles his way to a positive outcome. Even if there is no deal, the customer leaves the phone call with a…
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THE SALES FORCE PLAYBOOK
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DOUBLE DOWN
30 Jun 2009 | 6:40 amWhile there is no question we are in a challenging economy, now is the perfect time to "double down" on your sales efforts. You might not be able to control your prospects spending money right now, but you can control the activity and effort of your sales force.Check out Dave Kurlan's blog. His 10 Steps are spot on. -
CRITERIA
23 Jun 2009 | 7:07 amYour salesperson has been working with a prospect. Things are going well and the decision has been made to make a presentation so you can acquire the business. Does the salesperson know the criteria upon which the decision is going to be made?Most salespeople "think" they know, but most are just guessing. Coach your salespeople to quit guessing and actually find out what the criteria are. During the sales process, your salesperson needs to ask some form of this question. "John, what criteria are you and Mary going to use to make this… -
ARE YOU COMFORTABLE?
18 Jun 2009 | 6:04 amI absolutely love Seth Godin's latest post.As you take a look at your Sales Force, are you sticking to the tactics, products, people and channels that you are comfortable with, instead of rethinking what the market demands?You should not make changes for the sake of making changes, but you do need to continually look at yourself to see if the market is demanding that you change. In today's challenging economic environment, chances are that you need to make some changes.We are almost half-way through 2009. Now is a good time to sit down with your leadership team to… -
PRE-CALL PLANNING
12 Jun 2009 | 6:23 amI published this post on Pre-Call Planning in June of 2008. When I first wrote it, I was thinking of pre-call planning the first appointment with a prospect. My thoughts were that if you can have a kick-butt first appointment, it lays the groundwork for a successful sales process.In talking to sales people and sales leaders recently, it seems as though they are doing a good job of pre-call planning, but only on "presentation" meetings. You know, the meetings where you take in your proposal and/or PowerPoint and try to convince the prospect to choose you?What… -
30 DAY SPRINT
1 Jun 2009 | 7:38 amSummer is not "officially" here, but the nice weather sure has many salespeople thinking that it is already summer. Unfortunately, summer is when far too many salespeople take a break from prospecting.It seems that things really slow down between the holidays of Fourth of July and Labor Day. If your team has experienced this in the past, it probably will this year too. In a perfect world, prospecting would not slow down in the summer, but it seems to happen.In anticipation of the "slow period," encourage your salespeople to have a "30 Day…
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Gavin Ingham
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The UK Sales Survey 2009
1 Jul 2009 | 4:29 pmIn the complex and tough markets of 2009 it is essential that every employer knows what motivates their sales teams and salespeople in general. For salespeople, it is critical that you know what motivates you. To help with this I have partnered with recruitment company Aaron Wallis to sponsor the 2009 Sales Survey. We are aiming to get responses from over 1000 sales professionals thus giving us a true and accurate snapshot of what it is really like to work in sales in 2009. The survey is being widely promoted in the media and I will be publishing the results and anything that we can learn or… -
How Robert fed the ducks!
28 Jun 2009 | 10:16 amFor the last few days I have been having a long weekend staying in Grassmere in the Lake District. Beautiful. And for once the weather has been beautiful too. Mid afternoon today I was sitting drinking a tea in Bowness by Lake Windermere and a little family (Mum, Dad, two year old boy) arrived to have refreshments too. They looked hot, thirsty and ready for tea. Mum sat down and Dad asked her what she wanted. “Tea,” she replied. He then turned to the boy, “Robert, what would you like?” The two year old, wearing blue shorts and a white t-shirt and still standing up puffed his chest… -
How important is my title when selling?
25 Jun 2009 | 5:00 pmGavin You came into our offices around a month ago to deliver a morning’s training and said we could contact you with any thoughts/questions we had following the day - hence me getting in contact! I am a fairly junior salesman, currently employed in a pre-sales role i.e. cold calling companies to set up appointments for the sales team. My question is around job titles - in your experience, what difference does a job title make to a persons’ success or indeed their perceived chance of success? Just going on my own thoughts, the title for my role in my employment contract is… -
The Sales Apprentice 2009: Sales training tips from the hit TV show, week 12, the final
7 Jun 2009 | 5:09 pmThe final of the Apprentice. Cool, professional Kate versus passionate, entrepreneurial Yasmina. Their brief, design and pitch a new brand of chocolate. Sir Alan said they were his best candidates ever and that it was his hardest decision yet. Either could have won. Yasmina did. So that done (!), I thought I would sum up some of the core sales training lessons from this year’s Sales Apprentice… On sales motivation and mindset… Top sales performers perform, they don’t talk about performing. Sales is not about what you say you’re going to deliver. Sales is all about what you… -
The Sales Apprentice 2009: Sales training tips from the hit TV show, week 11, the interviews
3 Jun 2009 | 4:32 pmSo I guess the biggest question tonight was which, if any, of the interviewers would you want to be interviewed by? Indeed, if their behaviour tonight was representative of their general leadership styles in the workplace which of them would you actually want to work for? But, real or not, representative of their day-to-day style or not, this was prime time TV and they had to make a spectacle of it. What’s more, of course, the whole premise of interviewing at the end of the hiring process is ludicrous; many of the issues that are discovered at this late stage should have been weeded out at…
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Getting the Biz
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Chick-fil-A has MOOJo
29 Jun 2009 | 10:40 pmWhat is up with Chick-fil-A? Every time I go there it is packed! Doesn't matter what time of day or what day (except Sunday because they are closed on Sundays). The drive-thru is constantly lined up all the way around the restaurant and people are piled up inside eating. Burger King and Wendy's next door don't have lines. Their parking lots aren't full. It would be easier to go to Burger King or Wendy's and not fight the Chick-fil-A crowd.So what is it about Chick-fil-A?I think it's because they've found their MooJo! Despite the struggling economy Chick-fil-A enjoyed unprecedented growth in… -
Words are Powerful
18 Jun 2009 | 8:31 pmI cringed this week when I witnessed 2 sales being snuffed out! In both cases, the sales could have been probable with a small change in words.Here's what happened:Snuff out #1. I was shopping for a Father's Day gift in a men's clothing store. After looking around for several minutes I had not found any medium sized shirts in the store. Puzzled, I asked the store clerk if they had any mediums.What she said: She looked up from writing and said very matter-of-factly, "EVERYTHING we have is OUT" and looked back down at what she was doing. I felt like I was in trouble for asking and left the… -
Have you joined HARO?
13 May 2009 | 9:21 pmA couple of months ago I blogged about jazzing up your sales with free publicity. If you are interested in getting connected with magazine writers, reporters, radio hosts and TV show hosts looking for expertise in different areas then I recommend HARO- Help a Reporter Out. You can sign up for free and every day you'll receive up to 3 emails, each with anywhere from 15-30 queries with reporters and writers looking for story ideas input. It's a great way for you to get free publicity. -
Jazz Up Your Sales Using Social Networking
13 May 2009 | 4:53 amLinkedIn was the first social network I joined. I have had fun getting on Facebook and connecting with old friends. And I'm starting to get the hang of Twitter. Even Oprah is on Twitter!You can't pick up a business magazine without reading articles about social networking. It's the "thing" right now and relatively uncharted territory with how it can be used for increasing business sales. Social networking gives you a chance to get to know someone passively. I'm getting to know Ashton Kutcher by following him on Twitter. We all know people want to do business with people they like and social… -
Don't Ignore People
8 Apr 2009 | 1:10 pmIf you have children you know the one thing they hate more than getting in trouble - and that's getting ignored. When you get discipline your children at least you are paying attention to them.Customers hate being ignored, too. Unreturned phone calls, allowing customers to cut in line or no-showing for an appointment tell people you aren't paying attention to them.Here are a few tips to jazz up your sales by not ignoring potential customers (did I just say that?): Always call people back. Even if you know why they are calling. Even if you don't want their business. Even if you don't have the…
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Dave Steins Blog :: About Sales Leadership
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The First Virtual Sales Training Conference
2 Jul 2009 | 10:29 amASTD’s Sales Training Drivers is hosting an online conference and virtual trade show in October 2009. — Sales Training 2.0: Accelerating Sales Team Performance in a Down Economy — ESR is pleased to be a premium sponsor for this learning event along with ASTD. I’ve been working with Brian Lambert for several months planning the event including determining the content, speakers and format. I’m personally very excited to be part of the first conference of this type. The conference will be loaded with best practices, trends, and ideas for helping sales leaders… -
Building The Right Foundation for Sales 2.0
23 Jun 2009 | 3:20 pmA recent comment on this blog by John Esposito, VP of sales at AMICAS, reminded me to write a post about his company’s successful implementation of a sales methodology last year. I was delighted to present a brief case study at the recent Sales 2.0 Conference in Boston last month. AMICAS had some very common sales-related business issues: Inconsistent sales performance Needed a common, manageable approach Very competitive, complex, political deals Ongoing qualification in dynamic customer environments Tracking complex deals over a year or more Minimal and ineffective opportunity… -
Quotes About Selling That Make Me Think
17 Jun 2009 | 6:00 amPaul Lanigan from Sandler Ireland put up a query today soliciting favorite sales quotes. Here are some of mine. Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt. (Mark Twain) Tell your customer the truth before your competitor exaggerates it. You can’t handle the truth! (A Few Good Men) Nothing is as exhilarating as to be shot at without result. (Churchill) We don’t see things as they are, we see things as we are. (J. M. Barrie) Who he is is so loud, I can’t hear what he is saying. Some people are so far behind in the race, they believe they are leading. (Uncle Junior on the… -
On Interview Questions for Sales People
16 Jun 2009 | 9:23 amYou may remember I wrote a post a while back about a terrific eBook Tom Searcy had published about RFPs. We’ve been recommending the book to clients. Last week Tom wrote a post on his blog about interview questions for sales people. Tom has the right idea here. His questions are on target. So are his comments, such as, “Never hire someone expecting them to sell a deal larger than the largest deal they ever sold every day.” A critical success factor for interviewing sales people is not asking leading questions. Sales “spoofers” (a term I picked up in… -
Apple or AT&T: Please Sell Me A New iPhone.
10 Jun 2009 | 5:26 amI spent three hours yesterday trying to buy a new “3G S” iPhone. First I went on the Apple site. I spent 20 minutes there. They wouldn’t process my order because they said I don’t get reception at my home where I registered for new AT&T service. The fact is, I do get service there. I’ve had friends and family receive and make calls as well as surf the web. I really want this iPhone, but even I wouldn’t buy a phone without checking the service first. I left the Apple site to try ATT.com. What a disaster that turned out to be. The AT&T…
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The Sales Wars
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Why Your Demos Need to Tell a Story
25 Jun 2009 | 5:46 amWhen presenting a complex solution, the most effective means of engaging the audience is to create and tell a story that is relevant and is modeled around the prospect’s business. Most will have a story built around their demo data, for ex. “This is ABC Company and they produce widgets”. ZZZZZZZ…oh sorry…I was just thinking about ABC Company and thier god-forsaken widgets. The mantra that our teams use for prepping for presentations is “Accurate, Compelling, and Timely“. Accurate This sounds obvious but even demo data has to be accurate. If you… -
Scattered, Smothered, and Covered….
8 Jun 2009 | 4:19 pmAfter my arranged engagement/marriage fell apart over religious differences, she drove a Chevy, I a Ford; I went to drown my sorrows at the only place appropriate to fill the emotional void that filled my heart….the Waffle House. Now for our Yankee readers, our Waffle House is the equivalent to your Dunkin Donuts. They are everywhere. You can’t really swing a dead cat in the South without hitting one of those pillars of culinary delight. I found my future wife sitting next to the only vacant seat at the counter. While I did not notice her face, I heard her say to the… -
Free Stuff!!! Score!!!!
4 Jun 2009 | 7:56 amFrom Doyle Slaton at SalesBlogcast.com… I’m giving away my new eBook “15 Rules for Becoming a Top Producer!” *IMPORTANT NOTE: This eBook is best suited for highly driven sales and leadership minded business professionals. I’d appreciate your help in spreading the word. Please let everyone know they can get the FREE eBook at http://SalesBlogcast.com Let’ see how many eBooks we can give away! Sincerely, Doyle Slayton SalesBlogcast.com Posted in Business Humor Tagged: Doyle Slayton, SalesBlogcast.com -
God Love ‘Em, Some People Really Are Stupid
28 May 2009 | 7:31 amIn my years of sales experience and supervised release, there are only two deals, only two, that are burned into my cerebral cortex and awaken feelings of anger and frustration whenever I am forced to recall them. The first we’ll save for a later date. The second…..arrrrgggghhhhh! Sorry, had to vent. When I was selling Enterprise Content Management (ECM) solutions, our inside team uncovered an opportunity at a company with whom I used to do business in a former career. Having left our relationship on good terms after a productive career, I was eager to go visit and see some… -
Tell It All Brother
12 May 2009 | 5:44 amPretend you are Rhett and Scarlett is the economy. Tell me if this clip just doesn’t speak to you. Posted in Business Humor Tagged: Gone with the wind
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The SalesRoundup Podcast
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A 90 day Sales turnaround plan Part 1 the first 30 days
29 Jun 2009 | 2:15 amA 90 day Sales turnaround plan! Do you want to be successful in sales? Do you want to be a top performer? Do you know what you need to do for that to happen? If you don’t know where you’re going how are you going to get there? If you are starting in a new territory or just want to kick start an existing one, to ensure your success you will need to map out a 90 day plan. In part one of this three part series Joe and Mike discuss how you go about laying out the first thirty days of your 90 day sales turnaround plan. Listen to this weeks Sales Podcast MP3 Stream Download MP3 This… -
Selling when they’re not Buying
22 Jun 2009 | 2:59 amSelling in a down economy! Let’s face it times are tough. People are not buying like they used to. Times like these are very difficult for sales people. That said, there are no excuses. When the going gets tough the tough get going. Your success or failure is dependent on how you manage to get through these times. In this episode Joe and Mike discuss some of things you should be doing to persevere. To sell when they are not buying! Listen to this weeks Sales Podcast MP3 Stream Download MP3 This week’s Master is Dave Simmons of Discovery Selling This week’s post… -
A Sales Plan to Sell Higher in your deals
15 Jun 2009 | 5:35 amTake me to the next level A common problem with many people is getting to the right level of whatever organization you are trying to sell to. Plenty of people will tell you why you need to do it but not many people tell you how. In this episode Joe and Mike tell you how to penetrate an organization and actually provide you tips for selling higher! Listen to this weeks Sales Podcast MP3 Stream Download MP3 This week’s Master is Andrea Sittig-Rolf - The Blitz Master This week’s post on the SalesActionPlan Blog Sales Chess Versus Sales Checkers What’s the difference between… -
Drive by Sales Leadership
8 Jun 2009 | 2:22 amDrive by Sales Leadership Drive by Sales management. Most of us have experienced it one time or another. Hopefully none of us are guilty of being one. So called Drive by Sales managers are managers who don’t focus on helping their sales people close business. They are too busy managing by numbers or performing tasks completely unrelated to getting deals closed. In this episode Joe and Mike discuss the pitfalls of having or being a drive by sales manager and the things you need to focus on in order to be a successful manager and drive more business. Listen to this weeks Sales Podcast… -
A Sales Plan to Survive an Acquisition
1 Jun 2009 | 2:38 am“Mother may I” selling! A Sales Plan to Survive an Acquisition You’re on top of your game. You’re the alpha dog of your sales organization. You’ve got your own territory, you’re bringing in sales and no-one’s telling you to slow down. All of a sudden your company gets acquired by a large conglomerate and instead of being top dog you’re playing a bit part and you have to ask permission from your company’s account manager before you can sell into an account. Welcome to the world of “mother may I?” selling! In this…
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sales training blog - startup sales mentor
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Pipeline Management Series: Time to Show Them Something
23 Jun 2009 | 4:47 pmWell, you are exhausted. That is to say that questioning has taken you as far as you need to go. You know who is involved, what they want, what they don’t want, and most of all what will get them running right onto the client list of one of your competitors. It is time to [...] -
SETV - Show Date/Time - What’s convienent for you?
18 Jun 2009 | 8:35 amLet The Sales Evangelist, Karl Goldfield, know what date/time you would like to view the weekly sales episodes each week! Send us an email and don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter! -
Great Sales 2.0 Applications!
16 Jun 2009 | 7:34 pmIt is essential for a sales professional to get a huge number of quality leads in order to widen their market. The advent of new technology has paved way to make this easier for modern sales professionals. There are so many tools, so many platforms, so many softwares, so many websites that a sales professional can utilize to get leads but only one Web 2.0 Application stands out. MyWay Reach is an innovative new service designed to maximize your sales potential by extending your reach within target accounts and territories. -
Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-06-14
14 Jun 2009 | 9:04 pmThe Sales Evangelist The Sales Evangelist The Sales Evangelist The Sales Evangelist The Sale.. http://twurl.nl/s0×1s5 # RT @damphoux: @b2b_sales_leads, @nedelsha, @Jeff_Ogden, @JoeGalvin discuss b2b Sales & Marketing Alignment http://bit.ly/DslEj #sales20 # asking the tough questions can case the client to think and commit #sales #STA http://bit.ly/OXBWu # RT @SalesBlogcast shares “17 Things You Have to Know!” http://bit.ly/13ceAA #sales [...] -
SETV Episode 19 – Evangelist in Discovery: Speaking their Language
11 Jun 2009 | 8:06 amHow much time have you spent learning the language of your buyers. Karl will share how a Sales Evangelist works toward understanding the word choice and vernacular of their contacts by title and industry. By speaking the language of the potential client more can get done in less time.
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Sales and Sales Management Blog
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Boost Your Sales: “Building Client Relationships,” by Jerry Acuff
1 Jul 2009 | 6:12 amBuilding Client Relationships By Jerry Acuff Does any aspect of selling deserve more of your attention than building client relationships? Most of us would agree that client relationships are the backbone of our business. They are the key to referrals and the possible insulation from competition and a down economy. Three things to consider about client relationships are: How do we build them with people we do NOT naturally connect with? How do we maintain them? How do we leverage them? How Do We Build Relationships With Those We Do NOT Naturally Connect With? The fun part of selling… -
Boost Your Sales Series: “Business Is Personal,” by Nancy Solomon
30 Jun 2009 | 5:29 amBusiness is Personal by Nancy D. Solomon, MA Today had no choice but to be great for me—it started with a conversation with one of my favorite people—Ann Tardy, CEO of Life Moxie. Ann and I have the ultimate combo—a personal and a business relationship. I’m not sure which began first, but I am certain that both parts make hefty deposits into my happiness account. Before getting into the reason for our call—a business opportunity Ann wanted me to partner with her on—I asked her about her husband and her year old marriage. Here’s what she said, “It’s great. He’s just… -
Boost Your Sales series: “Are you being a Caretaker?” by Dr. Gregory Stebbins
29 Jun 2009 | 5:57 amAre you being a Caretaker? By Dr. Gregory Stebbins Traditionally a caretaker is the individual responsible for responsibility of looking after buildings and the smooth running of an estate making sure the heating is working; cleaning; moving furniture; doing repairs, ordering materials, etc. Often these jobs are held for life and the caretaker has a very personal relationship with the owner of the property. So it is with sales professionals that take on the role of caretaker with their customers. To accomplish this, the professional needs to move past seeing the customer as an adversary. -
Boost Your Sales series: “As a Seller, Is Social Media Just Hype or Is There Real Value In It?” by Paul McCord
26 Jun 2009 | 7:04 amAs a Seller, Is Social Media Just Hype or Is There Real Value In It? by Paul McCord On Monday Nigel Edelshain discussed how important embracing social media will be for sellers of the future. And by future, Nigel wasn’t speaking of the distant future; he was referring to the relatively immediate future. His contention is that those sellers who don’t embrace social media and learn how to connect with their prospects via these technologies will be left in the cold. I agree. Sorta. With lots of caveats and admonitions to not neglect the traditional methods of engaging prospects and… -
Boost Your Sales series: “Integrate Social Media with Your Prospecting Approach,” by Ardath Albee
24 Jun 2009 | 5:49 amIntegrate Social Media with Your Prospecting Approach by Ardath Albee Salespeople need to be expert listeners, delving into their client’s problems, needs and challenges to ensure their conversations are designed to deliver more “what’s in it for me” than ever before. This type of exchange used to be done almost exclusively face-to-face. But today’s reality shows buyers taking control of their purchasing process and putting off traditional sales activities until they’re ready. The upshot is that by the time they’re sales ready, it’s likely they know more about your…
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John Hirth's commentary on sales...
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"History repeats itself..." does this old adage apply to sales??
30 Jun 2009 | 5:39 amHistory repeats itself and those who fail to learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them! You've heard that one before, yet may not have thought about that old history lesson in relation to your selling career. Well, the value of this lesson has a lot more to do with sales than you might think... let's take a look. There are great lessons to learn and strategies to build when you understand the conditions under which you win and those under which you lose. Regularly going through a "win, loss" review will allow you to understand where you typically succeed and where you… -
"Dealing with information seeking questions..."
22 Jun 2009 | 5:00 amNot the ones you ask... but the ones your prospects/customers ask! You know how it usually goes... you're on a call and the customer asks you about a product or service that you provide. Of course you see this as the opening you've been waiting for. (salivating) You get out the feature benefit machine gun, cock it and load it and engage in a quick round of "pray and spray", dumping all your best stuff and thinking there is no way they can resist buying. Unfortunately, it just doesn't go that way and instead of saying "I'll take two" they say "can… -
Selling is all about "lowering risk"...
15 Jun 2009 | 5:19 amSelling is all about getting people to change and change always involves risk. Generally, when given a choice, most people will always choose to not change. People are creatures of habit and change requires them to break old habits and create new ones. What makes selling difficult is the fact that it requires you to work against human nature by getting people to change (and you thought this was going to be easy!). If you think about it, much of the resistance (objections, stalls) you will encounter in sales is a function of risk. Most people will resist change if they believe that the risk…
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Inside Sales Experts Blog
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Ending 2009 Stongly
1 Jul 2009 | 12:49 amI got an email last week with the subject: "Knock Knock - It's the Fourth Quarter." That subject definitely caught my attention. In it, Lee Levitt from IDC, lays out the case that what we do now will have huge impact on not only the 2nd half of 2009, but future success in 2010. Lee argues: What you accomplish in the next quarter...how your organization performs over the next couple of months...will determine not only how your year will conclude, but it will also set the stage for 2010. End this year strong and next year will go well. End this year weak and you will have less budget,… -
Have You Mastered Sales 1.5?
24 Jun 2009 | 11:57 pmSales 2.0 is getting tons of buzz right now in the technology market. There are lots of different definitions out there, but here's mine: Sales 2.0 is an outcome not an event. The process requires you to transform your business from one that is focused on selling to one that is focused on letting the market buy from you. Sales 2.0 requires a change in mindset. It requires focus on buyer personas, lead nurturing, content development, social networking strategies, web 2.0 tool, etcetera, etcetera. Pretty head spinning, right? So how do you begin to transform your organization? Take baby steps:… -
Why Prospecting is Like Baseball
22 Jun 2009 | 11:37 pmPaul McCord was kind enough to invite me to participate in his Boost Your Sales Series. The following is cross-posted from the Sales and Sales Management Blog------ I am not a fanatical baseball fan like some of my friends. My friend Linda can quote stats and facts about the Red Sox till your head spins. She lives for the game. Anyway, the reason I want to talk about why prospecting is like baseball is because I recently saw a quote by Mickey Mantle that struck home: "During my 18 years in baseball, I came to bat almost 9,000 times. I struck out over 1,700 times and walked… -
Cold Calling 2.0: Buyer's Side
18 Jun 2009 | 12:16 amThere are most certainly very strong opinions on the status and future outlook of the Cold Call. Trish's post on Cold Calling 2.0 garnered the most comments this blog has seen in quite some time. Coincidentally another Brit (I wish I was smart enough to orchestrate this), started an extremely active LinkedIn discussion on the topic. Jay Powell from Business Intelligence Direct asked: Cold calling, horrible word isn't it? When was the last time you received a "Cold Call"? How effective was their call? Did you meet with them, agree to receive literature, or did you simply… -
Cold Calling 2.0
16 Jun 2009 | 1:42 amEvery day on Linkedin there seems to be a new discussion started on whether or not cold calling still works. I am going to say here what I say there: There is no such thing as "cold calling" any longer. There is enough information at your disposal to know just about everything there is to know about your buyer except what they had for lunch (unless they are on Twitter!). Nigel Edelshain just published an ebook called "Don't Cold Call. Social Call." And, he did a "bang up" job laying out this argument (I can say bang up because Nigel is British). The ebook discusses using…
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Selling Financial Products by Michael Roby
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Announcing “The Strategist & The Shrink”
12 Jun 2009 | 12:56 pmFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Contact: Michael Roby Email: mike@michaelroby.com T: 612.309.8346 URL: www.michaelroby.com F: 952-445-6423 “The Strategist & The Shrink” Start Nationwide Tour Minneapolis, MN, June 4, 2009 — Michael Roby and Dr. James (Jim) Rafferty begin their national speaking tour as “The Strategist and The Shrink” on June 18, 2009. Roby and Rafferty will be speaking at the PrimeVest 2009 National Planning Conference at the Hyatt Regency in Minneapolis, MN. PrimeVest Financial Services, Inc., based in St. Cloud, MN, operates… -
Bank Advisor Article
12 Jun 2009 | 12:16 pmCheck out my latest article on Bank Advisor. Click here to read. -
Change
22 May 2009 | 1:50 pmWhat is changing around you? Are you willing to change? You must change, or be left behind forever. Doubt it? Then watch this video. Click this link—> Did You Know? -
A Thought for Every Day - Live in the Moment
13 Apr 2009 | 9:12 amToday is my birthday, and it is a “milestone” birthday; fifty-five. At this point in life, as I contemplate the passing years I see certain events I viewed as “coincidence” as anything but coincidence. It never ceases to amaze me how life continues to remind me there is no such thing as coincidence. This morning I was reading an article by Maria Shriver in AARP:The Magazine about her journey through Alzheimer’s with her father, Sargent Shriver. In the last line of the article, when responding to how she deals with her father’s illness and the possibility that someday she could… -
Public Investment Seminars Are Back!
8 Apr 2009 | 1:28 pmAs a professional speaker I pay attention to trends. The popularity of investment seminars waned over the last couple of years. Then came 2008 - 2009. People want information; they need to know where we go from here. As a result, I relaunched public seminars as part of my speaking business late last year. Financial advisors hire me to present on their behalf to their clients and prospects, and the results are nothing short of tremendous. In addition, I meet with the local media in the cities where I present, and provide on-site sales training for the financial advisors that hire me and…
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Engaging Ideas By Colleen Francis
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1 Jul 2009 | 7:54 am
1 Jul 2009 | 7:54 amDear Colleen, I am quoting a $12 million/yr order tomorrow. Any words of wisdom or a point in the right direction? This would be huge for our company. Thanks, Dale. Dear Dale, That’s a nice size deal and I certainly hope you have been working on this for some time. $12 million dollar orders don’t usually land on your lap out of the blue. Generally they take time to nurture and guide towards a partnership. That being said… there are exceptions to every rule. Most certainly your success will depend on everything you have done previous to submitting the quote. I would make sure… -
Announcing the Launch of the 2009 Sales Mastery Workshop
30 Jun 2009 | 7:47 amI’m very excited to announce this year’s Sales Mastery Workshop. If you’re not familiar with this event, a limited number of the Engage community and I meet for three intensive days to run through my complete Sales Mastery System and create individual, personalized plans for sales success. Taking place in Chicago, 19-21 November, it’s a roll-up-your-sleeves workshop that will provide you my latest strategies to selling more than ever before. You can read about the event at www.engageselling.com/mastery. Because I know know you don’t want to wait till November to… -
Do something now….anything.
25 Jun 2009 | 9:06 amThis week I started running again after 3 weeks off. I injured my back in early May, and took 3 weeks off. When I felt better I hit the open road, ran 5 times in 7 days and hit the gym full steam ahead. With 5 minutes to go in the first workout (and after 80 lunges) my back completely seized. I heard a noise that sounded like “Shrek” spoken out of the side of one’s mouth and collapsed mid squat. Bravely stating, “I don’t think I can do another”. Turns out I had done too much too soon. Up until June 7th, I have operated on two switches. On and off. There had… -
Are You Appropriate?
22 Jun 2009 | 6:17 amRecently I have been receiving many questions about appropriate non verbal communication in sales. Here are 4 simple ways to improve your sales etiquette, and build trust - leading to more sales - every time you meet a prospect or client face to face. Dress appropriately. Always dress at least 1 notch above where your client will be dressed. If you are unsure about their corporate culture for attire, it’s never a bad thing to wear a suit. If you find out during your first meeting, that a suit is frowned on, or unnecessary, you can dress differently for the next meeting. None the… -
Make Your Voice Heard!
17 Jun 2009 | 5:10 amParticipate in Our Poll! Participate in the poll and see what other sales professionals are saying. Last newsletter we asked: Have you ever been less than honest with a customer? Here are the results: Yes - I’ve bent the truth to try to land the deal: 7% Nope - I’ve always been completely forthright, even if it costs me a sale: 50% Sort of - I’ve held back or “spun” information that otherwise could jeopordize the sale: 43% This week, your question is about blogging: Do you or your company have a blog? Vote and see how you compare to the rest of the Engage…
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Modern B2B Marketing | Marketo Blog
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Email and Social Media- 7 tips for getting the most out of your campaigns
29 Jun 2009 | 8:59 amRecent news stories about Social Media being bigger than email as well as the recent beta release of Google Wave have made marketers rethink their email strategies, but should we really be moving our email efforts to social media? And if not, should they be kept apart, or can they truly work in unison? I think the separation of email and social media started a few years ago when every email began with Forward to a Friend written above the emails headline. This seemed like a great way to make emails more social, but marketers ended up disappointed… -
BtoB Leading Edge: 10 Sharp Tips taken from the Cutting Edge Demand Generation Virtual Conference
24 Jun 2009 | 1:22 pmYesterday’s BtoB Leading Edge, Demand Generation in the Digital Age was a great way to make sure your organization’s demand generation programs are best-in-class. With almost 5,000 registrants, it is clear that B2B marketers are concerned about getting the most out of their demand generation and lead management programs. But with so much on a marketer’s plate these days, not all 4300 could attend this half day event. For those, and as a wrap-up from the event, I wrote up the top tips I took from the show: 1. Website visitors need… -
Can Marketing Help Sales Sell?
23 Jun 2009 | 9:44 amOn recent call with a prospective enterprise customer, the marketing manager told me that at her company, the relationship between marketing and sales was so bad that the sales team did not even allow her to access their Salesforce CRM system. In this economy, fighting between marketing and sales teams must stop. The need to to maximize revenue using every tool at your disposal is simply too important. Research shows that companies where marketing and sales can collaborate through the revenue cycle generate more leads and convert more leads into revenue. We recently recorded a great webinar… -
Marketo Ignite Revenue Sales Insight Launch Party
17 Jun 2009 | 1:03 pmOn Thursday, June 4th over 200 customers, prospects, analysts and friends of Marketo attended an evening at Hotel Vitale in San Francisco for the launch of Marketo Sales Insight. The party was high energy and with filled some great spirits, snacks, and demos of the new product. Phil Fernandez, President and CEO of Marketo, shared some thoughts during this fun night, talking about how Sales Insight came to fruition, explaining why so many customers were implementing these new features, and how this latest solution is helping marketing and sales collaborate together to ignite… -
Sales Lead Management Best Practices: Thought Leadership with Barry Trailer
15 Jun 2009 | 6:13 amThe next interview in the B2B Marketing thought leader interview series is with Barry Trailer. Barry is co-founder of CSO Insights, an analyst firm that benchmarks the challenges faced by today's sales and marketing organizations, tracking the trends in the usage of people, process, technology and knowledge to improve sales effectiveness. Barry is also a member of the Marketo Board of Advisors. Barry is also presenting his latest research about marketing and sales alignment at an exclusive webinar titled Using Marketing's Insights to Close More Deals Faster. The webinar will be held this…
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The Entrepreneurial Salesman
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Treat Sales People as Entrepreneurs
2 Jul 2009 | 6:48 amMy last post mentioned the poll I put up on LinkedIn - What is the most important thing for sales reps to succeed in doing… and I had some very interesting results and a good number of comments. I believe the comment from Peter Styles is most apt for this post… “Sales budgets drive the business therefore achieving sales targets are most critical”. Let’s break this sentence down into the two points: “Sales budgets drive the business…” uh-huh… makes me think that sales are important part of running the business… “…therefore achieving sales targets are most… -
Polling Day has arrived
24 Jun 2009 | 7:35 amIn the absence of a national poll to determine the next government of the UK, I thought I would share the details of a Poll that I have just created on LinkedIn. Although not as important as the big political poll, mine may well be just as controversial and if you wish top participate you can find the poll here. Choose your response carefully as there can be no recount! The question and the five possible responses… “What is the most important thing for sales reps to succeed in doing?” and the responses to choose from… a) Excellent Activity Management b) Accurate… -
Focus on the individual not the organisation.
23 Jun 2009 | 8:53 amCurrently, one of my favourite quotes is often attributed to Albert Einstein and his definition of insanity… “Doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result.” The reason why I find this quotation so appealing is that it is for our times… most of the world is in recession and therefore for many organisations are reporting that their sales are down. I was looking at the latest quarterly results of a potential new client today to read that sales are forty percent down on the same period last year. This is not uncommon. As a consequence, some organisations are… -
I’m Back!
17 Jun 2009 | 9:35 amI thought it was about time to dust down my keyboard and put finger to keys, or two fingers in my case, and write a post. It seems like it has been weeks and that is because it has! Although not posting on my site I have written a couple of pieces for the Sales Bloggers Union - Add Value by Asking Great Questions, Sales Process often stifles sales and Motivating the Buyer. I have also written a paper on Sales 2.0 which will be part of an eBook that Brad Trnavsky will be publishing on his Sales Management 2.0 site. My paper is… Sales 2.0 Should You be Afraid or Excited?… and here are… -
Sales Podcasts - listen and learn
1 May 2009 | 5:09 amIt seems blogging is no longer good enough and Podcasting is the way to go. Although it has been around for a few years the popularity of podcasting is increasing. Now, having just written these last two sentences I can’t but notice a number of words (Blogging, Podcasting, Podcasts) I’ve chosen to use are underlined in red – meaning spelling mistakes. My friend Tibor was recently accused of misspelling in one of his posts (Burn Out Is An Avoidable Ritual In Sales!) and so conscious not to upset the reading public podcasting might be the way to go! Of course Tibor’s spelling was…
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Sale News
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Sitting pretty
2 Jul 2009 | 1:52 pmJoAnn Kahn loves her job. And during her 39 years as a beauty consultant and director for Mary Kay products, she's witnessed every kind of economic situation there is - both good and bad. -
City of Tonawanda: Teen injured by train taken off life support
2 Jul 2009 | 9:36 amCity of Tonawanda police have announced the 15-year-old boy who was struck by a train last week was taken off of life support Friday. -
Kerio Technologies Named a CRN Emerging Technology Vendor
1 Jul 2009 | 9:25 amChosen for its two flagship products Kerio MailServer and Kerio WinRoute Firewall, the company is a leader in delivering advanced email and security for the small to medium enterprise market. -
SEO Factories Lose Their Edge
30 Jun 2009 | 7:42 pmThen you have your big SEO firms that employ 20+ employees that handle various aspects of your account. -
The Customer Collective Launches Free Online Sales Training Series
30 Jun 2009 | 10:10 amPresented by Oracle Corporation the videos provide insight from top sales training experts Josh Gordon, Richard Nacht and Jill Konrath.
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Sales and Marketing Blog
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Grow Your Business with Business Referral Strategy
29 Jun 2009 | 6:43 amBNI is an organization which has a very interesting business conception. It is about creating partnerships between companies which work in different sectors of business (Health Insurance, Life & Pension, Architects, Printing, Business Training and Coaching, Sales and Marketing Consultants, Carpenter, Photography, Accountants, Banking…).Technorati Tags: business referral strategy, referral strategy, business referral, grow your business -
Photoshop: A Marketing Tool or Decadence of 21st Century?
29 Jun 2009 | 6:22 amOur modern society functions on appearance. People are judged by appearances. Adobe Photoshop is a new revolutionary software which represents a reflection of our society. But you can wonder whether Photoshop is simply a Marketing Tool or a fact of this 21st century’s phenomenon? Technorati Tags: marketing tools, marketing tool, brand image, marketing, appearance, marketing image -
Price is what generates revenue. Is price comparison important to you?
19 Jun 2009 | 6:06 amA price comparison is very important for companies! I recently did one for a company who shall remain nameless and they were doing okay in sales, but there was room for improvement so they came to us and asked us to see what they could do better. Click here to learn more about price comparisonTechnorati Tags: price, price comparison, pricing, value based pricing -
Top 100 Blogs for Sales & Marketing
12 Jun 2009 | 2:34 amSometimes a a company puts up a great blog post, that you just have to tell your own blog readers about.This is one of them:Top 100 Blogs to Boost Your Sales SkillsA compendium of great blogs (of course since ours is there, why wouldn't it be!) to help you understand sales and marketing issues better and start to win more business.Salesmen are the dreaded enemy of dinner time and door bells, but making a career in sales doesn’t have to condemn you to being the dreaded enemy. Learn top tips from expert salespeople across the world with these blogs. Train yourself in the latest sales… -
Why does planning save time?
12 Jun 2009 | 1:54 amYou may have heard that 10 minutes time spent in planning saves 90 minutes worth of activity. Well it's true.Say I want to go from Dublin to Cork and I have never been to Cork before and I decide to just set off without a map or directions - where do you think I'll end up?Technorati Tags: marketing plan, marketing consultant, sales marketing
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Sales Force One
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Motivation That Works - Free Webinar
26 Jun 2009 | 5:31 amHow would your salespeople rate your ability to inspire and motivate them? Most sales managers agree that one of the toughest jobs they have is to keep their team upbeat and selling, especially now. Motivating your sales force is one of the 5 key roles of an effective sales manager and it takes time, guts and creativity. The ability to motivate your sales team may be the difference between making your business plan or missing it in the last half of 2009. Mark Trinkle, Sales Development Expert with Anthony Cole Training Group, works with sales managers across the… -
Motivating Sales People
19 Jun 2009 | 6:32 amHow would your salespeople rate your ability to inspire and motivate them? Most sales managers agree that one of the toughest jobs they have is to keep their team upbeat and selling, especially now. Motivating your sales force is one of the 5 key roles of an effective sales manager and it takes time, guts and creativity. The ability to motivate your sales team may be the difference between making your business plan or missing it in the last half of 2009. Mark Trinkle, Sales Development Expert with Anthony Cole Training Group, works with sales managers across the… -
Best of the Best
14 Jun 2009 | 5:33 amGiven the opportunities I have to work with some incredibly talented sales professionals across the country, I am always updating the list I created in 2008 that summarizes what makes those sales professionals so successful. Here is my mid year update for 2009: 1. They have goals/dreams in writing with due dates that are measurable and non-negotiable. It provides them with self-management capabilities. It is their passion. 2. They always project the image that they don’t need the… -
Quote of the Week
8 Jun 2009 | 6:56 am"I remind myself every morning: nothing I say this day will teach my anything. So if I am going to learn, I must do it by listening." ... Larry King -
Is The End in Sight????
4 Jun 2009 | 9:17 am"When the rate of change outside exceeds the rate of change inside, the end is in sight." That quote belongs to Jack Welch. And it makes me think of the last book I read titled World Wide Rave. So many organizations are struggling to keep up with the incredibly rapid rate of change in today's world - particularly in connection with how those changes impact selling. But how true are the words of Jack Welch? Unless you keep up and make the necessary adjustments the end is not far away. You may not like the social networking sites...you may not know how to use them...but…
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Sales Java Blog
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Sales Techniques- Getting to the budget
25 Jun 2009 | 1:21 amOne of the most common objections at time of presentation is money. The prospect has to crunch numbers, look it over, run it past someone, take it to, etc. All of these objections may be true but underneath all of them is the issue of money. An objection at time of presentation is a clear indication that during the sales process the sales person failed to discuss budget. The reasons are many and are good for other posts. For today, I want to provide you a suggested 'technique' to make sure that you don't get this objection at time of… -
Boats and Selling
10 Jun 2009 | 12:34 amSelling more can happen in 3 seconds. In selling or in boating, you can and will have to make decisions and/or impressions in 3 seconds or less. One of our dock mates at Lake Cumberland was bringing his 18' x 80' houseboat into the marina. It was dark and he misjudged the entry point to the dock just a bit. When he attempted to use his thrusters (jets that allow you to move the boat sideways), he discovered that they didn't work. Apparently, the generator that provided the power to the thrusters had malfunctioned and was no longer running. He had less… -
Sales Are Broken
20 May 2009 | 3:02 amI recently met with a group that openly admitted that sales were broken. This is what I heard. Not enough names to start the process Our partners for our selling seminars are not the answer My compelling phone call isn't compelling enough - I'm not getting appointments My success formula is wrong Sales cycle is longer than expected No accountability to effort I don't have a success formula; I just operate day to day hoping that... Calling on some people, but not enough people Lack of effort If you are at plan, ahead of plan, having an extraordinary year, then congratulations and… -
5 Really Important Sales Concepts - #5 - Get a Decision
20 May 2009 | 2:21 amDuh. Well, hold on a second. Don't translate the title of this final post on 5 Really Important Sales Concepts. Every sales person has been taught to 'Ask For the Business', 'Always Be Closing', 'Get The Sale'. The problem with these exhortations is that sales people translate them into 'get a yes'. Which is different than getting a decision. Sales people struggle in getting decisions because they are afraid to hear 'no' or their sales leadership has not given them permission to get a 'no'. If you don't get a 'yes', then typically the next alternative is 'think… -
5 Really Important Sales Concepts - #4 - Follow Up to Confirm
10 May 2009 | 8:07 amYou've prepared. You had a great start to the relationship by conducting an amazing first client facing appointment. Now what? "Now" is where the weak link normally occurs in every sales organizations execution of an effective sales process. "Now" is the follow-up after the appointment and the preparation for the next step. For purposes of today's post, I will assume that the next step is to present a proposal that meets the clients needs, it's within their budget and you'll be in a position to answer all of their questions once you present. …
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Sales Lead Management Association Blog
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BMA Sales Lead Round Table
28 Jun 2009 | 9:24 pmAs a thought leader in the B2B Sales Lead Generation and Lead Management community, I wanted to submit this notice and invitation to the new "Sales Lead Roundtable" being sponsored by the Business Marketing Association of Northern California. It will be running the first Thursday of each month, from 8:30am to approx 9:30 or 10:00am depending on the content. The breakfast meeting site is the Scott's Restaurant in Palo Alto where there is always room. Directions are on the web page. I want to invite you to attend and get involved with this non-partisan interactive round table with no… -
What movie did these actors play in?
18 Jun 2009 | 5:30 pmAl Pacino - Ricky Roma Jack Lemmon - Shelley Levene Ed Harris - Dave Moss Alan Arkin - George Aaronow Kevin Spacey - John Williamson Alec Baldwin - BlakeHint: the most famous quotes of the movie are:Blake: A-B-C. A-Always, B-Be, C-Closing. Always be closing, always be closing. _________________ Blake: Put. That coffee. Down. [pause] Blake: Coffee's for closers only. __________________Blake: We're adding a little something to this month's sales contest. As you all know, first prize is a Cadillac Eldorado. Anybody want to see second prize? [Holds up prize]… -
Sales Lead Management Association Declares October 11-17, 2009 to be National Sales Lead Management Week
12 Jun 2009 | 9:29 amJune 11, 2009--Los Angeles, CA--James W. Obermayer, executive director of the Sales Lead Management Association, announced today that SLMA declares the week of Oct 11-17, 2009 as National Sales Lead Management Week. Obermayer stated "In light of the millions of inquiries resulting from billions of dollars spent on marketing, this week is dedicated to the subject of proper sales lead management." SLMA co-founder Mark L. Friedman urges the press to focus on how companies manage sales leads. "This should be a time for seminars and webinars, articles and blog comments to discuss how inquiries and… -
MarketingSherpa Seeks Case Study speakers for 2009 B2B Demand Generation Summits
14 Apr 2009 | 6:41 pmMarketingSherpa is seeking experienced B2B marketers to share their Case Studies and lessons learned during its 6th Annual B2B Demand Generation Summit 2009 to be held September 23-25 in San Francisco and October 23-25 in Boston.SLMA Directors Note: They are looking for case studies on lead nurturing and lead scoring (see below) as well as lead generation. We have many SLMA members that are qualfied to be a part of this program, please apply! International members, please apply, I am sure you will be welcomed!Experienced B2B marketers must submit speech proposals by May… -
Real Time On-Line Lead Scoring
10 Apr 2009 | 10:45 amJust Got an email from DMNews (White Paper of the Day- April 10th) on this topic. Looks Great. Learn why the future is real-time online lead scoring from Bloor Research Real-time online sales lead scoring is a strategic lever in online media planning and management, enabling users to improve the effectiveness of their online lead generation program.
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Sales Machine
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Will B2B Sales Move Mostly Online?
2 Jul 2009 | 11:30 amHere are two people I respect — sales guru Keith Rosen and Genius.com CEO David Thompson — in apparent agreement that “Sales 2.0″ (where the entire B2B sales cycle is pursued online) will largely replace “Sales 1.0″ (where B2B sales cycle is pursued in person). I’ve been writing a lot about Sales 2.0 lately, mostly for [...] -
[Sponsored]
2 Jul 2009 | 11:30 am -
15 Rules for Giving Good Demo
2 Jul 2009 | 5:30 amProduct demos are the hardest thing that most sales reps ever do. A demo has all the elements of a sales presentation — with the additional burden of having to show off the product. There’s lots to think about, and a lot can go wrong. With that in mind, here are 15 rules for making [...] -
How To Cope With Losing a Big Account
1 Jul 2009 | 11:30 amThere are few career events more devastating than losing a big account. This short video (featuring Dr. Kerry Sulkowicz of the Boswell group) describes exactly how the sales team can recover more quickly and hopefully learn something from the experience. Here’s a summary: Loss of the account can feel devastating. The leader must act quickly. Tell the truth [...] -
Don't Let Your Brain Screw Up the Sale
1 Jul 2009 | 5:30 amWhen it comes to success in selling, your brain can be your own worst enemy. If you’re like most sales pros, your brain has a tendency to chatter away about the future, when having a conversation with a customer. Even though you’re trying to listen, your brain is sending out all sorts of messages like: “If [...]
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Sales Podcast and Social Media Training Blog by Shane Gibson - Canada - USA - South Africa
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Twitter and Tweeting From the Bathroom Business Case Video
1 Jul 2009 | 6:40 pmThis is a short clip from a seminar I did recently on Integrating Social Media into Your Sales Process. This clip is about the merits of tweeting from the bathroom. Here’s the Poll: Click here to Tweet this Sales Blog Post to Twitter -
5 Ways to Build a Twitter Following Organically
29 Jun 2009 | 11:31 amMany people ask me how I keep managing to grow my twitter following on my @shanegibson account. I don’t and have never used any type of auto-follow software or participated in any type of Twitter Ponzi scheme. I avoid the get rich quick crowd like the plague, in fact some of my tweets have offended [...] -
20 Leadership Tips Under 140 Characters
24 Jun 2009 | 11:21 pmDaily I do Twitter updates on leadership, sales and social media. Last week I did a post on 20 Social Media Tips Under 140 Characters and so I thought this week I would do one on some of my leadership thoughts and principles. These tips have been inspired by John C. Maxwell, Dr. Terry Anderson, [...] -
20 Social Media Tips Under 140 Characters
16 Jun 2009 | 9:56 pmDaily I post social media tips on Twitter, I thought I would post the most recent 20 for you. Have any to share? Post them in comments below. 20 Social Media Tips Under 140 Characters: Spend at least as much time listening as you do broadcasting. It’s called “social media” for a reason. Be prepared to interact consistently. You [...] -
Guerrilla Social Media Marketing Secrets Part 7
16 Jun 2009 | 11:14 amThis is part part 7 of the 19 Guerrilla Social Media Marketing Secrets inspired by Jay Levinson and adapted by Shane Gibson (me). Here’s today’s 2 Guerrilla Social Media Marketing Tips: 18. Experiment – You will have little failures before you have one big success. Constantly test and be curious about the psychology behind what motivates [...]
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Selling to Consumers | Sales Training Blog by Skip Anderson
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Don't Start Your Holiday Early: Sell More Now!
2 Jul 2009 | 10:54 amIn 24 hours (give or take), much of the United States will be on a holiday weekend. It might be tempting to lay low and start the holiday early, like maybe right now. But between now and Monday July 6, a lot of business will be done. Customers will be buying all sorts of products or service. So here's my advice:DON'T START YOUR HOLIDAY WEEKEND EARLY!- Stay late today. Get some work done. Make some contacts with people who will be home.- Catch up on your phone calls BEFORE July 4. Believe it or not, many millions of dollars of products will be sold tomorrow on July 3. So get off your… -
Pacifying Pissy Prospects: 6 Tips
30 Jun 2009 | 7:42 pmThey're having a bad day. Or they're rushed. Or they're just naturally pissy people. If you work in sales, you've met them before. They're pissy prospects. Pissy prospects or customers can be rude, disagreeable, frustrating, energy-depleting, spirit-sucking scoundrels who swoop into our lives leaving us feeling empty or angry. And in sales, it's our job to deal with these gems of the human race. If you haven't had one of these charmed prospects yet, don't worry, you will. They'll appear out of nowhere without any warning and your day will have… -
5 Brief Motivational Videos That Are Motivational
29 Jun 2009 | 5:34 amBusiness motivational tools can be trite, over-produced pieces that play on emotions but rarely have long-lasting effect. So I was very pleased when I ran across five brief "motivational" videos by Jerry Kennedy. Their messages are powerful, the production is simple, and the videos are fantastic. I know Jerry, and nobody is more genuinely interested in helping others succeed. Have a look and get motivated today! Jerry also created Motivation 101, a fantastic audio program which I highly recommend, too. I've listened to the audio program in my car a half dozen times and will… -
Breaking Bad Selling Habits: Where Sales Training & Coaching Intersect
27 Jun 2009 | 8:25 pmI was working with a client's sales representative who had been selling in his industry for seventeen years. Despite this wealth of sales experience, he was a very marginal sales performer at best."Ben" was skeptical about the sales system I had created for his employer and all their salespeople. This isn't unusual, of course, because in my industry we not only need to share sales knowledge, we need to "sell" our client companies and individuals on learning, embracing, and implementing sales knowledge we provide. Ben was being resistant at worst and leery at… -
Minnesota Sales Training
26 Jun 2009 | 5:22 amI sometimes get asked about sales training resources in my home state. Minnesota is blessed to have outstanding and industry-leading sales experts. Here are excellent sales training resources in Minneapolis, St. Paul, and throughout the state of Minnesota:Danita Bye (Sales Growth Specialists): Danita helps companies develop their sales strategies and execute them to get desired results. Sales Growth SpecialistsJill Konrath (Selling to Big Companies): Jill is the author of the best-selling book "Selling to Big Companies," a leading B2B sales expert, and the powerhouse behind the…
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Keith Rosen: The Executive Sales Coach
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Are Salespeople Asking Prospects the Wrong Questions?
1 Jul 2009 | 3:24 am“Are salespeople asking their prospects the wrong questions?” As I mentioned in my last post, this was a conversation that came up while being interviewed by Geoffrey James for an article he was writing for Selling Power magazine on what managers need to do to effectively coach their sales team when cold calling. The answer to this question? Well, it’s actually yes and no. Yes, many salespeople are asking good questions that help uncover whether or not the prospect is a fit for the product or service they are selling. Conversely, many are asking the wrong questions that… -
Before You Qualify Prospects Using Better Questions, First Make the Questions Fit For You
26 Jun 2009 | 8:17 amWhile being interviewed by Geoffrey James for an article he was writing for Selling Power magazine on what managers need to do to effectively coach their sales team when cold calling, a question regarding how effectively salespeople are qualifying their prospects surfaced during our conversation. (Geoffrey is also the author of seven books and the columnist for BNET, Business 2.0, CIO, The New York Times as well as many other publications.) You can find Geoffrey’s blog here, which lists some of the deeper qualifying questions that salespeople must learn to ask. To go beyond these… -
My Blog Voted Top 100 Blogs to Boost Your Sales Skills
26 Jun 2009 | 7:36 amJust got this email and thought I’d share it with you. Looks like a good resource. Hi Keith! We just posted an article, “Top 100 Blogs to Boost Your Sales Skills.” I thought I’d bring it to your attention in case you think your readers would find it interesting. I am happy to let you know that your site has been included in this list. Thanks for your time! -
When and How to Ask for Referrals
25 Jun 2009 | 1:38 pmTo complement my last blog where I shared some valuable tips on how to generate more referrals that were provided by my colleague Dr. Tony Alessandra, I felt we needed to get even more tactical by revisiting the positioning, language and the dialogue you need to be mindful of when actually asking for a referral, as well as the proper time and place to do so. Below is a strategy that has helped many salespeople and non selling professionals build their pipeline and their practice by knowing when and how to ask for referrals. What follows is a dialogue you can use that honors the permission… -
Tony Alessandra Week on CanDoGo - Generate More Referrals
25 Jun 2009 | 12:54 pmLast week on CanDoGo.com was Tony Alessandra week. While a little late on the draw this week, the good news is, you can still access all of Tony’s videos and tips on CanDoGo. This one in particular I felt was so relevant during a time where customer retention and acquisition is top of mind for all companies and salespeople. Below are some best practices when it comes to asking for referrals. Asking for Referrals By Dr. Tony Alessandra Watch the Video Ask for referrals anytime a customer offers positive feedback about you, your company, or your product. Often, the best time to do so is…
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Ian Brodie's Selling Professional Services Blog
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What to Do When You Need Sales Fast : Issue 1 of the Outside In Newsletter
26 Jun 2009 | 5:58 amI’m proud to announce the launch of the Outside In Newsletter. It features articles, hints, tips and news to help partners, marketers and business developers in Professional Service Firms to attract more clients and win more new business. Every month (usually on the 3rd week) I’ll be sending out a new edition featuring a detailed article on Marketing & Business Development for Professional Firms. This month’s feature is highly topical: What To Do When You Need Sales Fast. In the current economic climate, many professional firms are facing the challenge of bringing in new… -
How to Get More Referrals Using Offers
19 Jun 2009 | 4:43 pmOne of the biggest challenges I find clients have when trying to get more referrals is that their referrers (the people they’ve asked to introduce them to someone) struggle to make the introduction sound attractive to the potential client. For example, let’s say you’re an employment lawyer and you’ve asked an accountant to introduce you to small manufacturing businesses in your area. Or perhaps you’ve been smart and used Linkedin to name some specific people and organisations you know he knows. How is he going to make that introduction sound attractive to the… -
The Referral Formula
16 Jun 2009 | 4:23 pmThis is the second in a series of posts on how Professional Firms can get more referrals. Read the first in the series – Referrals: You’ve Got to Have A System To some degree, succeeding with referrals is something of a numbers game. More referrals equals more business. However, for busy professionals who need to balance business development with billable hours, it’s rarely wise to sacrifice quality for quantity. Better to go for a smaller number of high probability referrals and devote enough time to convert them to sales. So what makes a high quality referral? Referrals… -
Keep out of the "Muddy Middle" when Selling Professional Services
15 Jun 2009 | 4:36 pmFor many decades, perhaps the most successful client development strategy for both professional service firms and individual professionals has been one of focusing on a small number of high value clients. As Andrew Sobel points out in “All For One”, a consultant or accountant only needs a handful of good clients to make a great career. And most successful professionals will maintain around 15 to 20 truly important client relationship over their business life. Building a small number of deep, trusting relationships pays off much more than having shallower relationships with a… -
Creating a Marketing Habit in 21 Days
15 Jun 2009 | 1:19 pmPaula Black has just published The Little Black Book: A Lawyer’s Guide To Creating A Marketing Habit in 21 Days. Having got my hands on a pre-release copy, I can say that not only is the book beautifully produced (the sort you’ll want to keep flipping open and dipping in to) but it’s filled with the sort of practical hints that can really help ingrain a marketing mindset. And as I’ve repeatedly written, the key differentiator between successful Rainmakers and “also rans” is that Rainmakers have a repeatable business development system. Sometimes it’s…
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Retail
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Is Now the Time to Go Retail?
18 Jun 2009 | 12:19 pmI've been speaking lately to more and more people who are thinking about starting up a retail business. For the most part, these are folks who have not been in retail before, but have great ideas for offering customers something new, something different, something compelling. They've got the entrepreneurial bug. If you think about it, this interest is not very surprising. There is a growing sense that the economy is nearing a bottom, and that things might start turning up before long. These people are at a point in their lives where they want to do something different, to follow their… -
Why This Recession Is Different
15 May 2009 | 12:50 pmAs too many small retailers have learned -- and are still learning -- this recession is different from those in the past. This recession is a credit-driven recession. The lack of available credit, and the withdrawing of credit, has been the pinch point for many businesses in this downturn. For smaller retailers, this means that as both your profit and loss statement and balance sheet come under pressure, you've got to pay close attention to your covenants and in close communication with your lender. For many, the focus has been on the P&L, but it's a major mistake to take your eye off your… -
Want to Increase Revenue? Reduce Your Inventory
27 Apr 2009 | 3:35 pmEvery time I've ever had a client tell me how important their inventory is to them, I respond by asking them if there were a way to do business without carrying any inventory, would they? It brings them up short every time. The fact is that there isn't a small retailer alive who wouldn't love to find a way to do business without having to carry any inventory. It's an important point to consider in these difficult economic times. Retailers of all shapes and sizes have had to re-adjust their inventories to reflect new sales levels and build their cash balances. For many, it has been a challenge… -
When Will Sales Turn Around?
17 Apr 2009 | 4:14 pmThe major retail chains reported their March sales recently, and the good news is that for the third straight month, there wasn't any really bad news. Sales were down slightly from a year ago, after being up slightly in February. Still, Easter was in March last year, so we are likely to see the impact of a later Easter this year in April sales. The key point is that after free-falling in the fourth quarter of 2008, things appear to be stabilizing. Most smaller retailers are still afraid there might be another cliff just around the corner, but there's a growing sense that the worst might be… -
Plan Your Cash Flow!
16 Mar 2009 | 3:39 pmIn my last post, I wrote about the likelihood that the current recession will not end quickly or with any perceptible rebound. From the retailers that I've spoken to recently, there is a sense that the sales decreases may have stabilized for the moment, but there's no confidence that things will actually improve anytime soon. Right now, many entrepreneurial retailers are financially stressed, and at best are anticipating a very challenging first half of the year. Their immediate focus is on improving their cash position. Many are struggling with difficult decisions about reducing payroll.
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Sales Sounding Board
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The Benefits of Sales Coaching
30 Jun 2009 | 1:41 pmForward-looking organizations like Lenovo, Corning, Innovex, Motorola are known for being leaders in adopting effective sales processes and technology. Many of these companies are now leveraging new processes and capabilities to empower their sales management teams and to get more out of their sales people through tracking key performance indicators and coaching. Even though you may be a small company in comparison, the key to improving sales in your organization is where you focus. The focus should be on your salespeople and their performance rather than the resulting numbers. One way to… -
Can Sales Technology Help Your Bottom Line?
24 Apr 2009 | 2:24 pmMore companies today are leveraging technology in the area of coaching, sales management, and sales operations to drive not only selling efficiencies, but also the overall effectiveness of their sales team. Traditionally, investments in sales technology have been looked at as a necessary evil, and are often shunned by IT departments who think they can build it themselves. The reality is that it took sales guys like Tom Siebel, of Siebel Corporation, and Mark Benioff, of Salesforce.com to build true CRM systems, while IT guys were building and throwing away miles of code. Forward-looking… -
Smoke and Mirrors Sales Figures
6 Apr 2009 | 4:10 pmMore often than not, when it comes to companies meeting their sales figures, there is a disconnect between what the CEO expects and what the vice president of sales can realistically deliver. The true challenge for the head of sales lies in how to substantiate to the CEO why the numbers were missed, or, if they were made, how they were arrived at. A recent article published on MarketingProfs.com titled “Lies, Damn Lies and Dashboards,” stated that CRM and business intelligence dashboards are often manipulated by managers and marketing execs to present a positive outcome that doesn’t… -
Increase Sales by Focusing Less on Quota
22 Jan 2009 | 9:45 amSales managers seemingly never take their eye off where they stand against quota. But what if I was to tell you that maybe it’s time to forget about quota and focus on long-term results? You may think I’m out of my mind. How can a sales organization be led without focusing on quota? If quota isn’t met, the salesperson will clearly lose his or her job. If enough salespeople don’t meet quota, then the sales manager loses his or her job. If enough sales managers miss their numbers, then the vice president of sales gets it. Right? Yes, right, but focusing only on the numbers and beating… -
Turning Value into Customer Requirements
7 Nov 2008 | 12:44 pmAlthough armed with a carefully crafted list of 10 “unique” benefits to customers, a supplier of sophisticated network security systems learned they had lost a million dollar contract to a competitor with almost exactly the same list of benefits, but a 10 percent lower price. Another company offering comprehensive Enterprise Resource Planning solutions emphasized their superior ability to promote operating efficiency. After losing a large sale, they were surprised to learn the customer wasn’t especially interested in efficiency. Instead, customer executives had bought into a…
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The DEW View!
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When People Don’t Understand You…
1 Jul 2009 | 10:15 amVision can be lonely (I have had this article half-written for more than 13 months but never finalized my thinking about it. Today I present it to you as a work in progress…) It is a certainty in life that not everyone will agree with you. Further, no matter how hard you try, there will always be those that NEVER understand why you do what you do… Let me tell you how that makes me feel: LONELY! (Frankly, I can also be pretty frustrated…) You might feel a similar emotion… The feeling of “I should just give up” or “what I’m doing… -
Sales Lessons I Learned Running
30 Jun 2009 | 7:45 amWhich prospects are you running into? I have been back into road running recently and since there are no sidewalks to use like I had in Virginia, I run on the edge of the road toward on-coming traffic. It creates an interesting dynamic when encountering cars. There are several ways that cars address a runner: Some cars drive as close as they can to me. It’s there lane and they drive with “the right” to be there… Some cars completely move out of the lane to let me know that I am safe to keep running… AND… Some cars slow down or almost stop not sure… -
Your customers are wrong! And you are too for believing them!
29 Jun 2009 | 5:58 amExplosive sales breakthough can only occur when you truly understand that your propect, customer, client, or whatever else you call the people that spend money with you are not your friends. One of the biggest legends of sales mythdom is that “the customer is always right”… You hear that quote everywhere. It’s the golden rule for customer service training and RFP engagement. And it’s dead wrong. Especially when potential customers start getting shady over pricing. They order services they don’t intend to pay for. They try to renegotiate deals that… -
Polarize not Paralyze…
26 Jun 2009 | 12:53 pmYou can’t change the world without polarizing the people you run into — your friends, your community, and even your “not so much” fans. Polarization creates “sides”. It’s the line in the sand that says “either you are with me or not”. And it’s tough being the person who is polarizing. Here is your guarantee: someone will always hate you. Not just dislike you. Not even disagree with you. Hate your guts! And then you have some great friends who are the polar opposites… They defend you to a fault. They stand by… -
Talking faster than our client can listen is really good if results are optional…
25 Jun 2009 | 2:44 pmI had a great conversation on Wednesday with Tom Searcy, CEO of Hunting Big Sales and we were talking about Sales Matters (which is on “delayed launch”) and how I kept turning down writing a book even though it keeps coming back up. Tom really got “up in my business” when I used the excuse that writing a book was too “establishment”. After telling me to get my head out of my ass he reminded me that people need to connect at their own speed and comfort-level — that my speed of sharing might actually be hurting me… Very true! In being extreme, I…
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SALES MANAGEMENT 2.0
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Growing a Brokerage Sales Organization
Culture and Process First; Then Technology Independent insurance agents and brokerages are gaining efficiencies with technology. More efficiencies are on the way as vendors and carriers roll out real-time communications. But with so many processes now automated and keystrokes eliminated, this is an excellent time to re-address the real inherent value of the independent agent. That value is around sales—unless a sale happens, nothing happens. Efficiency—while continuing to be very important—can’t be the end game. The sales must first happen in order for all of the other improvements in… -
Have You Mastered Sales 1.5?
Sales 2.0 is getting tons of buzz right now in the technology market. There are lots of different definitions out there, but here's mine: Sales 2.0 is an outcome not an event. The process requires you to transform your business from one that is focused on selling to one that is focused on letting the market buy from you. Sales 2.0 requires a change in mindset. It requires focus on buyer personas, lead nurturing, content development, social networking strategies, web 2.0 tool, etcetera, etcetera. Pretty head spinning, right? So how do you begin to transform your organization? Take baby steps:… -
Sales Leadership Using "Girl Scout Power"
The Girl Scouts of America was teetering on the edge of extinction when Frances Hesselbein was named president of the organization in early 1976. The Girls Scouts, an organization comprised of thousands of volunteers from across the fifty states, had been going about their business in a very traditional way for years...but that way was now placing the organization in jeopardy. Bleeding funding and declining enrollments, Frances knew she need to change things fast or the organization would cease to exist. But how could she motivate a group of thousands of volunteers? Because her position had… -
Beg, Steal And Borrow Your Sales Techniques
My current place of work is an open office environment. This means that for each sales call that is made, I can hear it. I can hear it when my colleagues get beaten down on price by a professional purchaser or when they attempt to fend off a refund because they exaggerated the features or benefits of their product. Listening to your colleagues’ sales calls is one of the best ways to understand the wide variety of sales techniques around and provides you with a chance to expand your arsenal. While I write this post I can lean back and listen to a whole host of closing techniques. I can hear… -
Your average percent over target is 50%. You are 10% above the next best average. You seem to be ‘closing’ everything and everyone. You’re on fire. You’re magnificent!
Are you REALLY though? I used to work within a small sales team, pro actively selling software to prospective clients, worldwide. I worked there for 3 years and I had perfected the art of either coercing our clients into purchasing or simply verbally bullying them into purchasing. I even started to train other colleagues in the fantastic art of sales I had perfected over the last 36 months, providing tips/tricks on closing and obtaining that sought after signature. I had arrived and I was brilliant. Unfortunately my colleague won the award for ‘Best Sales Person’ that year. His award was…
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The Sales 2.0 Network
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Trust
28 Jun 2009 | 5:03 amA few things happened recently that, together, gave me cause to think about trust, the role it plays in our lives, and (for this post) in business. Studies just published show that our trust levels are at an all-time low. Main Street doesn’t trust Wall Street. Joe Citizen is skeptical (if not paranoid) about what the government is doing, and Jane Employee doesn’t trust her company’s leadership. Trust is one of the fundamental tenets on which today’s society exists. If, when lost in a city you don’t know, you ask someone for directions to the business… -
Building The Right Foundation for Sales 2.0
23 Jun 2009 | 3:42 pmA recent comment on my blog by John Esposito, VP of sales at AMICAS, reminded me to write a post about his company’s successful implementation of a sales methodology last year. I was delighted to present a brief case study at the recent Sales 2.0 Conference in Boston last month. AMICAS had some very common sales-related business issues: Inconsistent sales performance Needed a common, manageable approach Very competitive, complex, political deals Ongoing qualification in dynamic customer environments Tracking complex deals over a year or more Minimal and ineffective opportunity planning… -
Losing the customer
21 Jun 2009 | 8:48 amDave Stein has been blogging and twittering about his frustrated efforts to buy a new phone. His tale of woe in trying to buy an iPhone from AT&T reminded me of a similar experience I had 8 years ago. In some ways it seems not a lot has changed. In 2001 my family and I moved back to Ireland from Seattle. We decided that we would not move back to Dublin. We were finally going to give-up the big city life where much too much time was spent sitting in traffic and commuting to work. We had finally achieved a long-term goal […] -
Understanding the buyer’s emotions
15 Jun 2009 | 10:38 amThink about the last time you made a big purchase. Perhaps it was something really major like a house or a car, or maybe something less dramatic like a replacement set of golf clubs. As you begin researching your purchase, your emotions are deeply engaged and, while you’re generally interested in making sure that whatever you are buying is within your price range, you’re focused on your needs. Is the house in the right location and big enough to do all the entertaining you’re planning? Can the technology in the new golf clubs compensate for a certain lack of technique, […] -
Whose (social) network is it anyway?
6 Jun 2009 | 2:04 pmWhen you think about it, most every personal interaction you have every day has something to do with social networking, or more accurately, your personal social network - your social net-worth. Every meeting you have, email you send, call you make, tweet you tweet, text message you send, blog you write, tv show you watch, website you use, research you read, Facebooker you ‘friend’, twitterer tweeter you follow, report you write, newspaper you read, advert you see, question you ask, song you download, RSS feed you join, LinkedIn connection you accept, and presentation you make,…
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SymVolli
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The Sales Forecast Tug Of War
24 Jun 2009 | 3:07 amIt seems that all is not lost and there is a great debate occurring about sales forecasting accuracy that gives me hope that the status quo ‘sales forecasting inaccuracy has always been like that’ is not acceptable anymore. The tug of war is over the sales process. Two camps are claiming the right to the sales process. There are those that believe the sales process is a series of activities, Activity Based, and there are those that promote the sales process as the monitoring and managing of behaviour. Even within this group there is a divide as to what behaviour is being monitored, is it… -
TSSI Systems Limited – Leading UK Manufacturer of Biometric and Document Security Solutions Order SymVolli
18 Jun 2009 | 3:53 amIt might seem that in a world of recession that business is slow. You might also get the impression that every business has battened down the hatches and are currently waiting for the media to tell us it’s OK to come out again. However, nothing is further from the truth. Business is flourishing and some businesses are taking a very positive attitude in developing and improving their business processes. This is exactly the case with TSSI, one of the UK’s leading manufacturers of biometric and document security solutions who a few weeks ago ordered SymVolli as their sales performance… -
IOD West Surrey Branch Sales Forum – Top Level Sales Exploration
16 Jun 2009 | 2:51 amI have been a member of the IOD for a number of years now and have often found the help and support that underlies the philosophy behind the IOD as an institution a truly inspirational thing. It was this basis that I approached Chris Ragg, the Branch chairman of the IOD West Surrey Branch about setting up the West Surrey Sales Forum so that top level executives, managers and directors could discuss sales issues no matter the size of organisation or market sector. It is no secret that I am passionate about sales as a subject and that I believe that above all ‘Sales’ is the life-force by… -
The Vicious Cycle of Sales Forecasting
11 Jun 2009 | 10:03 amFollowing on from George’s post yesterday and the article that we released (which we have had a great response so far) I thought that I would add to the discussion on sales forecasting and my own view point on why some of the issues that George wrote 10 years ago haven’t been addressed in company practices today. As is my take on George’s article ‘Sales Fact or Sales Fiction’, the potential that sales forecasting offers to the business as a whole is circumvented by the sales managers need to use the sales forecast as a sales activity tool rather than as a sales measurement tool. -
Sales Forecasts – Have We Actually Made Any Progress?
10 Jun 2009 | 1:52 amAbout ten years ago I wrote an article about Sales Forecasting in the business world and the trials and issues that companies at that point were facing in establishing accuracy, consistency and the role that the sales forecast should play in the running of a business. It was with great surprise that I re-read the article I wrote a decade ago and did a little research and figured out that those very same issues face businesses today. Can this be right? Have we really not progressed that much in ten years? Sales forecasts have the potential to affect a great many areas of the business, not just…
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Jonathan Farrington's Blog
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Negotiation: The Art Of Giving And Gaining Concessions
2 Jul 2009 | 12:03 amNegotiation is a process of bargaining by which agreement is reached between two or more parties. It is rare in negotiation for agreement to be reached immediately or for each side to have identical objectives. More often than not, agreements have to be worked out where concessions are given and received and this is the area where the profitability of the final outcome will be decided. When preparing for negotiation, it is advisable to write down a realistic assessment of how you perceive the final outcome. Find out the limits of your authority within the negotiation and decide what you are… -
When Buyer and Seller Act as Partners, They Are Building a Bridge to Profitability
1 Jul 2009 | 1:21 amSuccessful selling is definitely not about the “hit and run” sale. Top sales achievers regard their relationships with key customers as a partnership and cultivate it as such. When customers face tough business challenges and complex technological choice, they rely on sales people who can assist them in making the right decisions. The primary objective of a sales partnership has to be, to create and sustain a mutually productive relationship, which serves the needs of both parties, now and in the future. The key word here is symbiotic. Partnership does not mean eliminating the tension… -
Successful Pipeline Management - It Really Is Not That Complicated!
30 Jun 2009 | 12:32 amI have read a plethora of articles and blog posts recently on the subject of pipeline management, and whilst it will never be an exact science, it really is not that complicated. Imagine a bath filled with water, almost instantly the water begins to evaporate or can slowly seep through the plughole. Over a period of time the water level reduces and the temperature drops! The only way to keep the water level high and the water hot is to turn on the tap and continually refill it. Equally, you want to keep your prospects ‘on the boil’ by actions that continuously warm up and consolidate your… -
Influencing Really Is That Important - Believe Me
28 Jun 2009 | 7:16 am“Just how important are influencing skills Jonathan?” - a message in my Inbox last week, from a newly promoted sales manager - here’s my response. A Sales Leader’s level of success or failure may be determined by their ability to influence people within their own organisation, as well as those operating in other companies. Sales Leaders who use their influencing skills well are exciting to be around and they exude a positive energy that attracts people towards them. Your ability to influence others can empower people development, accelerate results and ultimately ensures… -
Iran: So where did all the votes come from?
27 Jun 2009 | 1:02 amA statistical analysis has now been published to try to support the claim that the opposition in Iran is right to question the declared result. On the face of it, there seems no reason to doubt the official numbers. In 2005, in a run-off ballot, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected president with 62% of the vote compared with 36% for his opponent, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. In 2009, in the first round, President Ahmadinejad was re-elected with 63% of the vote compared with 34% for Mir Hossein Mousavi. So what is the problem? According to a study edited by Professor Ali Ansari, of the Institute…
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The Sizzle
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the business of busyness
1 Jul 2009 | 4:35 pmProductivity is topical as organisations try to slim down in the face of shrinking budgets. Private sector enterprises can track their success using simple metrics with public benchmarks. Revenue and profit per employee, for example, are useful for comparisons. Recent research (CNBC) shows these for best and worst brands across a range of sectors in the US S&P500s. For the public sector, the measures are complicated by lack of a simple and common benefit metric. Productivity may be tracked over time for an organisation in terms of impact per employee, however, unless the organisation… -
front loading
21 Jun 2009 | 5:55 pmFront loading is the practice of concentrating effort (costs) early on in a project. This increases the likelihood of exposing problems sooner so that there is more time to resolve them; it also reduces the risk of underestimation of effort impacting on the final delivery date and time to benefit. Ultimately, it makes for greater efficiency. Front loading is also effectively what automation achieves for a process. Effort that would otherwise be expended in small parts many times over can be concentrated up front, with significant economies of scale. Many process steps can be eliminated with… -
when procurement policy is broken
18 Jun 2009 | 4:20 pmRight now in the New Zealand public sector, there is a subtle shift in procurement behaviour apparent in agencies. Much to the chagrin of many long-time vendors, central government purchasers are rumoured to be following policy more closely: tender rules are being enforced, and the traditional practice of end-of-year pre-ordering (using up unspent budget) has largely vanished in June 2009. Likely a response to new shareholders rather than the economic climate, this change brings into high relief how common it is for staff to work around policy. Where policy is not liked, not… -
crawl, walk, run, lead
16 Jun 2009 | 3:19 pmCrawl, walk, run is an approach to change projects that sees small steps gather momentum by building upon incremental lessons. It is a recipe for success in Good to Great companies as well as in technology start-ups. It is also a central tenet of the continuous improvement mantra in Kaizen and a natural response to capital constraints. One covert rationale for the approach is that it is often better to take people on a journey - to demonstrate the advantages of a change. Change is inevitable, it is something we must either actively embrace or passively accept. However, many… -
time to benefit
22 May 2009 | 9:36 pmA key performance and value metric in product development is "time to market". This is generally the length of time between when a product is conceived and when it is actually earning revenue in the market. Time to market is important because, once a new product opportunity is identified then the race is on to realise it as soon as possible. New product opportunities will typically translate to new revenues and new EBIT; better product development processes bring in these benefits faster - with no compromise in quality, entry timing or flexibility. Speed is important because anything on the…
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TeleSmart Communications
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Free Webcast Today @ 11:00am PST
30 Jun 2009 | 10:38 amCalling all sales trainers out there or managers who are wondering about what the next wave of sales training. Find out in today’s Sales Training 2.0 What’s In/Out webcast as I’ll be moderating a lively discussion with some training experts. Will sales training change as we know it? Find out- -
It’s time to fire your No-Po now
26 Jun 2009 | 10:00 amJust in case you’ve been busy trolling around with your No-Po’s, it’s time to fire them. After all, they are not the ones who will ever pull the trigger and make anything happen for you. They hold big titles, love your product, stall each week and absolutely protect their powerless turf. They lack influence and remember No-Po stands for No-Power, No Potential, No Purchase Order and No Go. We must let go of any false hope we have that a No-Po will actually help us. Face it, they just have not been performing too well for us. Let’s fire them…….how you ask? -
Honey, I shrunk the inside sales organzation
25 Jun 2009 | 7:26 pmI could never imagine myself working in certain jobs- like working as a toll-booth attendant on the Golden Gate Bridge or a Bob Cat driver digging up swimming pools in Beverly Hills or as a social worker in the Bayview dealing with juvenile delinquents. So when I had dinner last night with two inside sales director buddies of mine and they brought me up to speed on what they’ve had to manage for the past 6 months, I had to add being an Inside Sales Director to my list of undesirable jobs. Imagine having a vibrant and thriving inside sales organization of 500 people. An… -
Remembering a legend
25 Jun 2009 | 6:17 pmAn icon has passed away today and the world stands still in disbelief. He will be missed and remembered forever as our king. -
Time to Shrink of Grow your Inside Sales Org?- Free Webcast Today
15 Jun 2009 | 8:59 amI’m so excited to present our free webcast today on the Inside Sales 2.0 Trend Talk Channel today from 11:00-12:00pm PST. I’ve assembled a killer team of inside sales executive experts who will share their thoughts and experiences on this topic. Some discussion points: Downsizing inside sales organizations- knee jerk reactions versus strategic long-term decisions Which departments get voted off the island first and why? Are inside sales downsizing measures aligned with the field’s strategy? What about right-sizing, restructuring and redeploying sales talent instead of…
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Chris Whyatt thinks...
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A false economy or a great idea - you tell me?
1 Jul 2009 | 8:48 amI attended the Summer BBQ of the UK APMP (Association of Proposal Management Professionals) this evening, having played in their golf day that afternoon. I spoke with several 'old' friends and was distressed to find that they had been made redundant by their employers in order to 'save money'. "So who is going to produce the proposals and respond to the PQQs, the RFIs, the RFPs and the ITTs then?" I asked. "The sales people" was the answer I heard again and again. Now in my 'logical' world, if a sales person is doing the above they are not out… -
Is your organisation 'sales ready'?
3 Jun 2009 | 1:36 pmSuccessfully selling your company’s capabilities to customers depends on many factors. I have spent a lifetime looking at this subject, focusing on what many people call sales readiness. Sales readiness is what underpins everything that sales and marketing does, including people, processes, and information. To help consider where you stand, I have broken it down into 5 segments and 13 key elements... Getting ready Fundamental to sales readiness is understanding your market; sounds simple doesn’t it, but these days ‘your market’ changes by the day, or even the… -
A great sales story... or two in fact!
20 Mar 2009 | 6:42 amYears ago I did some work on bids for Amdahl (manufacturers of IBM look-a-like mainframes) and the now-retired Sales Director (real old school, brilliant guy) told me this story.He went to see the IT Director of a major IBM customer and took an Amdahl mug (the type you drink coffee from stupid!) and offered it to the guy. The guy was not impressed apparently!"I've just saved you £1m" said my friend. "The next time your IBM salesman comes in have that mug on your desk."If you need ask, your're not in sales. The second story concerns Leo Quinn and his time at… -
e-auctions - what are your experiences - good and/or bad?
22 Feb 2009 | 11:33 ame-auctions have been about for at least 10 years and I hear mixed views on them, mainly from people who 'win' them but never get any business as a result. What do you think? -
Tiger Woods is celebrating the birth of his second child and hopes to return to competitive golf within weeks.
10 Feb 2009 | 10:18 amI bet he does...
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SalesBlogcast
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College Degree Required?
1 Jul 2009 | 5:29 pmI used to work for an organization that wrestled with the idea of whether or not to require a college degree as a prerequisite for employment. The importance of the discussion would increase when considering advancement opportunities into management, director, and VP level positions. What do you think... Is a college degree important in the world of sales? Does it create an advantage? [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] -
It Happens to the Best of Us
28 Jun 2009 | 4:44 pmby Kimberly D. Mackey I have to confess that last week I had myself a small pity party. It happens. You know how it is, as sales people we pour our heart and soul into helping our customers. Then when it doesn’t go our way, we start the process of beating ourselves up. What did we do wrong? What could we have done differently? You‘ve been there, right? [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] -
Vital Questions About Sales and Leadership
24 Jun 2009 | 4:58 pmMy friend Joe Frio from the SalesRoundup Podcast called and invited me to make another appearance on his show. Joe suggested a great idea, "Ask my readers to come up with the interview questions!" Please use the comments section to post your interview questions. Joe and Mike (his c0-host) will pick their favorites to ask me during the show! [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] -
Happy Father’s Day!
21 Jun 2009 | 6:00 amAlmost every time I speak with my father he asks the question, “Are you winning? Tell me about your day…” Yes sir, I am winning… and today especially... I am winning because you are my dad. Happy Father’s Day! What memorable conversations and interactions with your father have made a big impact on your life? [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] -
Is Your Tweetfolio Credible?
17 Jun 2009 | 6:17 pmHave you ever wondered why people are clamoring to add more followers on twitter? I’m sure you see all the advertisements offering to “Get this many thousands of followers in 90 days… fast… while you sleep… etc, etc.” The goal is to get as many targeted followers as possible. We’ll work on a little strategy to help all of our sales and leadership minded readers get a jump start on building a quality following at the end of this post, but first things first… [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
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Jeb's Blog
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Sales Lessons From West Point
20 Jun 2009 | 10:08 amby Tony Cole I recently had the great honor and privilege of visiting our United States Military Academy at West Point, NY. I was overwhelmed by the courage and passion of those that occupy this post. They are truly remarkable people and I was struck by how much the disciplines they practice relate to selling. Yes, it might be a stretch to tie what happens at West Point to sales and selling, but not much of a stretch. This group of young people consistently demonstrates at an extraordinary level all of those competencies necessary to succeed in selling: courage, desire, commitment,… -
Salespeople Are The New Super Heroes
24 May 2009 | 9:54 amClick here to listen to this article free on iTunes. This message is designed to motivate you. To make you feel great about being in the Sales Profession; and to encourage you to look forward rather than backwards. As the world continues to wallow in this economic crisis; as unemployment continues to creep up; as consumers and investors sit on the sidelines; and as companies continue to cut back, there is only one way out of this recession. We have to sell our way out. It is the only way. We have to get both consumers and businesses to start buying more products and services. And the… -
An Interview With LiveLOOK’s Linda Ziemba
24 Apr 2009 | 1:37 pmI recently had the pleasure of interviewing Linda Ziemba, Vice President of Business Development for LiveLOOK. This incredible new start-up is changing the way companies and salespeople interact with customers and prospects on-line. Jeb: I’m always on the lookout for tools that help me increase sales while at the same time reduce my costs. I’ve had a chance to check out your new technology and I’m impressed. Can you tell me more about LiveLOOK? Linda: LiveLOOK is first ever stand-alone, no-download Co Browsing web collaboration software letting users of content management self-service… -
Do Your Best - A True Mark Of Character
3 Apr 2009 | 9:43 pmSaturday morning was beautiful here in Southwest Florida; perfect for the opening day of Little League. The kids, decked out in their new uniforms proudly marched onto the field. The announcer introduced the team, the coaches, and the players. 200 bright eyed kids were smiling, their parents were cheering, and everyone was excited with anticipation for the new season. This year, because of the economy, the league had decided not to hire someone to sing the national anthem. Instead, a circle of boys gathered around a microphone and sang as loudly as they could. Soon the parents joined in and… -
5 Rules For Keeping Your Sales Job In This Recession
12 Mar 2009 | 7:02 pmFor many Sales Professionals the stress of our current economic situation is taking a toll. Besides shrinking retirement accounts and the relentless stream of bad news, corporate compensation policies are becoming less generous, customers are cutting back (which impacts commission checks), and the competition for new accounts has never been more fierce. And, to make things worse, salespeople everywhere walk on egg shells wondering when the next wave of cuts may leave them without a job. Fear is palpable everywhere I go. Everyone is scared. Most people are searching for answers. Some are so…
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Joe Crisara - Sales Managers Mentor Blog
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Finding “Why Us?” Makes Closing Easy
9 Jun 2009 | 11:03 amHere are a couple of questions you might want to consider if you are struggling with your sales results. You are guaranteed to increase your conversion rate if you incorporate the following questions and answers in your conversations with customers before that presentation. Why You? This is where you ask your prospect to spell out why this particular person will benefit from purchasing what you sell. The more time you have spent finding out why your prospect will benefit, the more effectively you will be able to close later. You need to understand what your prospect is really experiencing. -
George Constanza School Of Sales Management
6 Jun 2009 | 1:10 pmDo you remember when the TV show “Seinfeld” was a huge hit on NBC’s “Must-See TV” every Thursday? I have probably watched every episode at least 2 or 3 times. The one episode that really stands out for me more than all the others is the episode called “Opposite George.” Looking At the Truth Straight On Basically, instead of always lying to himself about how good things were going in his life, he decided that he gotten to the miserable place he was now, by the actions that he had taken. He finally owned up to his failures. The Decision To Make a Change… -
Create Sales Stars, Don’t Be One
30 May 2009 | 9:47 amI have always said that if I wanted to do something terrible to my worst enemy it would be to put them in a business where they had to manage people that have to sell their services and products without any training. That would certainly make anyone miserable for the rest of their lives. Yes, the sales professional of today has never had it harder. Not For the Faint Of Heart Managing the sales performance of a business and its’ greatest asset, their employees, is one of the most challenging and un-rewarding jobs that anyone could ever wish on a person. That is, if that person is left… -
For Who? For What?
18 May 2009 | 9:48 pmPro football running back Ricky Watters had an amazing career. He accumulated over 10,000 rushing yards and over 4,000 receiving yards for the San Francisco 49ers, Philadelphia Eagles, and Seattle Seahawks. He caught 5 touchdown passes for the 49ers in a single NFL playoff game, which is a league record, and caught three TD passes for the 49ers in the 1995 Super Bowl. Watters was an amazing playmaker on the field, but off the field his mouth was his own worst enemy. In a game Watters played as a member of the Eagles, his team was down by three touchdowns late in the game against the… -
Service Recovery: Is It CMA? (Constant Managerial Approval)
13 May 2009 | 4:27 pmWhat do your salespeople know to do when something goes wrong? As a manager, is it your “policy” to get involved in every act of service recovery with a client, or do you allow your people to think on their own? I had a situation on one of my Webinars this week where two people had very bad experiences — technical stuff that was totally out of my control. Both were brand new clients, and I made an awful first impression. They were both angry at first, each sending me not-so-nicely-worded E-mails about how much trouble they went through to get their…
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Sales Architects
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Beware of Hiring Your Competitor’s Sales People
29 Jun 2009 | 5:52 amHiring sales people from the competition always seems like a no-brainer, but there are many pitfalls with this hiring strategy. Life would be grand if we could sprinkle a few seeds in the ground, fertilize, add water…and a great sales person would sprout. This is truly a pipedream, but one often pursued by small business owners and sales management executives in their quest to find great sales talent. Rather than grow their own, they attempt to steal the crops from their competitors. Why not, their competitor is much better at growing a sales organization than they are. They will grab… -
A request for your assistance…
4 Jun 2009 | 6:39 amI hope you have been enjoying my article posts in my blog on Sales Gravy. I have a small favor to ask of you…and I’m not one that is used to asking for assistance, but I need your help.A few months ago, my wife nominated me for a contest called One Man Minneapolis. A few weeks ago, I was notified that I am one of 20 finalists. The criteria is commitment to a fitness lifestyle, success in business, and active involvement in the community.Now that there are 20 finalists, an online vote is being conducted and I need your help. If you would be so kind and… -
Is Your Sales Strategy Missing an Ingredient?
1 May 2009 | 12:36 pmMost sales people are passionate about their product because they see it as important for their clients. However, importance doesn’t make sales happen. They are missing a key ingredient in their sales strategy. Dr. Stephen Covey, in his book “First Things First,” contrasts importance with urgency. He uses that concept to convey an approach for effective time management. This concept has an application in converting prospects into buyers. Dr. Covey presents this concept in a table with four quadrants where importance and urgency are contrasted. The quadrant where… -
How to Hire the Right Vice President of Sales
3 Apr 2009 | 1:23 pmYour Vice President of Sales is the key to your company growing revenue, but focusing your selection process on their salesmanship will lead to hiring the wrong candidate. Years ago, I was interviewing for a Vice President of Sales position with a mid-sized services firm. Everything was going well with my interview with the CEO of the company and then the question came. It is the favorite question of CEOs everywhere. Yet, it is also the most ridiculous question to ask a Vice President of Sales candidate in an interview. “So, how much revenue can you drive for us this year?” I… -
The Epidemic That Is Killing Sales Pipelines
4 Mar 2009 | 8:31 amSales pipelines everywhere are stuck, not because of the economy, but rather due to a decision-maker affliction. “I’m confused. I’ve had great meetings with the right people in the organization. They said that our product looks terrific…but that was 8 months ago. I’ve continued to call…followed-up by email…still no decision. I know that the competitor hasn’t gotten the business. If they love the product, why aren’t they buying?” Every sales person can relate to this story. Chances are your pipeline is loaded with these kinds of situations. A tremendous amount of…
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Sales Loudmouth
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Foundation of Engagement
10 Jun 2009 | 12:25 pmMost of us are not trying to convince pedestrians to give us money or attend parties but the lessons learned about engagement are directly transferable to our typical sales process. -
The Oatmeal Queens and other Dramas
29 May 2009 | 7:32 pmA friend of mine who works as a sales manager for an internet advertising firm tells me the story of two women sellers in his office. At about 9:00 every morning the two of them can be found in the break area eating instant oatmeal and catching up on personal matters. -
On Being Listenable
17 May 2009 | 8:45 pmI am looking in the rear view mirror while stopped at a light trying to get Matthew's attention. He knows that I am looking at him and he is looking out the window to avoid my eyes... -
The Statistics Tell the Story
12 May 2009 | 6:46 pmWhen confronted with the cold, hard numbers that tell the story of their fading fortunes, sellers offer alternative stories. -
Selling Techniques: Relevance
5 May 2009 | 6:19 pmI've been observing sales calls for a long time and, lately, I've become more and more dissatisfied with the dialog coming from our side of the table. Our words sound rehearsed and they lack passion. But, something else is missing and its taken awhile for me to figure it out.
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Site Updates from EyesOnSales
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Building a sales plan: Dealing with Issues of Productivity
2 Jul 2009 | 1:14 pmChances are high that if you are not a coach, this post is going to ruffle your feathers. In fact, if you have been reading my blog and think I am nuts, do not bother with this one. That said, this is not a personal assault on your ego, it is an opinion, albeit a tested one.METRICS FOR THE SAKE OF METRICS DO NOT MAKE FOR MORE SALES! -
If You Dread Follow-Up Calls, So Will Your Prospects
2 Jul 2009 | 11:58 amThe classic approach to placing follow-up calls comes with some challenges. The usual image of a follow-up call is to pick up the phone and ask your prospects, "Are you ready to hire me?" When you're calling potential referral sources, the question may become, "Got any referrals for me? For most independent professionals, this process isn't much fun. In fact, it's disagreeable enough that we may avoid it entirely. read more -
My Marketing Brothers Take Care of Me
1 Jul 2009 | 10:17 amI was presenting The Cold Call is Dead Part 2 webinar yesterday and I noticed an interesting question flash by on the audience questions box. Well, it wasn’t actually a question it was a comment. A conclusion actually. Roughly it said “marketing generates all the leads and sales closes them”.Cool! -
What Should You Measure In BtoB Sales – Sales Activity or Effectiveness?
30 Jun 2009 | 11:53 amI recently overheard this comment about a savvy CEO of a company with a software offering: “He runs his sales organization like a machine. He knows exactly how many calls each sales rep needs to make each day to hit their quota. And, he knows every day if they hit that number.” -
Pursuing Sales Results vs. Developing Your Team
30 Jun 2009 | 9:07 amI recently had lunch with a highly successful VP of Sales of a Pharmaceutical company. He explained that he was frustrated with the members of his sales management team, who he felt were focused only on results. He worried that they were not spending any time developing their salespeople. read more
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As Was Marketing Hall Of Fame
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A Consulting Call Shouldn't Be A Sales Pitch
1 Jul 2009 | 8:37 pmThanks to John aka ColderICE for his great radio show today. I had to listen to it when he said he was outing someone. And wouldn't you know, it was someone on my poop list, who I've pointed at before here in this blog.This link will download an MP3 of the radio show, which was the 1 July 2009 "BS Walks" show John does on TalkShoe.com. John gives a bad rating for Bonanzle late in the show, which I was very interested in. I disagree that Bonanzle is a good solution if you want an eCommerce presence. If you want one, get a buyitsellit.com or Vendio Store. Why bring traffic to… -
My Personal Ad
22 Jun 2009 | 5:00 amIn the spirit of humour, here is my personal ad.Wanted: busy CEO, top level exec, or guy with at least one high-level job that keeps him insanely busy... for tweeting, Skype chats, text messaging, and short phone calls while I walk my dog.I'm crazy busy and you're really busy. Every time you blink, I've started a company, or taken on more consulting. We both travel a lot, and rarely in the same direction, so I may not see you very often. But you can tell the difference between me being busy and me not caring (I do care!). When we get together, it's laugh-o-rama, and we… -
Credit Card Fraud in Vegas
21 Jun 2009 | 2:59 pmLast time I was in Vegas, someone skimmed my card. Oh, I learned all about it... this is where someone swipes your card (with a device other than the device they needed to use for you to pay), and it records everything on your card. They can then use that (or sell that) and reprogram a credit card to be yours. This a REALLY sneaky for two reasons. Your card wasn't stolen, so you don't know it's compromised. Since they reprogram a card with their name on it, anybody who asks them to produce ID will still pass the test... the name on the card matches the name on the license. But if… -
All Is Full Of Love
12 Jun 2009 | 9:22 amyou'll be given love you'll be taken care of you'll be given love you have to trust it maybe not from the sources you've poured yours into maybe not from the directions you are staring at twist your head around it's all around you all is full of love all around you you just ain't receiving all is full of love your phone is off the hook all is full of love your doors are all shut all is full of loveThanks, Bjork. :) -
A Flight For $9?
8 Jun 2009 | 6:24 pmA friend just called, and was thinking of coming up to see me for the weekend. This weekend. He lives in San Diego, and I'm now in San Jose. We started looking around for flights, and he found Allegiant Air. They didn't have any flights up to me on Friday, but that had one up to me on Thursday (in 3 days). He can't make that since he doesn't want to take off of work.But the price of the one-way flight to see me was $9. That's it. I assume they'll put tax on that, and charge for people checking bags. $9.His return flight? $19. I mean this is just STUPID. It doesn't…
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Sales Training - SalesPractice.com
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Holding on by a thread DESPITE the economy!!
1 Jul 2009 | 1:09 pmI'm new to this forum but it looks like there's good info here. I am the Pres of my marketing/printing company. Like every small business I'm really focusing on my sales folks, trying to generate leads. I'm new in the role of Sales Manager so I'm looking forward to learning! -
New Sales Manager Life Savers
1 Jul 2009 | 6:57 am"New Sales Manager Life Savers!" Those were the words a couple of new managers in one of my retail training groups used. They were referring to coaching with the 'self management' philosophy that helps develop Self Managing Sales People. The concepts are simple however building self managers takes stretching a bit to get your head around it. [center][URL="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_n2sp_nn -
Cold Calling Methodology
1 Jul 2009 | 6:38 amI'm in B2B sales, with startup company. While I make some "cold calls" on the phone to new, target prospects, I also am making as many outside calls as I can fit into a day. That being said, typically I go into company, introduce myself and company, and ask who handles purchasing of my product. Occasionally I'll end up talking to the owner/decision maker, but more often than not I'm simply gett -
Looking Forward to Lively Discussions
1 Jul 2009 | 5:40 amThanks for the opportunity to share information and support. I've read a few of the threads and see many 'how to' and 'in the street' great ideas re. the Sales profession, where my heart is. I live in Canada, just off lake Wilcox, with my wife and son - really like being in the country. My business and family life are all around bringing value and I look forward to doing my best to contribute here -
Hello!
30 Jun 2009 | 7:06 pmHello everyone! Looking forward to being part of this community. It seems that it is very active and vibrant. Just re-entered the sales profession (B2B) and joined a startup company with good potential, but many challenges.
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Journal of A Sales Professional
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The Challenge of Defeat
12 Jun 2009 | 6:25 amIf you learn from defeat, you haven’t really lost. — Zig Ziglar I have been watching the NBA playoffs and since I live in California, I am pulling for the Los Angeles Lakers. Throughout the playoffs, I have noticed how each team seems to make adjustments to their strategy to win the next came. There are 48 minutes to each basketball game and these are divided into four quarters and over the past few weeks, I have noticed how each quarter seems to be played differently. I have watched the game change as players are substituted and adjustments made in how the players approach the… -
The Problems With Humans - According to a Selling Robot
10 Jun 2009 | 9:17 amIf my Selling Robots could talk, I think they would have a lot to say about humans and how humans could improve. If my robots could really talk, I know one of the first things I would do is turn the darn thing off, tell it to shut up, roll over and take a nap or go out and play for the day - hey, I’m human. I was built to play, not work and that is part of the problem. GM - the automotive giant can’t blame robots for its problems. If my robots could talk, they wouldn’t take the blame. They would be quick to tell you - it is the humans that miss managed the business and… -
The power of Referrals is Contagious
9 Jun 2009 | 6:35 am“Wow, this place is great. How did you say, you heard about this place. The food is amazing and the service is fantastic. I want to come here again.” As I left the restaurant, I was thinking of when I might return to enjoy another feast of this magnitude. Two weeks later . . . I find myself asking the question at a gathering of friends - “Hey, have you been to the Grist Mill on Lincoln street?” I begin to explain the fabulous meal that we experienced a few nights before and my friends listen to me describe the experience. As they listened, their mood changes and… -
Running a Client Centered Business
7 Jun 2009 | 11:18 amI was reading an article about a Doctor. who wanted to some thing different in medicine. He really wanted meet with and listen to his patients to solve their problems. Now, I have a great relationship with my doctor and he and I laugh together. I see him at least once a year and follow his advice whenever possible. The only time I hate being with him is when he asks me to drop my drawers and bend over while he puts on his plastic gloves - As long as he doesn’t smile, I’m OK with the exam. Anyway, I digress. The doctor that I was reading about had invested in technology to cut… -
Prune, Prune and Prune some more to sell more
6 Jun 2009 | 1:24 amI have been pruning my contact list recently and it has been refreshing to get rid of my dead weight. It really is empowering to make a telephone call and get down to the real fact. I want to know that the person on the other end of the telephone wants to do business. If they don’t, I cut them out. What sparked this concept? Well, I have a fruit tree in the back yard and it has some fruit on it that keeps growing and the fruit is growing at a much more rapid rate than it did last year. The reason the fruit is growing better is because I pruned the heck out of the tree earlier in the…
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CASKEY Sales Training » The Advanced Selling Podcast
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Sales Podcast: Are Your Clients Really Loyal?
2 Jul 2009 | 10:00 amIn Bryan Neale’s absence this week, I enlisted Phil Bounsall of Walker Information to talk about the issue of client loyalty. As sales professionals, a loyal client is a referring client. And since most of us count on referrals to grow our business, keeping your eye on loyalty is a MUST DO. Phil has excellent insight and tips on how to improve client loyalty. -
Sales Podcast: “How Do I Prospect When I’m Already Busy?”
25 Jun 2009 | 10:00 amIn this episode, Bill Caskey and Bryan Neale address a question from an audience member on how to prospect when you’re already busy. And Bryan reveals a communication technique that helps as you’re explaining to a prospect what you do. Watch the video below. Advanced Selling Podcast-June Episode from Bill Caskey on Vimeo. -
Sales Podcast: First Call Protocol
11 Jun 2009 | 11:31 amIn this week’s podcast, Bill is going “solo” and talks about the first call “protocol.” We’ve received a lot of mail recently on “filling the sales funnel,” but the first discussion you have with a prospect is still vital. You have to set the tone in the right way. And to do that, you MUST have the right frame of mind going in. -
Sales Podcast: Bold Moves in the Sales Process
4 Jun 2009 | 11:11 amSometimes we just need to have bold, bad sales moves. In this podcast, Bill and Bryan talk about two bold moves you can make as you pursue the sale.These moves are not intended to get someone to buy—that’s not cool. They ARE intended to move the sale along—or move it out. -
Sales Podcast: Sales Philosophies - Part II
28 May 2009 | 11:48 amIn Bryan’s absence this week, Bill reviews three more of the core sales philosophies that govern sales success. He addresses money and budget, how to find out early where the prospect’s mind is, and how to reframe who your competition is. As always, you can email us listener@advancedsellingpodcast.com to ask a question or make a comment.
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The Accidental Negotiator
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Shut-Up Is What Sales Negotiators Need To Learn To Do!
30 Jun 2009 | 4:59 amNegotiation is all about power. The trick to walking away from a sales negotiation feeling satisfied about what you were able to achieve is to make sure that you walk IN to the negotiation with more negotiating power than the other side has. Sounds easy doesn’t it? I’ve been amazed over and over again to see sales negotiators just give away their negotiating power to the other side time after time. They just don’t realize that they are doing it. Let’s see if we can put a stop to this… How Do Sales Negotiators Lose Power? Negotiating power can be a be a funny… -
Deadlines Make Sales Negotiators Give It All Away
23 Jun 2009 | 4:59 amSales Negotiators Can Give It All Away In The End If They Are Not Careful Every sales negotiation has some sort of time limit associated with it. You might have an hour, a day, or even longer to conduct the negotiations, but there is some point in time at which you’ll run out of time to talk. This is when most sales negotiations fall apart. The Problem With The End Studies of negotiators has revealed a disturbing fact about all of us. During a normal negotiation we engage in a process in which we give a little bit and take a little bit. Pretty much what you would expect in any… -
Sales Negotiators Know Not To Give In First
16 Jun 2009 | 4:59 amSales Negotiators Who Make The Wrong Concessions End Up Playing Defense I wish that there was some sort of black magic potion or single scientific study that I could point to in order to justify what I’m about to tell you, but there isn’t. So here it goes: never be the first to make a concession on a MAJOR issue. Why Should We Take The Hard Line Here? Concessions are a part of every sales negotiation. In fact we’ve spent a lot of time talking about the 5 ways that sales negotiators can use concessions to get what they want. Now all of a sudden it looks like we’re… -
3 Things Every Sales Negotiator Needs To Know
9 Jun 2009 | 4:59 amSales Negotiators Need To Learn How To Slow Things Down Wouldn’t it be great if the best sales negotiators in the world could drop by our place and sit down with us for awhile to share what they’ve learned? If you knew that they were coming, what questions would you ask them? We’ve already talked about some of the things that master sales negotiators could teach us, and we’ve covered some of the secrets that they use to walk away with the results that they wanted. However, let’s dive deeper – if we only had a few minutes to talk with a master sales… -
3 Secrets Successful Sales Negotiators Use To Win
2 Jun 2009 | 4:59 am3 Secrets That Top Sales Negotiators Know Ok, so I’ll be the first to admit it – I used the forbidden word “win” in the title. In sales negotiations we prefer to not say “win” because it implies that there is also a “loser”. and that’s not a good thing. How about if we try something like “3 secrets to always walking away feeling successful“? It’s All About Patterns Successful sales negotiators are good at what they do because they know what they are doing. That being said, they also have developed patterns for conducting…
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Inside Sales Telesales Tips Blog
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Make better cold calls by ending the “How are you today?” habit
28 Jun 2009 | 5:48 pmOne of the challenges in breaking a verbal habit is that it's nearly impossible to fix it by making your adjustment only while at work. In my telesales training classes, two of the most prevalent habits we work on correcting are the "you guys" and the "how are you today?" habits. And to fully correct them, you need help from the folks with whom you live (and play). Before we discuss "How are you today?" and its inherent problems, I want to review "you guys" for a bit. In the telesales courses I teach, I try to get people in our classes to stop referring to the prospect's company as "you… -
Gaining the competitive edge: don’t assume you know what your prospect wants
21 Jun 2009 | 6:49 pmI was coaching a rep during a telesales call last month, when she said to her prospect "So, I assume that you'll need the development process to run more efficiently" (she sold application development solutions that streamlined the development process). The prospect at that point became annoyed, and testily responded with "actually, we're pretty efficient as it is now, what have I said that indicated it wasn't?" (he was a Director of Software Development). While the prospect had other reasons for looking at the rep's solution, efficiency wasn't one of them, so by "assuming," she… -
4 Common weak phrases that erode telesales success
14 Jun 2009 | 6:22 pmI've written before on the critical importance of using strong professional verbiage to position oneself as a peer when calling high and talking to a prospect at the CXO, VP, or Director level. Asking permission ("Is this a good --- or bad --- time to talk?") and beginning the conversation with "How are you today?" are two things I strongly suggest you do not do on a cold call, because by doing so, you're giving the subtle message that you don't really have anything important to say. Today, I want to discuss some additional weak verbiage that will erode your position as a peer to higher level… -
Cold calling essentials: use your prospect’s website to turn your cold call into a warm call
7 Jun 2009 | 6:00 pmI'm conducting one of my telesales training courses this week for a network solutions company that has a challenge common to many inside sales organizations, namely cold calling into companies where there has been no prior telephone contact, at any level. In some cases, there are individuals that have downloaded whitepapers, attended tradeshows and seminars, or signed up for webinars, but in most cases, there has been no previous "touch" at all. In calling these companies, it's absolutely critical to mine the prospect's website for clues that can be used to turn the cold call into a warm… -
2 Ridiculous Factors to avoid when hiring a telesales rep
31 May 2009 | 6:38 pmAfter nearly 30 years in the business, it's pretty hard to shock me, but just this last week I became aware of two factors that some managers are weighing as they hire new inside sales people: college SAT scores and memberships in fraternities and sororities. I've never known these factors to be elements critical to the successes of telesales reps, so let's drill down a bit. If you're a manager who heavily values these, I'd like to you to reconsider. Here's why: I've got a couple of degrees myself, and have attended more than one university. Frats and sororities were mainly known for one…
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Construction Sales Blog
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The Competitive Advantage newsletter: Business Opportunities
18 Jun 2009 | 9:47 amFrom this month's Competitive Advantage newsletter: Sports Events mean Business Opportunities Here in Britain, particularly in the South East, we have seen great opportunities created by the 2012 Olympics construction programme. There is a tendency to see this is as a one-off opportunity, but there are similar sports events being organised all over the world - Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, Football World Cup, Cricket World Cup and Winter Olympics to name a few. Even at the bid preparation stage countries are spending millions on improvements to their infrastructure. UK Trade &… -
Always Something New to Learn
3 Jun 2009 | 1:02 pmI’ve seen all kinds of give-aways and promotional items used working for clients in construction over many years. Most are a tad boring ... yet more pens, sticky pads, rulers/etc. However, I’ve just started work for a smaller £3m builder client who has a promo item that really does work – and it’s really inexpensive. It’s a bar of chocolate – good quality (Lindt I think) and the wrapper is in the clients colours with their logo on. One goes out with every new info pack for architect and other prospects – and the feedback is amazing. People… -
The Competitive Advantage Newsletter: Business Opportunities
21 May 2009 | 12:57 amIn last week's Building there was an interesting article about innovation. The focus was on a new approach to using products and services in construction. Much of what was said applies equally to business processes. A new approach is required, recognising that the external environment is changing, driven by negative factors such as the recession, but also new opportunities like sustainability. At Competitive Advantage we can help you take on these challenges. Making you aware of new developments and information through this newsletter. By publishing research reports to keep you informed,… -
Keep Feeding New Leads In
19 May 2009 | 5:27 amOnce you’re under way with business development for a client, it’s not long before you build up a good range of warm and hot leads for new work and tender opportunities. It’s easy then to get so busy with these good leads that you forget to feed new leads into the system. The danger then is (and it’s happened to me) that you get another three months down the line and suddenly find out you’re running out of leads to develop as your good ones get to tender stage, or are delayed, or go long term on you. We find it best as a rule of thumb to ensure that at least 25%… -
Prioritise Your Leads Regularly - and Ruthlessly
18 May 2009 | 2:24 amOne good thing about using construction sales leads such as those from ABI, Glenigan or Conference (or others) is that – for most companies – there can be so many good and possibly good leads that there are often too many to chase. For one of the Thames Valley builders we work for, there are always at least twice as many good leads to develop as we have time for. Which means it’s really important to prioritise the leads well – a simple A,B and C systems works fine. ‘A’ leads are the 10-15% that are just right – close to home, right size, right…
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Sales Training Blog
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An advertising revalation
28 Jun 2009 | 6:17 amI've been blogging about marketing and advertising for years but just had a revalation...advertising is more fun when it is for a product you are personally involved with! So it is with the White Paper, "The Coming Change in Social Media Business" which I researched and wrote for Social Media Today. The White Paper sponsor, NeuStar, liked the project enough to also sponsor an ad campaign to get the word out. Included are ads on LinkedIn and Facebook, the Lucid Mediaand Federated Media ad networks, as well as ads on the Smart Brief, IT Toolbox, and LifeHacker.com web… -
Free Videos: How to sell through a recession
22 Jun 2009 | 1:12 pmJosh Gordon, is interviewed by Susanna Pollack, Sr.VP at BBC worldwide. In three interviews on recession selling Gordon reveals how to rethink your selling mission, reorganize your sales territories, and develop persuasion strategies. Part 1(Time 10:46) A recession is more than just selling in a slow time of sales, it is a highly strategic time where sellers who understand the patterns can gain advantage. Part 2 (Time 10:38) Reorganizing and refocusing for recession selling Part 3: (Time 15:46) Persuasion in a time of recession. Also,… -
New study on where social media is going
10 Jun 2009 | 9:24 amSocial media is currently most often used as a general communications tool in public relations and marketing, but there is a major shift underway. In my research for the new white paper The Coming Change in Social Media Business Applications, I found that companies are now viewing social media as a primary tool of customer engagement, enabling lead generation, immediate customer contact, and customer interaction. This study is the first to measure a coming shift in how companies will use social media. There are several factors driving this trend. First, with more people spending time on… -
Free sales training videos!!
1 Jun 2009 | 6:00 amWow. The folks at the social media site, "The Customer Collective" have out done themselves. They gathered three sales trainers (me among them) to share wisdom for FREE. The incomparable Jill Konrath (from "Selling to Big Companies") shows how to keep customers loyal in a recession. Social Media wizard Richard Nacht talks about using social media in sales, and I talk about strategic selling in a recession. To access all the FREE videos all you have to register for a FREE membership in "The Customer Collective," something you should do… -
We have nothing to fear but fear of the recession itself
18 Apr 2009 | 5:18 pmScared clients don’t buy. As salespeople in a recession we need to fight the fear. Economic fear is a group thing. When the stock market tumbles, as everyone watches, panic and fear spread. Now that signs of economic recovery are in the air, our job is to see that a new message spreads. New York Times has provided us with a FREE 25 page study we can use to help us convince clients not to be scared. The study is actually about President Obama’s performance ratings, but will ignore the politics and focus on the results of just three questions that…
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The LEADSExplorer Blog: Lead generation - Website visitors - CRM - B2B
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The 10 Commandments of Email Replying
1 Jul 2009 | 1:35 pmEmail communication issue We encountered a commercial communication issue while organizing a voyage to Tuscany (Italy) by trying to book by email several Bed & Breakfast (Agriturismo) stays for our journey. Not use of the Italian language as any online translation provides you the basic comprehensive Italian, but the email communication itself and the information provided. It is relatively easy to find and select several Bed & Breakfast locations in each area as most seem to have a website or are grouped on portals. Sending them a standard inquiry email for availability of a room and… -
How to digital schmoozing for marketing
29 Jun 2009 | 12:21 pmControlled Marketing Currently our marketing consists of: - The website - The almost daily blog post - The micro blogging on Twitter that mainly consists of a catchy phrase and a link to the blog posts - The regular press releases (except for summer holiday) - The comments on blogs: only when we feel we can add something to the conversation. We could easily spend money on on-line advertising especially in the geographic markets where we score lower. These are all communications that we can control and master. Marketing beyond control: schmoozing What we see as the biggest challenge is to have… -
Ride on the marketing coattails of your competitors
28 Jun 2009 | 2:10 pmYour competitors get referenced in blog posts; however your company or product isn’t receiving any of this interest. In order to get some exposure on the same blog pages as your competitors you can only achieve by writing comments on these blog posts. Finding the posts using social search The firs thing to do is to find the blog posts. You can scan and read many blogs but in order to be effective a social search engine is required. These social search engines are different from the Google of Bing searches as they only focus on social websites including blogs. - WhosTalkin - Social… -
The quarterly closing puts any sales closing under pressure
27 Jun 2009 | 1:25 pmThe sales process flow and evolution is independent from the quarterly closing. So why thy to fit the closing of deals just before the end of the quarterly closing as required by public traded companies? Selling under pressure We all know that if you are pushing the client to sign a contract or purchase order there are 3 possibilities: - All ends fine and you close the deal. - The prospect asks for an additional discount. - The prospect finds you too pushy and turns away. - The competitor takes advantage of your situation and exposes more confidence than you. And gets the deal. The purchasers… -
Reasons to comment on blogs or are all comments spam?
25 Jun 2009 | 2:00 pmThere are many blogs and even more comments on these blogs. It takes time to read blogs, to formulate a comment and to write it. Still many people do comment on blogs. Why commenting? Spam? The original idea of allowing comments on a blog post was to start a conversation with the readers. Engaging your audience with the goal to have more content on your blog for free. However everybody who comments on a blog post has an agenda: a reason to comment. This can be a hidden agenda or a very obvious reason. Maybe all comments are spam? Two main reasons for commenting: 1) Generating clicks: To…
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The Sales Edge
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The potential cost of advertising cutbacks
2 Jul 2009 | 7:00 amTags: Budgeting | News You Can Use | ROI -
Ladies and gentlemen, prepare to start your engines
25 Jun 2009 | 2:32 amTags: Automotive | News You Can Use -
Red Rover, Red Rover, send Talent right over!
17 Jun 2009 | 3:13 amTags: Management | News You Can Use | Talent -
Todd Storch and Matt Sunshine appointed VPs at CSS
10 Jun 2009 | 1:54 amTags: Announcements | CSS | Professional Staff -
Dateline: June, 2010. The recession is over (and it has been for over a year)
3 Jun 2009 | 8:43 amTags: Industry Trends
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Shameless Sales Tips from Shamus Brown
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Sun Tzu Had This to Say About Your Sales Competition
15 Jun 2009 | 6:00 amSun Tzu said in The Art of War… Know your enemy and know yourself, find naught in fear for 100 battles. Knowing yourself, knowing your company, knowing your products is not enough. You must know when your competitors will fight you and how they will fight you. Knowing your enemy is as important as knowing yourself. If you don't know your competition, their strategies and their sales tactics, then put an action plan in place today to get to know them. Fail to do this, and you will lose many more deals than you will ever win. Sell with Pride, Shameless Shamus Brown P.S. Most sales… -
Proactively Manage Your Sales Prospecting Attitude
28 May 2009 | 7:00 amWhether you realize this or not you are responsible for this. Every salesman is. It's crucial to your success. And if you don't proactively manage this, it will derail you, and destroy you. What is it? Your attitude. A reader wrote in to me recently asking me to discuss the importance of prospecting in a down economy. Prospecting is one of those things we do as sales people that demands the most attention to your attitude. When you prospect, it can often feel like you are staring into a black hole. You know, where you can't see anything, and your not sure if anyone, or anything… -
You're Smarter than You Think You Are
21 May 2009 | 5:34 amHow much do you trust yourself? Do you trust your own judgment? Do you trust in, believe in, and act on your intuition? I can remember the moment when I started trusting myself. One day it suddenly occurred to me that every deal I had ever won, and every deal I had ever lost I knew within the first one or two sales calls what the outcome would be. I call this intuition. You can call it gut feel if you want. I sometimes call it that too. This was an important moment for me. Important because I realized that I could, and should trust my own judgment about my deals more than anyone else. I… -
Your Sales Prospects Are Human Lie Detectors
21 Apr 2009 | 8:18 amSales Prospects know when sales people lying. Now I know that you probably aren't dishonest. You probably don't lie when selling. But people look for little inconsistencies in every stranger they meet. And people are being sold to, they scrutinize every little thing. Most of your prospects are actually not formally trained in how to tell if a sales person is lying. But knowing whether or not someone is being honest, direct, and well intentioned with us is a human survival instinct in my opinion. You know, cavemen needed to know whether that stranger from another tribe really wanted… -
The Economy is Getting Better, We Think…
20 Apr 2009 | 7:00 amHere's my Sales Thought for the Week… Either the economy is getting better, or we just think it is. No matter, what'll really help your sales is if you believe your sales WILL get better. Optimism about your own future, regardless of what’s happening in the world around you, will greatly assist you in making it happen. Decide you will have a great year and chances are you will. Sell with Pride, Shameless Shamus Brown P.S. Once you decide to have a better year, follow through and give yourself the skills to make it happen now with my Persuasive Selling Skills Audio Program.
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Keep It Simple
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Most Popular Keep it Simple Posts
17 Jun 2009 | 8:03 amHere is the all-time Keep it Simple blog top 20: 9 Holes of Sales Analytics Best Practices Sales Analytics for the Board of Directors What is Your Data Actually Telling You? SaaS BI - Analytic Aspirin in a Difficult Economy? What’s in Store for Business Intelligence in 2008 Guest Blogger Alert - The LucidEra Opportunity We Couldn’t Get the Answers Everything is a Platform What’s in Store for Business Intelligence in 2009 Transforming Marketing’s Traditional 4 P’s into SaaS’s 5 A’s Take the SaaS BI Survey Sales 2.0 Data Points and Anecdotes Using… -
Now You See It
15 Jun 2009 | 3:25 pmData visualization guru Stephen Few has published a new book called, “Now You See It.” Looks like a good beach read. Here’s a summary from Amazon: “Employing a methodology that is primarily learning by example and “thinking with our eyes,” this manual features graphs and practical analytical techniques that can be applied to a broad range of data analysis tools—including the most commonly used Microsoft Excel. This approach is particularly valuable to those who need to make sense of quantitative business data by discerning meaningful patterns, trends,… -
How SaaS Changes the Relationship of Business Users to BI
10 Jun 2009 | 10:22 amThe Data Warehouse Institute published a wide-ranging interview with LucidEra founder Ken Rudin today that focuses on the impact of SaaS and Cloud Computing on the business intelligence market. Questions asked include: What’s the difference between software-as-a-service (SaaS) and cloud computing? Why do business intelligence vendors and practitioners seem to focus so much on implementation rather than functions such as data visualization and interpretation, which is presumably what they really want to do? How does SaaS BI solve this issue? What role does IT play in a SaaS implementation? -
LucidInsights for May
9 Jun 2009 | 11:24 pmHere are a few of the articles we included in our May newsletter: 9 Tips to Boost Sales Now (Our favorite - #2: “You Get What You Measure.”) The New Rules of Sales Enablement (Some great sales resources from Reachforce and Kadient.) Why B2B Salespeople Say they Win Software Sales? (Marketing messaging is last! Ouch!) Salesforce.com: Punchlistfor VPs of Sales After Rollout (Author of the new Salesforce book offers up some tips.) Feeling the Flow (Some classic sales lines from the trenches…I mean Garth.) To receive the complete LucidEra newsletter (which also highlights our… -
Jigsaw Webinar: Do You Have the Sales Metrics that Matter
5 Jun 2009 | 2:29 pmJoin us on June 24th for an interactive webinar with our partner (and customer) Jigsaw. LucidEra founder Ken Rudin will discuss the growing importance of sales analytics to sales success in this difficult economic climate. With a focus on Salesforce.com customers, this webinar will review the critical metrics that sales managers and reps should be measuring, monitoring and taking action on in order to: Increase revenue Decrease pipeline risk Improve forecast accuracy in this difficult economic climate. We hope you can attend. Please register here.
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Sales Training Tips and Advice
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Handling the Economy Objection Once and For All by Mike Brooks
23 Jun 2009 | 5:27 amIf you're still getting the "We're just not going to do anything until the economy (settles down or improves, or whatever...), when you are closing the sale and asking for the order, then I've got some good news and bad news for you:First the good news: After reading this article, and applying the techniques in it, you will virtually eliminate this objection once and for all.Now the bad news: If you're getting this objection during the close when you're asking for the sale then you're responsible for creating it.Here's the bottom line: It's your responsibility to qualify out any economy,… -
The Key to Influencing Others By Brian Tracy
22 Jun 2009 | 8:31 amDo Nice Things For Others...One of the best ways to influence someone is to do something nice for him. I know many successful salespeople who make a habit of taking their prospects out to breakfast or lunch. During the breakfast or lunch, they do not talk about their products or services unless the client brings it up. They merely make small talk, ask questions and listen. They work on building trust, and they work on establishing a friendly relationship. At the end of the breakfast or lunch, they tell the prospect that they will be getting in touch with him sometime in the future with the… -
Mine Proposals for Hidden Gems of Opportunity By Kendra Lee
19 Jun 2009 | 9:39 pmWith the economy causing prospects and clients alike to clamp their wallets shut, we’re looking everywhere to fill our pipelines. One place you may not have examined recently is in your past proposals, yet they could be the quickest place to find new opportunities.When I’m working with a prospect, I like to look further and deeper than the initial problem they see to get to all the potential issues creating it. Often the problem isn’t a simple one and the deeper I dig with questioning, the more I learn about how we can solve it. My consultative approach results in a proposal that goes… -
Greatest Sales Strategy Ever By Jon Gordon
28 May 2009 | 10:04 pmAs a student of people and ideas I had to admit that what two guys are doing in a Northeast Florida Starbucks is absolutely genius.The other day as I tried to pay for my green tea at my local Starbucks the cashier said, “Don’t worry about it sir. Those guys over there are paying for it today.” She then handed me their business card from a stack by the register. Turns out the guys were wealth management, financial planners who once a week, at different times, will spend a few hours at this Starbucks and buy customers their coffee. Most people, like me, will walk over and thank the… -
The Instinct of Herding: How Sales Professionals Can Capitalize on it to Sell More. Part 1 By Skip Anderson
20 May 2009 | 10:48 pmI spent some time with one of my friends a few weeks ago. Now retired, he had been a very successful career salesperson who sold wholesale clothing to clothing retailers. We chatted about the nature of buyers and customer psychology.“Who Else Is Buying It?”Dave told me how he would walk up and down Nicollet Mall in Minneapolis in decades past, calling on each of the men’s clothing stores to present his lines. Nicollet Mall (the name of a street not a shopping mall, was formerly the major retail center in the Twin Cities area. It was home to many of independent clothiers at the time.
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Score More Sales
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Your Sales Year is Half Over - Feeling Energized or Overwhelmed?
30 Jun 2009 | 6:59 pmIt’s my favorite question when I work with business owners and sellers when we’ve finished a coaching session…. do you feel energized and great, or are you feeling totally overwhemed? There often isn’t much middle ground. How wonderful that we have a half-way point in the year. Here is the 60-second version of what I was writing about earlier today - If you are having a great first half of the year - Hooray for you! Take the rest of the week off - seriously. If you have struggled and numbers are down - just start fresh on July 1st. Wipe the slate clean and begin that… -
Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-06-29
29 Jun 2009 | 11:59 pmBack to Seattl RT in Portland w/ @scoremoresales, @TammyRedmon,@tshombe, @CatsEyeDesign,@CatsEyeWriter,@beccacampbell, @loannetter #Biznik # RT @TammyRedmon: @scoremoresales , @tshombe , @CatsEyeDesign , @CatsEyeWriter I am really looking forward to seeing all of you on the Train # On Amtrak with some great Biznik folks heading to Portland, OR #biznik # I agree, Bea! RT @beafields: Saddened by Michael Jackson’s death. He was truly such an amazing talent. ABC was my first favorite song. # RT @nametagscott SELF AWARE? Check out, “5 Practices to Help People Have a More Positive… -
Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-06-22
22 Jun 2009 | 11:59 pmCongrats @lancearmstrong and wonderful that you rode in honor of the 1000s in Seattle riding in the LS Challenge today! # “By forgetting the past and by throwing myself into other interests, I forget to worry.” - Jack Dempsey # Off to see my 85 year old, WWII veteran, awesome dad. Bringing a book all five of us “kids” contributed to- of memories. # RT @MariSmith: Happy Sunday! Happy S☼lstice! Happy Father’s Day! Make it a beautiful day. Huge props, love & appreciation to all the dads! ♥ # Love the new voice memo feature from my iPhone update! # was on the… -
Women in Sales - Stiletto Camp, not Boot Camp!
22 Jun 2009 | 7:02 pmYes, my crazy colleagues in sales effectivness did it up big in Dallas - Kim Duke (the Sales Diva) and Debbie Mrazek (The Sales Company) teamed up for the big, news-worthy Stiletto Camp! Watch the video and tell me that doesn’t look like fun! (not to mention action-packed learning!) -
Re-examine “Business-as-Usual” to Grow Revenues
20 Jun 2009 | 7:54 pmI had an article published in NW Business Monthly on three areas to focus on to grow business - Bigger picture thinking Shifting Your Approach Innovation They are all critical for growth. Take a look at the rest of the article - worth the click.
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THE SALES BLOG
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Top 100 Sales Blogs
19 Jun 2009 | 1:56 pmHappy to be included on this list of the top 100 blogs to increase your sales skills at www.constructionmanagementdegree.org. -
Sales Blog Makes Top 15 Sales Blogger and Twitter User List
4 Jun 2009 | 2:05 pmThanks to Tom Blue at BTS 411 for including me in the list of Top 15 Sales Bloggers and Twitter Users. I am pleased to be included on the list with such a great group of people who think and write about sales. -
The Sales Success Ladder: Two - Optimism
23 May 2009 | 11:47 amOptimism is a forward-looking, hopeful approach that is helpful for anyone's general well-being. But it is a foundational success skill for sales people. Imagine a job in which you are required to go create value for your company by acquiring new customers, as well as creating value for these prospective customers by providing them with your company's products or services. Imagine leading and managing that value creation process. That sounds super cool, I know. But what if all of the best customers you could potentially acquire already had a provider of your product or services? What if,… -
The Sales Success Ladder: One - Self Discipline
13 May 2009 | 7:51 pmThe foundational attribute or skill necessary to succeed in any endeavor is self-discipline, and this is doubly true of sales. Self-discipline is the ability to keep the promises one makes to one's self. It is impossible to keep one's promises to others if you can't keep the promises you make to yourself; in actuality, the promises you make to others really are promises you make to yourself. I chose the image of a ringing alarm clock for this attribute or skill because it demonstrates self-discipline. The alarm clock is a useful metaphor for the commitment to rise early and get busy doing… -
The Sales Success Ladder: Introduction
13 May 2009 | 7:51 pmThere are 20 foundational attributes and/or skills that a B2B sales person must possess in order to succeed. I think of these attributes and skills as a ladder, each one being a prerequisite to those that follow. To climb the ladder, you have to focus on each attribute or skill until you have enough mastery that you can climb a step higher (but even as you climb, you will need the supporting steps). The first ten of these attributes are required to succeed in any endeavor, and they are absolutely necessary before a sales person has any chance of succeeding in sales. The next ten are…
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Drew Stevens Consulting
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Food Fight
1 Jul 2009 | 8:10 amI had the opportunity to meet a dear friend for dinner at a local steakhouse near my home. As we were seated, Danny Devito’s twin greeted us. Oscar aka Danny took almost 25 minutes to return to our table taking drinks and our meal order. Mind you this was not a very busy evening, but you could tell from the moment we were seated Oscar did not want to be working. During our order I desired one of two choices: fish or steak. Naturally I asked Oscar which he believed best. His glib reply, “Well this is a steakhouse”. My friend and I were aghast but continued our meal. No one needs to be… -
Cures for Chiropractors
19 Jun 2009 | 9:59 am(St. Louis, MO)Business expert, Dr. Drew Stevens provides cures for new chiropractors just starting a new practice. One of the most important concepts for entrepreneur business survival is having an articulate strategy that provides the vision and mission for organizational success.Tuesday June 23rd, Dr. Stevens will be visiting Logan College to give a seminar to upcoming chiropractors to present them with successful practice management strategies. Dr. Drew will be speaking about the three strategic pillars for any successful chiropractor.According to Dr. Stevens, the most important of… -
Marketing Blunders
12 Jun 2009 | 8:28 amMarketing Blunders I work with numerous non-profits and entrepreneurs that desire more recognition for their business. When I ask to see their collateral materials or for that matter any marketing materials I notice several fascinating issues. According to the American Marketing Association, marketing is the organizational function and set of processes for creating, communicating and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders. However, my observation is that many fail to illustrate value, engage in a… -
Sales Advice from Dr. Drew
12 Jun 2009 | 7:48 amOne of the many facets of my expertise is coaching others in their respective business. In the last several weeks several individuals have approached me with concerns about their business and as any good coach listens, he notices patterns. Here are some suggestions to aid your woes: 1. My former track coach used to ask me “Are you sitting on your past”? Both entrepreneurs and selling professionals appear bewildered by the recession. Some are so stumped they are unclear how to develop and acquire business. Simple…sell. Nothing happens without making a sale. With that in mind,… -
Build brand equity
11 Jun 2009 | 9:34 amDrew and other experts offer tips on building brand. Here is a post by Ken at FuelNet. A crisp new dress shirt is not going to make you stand out on a busy intersection in Manhattan — you’re just another face in the crowd. The same can be said for a growing business as competition stiffens and consumers’ belts tighten in these turbulent economic times. An image enhancement alone won’t make an impact; you need to truly engage people in a meaningful way. Here are some tips for building brand equity with customers and prospects: Read More: http://tiny.cc/YJiiD ShareThis
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The Sales Blog
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Top 100 Sales Blogs
19 Jun 2009 | 1:56 pmHappy to be included on this list of the top 100 blogs to increase your sales skills at www.constructionmanagementdegree.org. -
Sales Blog Makes Top 15 Sales Blogger and Twitter User List
4 Jun 2009 | 2:05 pmThanks to Tom Blue at BTS 411 for including me in the list of Top 15 Sales Bloggers and Twitter Users. I am pleased to be included on the list with such a great group of people who think and write about sales. -
The Sales Success Ladder: Two - Optimism
23 May 2009 | 11:47 amOptimism is a forward-looking, hopeful approach that is helpful for anyone's general well-being. But it is a foundational success skill for sales people. Imagine a job in which you are required to go create value for your company by acquiring new customers, as well as creating value for these prospective customers by providing them with your company's products or services. Imagine leading and managing that value creation process. That sounds super cool, I know. But what if all of the best customers you could potentially acquire already had a provider of your product or services? What if,… -
The Sales Success Ladder: One - Self Discipline
13 May 2009 | 7:51 pmThe foundational attribute or skill necessary to succeed in any endeavor is self-discipline, and this is doubly true of sales. Self-discipline is the ability to keep the promises one makes to one's self. It is impossible to keep one's promises to others if you can't keep the promises you make to yourself; in actuality, the promises you make to others really are promises you make to yourself. I chose the image of a ringing alarm clock for this attribute or skill because it demonstrates self-discipline. The alarm clock is a useful metaphor for the commitment to rise early and get busy doing… -
The Sales Success Ladder: Introduction
13 May 2009 | 7:51 pmThere are 20 foundational attributes and/or skills that a B2B sales person must possess in order to succeed. I think of these attributes and skills as a ladder, each one being a prerequisite to those that follow. To climb the ladder, you have to focus on each attribute or skill until you have enough mastery that you can climb a step higher (but even as you climb, you will need the supporting steps). The first ten of these attributes are required to succeed in any endeavor, and they are absolutely necessary before a sales person has any chance of succeeding in sales. The next ten are…
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Top Sales Blog
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SBU Post: Going Beyond the Usual Probing Questions
14 Jun 2009 | 6:25 pmYour time in front of a prospective customer is extremely valuable. The hardest part of the sales process can sometimes be just getting quality time in front of the prospect to ask questions. When you get to this point, you definitely want to make the most of your opportunity. You never know, this might be your only chance to advance the sale.It is a great idea to take an evening to sit down and come up with a list of some great probing questions. It’s not like you will be doing this from scratch, either. This will be the time to search your memory more... -
Jamie Moyer: A Lesson in Persistence That We Can All Learn From
30 May 2009 | 5:27 pmWhen I was a kid, I was the biggest baseball fan out there. I collected all the cards and knew just about every baseball player in the majors. I use to have my friends pick up a random card and name the player. Without hesitation, I could tell you his position, team, race, and some sort of statistics. While I know longer have that sort of grasp I had on the game in the mid 80's, I still remember a player named Jamie Moyer.Jamie Moyer came into Major League Baseball in 1986. If you would have asked me in 1986 about him - I'm sure I would have told you the following:1) He is a pitcher2) He… -
Top Sales Blog Made the Top 15 Sales Bloggers/Twitter Users List from BTS 411
30 May 2009 | 9:52 amTop Sales Blog made The Top Sales Blogs & Twitter Users List from the BTS 411 Blog. Admittedly, I was pulling up the rear at #12, but I am happy nonetheless to make the list. Please check it out when you get the chance as there are some great sales blogs on the list. I'm certainly happy to receive the recognition. -
Don't Give Up Too Quickly on Your New Sales Process
27 May 2009 | 4:09 amHave you ever tried to implement a new sales process with prospective customers in your sales career? If you have ever sold for a living, you have. You have to start somewhere, right?Whether you were just a new salesperson or were just trained on a new way of selling, we all take a first step in new way of selling in our sales careers. Any sales trainer worth his salt, however, will tell you that it takes time before your new way of selling will become effective. It is quite normal for your sales productivity to actually dip as you begin implementing your new sales process. At some point, you… -
Should I Follow My Company's Sales Process?
21 May 2009 | 5:55 pmMost companies will usually have a sales process in place which they want you to follow. This begs the question - should I follow my company's sales process?The answer is both yes and no. Yes, you should explore and look at the way your company proposes that you sell. Most companies have spent a good chunk of money coming up with an effective way to sell their goods and services. There is a good chance that there is some really good information packed into their sales process.But on other hand, I'm going give you a "no" answer as well. No, you should never place 100% of your sales education…
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Get International Clients
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Sunday Blog Carnival #60
28 Jun 2009 | 5:12 amWelcome to the June 28, 2009 edition of Get International Clients. Internet Marketing Emma Taylor presents 50 Useful Social Networks for Business Travelers posted at Management Degree saying “In business, you may find yourself traveling often. As a business traveler, you can benefit from connections that help you learn about deals, places to visit, and more. In [...]Post from: Get International Clients Sunday Blog Carnival #60 -
Sunday Blog Carnival #59
21 Jun 2009 | 1:20 amWelcome to the June 21, 2009 edition of Get International Clients. International Business Jim presents Treat your reputation as the most important thing in your career. It is. posted at B2B Rainmaker, saying, “A reputation is what you’re known for, what others believe you to be, and a reflection of the experience of having been in your [...]Post from: Get International Clients Sunday Blog Carnival #59 -
Sunday Blog Carnival #58
15 Jun 2009 | 10:06 amWelcome to the 14 June, 2009 edition of the Get International Clients Sunday Blog Carnival. Daniel Sitter presents Sales Performance & Compensation Relationship in a Recession posted at Idea Sellers saying “There are two types of business owners: Those who view their sales team as an asset. Those who view their sales team as an expense. Type [...]Post from: Get International Clients Sunday Blog Carnival #58 -
Sunday Blog Carnival #57
7 Jun 2009 | 6:05 amWelcome to the 7 June, 2009 edition of the Get International Clients Sunday Blog Carnival. Gavin Ingham @gaviningham presents a video series on Finding new client information posted on GavinIngham.com saying “The ability to find out more about potential clients and prospects is essential if you want to succeed in business. There’s no rocket science [...]Post from: Get International Clients Sunday Blog Carnival #57 -
Sunday Blog Carnival #56
31 May 2009 | 6:05 amWelcome to the 31 May, 2009 edition of the Get International Clients Sunday Blog Carnival. Countries Surviving The Recession: Australia tops international poll of countries surviving the crisis the best Below are the full results from the Servcorp International Business Confidence Survey which was conducted in April 2009 over a period of two weeks. The survey [...]Post from: Get International Clients Sunday Blog Carnival #56
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Paul Castain's Sales Playbook
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Pssst; Your Intangibles Aren't Showing!
21 Jun 2009 | 6:11 pmOne can't help but be entertained by Flo the bubbly rep in the Progressive Insurance commercials. How about the "Can you hear me now" Verizon dude? As entertaining and memorable as these commercials are; they achieve something many of us miss in sales . . . Making Intangible Things Tangible! After all, what the hell does adequate coverage or a superior network really look like?The Progressive -
How To Cut To The Chase In Your Next Prospect Meeting
16 Jun 2009 | 3:31 amGreetings from Houston Texas, where I will be training young Jedis this week and presenting at the HPMA on social networking www.hpma.com/Did you ever feel like your appointment was turning into a game of 20 questions and you are like one question away from asking “So is it animal or mineral already dude?”I never really understood the guessing game dynamic that many meetings take on. Our -
Starting Your Meetings With Impact
10 Jun 2009 | 2:53 pmGreetings from Invesco Field in Denver Colorado where I will be making my presentation Friday on "Closing 2.0 . . . Beyond The ABC's Of Closing"!OK, pop quiz. How long does it take to make an impression on someone? 30 seconds? 10? Less? I say, who the hell cares because one thing is for certain, it may be damn near impossible to undo a bad first impression!Here’s something that you can do in your -
A Question That Will Change Your Destiny
7 Jun 2009 | 9:03 amDo or do not . . . there is no try! - Master Freakin Yoda I love that scene in Star Wars because it illustrates the toughest struggle any of us ever will ever face. A force that can make or break us and quite frankly something that scares the hell out of me!It scares me because I can take an opponent that I see. Perhaps not the first time, but I will take the bastard, even if my version of taking -
Ending Your Week Wealthy!
5 Jun 2009 | 3:52 amI remember when I told my Dad some 22 years ago that Laura and I wanted to get married. Laura and I were High School sweethearts and it was no shock to our families that this day would inevitably come. My Father put his hand on my shoulder and said "Paul, the only advice I would give you is that, like me, you need to get better with your money. I wish I could advise you on this, but your Mom is
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Jim Logan's B2B Rainmaker
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Clean Restrooms and Friendly Service — A recipe for mediocrity
1 Jul 2009 | 4:59 pmClean Restrooms and Friendly Service. I saw a restaurant with that very sign, boldly displayed alongside an empty parking lot –- theirs. And it’s no wonder. That’s the reasons they’re offering us to walk inside, clean restrooms and friendly service. It sounds nice, but it’s nothing special. The problem I have with the restaurant’s sign is what they’re offering is something we expect, which means it’s not compelling. Unless the majority of restaurants have dirty bathrooms and rude servers, saying you’re clean and friendly isn’t anything of interest. We aren’t… -
We’re off and running!
1 Jul 2009 | 7:13 amWe’re well into the second week of the B2B Revenue Now! program. We’ve finished the fist step (Benefits) and have the second step (Difference) underway. I have been away for a couple days — time away with family — and planned to write a quick update on the program when I returned last night. This is that update, but it’s shorter than I planned. Sifting through the virtual mound of email and voicemail accumulated in two short days away, I found a message from a member of the B2B Revenue Now! program that sums things better than I could. Here’s a link to a… -
This coffee sucks. And so does your marketing.
24 Jun 2009 | 9:47 pmThis post is brought to you by one of the worst cups of coffee I have ever drank in my life. It sucked. I have a right to complain, I brewed it. It was weak and taste like it were made from water retrieved from a dirty toilet. Why? I decided another scoop was too much. I lacked the intestinal fortitude to make it stronger. Weak marketing is just that, weak — no real message, no commitment, no definitive position. Nothing to make a reader, prospect, or customer pause, get excited, and feel compelled to respond and speak to others about you. Nothing memorable. Just weak. Strong marketing… -
I just joined the B2B Revenue Now! program
23 Jun 2009 | 3:46 pmThis sounds a bit odd — I just joined my own program. What happened is a member asked a great question about examples used to show how you personalize information in the program to your own business — the question was about examples I’ll use in the program. The answer is there are many examples, but not a case study of how a particular company, product or service uses the entirety of the program to launch a product or service. This was the point when an idea hit me I could see the value of openly demonstrating each step of the program with an example of a product or service… -
A deeper look inside
22 Jun 2009 | 6:54 amWe’re off and running in the B2B Revenue Now! program! Everything kicked-off yesterday, but today is the official start date. Although we started, there’s still time to join this initial session. Registration remains open through Wednesday, June 24th. After that, you’ll have to wait until the next session — TBD. To give you a better feel for the program , here is a link to the welcome video I prepared for members, giving an overview of how the program is delivered inside. Here is a Reader’s Digest version of what the program is all about. Here is the link…
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Selling Journal
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C-Level Sales Management — Helping Salespeople Handle Gatekeepers
25 Jun 2009 | 7:09 amAs a manager, you know your salespeople will always have trouble getting to C-levels and other influential executives. So you’ve got to help them with ideas, your example and a push. The first rule of gatekeepers is “Always assume they will be blocked,” and with this in mind have discussions with your salespeople before upcoming sales calls and pursuits that go something like this. “Who’s your prospect? Who’s will you be meeting or calling? What will you be prepared to say when this person resists introducing you to others on your way up and out?” This set of… -
From Facebook to Phonebook - How Wingmen Stay Connected
25 Jun 2009 | 7:02 amLike many of you, I recently joined the Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn craze and it’s been great. I’ve re-connected with old friends from high school, college, and my fighter pilot days, and I’ve also met some very interesting people. And yes – like you, I can easily spend a few hours a day on these sites checking out profiles and looking at cool videos and photos. Last week, I was driving home from a lunch meeting and was thinking of who I needed to re-connect with. David Greenberg (a personal friend and one of the best speaker coaches I know) came to mind. And I did… -
Salespeople Debut of Confidence
8 May 2009 | 6:14 pmBy Pat Weber If you sell and want inspiration from Broadway, The Sound of Music by Rodgers and Hammerstein has just the song to sing along for sales confidence. One of the songs in the play which debuted on Broadway on November 16th, 1959 is “I Have Confidence.” By doing a review of just six phrases in the song, anyone in sales will have what they want to do and what they don’t want to do to build confidence in all your selling conversations. “Oh I must stop all these doubts, all these worries.” The thing about stopping doubts and worries is that they continue to roll around in the… -
Stop Quoting - Start Qualifying
8 May 2009 | 6:12 pmBy Anthony Cole Sometimes we need to remind a salesperson that “You are not a Quote Jockey. You don’t make commissions on quotes. You don’t need the practice of quoting. You don’t need to help the current vendor by supplying the buyer with your information. You don’t need to make the buyer smarter. And you don’t need to waste your time, your effort or the resources of your company quoting on something that you have less than a good chance of selling.” So, stop quoting and start finding sales prospects that fit the profile of your ideal client. Start qualifying these prospects… -
Gain Your Prospect’s Attention
8 May 2009 | 6:09 pmBy Wendy Weiss On a cold call you have approximately 10-30 seconds to grab your prospects’ attention—and you won’t get a second chance. Read on to discover how to gain your prospects’ attention… I was eating lunch. The phone rang and thinking it might be a client calling (and also, let’s face it—I’m a little compulsive) I bolted to my desk and grabbed the receiver. Instead of my client, on the other end of the line was a perky person telling me that their company provides high-speed Internet access in my area. This was not exciting news. I live in New York City, we have a…
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The Science and Art of Selling
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If you live by price - you will die by price
25 Jun 2009 | 5:22 pmIf your prospect does not see the value in your product or service, and if the only difference between you and the competitors is in pricing, you didn’t do a good job as a sales person. The main description of your position inside the company is to create the value, not just to show your price list. Teaching and educating customers is no longer enough, giving them information about your products or services is no longer necessary. They can get them by themselves, without ever talking to you or your company, and know more about your product and positioning on the market then you. If they… -
What are Sales Objections?
22 Jun 2009 | 5:30 amCertain objections exist to every proposition in the world. What would a soccer, football or basketball game be like without the blocking of shots? And what your proposition is determines what the objections are. Call on a thousand average people to whom your proposition is salable. You’ll find the self-same objections on the lips of the majority of them. And these objections, boiled down and standardized, resolve themselves into a very small number. For instance, in the paint business the standard objections are: (a) “Too much money tied up in present stock to consider… -
New free e-book - Summer 2009!
14 Jun 2009 | 4:06 pmTop Sales Experts have released new e-book (Volume Six - Summer 2009) with articles by over 50 top sales trainers, including yours truly. Download your free copy of the latest TSE E-book here Or Sign up for a VIP membership at TSE and receive the latest TSE E-bookabsolutely free (value $19.95). TSE membership is just $25/year when you join today. Join here Post from: The Science and Art of Selling by Alen Majer New free e-book - Summer 2009! -
Are You an Order Taker or an Order Maker?
8 Jun 2009 | 5:25 amConsider the following letter by an active head of one of the largest software company in America: “Results are the only things that count. We are perfectly willing to pay a salesperson $100,000 a year if they deliver the goods; we are willing to pay $750,000 a year if that person delivers, and a person’s earnings from $7500 a month up to almost anything is in their own hands.” The heads of ninety-nine out of every hundred companies employing salespeople reflects that sentiment. Often the main limit to the salesperson’s earning power is a self-imposed one. I am sure you know the… -
Upcoming interviews, completed interviews, podcast for download…
1 Jun 2009 | 7:08 am1. Upcoming interview - mark your calendar for June 3rd at 2 PM EST! Join me and Deidre on Deidre’s Author Buzz and learn what are trigger events, where to find them and learn how to use them, and I promise, you’ll never have to make a cold call again! Call-in Number: (347) 308-8745 Link: Deidre’s Author Buzz 2. Podcast - last week I gave an interview for a FindNewCustomers.net website about Trigger Events. With buyers in control, sales and marketers need creative ways to get into accounts. This podcast explains how to do it. Listen to my interview with…
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The Microfit Small Business Blog
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Did the Era of the Pitch Pass with Billy Mays?
1 Jul 2009 | 11:03 pmBilly Mays passed this week and it’s not just sad, but perhaps the end of an era. Mays said, “I was the last guy trained on the Atlantic City Boardwalk.” This post isn’t so much about the passing of Mr. Mays, who was a pro of his craft and will be missed, but more about the changing of the guard, from “pitch” selling to consultive assistance. As I’ve trained sales teams in the US, I’ve taught the different styles and approaches that professional sales people can take to the sales table; from the trial method to the right advice approach,… -
It’s Not About You…
15 Jun 2009 | 11:08 pmIf there was a drill-tipped-business-concept I could clip into a power drill, I’d clamp my clients head in a vice and drill this mantra into their head: “It’s not about you!” Say it with me now, “It’s not about me. It’s not about me. It’s not about me.” Corporations spend millions of dollars every year to find out what makes the consumer tick. It’s rumored that FaceBooks key value is not advertising ability, but the consumer information it holds for would be marketers. Corp’s know it’s all about what is in the consumers… -
Customer Service – 3 Facts to Keep In Mind
5 Jun 2009 | 9:53 pmThis past week I entered a discussion with a “coaching” company about which should be the first priority, income or customer service. The question was posed, “What does it matter if you have raving fans if you can’t leverage them to make money?” There are times in business where I fall back in my chair, put hand to forehead and sigh… this was one of those moments. First and foremost we have to understand the “coaches” end goal, which is to get the business owner or exec to believe that the “coach” can make them more money. And truth… -
Do We Discount or Do We Give A Little Less In This Economy?
18 May 2009 | 5:44 pmWe were driving down 280 today (@tonylegrone) and I (@garrett98), when a discussion about chicken strips started. Turns out Dairy Queen has changed vendors or products when it comes to chicken strips. As Tony said, “They use to be huge and juicy!” Now they are these skimpy and very average strips. We went through all the reasons why a company would go from a premium product to a very garden variety and sub par brand of strips. In a good economy you could chalk it up to a number of reasons, but these days, everything is about price. Our very simple solution was to take the discount… -
Why Does My Wife Get Social Media Better Than Business Owners?
10 May 2009 | 7:07 pmNow, were an auspicious couple for sure, but this evening was a lesson in both; social media and embracing the new marketing methods. Constantly people in my field (consulting) are getting hammered with Social Media questions. Last week I was asked, “Is it just the cost of doing business, or is there real benefit?” So, here is a very simple “case in point.” I’m sitting literally two and a half feet from my wife. She has a blog that she does to keep far away family up to date on our son, life and so on. We had a busy weekend shopping for new “things”…
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YourSalesManagementGuru.com
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First Half of the Year is Over!
30 Jun 2009 | 11:58 amBut it's no time to rest, as we need to make sure that sales continue. -
More Summer-Time Sales Management
19 Jun 2009 | 1:40 pmPipeline scrubbing tips, plus some good (and free!) summer reading. -
Ready to Bounce Out of Tough Times?
15 Jun 2009 | 3:06 pmIt takes leadership and vision. -
Summer Sales Management
2 Jun 2009 | 2:43 pmHot times don't always mean hot sales. Some tips for keeping sales cookin' as the sun heats up. -
5 Ways to Take Command
26 May 2009 | 2:20 pmLeading in uncertain times, sales management leadership
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Sales & the City
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The Only Bailout Your Business Needs! by Craig Klein
26 Jun 2009 | 5:44 amI am excited to share the release of an e-book from Craig Klein of SalesNexus. Check it out for FREE here.Nationally Acclaimed eBOOKFor A Limited Time - Yours FreeE- Mail MarketingThe Only Bailout Your Business Needs!How To Create It, Send It and Profit From itHere Are The Facts:2% of Sales are made on the First Contact3% of Sales are made on the Second Contact5% of Sales are made on the Third Contact10% of Sales are made on the Fourth Contact80% of Sales are made on the Fifth to Twelfth ContactThat's why professionals employ email to help close sales!Here's what to expect:Won't They Think… -
Huddles & Time-Outs
25 Jun 2009 | 4:56 pmI watched a few moments of the NBA Finals because of the Magic. I grew up in Orlando and went to several of the first few Magic games. I remember Shaq driving across my college campus yelling out of a sun roof when he first came to town. It was a fun time in Orlando. Anyway, teams of all kinds wisely use their huddles and time-outs to keep the team focused on the game plan and make minor adjustments along the way. We witnessed it recently in the NBA finals. In my 20+ years of playing team sports, I think back on my huddles. Most of them involved the coach reminding the team of the game plan… -
The Fat Creeps In and The Fat Creeps Out
18 Jun 2009 | 3:41 pmIn 2008 I literally let the fat creep in. I've always played a lot of sports and ran daily. In 2008 I was sidelined for the first time with a knee injury. So, for one entire year I replaced the stress reliever of sweat with a newfound stress reliever - red velvet cake. My husband was happy to go along on this new strategy, too (although his choice was Oreo Cake.). It wasn't long before I began to notice some signs of the creep. First of all, my dress size went up. Then, I felt more tired. I had perfectly reasonable explanations for each of these signs - "I ate a big meal last night", "I've… -
A Challenge: Improve the Lives & Results of 1,000 Salespeople in June
18 Jun 2009 | 8:44 amHello Friends & Partners,I wanted to share some recent attention for Meeting to Win and a challenge. Over 100 Sales Managers have subscribed to our FREE weekly sales team meeting topic newsletter just in the past month. That means that at least 1,000 sales people are now enjoying their sales team meetings instead of simply enduring them. That - and better sales results - is what Meeting to Win is all about.With your help we would like to improve the lives of 1,000 more sales people this month. To do that, we need 100 more Sales Managers to subscribe. Please share Meeting to Win’s FREE… -
25 Actions to Take Now to Improve Your Sales Results this Year
3 Jun 2009 | 2:18 pmI've been talking with sales professionals and sales managers from different industries all seeing different degrees of success in this strange economic time. Whether they are succeeding or not, one thing is for sure - their business is different. From these conversations, I've gathered a list of 25 things sales professionals can do now to improve their sales this year. Choose one or two and change your year!1. Build a solid referral network and set a goal to GIVE and GET one new referral every week. (We at Meeting to Win love Referral Flood.)2. Read book summaries (Summaries.com or Soundview…
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Sales Management 2.0 Podcast
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Episode 17 – Steven Bachert: Stop “Handling” Objections
1 Jul 2009 | 8:32 amSteven Bachert wants you to do something that, at first blush, may surprise you: he wants you to stop “handling” objections. Steven Bachert is an accomplished executive and leader in the software industry with a 20-year track record of executive sales and operations management success. He has driven large and smaller/start-up organizations to superior performance. His executive management experience covers multiple functional areas. He has a proven track record of building, developing and leading successful professional service, channel/alliance, sales and marketing teams,… -
Episode 16 – Joel D Canfield and the Human Connection
23 Jun 2009 | 7:16 pmHave you ever found yourself wondering what’s missing from your business relationships? Joel D Canfield suggests that the missing element might be making genuine connections with other human beings. In a world that’s increasingly driven by technology, numbers and bottom-line results, Joel would like to see businesses get back to the basics of human relationships. Joel D Canfield is an author and award-winning speaker on how customer-centric thinking is your primary tool to achieve your goals. He has written two business books, 49 Commonsense Business Observations, The… -
Episode 15 – Colleen Stanley on Building High Performance Sales Teams
16 Jun 2009 | 9:50 amWhen Brad was in the hospital with his wife while she was giving birth to their second daughter, Jerry had the chance to chat with Colleen Stanley about how to build a high performance sales team. Colleen Stanley is president of SalesLeadership, Inc. She is a monthly columnist for national Business Journals, co-author of ‘Motivational Selling‘ and author of ‘Growing Great Sales Teams: Lessons from the Cornfield.’ Colleen is a popular speaker for Vistage International, Women’s Leadership Exchange and was the featured speaker on sales for the 2006 New York Times… -
Episode 14 – Karl Goldfield on Selling for Startups
10 Jun 2009 | 8:20 amKarl Goldfield is a whiz at helping startup companies generate revenue, and in this episode he shares valuable tips for salespeople working for startup companies and the people who manage them. Karl is the Sales Evangelist, a startup sales mentor and the host of Sales Evangelist TV. He also writes a blog and is a regular contributor to the Sales Bloggers Union. Karl is passionate about developing teams for emerging companies. For the past fifteen years, he has shown the ability to deliver beyond expectations through continual innovation. By establishing a plan, then testing the boundaries… -
Episode 13 – Christian Maurer on Training in a Sales 2.0 World
2 Jun 2009 | 4:11 pmHow should we be training sales people in the new era of sales, Sales 2.0? What are the initiatives and topics we should focus on? That was the topic of discussion for Christian Maurer, the Ultimate Sales Executive Resource. Christian is an independent consultant, trainer and coach with a proven track record of helping to increase the productivity of large, global B2B sales organizations. For the last ten years, Christian has consulted and coached hundreds of sales executives and managers on how to plan and execute customer centric sales strategies by focusing on process management…
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TradePub: Retail
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CE Pro (Custom Electronics Professionals)
2 Jul 2009 | 1:50 pmThey help dealers and installers stay current on products, understand technology and run profitable businesses. Each issue contains articles to help your business grow, adding insight to home networking, whole-house automation, digital media, distributed audio and video, home theater, lighting control, structured wiring, energy management and security.Request Free! -
Baking & Snack
1 Jul 2009 | 3:50 pmBaking & Snack serves the field of baked foods and snack manufacturing including: volume-producers of bread and cake, cookies and crackers, salted snacks, pizza, cereal, tortillas, pasta, candy/confection, mix manufacturers and flour millers.Request Free! -
Baking Buyer
1 Jul 2009 | 12:20 amBaking Buyer is free to qualified readers with managerial responsibilities in the retail, bakery cafe and intermediate wholesaler baking business in the United States.Request Free! -
License Global
1 Jul 2009 | 12:20 amLicense Global, the leading trade publication for intellectual property licensing and merchandising, provides award-winning editorial focusing on business deals, trends and marketing strategies on every category of consumer products.Request Free! -
Retailers: How to Beat the Recession with POS / Inventory Control Systems for retail stores
26 Jun 2009 | 5:20 pmIf your POS system is a dinosaur, you could be running leaner, smarter and less expensively than you currently are, saving money every day. One Step Retail Solutions will call you to set up a live on-line demo to find out how.If you are: A retailerWith 3+ retail storesDoing over $2.5 million in sales annually...you could be saving hundreds of thousands of dollars utilizing the leading-edge POS / inventory control technology for retail stores. And your web-site can be integrated into the same system! Find out how you could be saving money. Request a live on-line demo now and One Step Retail…
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TradePub: Sales & Marketing
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Power Principles Free eBook
1 Jul 2009 | 12:50 pmIn this eBook version of his bestseller Power Principles internationally recognized sales expert Jeb Blount provides a blueprint for gaining the winning edge in your sales career. You'll also receive a free subscription to Sales Gravy eMagazine which is read by more than 60,000 sales professionals and sales leaders from around the world each month.Request Free! -
Leveraging Real-Time Web Collaboration to Improve Your Sales Process
1 Jul 2009 | 10:20 amSales organizations are always looking for ways to boost the performance of their sales teams by making them more effective in the sales process. Recent advances in Internet infrastructure technology and maturity of technologies supporting collaboration over the Internet have resulted in new methods for sales organizations to interact with their customers, collaborate with sales team members and develop better visibility into their sales pipeline. Today, sales organizations are increasingly embracing real-time Web collaboration tools or Web Meetings to complement their sales processes because… -
Get Closer to Your Best Customers
1 Jul 2009 | 3:50 amFind out what changes to make to customer strategy; how to align your organization to best support a winning approach; and how to drive excellence in execution to achieve results in today's economy.Request Free! -
Frost & Sullivan: Empowering Enterprise Marketing, a conversation with EMC
1 Jul 2009 | 12:20 amThe conversation highlights EMC Documentum Solutions for Interactive Marketing and how it can help organizations run more run effective end-to-end campaigns.Request Free! -
15-Minute Guide to Elevating the Customer Experience Through Statements
1 Jul 2009 | 12:20 amIt examines the features that make an effective statement from the customer perspective and how better statements can vastly improve the way businesses communicate with their customers.Request Free!
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Art Sobczak's Telesales Blog
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How to Sell the Higher-Priced Option
30 Jun 2009 | 1:07 pmI admit, I’m an eavesdropper. On sales transactions mostly. When out shopping or browsing, I will position myself in the vicinity of a conversation between a salesperson and customer to listen to the transaction. I know. I should really get a life. But it provides great sales lessons. Good and bad. For example, at an electronics store, I observed a customer asking the salesperson about a computer: Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:”Table Normal”; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;… -
More Not-to-Do’s From the Airlines
29 Jun 2009 | 2:35 pmSpeaking of the airlines, if you’ve flown anything other than Southwest lately you probably have been nickel-and- dimed (or $5 and $25’d) by the extra fees for checking bags, bad snacks, and more. United expects to rake in more than $1 BILLION this year alone from these fees. Two airlines are even adding a “fee on top of a fee,” charging $5 MORE for a bag if you pay at the counter, providing an option to do it online. They put a ridiculous spin on it, calling it an “online discount.” All of this, of course infuriates their customers. -
Learning From the Airlines–What NOT to Do
29 Jun 2009 | 2:32 pmOn the way back from the US Open golf tournament, my three buddies and I needed to get our seat assignments at the airport gate. It was a little commuter jet on Delta, which I don’t have status on, so they were not offering complimentary First Class. But they did advertise on the video board that we could pay to upgrade. Given a rather fun and tiring weekend with the boys and feeling the effects of having seen a number of pubs in Manhattan, and the fact that none of us looked forward to cramming our legs under the Barbie-doll-sized seats in front of us, I persuaded the… -
An Attitude of a Champion
29 Jun 2009 | 2:26 pmI was at the US Open golf tournament in New York. A great atmosphere, and the course is as beautiful as it looks on TV, even when it was wet, as we experienced. I followed the finish on Monday on TV from my office, and was rooting for both Phil Mickelson and David Duval, who both ended tied for second. Phil was classy as he always is, after a win or otherwise. I was particularly impressed with Duval. After having been the number one player in the world prior to Tiger Woods taking over that position around 10 years ago or so, he had some struggles and hasn’t… -
An Audio Interview on Dealing With Price Issues
24 Jun 2009 | 10:29 amClayton Shold, who runs the great site Salesopedia.com interviewed me about handle the price issue on sales call. Listen to that podcast below.
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Rich Presence
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If you don't sell with SalesView, it's your fault
23 Jun 2009 | 6:43 pmI have been reading about the SalesView product from InsideView for a few months now. They have been nice enough to host me (among thousands others) on various free webinars about Sales 2.0. I sat through recorded as well as live demos, read white papers, and even talked to a couple of their inside sales reps.Today, all of their efforts paid off with my $99 per month subscription to SaleView Pro. :)Although it's only been a few hours, I have to say that I am extremely impressed.Target Accounts. When I first activated my account, I immediately produced a list of accounts in a target vertical… -
Use FriendFeed to manage your social media activity
11 Jun 2009 | 3:34 pmSocial media can be overwhelming. You want to promote your business (in a socially acceptable manner) on all of the sites, and you also want to read content from customers and key thought leaders in your industry, but logging into each site to promote and read could take hours per day. Fortunately, FriendFeed streamlines the process to make social media more manageable.FriendFeed members have all of their social media activity aggregated into a single feed on the FriendFeed site. Members can follow other members to keep up with each other in one place.For example, if someone follows me on… -
Unified Communications opens doors with customers and prospects
27 May 2009 | 9:44 amA long time ago...way back in the early 1990s...the only way that customers and prospects communicated with a business was by phone, mail (you know...envelopes, stamps...remember those?), and occasionally fax. Less than 20 years later, it seems that the communication options are almost limitless: phone, mail, fax, email, chat, text, social mediums like Twitter, etc.With so many options available, each person seems to have his or her own preference. I personally have some "old-fashioned" friends who never answer an email but call me on the phone frequently. I can call other friends and almost… -
The Dotted Line Between Personal and Professional: How I Use Facebook for Business
20 May 2009 | 7:20 pmAlmost every day I read comments from sales professionals who differentiate between their business and personal lives online. They'll say, "I use LinkedIn strictly for business and Facebook to keep up with friends and family." While I would admit that my connections on Facebook are more of a personal nature than on LinkedIn, I prefer more of a dotted line between my personal and professional life than a brick wall. I really don't have the energy to run two lives. I've accepted that some people will like and appreciate me and some won't. I try to connect with as many people in the former… -
How I Use Twitter for Business
12 May 2009 | 3:07 pmTwitter is probably one of the most misunderstood social media tools out there. Most people, especially those who aren't using Twitter, don't seem to get it. "I don't need to tell people what I'm doing" or "I don't care what you had for lunch" seem to be common refrains from the haters.I don't know if I really "get it" just yet, but I do log into Twitter every day , and I'm happy to share how I use it.Follow. When I first joined Twitter, I made it a point to follow people I respected. I started with authors of my favorite blogs. Most of them will have a link on their blog to their Twitter…
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Salesjournal.com
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How to Increase Sales By Building High Performance Teams
2 Jul 2009 | 6:00 amMeeting organization goals is a top priority for sales executives today. These goals include increasing revenue, improving business efficiency, creating competitive advantage, improving customer satisfaction, controlling costs and leveraging intellectual assets. The first question asked is “How” can this be accomplished. Many organizations have struggled with this answer and very few have found an answer that is successful, until now. Business performance improvement specialist, Dennis Sommer shares: The answer lies in the development of a “High Performance Sales Team”. -
Is Your Sales Team Suffering From Call Reluctance?
1 Jul 2009 | 9:39 am* Do your salespeople make excuses instead of getting out and developing new business? * Do your salespeople spend more time “being busy” than making contacts? * Do you have salespeople who always seem to be “putting out fires” rather than prospecting for new business? * Do they always have something else to do other than make prospecting calls? * Can your salespeople give you a dozen reasons why the market is down? If these questions rang true for you then your poor sales results may be more a problem of call reluctance® than a failing economy! Follow the link… -
Herman Trend Alert: Older Employees’ Better Coping Skills Mean Better Engagement
30 Jun 2009 | 6:02 amFindings from a study recently conducted by Boston College’s Sloan Center on Aging & Work show that younger workers are most affected by the current economic crisis and older employees are better able to handle the trials of this difficult economic time. -
Accepting Responsibility for Your Sales Success
29 Jun 2009 | 7:16 amDave Kahle, The Growth Coach®, asks: “Why is it that some sales people are open and accepting to change while to others it seems like moving a mountain?” That we live in a time of relentless and pervasive change is no longer news to anyone. There is one important implication of this situation that continues to be a challenge. That is that our employees need to continually change their behavior to adapt to the world around them. -
Preventing the Mis-Hire
26 Jun 2009 | 5:21 amIn a recent posting, fellow blogger Dave Stein commented on what he views as an epidemic: the mis-hiring of sales executives. Dave notes that too many C-level executives don’t understand what sales leadership is all about and, as a result, continue to put non-qualified people into these positions. “That’s why sales is last on line in many companies with respect to quality, discipline, process, measurement, attrition, and productivity. The bad news is that ineffective sales managers and their ineffective VPs of sales aren’t going to fix the situation. It’s got to be fixed from…
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Sharon Drew Morgen
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Use LinkedIn To Grow Your Business
2 Jul 2009 | 3:57 amThere is this nifty little book called ‘How to REALLY use LinkedIn’ by Jan Vermeiren that tells you all of the secrets to making money, and building up your network, with the social networking site/tool LinkedIn. And I must say that it works so well that I’ve spent the last 6 days catching up on the 600+ emails I received after doing what Jan said. And I just did the first thing – he’s got a series of steps to really dig in and do a whole marketing campaign. Jan tells you what to say, how to say it, and, most importantly, how to manage the technology to get out… -
Tony Parinellow Is A VITO
1 Jul 2009 | 3:54 amMy friend Tony is such a lovely blend of New Yorker, Buddhist, and smart, funny guy. Did I say he’s really REALLY smart? He’s the person who coined the term VITO and wrote the series starting with Getting to VITO But he himself is a VERY IMPORTANT TOP OFFICER. To be honest, I’m a bit jealous of his ability to design very cool ways to get out very important data for folks seeking to get to the top decision makers. He is the best marketer I know – and he does it all with such charm and integrity. For decades, Tony has led the pack when it comes to getting… -
Alltop – The Place To Find Out What’s Happening
30 Jun 2009 | 4:34 am“The purpose of Alltop is to help you answer the question, “What’s happening?” in “all the topics” that interest you. We do this by collecting the headlines of the latest stories from the best sites and blogs that cover a topic. We group these collections — “aggregations” — into individual web pages. Then we display the five most recent headlines of the information sources as well as their first paragraph. Alltop is an information filter to help you find your nuggets of gold.” Ahhhhh. A site we can go to to find out the best information available – all in… -
Buying Decisions: The Implicit Vs. The Explicit
29 Jun 2009 | 4:00 amWhen I began talking about ‘helping buyers buy’, or ‘decision facilitation’ in 1988, people thought I was a bit eccentric, to say the least. “I help buyers buy too,” I used to hear. “I find out what they need, position my solution in a way they understand that it will resolve their pain, and give them a good price.” And this has basically been the accepted norm throughout the history of sales. Except, of course, sales fails 90% of the time. So something is broken that we don’t really talk about. What has finally become obvious (and… -
Sales As A Form Of Change Management
26 Jun 2009 | 4:22 amAs sellers, we forget that when buyers make a purchasing decision, they are bringing our solution into their environment. And, trust me on this, their environment is not sitting and waiting around for us to show up. The Identified Problem – need, or pain, as some of you may call it – has been there for some time, and the culture has already developed work-arounds for it. So if they have needed an accounting package, someone is doing that while waiting for the new software. If they need a leadership training, the folks are doing ‘leading’ in the best way they know how…
