What the Boss’ Body Language Says is from Yahoo Hot Jobs and is well worth the read.  I’m a sucker for these tells, to use poker parlance.

A quick taste from the short article:

Eyes, Head, and Face

Positive:

• Looks you directly in the eye.
• Muscles around the eye are relaxed.
• Facial muscles are relaxed. Lips are their normal size.
• Pleasant face and friendly smile.

Negative:

• Rapid eye movement, does not look at you; has a cold, glaring, staring, or glazed-over look.
• Blinks more than normal.
• Raises one eyebrow as if in disbelief or doubt.
• Facial muscles are tight; lips thin out.
• Jaw muscles and clenched, and temple or neck veins throb.
• Smile is stiff and forced.

Blinking is a good giveaway especially in conjunction with darting eyes.  Of course, you do not need advanced empathetic aptitudes to understand the negative nature of throbbing neck veins.  Or bright red faces.  Or clenched jaws.

I have worked for managers who simply told me to my face, in loud words, their negative disposition towards me.  Body language interpretation was not needed for those individuals.

Comments(0)

This article is from ManageSmarter.com and it debunks 6 very common sales myths.  My absolute favorite from the short article:

Myth: If sales understood the product better, sales would increase.

Reality: Actually, if everyone in the company—e.g., marketing, product developers, IT, and fulfillment, to name a few—understood sales better, sales would increase.

That reality is perfectly stated and true.  Successful selling, or should I say unsuccessful selling, has more to do with sales technique than it does with product knowledge.

However, we have encountered many companies where the other departments felt they could direct the sales department.  The common theme in those companies is that these departments believe they know sales better than the sales department!

Comments(0)

Clayton has a post on his Salesopedia blog that references some recent survey results from their highly-visited site.  One result jumps off the screen:

What’s the toughest objection?

Indifference …….. 64.7%
Price …………….. 26.5%
Timing …………… 8.8%

Isn’t that the truth?  We used to work for a sales trainer who always stressed that indifference is the worst outcome of a sales call.  Salespeople know what to do with a yes (after writing that, I wondered if there are salespeople who don’t know what to do with a yes…), they know what to do with a no, but no one is certain of what to do with a maybe.

As a sales manager, there is no worst qualifying outcome.  If the prospect cannot get to a yes or no at this moment in time, the sales rep on the account best be able to define what items still need to be qualified.  If the rep does not know, you have bigger problems on your hands.

Comments(0)