Objections are the common hurdle to all sales in all markets. As a sales manager, you need to be able to coach your salespeople through the common objections they will encounter. ManageSmarter.com offers this article – Sales Objections Overruled – as a quick read for handling 5 different objections. I wouldn’t characterize the solutions in the article as groundbreaking, but there is one deserving of comment: 4. Timing: “We’re fine for now.”Some folks just want to sit pat and avoid change€”or at least delay it. They eschew opportunities to grow. Nicely ask: “How has that worked for you so far?” Ask them: “Are you aware of your competitor’s recent moves?” Emphasize… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Whole Truth In An Ad
This excerpt is from a sales ad for an entry-level salesperson (my redaction): In other words, this position is a perfect fit for an ‘up-and-comer’ who is looking to be a key contributor to a high-growth organization that is helping to define the ______ future. Beyond your ‘role,’ you will be an integral part of an overall pioneering team and can be called upon, along with everyone else, to shuttle out-of-town visitors to airports, take out trash, do dishes, whip up hot cocoa for guests, or chase down the FedEx truck to take just one last package. You name it, if it moves the enterprise forward, you’ll likely be called… Read More
Continue ReadingA Bigger Monster
We are awash in a sea of change in the sourcing options available to hiring companies. Yahoo! news reports in Monster signs up more newspapers that Monster.com has moved into more locally-owned community newspapers. Community Newspaper Holdings has 93 daily newspapers and is based in Birmingham, Ala. Under the deal announced Monday, each of the 80 new sites cobranded sites with Monster will be tied to a daily newspaper from Community Newspaper Holdings. It appears that Monster, CareerBuilder (even though they are owned by 3 newspapers) and HotJobs are attempting to displace the long-standing newspaper employment classifieds. Whether this will be sustainable in the long run is difficult to predict. I am… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Boss Doesn’t Believe You
Funny article here from Inc.com about a CareerBuilder.com survey – Survey: Late Employees Lie. As many as one in four employees admit to making up fake excuses for arriving late to work, a new study reveals. Amazing that they invested the resources in running a survey on this topic. I always wonder about surveys regarding lies – maybe the respondents are lying in the survey? At any rate, a good closing line from the article: While hiring managers said they typically don’t question an employee’s excuse for being late, 27 percent said they usually don’t believe them when they do.
Continue ReadingThat Giant Sucking Sound From The Newspaper
The Pioneer Press offers up an utterly worthless piece of agenda journalism regarding CEO pay. At the risk of upsetting the Red Bird, I have pulled some quotes from You’re fired! Take these millions and go (all my emphasis): If 3M ever fires George Buckley, one of Minnesota’s highest-paid CEOs, there is one detail Buckley won’t have to sweat: health insurance. The Maplewood-based manufacturer will kindly pick up much of the tab for Buckley’s health care for two years as part of the $38 million goodbye he’ll get on the way out the door. (ed. – we learn later in the article that this “supersized pay” health care equals $28,430) Buckley’s… Read More
Continue ReadingA Quick Lesson On Millennials (Gen Y)
ABCnews.com offers a comprehensive article explaining some traits of the Millennial generation – Meet the New Millennials. The lengthy article provides many different insights into this generation. Here are some anecdotal highlights: “We recently had to tell a young woman employee that this was not an underwear optional workplace,” he told ABCNEWS.com. “This generation needs to be deeply coached about wardrobe, and a lot of them are used to getting up at 10 or 11 a.m. Forget about them showing up to work at 8 or 9 a.m.” “They grew up with an ‘everyone gets a trophy’ sense of entitlement,” he said. “They are members of a generation that thinks… Read More
Continue ReadingChange Your Sales Language
We are all familiar with common sales terms like “cold call,” “closing” and “overcoming objections.” These terms are engrained in the common sales vernacular. But think of the implications of these mechanistic terms. SellingPower.com has a most interesting article titled Watch Your Language! Here’s the hook: Who taught you to talk like you do? When it comes to your sales language; chances are good it was your sales manager€“your first one. For generations now we have been talking about selling from the viewpoint of the Industrial Era. We have seen businesses as machines and accordingly we have “re-engineered” them, “systematized” them, and more. Our premise has been that businesses are… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Selling CEO
CareerJournal.com’s Company Leaders Are Spending More Quality Time With Customers covers a timely topic in today’s market – CEO’s directly involved in the selling process. We have seen this change in our mid-sized customers for the past few years. This article provides a good example – the CEO for Intel getting involved in a large deal with Apple: He heard grumblings that this change wasn’t possible — at least not anytime soon — but Mr. Otellini pushed ahead. “Instead of saying no, we can’t, let’s say yes and figure out how,” he recalls telling his senior team members. He won them over and soon had a new packaging design to… Read More
Continue ReadingA Lack Of Ethics
First off, I didn’t know government workers were ever fired. Then I read this CareerJournal.com story At the Pentagon, Employees Fill ‘Encyclopedia of Ethical Failure’. The gist of the story is that this Pentagon lawyer keeps a website of ethical violations that occur within the government sector. Some humorous examples: -Take the case of the Customs and Border Protection officer who landed a government helicopter on his daughter’s grade-school playground… -Two Veterans Affairs bureaucrats were charged with overbilling the government and receiving kickbacks from a supplier. “The product?” Mr. Epstein dryly notes: “Red tape.” It was more than 100,000 rolls of a special type used to prevent tampering with prescription-drug orders.… Read More
Continue ReadingRational Ad Writing
Here is an example of a company using a rational approach to sales experience in their ad: Technical sales experience is preferred but can be substituted for an individual who proves to be driven and motivated with the desire to be successful in this career. I realize the “driven and motivated” part is nebulous, but it is better than requiring 5+ years of direct industry experience. Here’s the tip – strong salespeople have skills and motivations that transcend experience. The best approach is to write the ad towards those skills and motivations instead of “time-served” experience requirements.
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