If you have been in sales for any length of time you have probably heard something to this effect – “If you’re talking, you’re not selling”. I came across an article at Salesopedia that provides 10 tips for effective listening. Now the article is not written directly for salespeople, but there are some great points that are good reminders we can apply to our everyday sales life. Face the speaker. Sit up straight or lean forward slightly to show your attentiveness through body language. Focus solely on what the speaker is saying. Try not to think about what you are going to say next, if you do, you may not… Read More
Continue ReadingThis Post Will Self Destruct In…
Now this seems like a good idea – from Inc.com’s Secure Your E-mail, Mission Impossible Style: BigString, which provides free, large-storage, Web-based e-mail accounts, allows users to send recallable, changeable, erasable, non-printable and self-destructing e-mails. E-mail senders can also track who reads an email and can control the number of times a message is read or forwarded. E-mail senders can set a time or date for e-mails to self-destruct and can create emails that can not be printed, saved, or forwarded by the recipient. Clever. You knew it was just a matter of time before this level of security became real. Of course, it comes at a price. There are… Read More
Continue ReadingEmployee Retention Wake-Up Call – Part 2
A couple of months ago we posted on an article from the Pioneer Press titled Speaking Up Helps Keep Star Workers. One of the surprising findings was that 47% of the 16,273 stellar workers surveyed are mailing out resumes, going on job interviews, even contemplating other offers. I just recently caught up to an article from a WorkForce Management newsletter of a survey Yahoo HotJobs conducted on 5,300 people. They found that nearly two-thirds are open to switching jobs, with an improving job market cited as the chief cause for such optimism. Here are some interesting points they found: 39% cited unhappiness with wages as the chief issue 75% cited… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Errors In The Resumes
From a CareerBuilder survey: Sixty-three percent of HR managers report that spelling errors are the most annoying mistakes they see on resumes. Other top mistakes include: Resumes not customized to the position (30 percent) Lies (23 percent) Including too many insignificant details on job responsibilities (21 percent) Resumes that are more than two pages long (21 percent) Lies would seem to be a “most annoying mistake” on a resume if I took the survey and spelling errors would be second. From earlier in the article: If you’re looking for a new job this year, be prepared for some competition. Twenty-seven percent of human resource (HR) managers say they receive more… Read More
Continue ReadingFrom The Resume Pile
Not the abbreviation I would have chosen in the title: Legal Ass. needs work cheap.
Continue ReadingThe Sales Hiring Security Blanket
There is a security blanket in hiring salespeople and it is this – experience. Experience is the balm to bad sales hiring. Companies start with a desire to hire primarily from their industry. If someone has multiple years selling in the industry, skill and talent are assumed to be sufficient and transferrable. But this approach works far less often than you think. We see it play out almost on a weekly basis. There is no truer example than one of our customers who sells in a distribution market. They sell electronic parts that are integrated into larger machines. These parts can be purchased at numerous other companies in the Twin… Read More
Continue ReadingThe List Of Generations
Maybe it is me, but there seems to be many different groupings and names for the different generations in our society today. I was reading an article about a recent Harris Poll that used this generation grouping: Matures (those ages 62 and over) Baby Boomers (those ages 43 to 61) Gen Xers (ages 31 to 42) Echo Boomers (ages 18 to 30) I am not familiar with “Echo Boomers” terminology – I always thought that generation was referred to as Generation Y. “Matures” is a new one for me too. Wouldn’t it be nice if somehow we could get some ANSI-like standard on what the generational names are?
Continue ReadingSpell-check Sloppiness
We’ve discussed the candidate faux pas of spelling errors in their resume. The resume is typically the most formal document the candidate will write themselves. Proof-reading and spell-checking should be standard practice. If you have read any bulk of resumes you know this is not the case. I have a real problem with employment ads which contain spelling errors. This morning I read an ad for a sales manager (reads more like a salesperson with a big title) that contained this error: “Develope” Honestly, how hard is it to run a spell-check before posting? Most of the boards have built in spell-checkers and if they don’t, write the ad in… Read More
Continue ReadingProductivity Loss Due To The Super Bowl
This story from Yahoo seems like a stretch – Super Bowl slowdown costs U.S. employers $800 million. Here is the logic behind the number: Assuming employees, for example, spend 10 minutes a day talking about the game, making bets, surfing the Internet or shopping for a new television, their bosses will lose some $162 million per day. In a five-day workweek, that adds up to $810 million, based on average earnings and expected viewership. The Super Bowl talk definitely dominates the water cooler topics for a couple weeks so maybe they are accurate in their estimate. The game comes around every year so “lost productivity” seems a bit nonsensical –… Read More
Continue ReadingDo You Make This Mistake When Presenting?
From the JustSell.com daily email: sales lesson: Harvard Business School Professor emeritus Theodore Levitt once said, “people don’t want a quarter-inch drill, they want a quarter-inch hole.” sales point: Your prospect doesn’t want a product, she wants a solution. You need to listen to uncover your prospect’s hidden needs, and then sell your product as a solution. It’s not about what you’re selling – it’s about how what you’re selling can help the customer. Be valuable. And remember – a good salesperson walks away if he cannot truly help his prospect. Utterly profound. The professor’s quote is brilliant. And the last line of the sales point is one we preach… Read More
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