“Let me think it over.” “I’ll get back to you.” “We’ll take a look at it.” If you have been in sales more than a day, you are familiar with these sayings. They are the prospect’s attempts to “stall” a buying decision. These comments are trouble for any salesperson who does not get these fuzzy phrases qualified. And yet often the salesperson accepts these stalls and presumes a close date for the deal. This approach is almost always the explanation for a prospect making it through the sales funnel but never closing. These are the deals that hurt because they have been forecasted with a high probability to close. And… Read More
Continue Reading3 Steps To Remember Names
I am simply awful at remembering names which is a real drawback when working in sales. JustSell.com offers some quick tips to help improve your memory when meeting new people: 1 – Give full attention 2 – Repeat the name 3 – Make an association Follow the link and you will find bullets under each of the 3 steps with specific suggestions. If you struggle with names, this 1 page article is well worth your time.
Continue ReadingAnother Sales Glossary
Derek from our comments section pointed me towards www.salesopedia.com. It is a completely sales-focused site with a great glossary too. Check it out when you have the time.
Continue ReadingCoaching Salespeople With Focus
All sales managers must coach their salespeople. Many do so in a cursory manner, but that is typically not the most effective solution. I’m catching up on Selling Power articles today and kicked up this one – Coach Early and O.F.T.E.N. I’m typically not a fan of acrostics, but anything to remind sales managers of effective coaching has some value. The author provides solid advice for effectively coaching salespeople: F is for Focus Coaching interactions should be focused, specifically on one or two tasks or activities. Too often, however, coaches allow themselves to be distracted and get off track. Give too much feedback that’s all over the board and employees… Read More
Continue ReadingPlanning For Turnover
Salespeople will leave your company – it is an undeniable truth. Selling Power offers this short article – Recruitment Planning 101 – that covers the basic points that all sales managers should be aware of. A couple of strong points: Keep your pipeline full of qualified candidates. Determine the skill sets for each sales position and keep your search open for candidates with these special qualifications. However, remember that top candidates aren’t usually available for long and you need to be upfront with them about what you’re doing. “Let them know that you are building a candidate pipeline composed of individuals that your company may have an interest in hiring… Read More
Continue ReadingDoing Something On The Fringe
From Inc.com’s Not Only the Lonely Become Entrepreneurs: Ever wondered about the kinds of people who become entrepreneurs? In a recent survey, 43 percent of entrepreneurs admit they were loners as kids, while 25 percent said they would have been described as nerds. Isn’t that interesting? As a psych major in college, I was always fascinated by personality types. Here is an insight that helps explain this entrepreneur mentality: “People who have the personality and motivation to be the leader and start something on their own are more inclined to feel like they aren’t part of the social structure,” said Mark Rice, Dean of the Graduate School of Business at… Read More
Continue ReadingWhen Turnover Is Good
We met this morning with a sales manager from one of our clients and had an interesting discussion about turnover. This company is in an “old-line” industry and has an established salesforce. In fact, the newest salesperson has been with the company for more than 5 years. Most have a 10 to 20 year tenure – retention is not a problem since this is a good employer. The problem is this – their business has had to change over the past year to match the marketplace. There has been no layoffs, but some restructuring and new management has been added. These changes, according to our sales manager, have caused much… Read More
Continue ReadingSelect Metrix Website Update
Some subtle changes are occurring on our website today and over the weekend. Many of the changes are already up today so please take a look around. Main areas – we’re renaming some of our services to better reflect what we do. You will see some changes in the assessing section also. Stay tuned.
Continue ReadingSales Traits Series – Persuading Others
Sales is the art of convincing other people to change their behavior. Obviously, this ability relies upon the following sales trait. Persuading Others This is the capacity to convince others – to present one’s viewpoint in such a way that it is accepted by others. A salesperson with strength in this capacity can see and talk from another’s point of view. A person who has the ability to understand other’s objections and concerns and then respond to them effectively. A weakness in this area indicates a salesperson who is insensitive to others – not knowing what they want to hear. A weakness can also be due to having excessive role… Read More
Continue ReadingWhat, Not How – Part 2
Just caught up to this SM&M article – Advise from the Field. A couple excerpts: Rather, Feldshuh, the president of the merchant-services company, tries to gear agents to move from the lagging 80 percent into the top 10 or 20 percent of sellers. He does that through concentrated, thoughtful, in-the-field strategies, warming reps up to clients first with short, non-pitching meetings. Then he asks them to “open their mouths” and deliver a pitch just days after they’ve gotten their feet wet from dropping off BPS materials at prospects’ offices. The tactic works, he says, and boosts their performance through gradual sales improvement rather than a do-or-die approach to closing the… Read More
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