14 Tips For Improving Communication

Derrick MoeNo Comments

Is there anything more important in sales than being able to effectively communicate?  I dare say no – it is a crucial skill for any sales or sales leadership role.  This Entrepreneur article states that 55% of communication is nonverbal.  I have seen other studies estimating that number to be closer to 90%.  Either way, you get the idea – words are the smaller part of the communication equation.  Salespeople must have the ability to pick up on the subtle “tells” that prospects unknowingly share. The first step in improving your communication abilities is to know yourself.  A communication style assessment is a good first step at understanding your natural… Read More

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A Bad Place To Be In Sales

Derrick Moe2 Comments

I do some IT consulting work on the side as a hobby/pastime.  Call me a geek.  In that arena, I have a customer who has been battling to get some information from a prospective vendor.  He wants to use their services but has had trouble getting a response.  Finally, today he got a response.  His summation was filled with wisdom: Coming in obnoxiously late and extraordinarily high priced is not a good place to be. I couldn’t agree more.  And I’ve been there myself in previous sales roles.

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Adjusting A Sales Process For This Recession

Derrick Moe1 Comment

The thought of retiring is going to be a novel idea in the near future, at least according to a new abcnews.com poll.  In a recent survey of Americans (my bold): Half the population in this new ABC News poll thinks both job security and retirement prospects in the years ahead will remain worse than their pre-recession levels. Four in 10 also see worsened prospects for the availability of jobs and advancement, and, consequently, their own spending power. No surprise there.  The second aspect regarding worsened prospects for the availability of jobs is phrased in a negative manner.  However, it is only 40%.  This effect occurs in these difficult economic… Read More

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Persuasion Through Scarcity And Fear Of Loss

Derrick MoeNo Comments

I was a psych major in college which seemed to be the perfect preparation for a sales career.  I believe it was.  To this day I am still intrigued by the psychology of selling which could truly be described as persuasion. That background helps explain why I found this ManageSmarter.com article completely gripping – Mastering the Psychology of Persuasion.  You will have to read the entire article to appreciate the depth of it, but let me pull out a couple of points. First one of the set-up questions: • Are left-handed people more prone to some mental illnesses, accidents, or seeking positions of power? And from later in the article:… Read More

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Sales Hobble

Derrick MoeNo Comments

Great title from Justsell.com, don’t you think?  From their monthly newsletter (sorry, no link): Top 3 activities that can hobble a sales day… 1. Talking with people who can’t move the sales process along 2. Unnecessary research activities What’s too much? There’s really no definitive answer. It’s particular to your sales world. Many people start to get a gut feel for when they should move on. The key is to act on it and make the call (rather than making sure every little thing is known before the call – fine line, of course). You might be surprised what you can learn by asking a straightforward question of the person… Read More

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Ask The Tough Questions

Lee FratzkeNo Comments

In talking with sales managers over the past month or so there is one reoccurring statement that I am hearing – their sales cycle has been extended in this economy.  It isn’t that they are not closing sales, it is just taking a bit longer.  Buyers are certainly more deliberate, but as we discussed some of their opportunities, it was clear that their sales people are not asking the difficult questions that lead to a qualified deal.  I came across this article from Kelley Robertson quite some time ago and passed it on to one of these sales managers – it is worth bringing it up again.  The article provides a… Read More

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Stereotypical Features And Benefits

Derrick Moe1 Comment

I am not fan of features and benefits selling.  I don’t even think that approach belongs in a retail sales environment.  The better approach is to qualify the prospect for need – What are they looking for?  What is it they need to have/do?  What is their time frame?  You get the idea. Unfortunately, many features/benefits salespeople exist in the marketplace and they seem to be everywhere.  This approach leads to the negative stereotype salespeople – pushy, talkative, bad listener, etc. Managesmarter.com provides an excellent tip within an article titled Transcend the Negative Stereotypes of Sales: Tip No. 3: Understand how your customers market services and generate profit. Don’t assume… Read More

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Good Selling Is Subtle

Derrick MoeNo Comments

Have you noticed that the best salespeople are usually subtle?  They have a way of moving through a discussion that is conversational in tone, but focused in purpose.  Some are so good at it that you don’t even notice if you are involved in the discussion. ManageSmarter.com offers up an article with a direct analogy of sales questioning – comparing it to dating.  What I appreciate is the author’s description of how salespeople are trained to ask leading questions.  This is not a subtle approach as you will see from his example in the article.  The primary issue here is that you lose rapport quickly when you go down this… Read More

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Redefining The Sales Funnel

Derrick MoeNo Comments

This video from Selling Power discusses a unique look at the traditional sales funnel.  The author in the video states that the sales funnel has to be thrown out and redesigned based on the prospect’s process.  The 4 minute video is an excellent discussion on this topic: If you have trouble with the video, here is the link to watch it on the Selling Power website.

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From Closing To Coaching

Derrick MoeNo Comments

Selling Power.com’s Sales Management newsletter provides an excellent article that addresses a common issue in sales management – how do you move from salesperson to sales manager?  One important aspect of this move is becoming a coach for your sales team. The suggestions in the article are worth the read, but this one is especially remarkable: Keep questions open. Most managers know they should ask open-ended questions in a coaching situation, but closed questions still crop up far too often. Closed questions can be answered in one or two words – yes, no, good, okay. Open-ended questions, on the other hand, require the responder to think and elaborate and help… Read More

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