That is the number I continue to hear from salespeople in a variety of markets when I ask them how are sales? That is a staggering number when you think about it. Unfortunately, those are the times we live in for now. I continue to believe that the best method for offsetting this decrease is to go take business from your competition. Who are their top customers? Those accounts must always be your top prospects in any economy. In today’s economy, I believe it will be difficult to persuade companies to invest in new purchases. However, if they are currently buying from a competitor, salespeople need to unhook the business. … Read More
Continue ReadingImpending Movement
In sales there has always been career movement. Most successful salespeople have a “hunting” ability for closing deals. They also use this ability to close new deals for themselves in terms of a new job. I believe this approach is intensified in the younger generations – Gen X and Gen Y. This current economy is going to erode much of their loyalty as they watch companies shed employees. This downturn is far worse than that of 2001, but it is two career-altering downturns in less than 10 years. That has to have an effect on younger workers. Some of this movement can be seen in this article from Managesmarter.com: Even… Read More
Continue ReadingThere Are Still Open Positions
You never quite know what you are going to receive from the Herman Trend Alert which makes it one of the more highly-anticipated newsletters in my inbox. This week the topic is how many job postings there are presently – over 1.8 million. Granted, there is far more to hiring than just the quantitative aspect, but the number surprised me. Here is their intro (sorry, no link): While job postings between January 2008 and January 2009 have declined in all industries, there are still almost 1.88 million jobs that require skilled workers. According to a release by Indeed.com last week, the industries that experienced the least contraction were Education and… Read More
Continue ReadingHiring A System
If you have noticed a decrease in hiring topics of late there is a reason why…few companies are hiring. We have seen it affect our business too. We had an early glimpse of it last year around Q2 as our assessment business started to decline gradually. That is a painful path to go down as you try to figure out a way to counteract the trend. At any rate, companies are still purchasing assessments and some are still hiring. Yes, it is true despite what you see in the media. As you might imagine, there is some serious talent available to companies that have the wherewithal to hire right now.… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Most Important Innovations
…of the past 30 years is a topic I posted on last week. The top 30 list was unveiled this week. Here is the video link to the story regarding the top technical innovations. And here is the overall list: 30. Anti retroviral treatment for AIDS 29. SRAM flash 28. Stents 27. ATMs 26. Bar codes and scanners 25. Bio fuels 24. Genetically modified plants 23. RFID and applications (e.g. EZpass) 22. Digital photography/videography 21. Graphic user interface (GUI) 20. Social networking via internet 19. Large scale wind turbines 18. Photovoltaic Solar Energy 17. Microfinance 16. Media file compression (e.g., jpeg, mpeg, mp3) 15. Online shopping/ecommerce/auctions (e.g., eBay) 14. GPS… Read More
Continue ReadingHiring Without Knowledge
Selling Power’s Hiring One of the Team focuses on finding superstar salespeople that will fit into your existing team. Clearly that is the goal for all sales hiring and this article supplies some sound advice. Other parts of it I will leave to your judgment. Here is a quote I enjoyed (emphasis mine): “Hire and promote first on the basis of integrity; second, motivation; third, capacity; fourth, understanding; fifth, knowledge; and last and least, experience. Without integrity, motivation is dangerous; without motivation, capacity is impotent; without capacity, understanding is limited; without understanding, knowledge is meaningless; without knowledge, experience is blind. Experience is easy to provide and quickly put to good… Read More
Continue ReadingSurviving An Email Storm
Ok, the title is overly dramatic, but I did see a company encounter an email storm this week which was…well, laughable. This is a large company with thousands of employees. One gentleman sent out an email about a specific account with a Word attachment. What he didn’t know was that one of his distribution lists was wrong – it included everyone in the company. One person on his list replied to all about printing the document. That email started the storm. Person after person started replying to all to remove them from the email list. It gets better, the original author then sent out another email that simply stated “please… Read More
Continue ReadingFriday Humor
A bumper sticker I saw coming back from lunch today: My dog is smarter than your honor student.
Continue ReadingDefeatist Thoughts
Isn’t there an old sports axiom that states games are won or lost before you ever take the field? Well, at least some form of that saying. JustSell.com lists a handful of self-defeating thoughts from the sales world (email newsletter – sorry, no link). Here they are: Defeatist (accepting, expecting, or being resigned to defeat) Cynical (contemptuously distrustful of human nature and motives) Vindictive (seeking revenge) Blame/ Fault (who cares? what are we going to do now?) Wishful (do what you can to influence the deal and keep moving) Self-pity (get over yourself… complain less… especially to yourself) Worrisome (it won’t help, costs time, and can drag you down) Jealous… Read More
Continue ReadingA Filtering Economy
This economy is tough for everyone but especially for salespeople. Money is tight, companies are delaying decisions and jobs are on the line. Yet, through it all sales must continue…and they do. One, well, macabre thought through this time is that this economy is a tool that separates the order takers from the closers. If you think about it, the salespeople who have rested on a strong territory, one large customer or golden leads are now having to face a prospecting situation. For some this is a nightmare of slasher movie proportions. I have seen a company’s perception of a “strong” salesperson change dramatically during similar economic times. This downturn… Read More
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