I’ve been reading much about cold call techniques this week which is good because I am a lousy cold caller. An interesting discussion occurred at a networking meeting I attended this morning regarding cold calls. There are 5 cold call basics to maintain before each call: 1. What does the prospect company do and what industry are they in? 2. Based on quick research, in what areas does the company need help? 3. Based on what you know, what is the value you bring to them? 4. Who at the prospect’s company will recognize your value? 5. What are the other unique aspects your company brings to this discussion? The… Read More
Continue ReadingCrashing On A Cold Call
Cold calling is a disappearing art, but still a needed component of any sales position. I have made my share of truly cold calls especially as a young salesperson. I was awful (and still am today). So any help in this area always catches my attention. ManageSmarter.com has a terrific article that dissects a poorly executed call – How not to Handle a Cold Call. I strongly recommend the article, but just to give you a taste of the tips: Mistake 1: Forgetting to PrepareThe person who called me did absolutely no preparation before she dialed my number. A quick Internet search would have shown her that I have a… Read More
Continue ReadingSales Is Not A Game
From the JustSell.com newsletter: Sales is not a game. Nothing about it should be left to chance. An effective process that ensures progress toward the goal of bringing in new customers and retaining current customers is what you and your team should strive for. Your process should be methodical, predictable and hold you and/ or your team accountable. Excellent. Unfortunately, we encounter many sales departments that have no process. We are strong proponents of a selling system. The last thing a sales manager needs is a team of lone wolf salespeople attacking the market with different processes. Good luck with the forecast in that scenario. The system should be flexible… Read More
Continue ReadingHow Many Calls Does It Take To Close?
That is a pertinent question in successful selling and one we always ask when profiling a sale. Many sales managers that we talk to would like to have a one-call close sale no matter what the sales cycle. That misalignment always leads to a unique discussion. Selling Power offers a good article on this topic in What€™s the Purpose of this Call? I found this excerpt to be quite revealing: Consider this example. Fournies was recently speaking at a national meeting to salespeople whose product was a $25,000 chemical analysis machine sold to hospitals. He asked his audience how many calls it took to sell their product to a hospital… Read More
Continue ReadingA Strong Candidate Shines
Great move from a candidate yesterday at his interview with one of our clients: His first move: “What would you say is a profile of a good salesperson for this position?” He followed that question up with: “How well do you see me fitting that profile?” That is some straight influencing of a hiring decision. Beautiful.
Continue ReadingValue Differentiation
We work with our clients in a variety of levels from simply assessing candidates to full-fledged sales management. For one of our clients, we are hosting their weekly sale conference call for their geographically-dispersed sales team. We are building this team by recruiting salespeople and a sales manager to take over the reins. The chance to work with these sales reps every week has reminded me of the critical nature of value differentiation. These reps are located throughout different states in the Western US and each one is chasing slightly different markets. But one thing is clear, they all have focused in on their value and how it differs from… Read More
Continue ReadingSell Me This Pen
Here is a good post from Ed McLean on his Sales Itch blog – Sales Dilemma No.1: There€™s a story in sales job hunting folklore where the smugly smiling interviewer plucks out a pen from his jacket pocket and say, €œSell me this pen€. What would you say? Here are the options I came up with: You will have to read the post to view Ed’s excellent options. Believe it or not, I actually encountered this interview approach when I was a young sales rep. I sat in the office of a salty old sales manager who told me to look under the chair I was sitting in. There was… Read More
Continue ReadingSelling With Style
We’ll close the week with an article from ManageSmarter.com titled Building Client Relationships: Use Sales Psychology to Create More Lifetime Clients. The thrust of the article is how to use DISC styles when selling. This tool is one of four assessments we incorporate into our hiring process. The author is correct – knowing your prospect or customer’s style should be part of any saalesperson’s repetoire. This isn’t the Jedi mind trick but rather a focus on clear communication. If a sales rep doesn’t know how to sell, understanding a prospect’s preferred style will only make the salesperson clearer in their failure. However, an effective salesperson who learns and uses the… Read More
Continue ReadingHow Responsive Is Your Company?
Here is a fascinating survey regarding customer service from large companies. The article is from ManageSmarter.com – Return to Sender: Responding to Customers. I think you will find the format quite clever: Every year, our organization conducts a customer service survey by sending the following one-sentence e-mail to our list of respected and admired companies: What is your corporate policy regarding the turnaround time for e-mails addressed to customer service? The subject of the e-mail is “Customer Service.” The goal of the research is to see who actually answers the question, which is different that simply responding and how long it takes them. The results: Here are highlights from this… Read More
Continue ReadingMore Regarding Proactive Sales Management
The first two parts of our series on proactive sales management have been focused on foundation and structure. An experience about a year ago, sums up the crux of the problem – and the eventual fallout. Depending on the sales scenario, product knowledge can be a foundational item that should not be compromised. Having been in a very technical environment for most of my sales career, experience says a sound product foundation is important in the sales process. I’m not suggesting that a salesperson delve into the minutia of every last product detail. What I am suggesting is the ability to use product information and knowledge in the sales process.… Read More
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