Here's a recent interview I did with the Call Reluctance Coach, Connie Kadansky. We talked about the questions to ask that sell. She asked me to discuss: 1. Why is questioning strategy so important to sell? 2. What's one of the most important questions to ask in sales? 3. Do you have a questioning strategy that you find effective? 4. How can salespeople improve their … [Read more...]
Shorten Your Sales Cycle
There are too may ways in your sales process that a sale can be delayed. All those delays add time to your sales cycle and cost you money. Instead of delaying the sale, you should be looking for ways to shorten your sales cycle. Only make sales calls when you have the possibility of a sale Every sales activity has a cost. It costs you time to make a telephone call, to meet a … [Read more...]
Sales preparation counts.
"After the game is before the game." - Sepp Herberger, Manager of the '54 FIFA World Cup Soccer winners For Salespeople... When does your selling start? Your sales preparation should start well before you sit down in your prospect’s office or call a prospect on the phone. You have a lot of preparation to do. I work with my clients to prepare before their sales calls. Here … [Read more...]
4 Ideas for Strategic Selling
I often say that my goal is to create lazy salespeople. It’s not what you think. I believe that salespeople should do less and sell more. They should require less effort to reach ideal prospects who are more likely to buy. They should have shorter sales cycles because their strategic selling includes a questioning strategy that guides a customer to realize there is a need, it’s … [Read more...]
Sales Shortcuts to Start Your Selling Year
It’s been attributed to Einstein that he said the equivalent of “Everything should be as simple as possible, but not simpler.” That sounds like a shortcut to me. Here are some sales shortcuts for the new year so you can start your selling year off right and sell more. Learn how a prospect will buy. One of the most important questions to ask your prospects is how they’re going … [Read more...]
A Better Way to Plan Your Selling This Year
What is your plan to start the year off right? Now it is time to start selling. Here's a better way to start your selling this year. Where is your plan? Think of the start of the year as beginning your sales journey. You need a map to guide you along the way. That map is your list of prospects or who are the sources of your new business. Write down all your prospects along … [Read more...]
Celebrate Even If You Didn’t Make Your Sales Goals
This year may have been a great one for you. For others, you are celebrating simply because the year is over. As your year winds down, whether you sold as much as you planned or missed the mark, year end gives you time to reflect on what you’ve done. You may think there’s nothing to celebrate if you didn’t make your sales goals. You’re wrong. There is. Give yourself some … [Read more...]
Holiday Parties Can Make or Kill a Sales Career
Free food. Free drinks. Lots of people. Are you ready for your company’s holiday party? Some of you might dread it. Others are thinking of how much fun you’re going to have at the festive event. Whether you dread it or not, you had better pay attention to what happens at your holiday party. Your sales career depends on it. I recently heard something alarming about company … [Read more...]
Measure to Improve Sales Performance
Let’s say you’re having a great year. What if you want to do even better next year? You can improve your sales performance if you know what to measure. Here are some areas to consider. Number of Sales Calls made. You are making it harder to be successful in sales if you’re going to sit in your office all day. While you’re there you spend time working on prospect research … [Read more...]
5 Strategies for Sales Success
The writer, Anton Chekhov, once said, “Knowledge is of no value unless you put it into practice.” Why not put into practice these 5 strategies for sales success? 1. Live within your means. Don’t buy the foolish thinking that more stuff will make you happy. Build relationships with real people, not Facebook friends who only make you feel worse for seeing their vacation photos … [Read more...]