Do you ever wonder how some people look well-rested and relaxed? They seem to have more time for their work. It's not that they have other people do their work for them either. It's that they avoid the distractions and needless work that keeps them from being productive. I just read a book review of Deep Work by Cal Newport. Newport is a computer science professor at … [Read more...]
Student Protesters Would Make Lousy Salespeople
You might have noticed that college today isn’t what it used to be. It used to be that students went off to university to learn about themselves and others. They experienced new things. They might have been exposed to another point of view and changed their minds. That no longer seems to be the case. Here’s why these student protesters would make terrible salespeople. They’re … [Read more...]
Women Experience Subtle Discrimination at Work
Just imagine you were working in an organization and you were being marginalized. Only you didn’t know it. Women are often unaware of the subtle discrimination at work. I was meeting with a prospect. He told me that as a manager his subordinates would often suggest that he golf with them. Not wanting to show any favoritism, he would suggest that the group golf together. In … [Read more...]
What makes a great salesperson? A great sales manager.
Behind many great sales professionals are great sales managers. A sales manager is someone who can make selling much easier---or a whole lot harder. Management defines the process. Too often management expects salespeople to do the impossible. They hire salespeople and say, "Go sell." You wouldn’t expect someone on the assembly line to figure out how to assemble a product. Why … [Read more...]
Questions a Sales Manager Should Ask When the Sale Does Not Close
There’s something wrong with a sales process when a sales manager sees a prospect sitting on a prospect list month after month and there’s never a sale. The reason is the manager is asking the wrong questions and the salesperson is reporting history, not creating the future. Here are the questions that sales managers should be asking. Why should the customer buy? The first … [Read more...]
Are women discriminated at work?
I was surprised recently and I’m not often surprised about what goes on in business. Just imagine you were working in an organization and you were being discriminated against. Only you didn’t know it. Here’s what shocked me so it hopefully won’t happen to you. I was meeting with a prospect. He mentioned that the ways that men disenfranchise women at work are subtle. He told … [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...]
Women who sell need to manage their manager
I recently got a call from a female sales professional. She had been working for her sales manager for 7 weeks. I had a meeting scheduled with her male sales manager. She was calling to reschedule the appointment for him. Why was she calling when my appointment was with her manager? Her manager asked her to. It seemed odd to me that she was asked to do this. I thought it was … [Read more...]
Women in Sales: Be careful.
Women in sales, have you heard about the hubbub going on at GitHub? It seems that engineer Julie Ann Horvath left the company because of allegations about gender-based harassment. There is a lot in the media to show that some unusual things did happen. In fact, the company president and co-founder, Tom Preston-Werner, stepped down. He was criticized that he had mishandled … [Read more...]
2 Important Rules for Your Selling Success
Here are a few rules for you to shorten your sales cycle and ensure your selling success. Here’s how you can make more money in sales. Rule #1. Have a plan for every sales call. How will you know your sales call is a success? It’s not when you feel like it was a great call. It’s only when you’ve left the call with more than you had when you went in. That … [Read more...]