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...]
Put Your Sales Manager To Work
How much easier would your selling be if you could partner with another great sales professional and sell? In sales, two heads are better than one. That second head just might be your sales manager. If you want to tap into another great selling resource, put your sales manager to work. Make sales calls. Are you always making sales calls by yourself? Now is the time to … [Read more...]
Confusing customers loses sales
Is Customer Confusion Costing You Sales? You confuse ‘em, you lose ‘em. That’s what a great direct marketer Paul Goldberg once said. It’s the same for sales. You certainly wouldn’t confuse your customers intentionally. But what about when you don’t know that you’re creating confusion? I recently needed to purchase a certified letter for a business document I … [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...]
What consultive selling questions do you ask to sell?
Are you wondering what consultive selling questions you can ask to sell? I have a consultive selling process that I teach that shows you how to learn about your customer, uncover business problems he cares about and motivate him to buy. Here's the process. It’s as simple as A,B,C and D. Consultative selling starts with what you know ABOUT (A) your customer. Rather than … [Read more...]
Small talk helps negotiations if you are male
Who knew? What women do so easily (make small talk) will get better results in negotiation. But, only if you're male. If you read the study it says that women don't benefit as much as men do with the small talk. Why? It seems that men are inherently less "communal" so the chit chat helps them be perceived more positively so they get better results with negotations. Here's … [Read more...]
3 Instant Sales Ideas
Here are 3 instant sales ideas for you to sell more now. 1. Live within your means. Don’t buy the foolish thinking that more stuff will make you happy. When you start to acquire stuff that you can’t afford you start down a path that might lead to becoming a desperate salesperson. Nothing causes a sale to fail faster than desperation. How do you avoid participating in the … [Read more...]
Keeping Information from Your Customers Hurts Sales
Do you keep information from your customers? I hate to pile on the post office, but they really hurt their sales efforts. I recently needed to purchase a certified letter for a business document I was mailing. I made the purchase at 10AM. I was instructed to go to the U.S. Postal Service website, usps.com, enter my tracking number and I would be able to see the letter’s … [Read more...]
What to include in your sales proposals and RFPs?
You probably don't like it very much if you find yourself having to sell by submitting an RFP or sales proposal. Most salespeople spend a whole lot of time generating their RFPs and miss the opportunity to be strategic about the RFP. You might also wonder what to include in your sales proposals and RFPs. Here's a recent column on how to be strategic when you have to write … [Read more...]
27 Key Sales Performance Drivers
In a recent AchieveGlobal report they identified 27 Key sales performance drivers. How many do you think you have mastered? This is a good topic for your next sales meeting. Your sales team can discuss how to develop more of these sales performance drivers. If successful salespeople master these sales performance drivers, you should be more successful if you do, too. Key … [Read more...]