Skiing and sales success have a lot in common. I’ve written about the amazing Michaela Shiffrin before. She’s the exciting alpine skier who has achieved spectacular results. She’s won the World Cup overall title three times. She has 56 World Cup individual victories and three Olympic medals. Two of those are gold. She’s the best in the … [Read more...]
Stop wasting your time at meetings (sales or otherwise)
How do you ensure that your meetings are productive? You probably hate meetings if you’re like most people. When you ask people about meetings they say that meetings are a waste of time. But what about your selling? Your sales calls are meetings and you certainly don’t think selling your products or services is a waste of time, right? Sales … [Read more...]
Some Solid Advice to Avoid a Few Sales Mistakes
What advice will help you sell more? The benefit of listening to some people is that they steer you away from making avoidable mistakes. If you find yourself saying, “I would have liked to know that before I made that mistake,” here are some things you might want to think about. Endless negotiations are costing you profits. One very smart salesman once told … [Read more...]
Sales Warrior: Can You Win The Sale?
Are you ready to win the sale? Any soldier prepares for battle so he has some chance of survival. Have you ever noticed that sometimes it feels like a battle in the world of sales? It’s the sales warriors who prepare as they go into the marketplace that have any chance to win the sale. Here’s what you can do to win the sale. Forget about … [Read more...]
What to Do Now that You Broke New Year’s Resolutions.
Forget New Year's Resolutions. What are you doing to sell more? Yum! Are you eating cookies again after you swore them off on New Year’s Eve? Probably. I’ll bet you’re snacking again if you’re like most people. New Year’s resolutions are notoriously hard to keep. Why not focus instead on what you can do this year that leads to your … [Read more...]
Customers Judge You. Are you surprised?
How are your customers judging you? Do you know how LaGuardia customers judge it? LaGuardia Airport is now the talk of flyers. What are they talking about? Surprisingly it’s the bathrooms. Concourse B at LaGuardia is now sporting new bathrooms that are spacious and clean. It’s making a lot of flyers happy. Bathrooms are often the first stop that passengers make at an … [Read more...]
Last Minute Sales Strategies to Make Your Goals
You have less than a month left to still make your sales goals this year. Some of you are smiling because you already exceed your numbers. Others are silently suffering because making your sales goals seems out of reach. All is not lost! There still is time for you to implement sales strategies and to make your sales goals—or come much closer—if you act now. Sales Strategy 1. … [Read more...]
Don’t Get Sold If You Are a Sales Manager
It might surprise you what I’ve learned after working with salespeople for over 20 years on selling skills and strategies. Some salespeople should have never been hired for sales. I sometimes wondered how they ever got hired in the first place. Obviously, the only sale that ever took place was the sale to the sales manager. That was an unfortunate sale. Here’s how you can avoid … [Read more...]
Where Luck Meets Opportunity: Understand the Buying Process
The Roman philosopher Seneca said, “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” I say that you make your own luck. That is a very true statement for sales. When you know where your buyer is in the buying process you will become a lot luckier. You just might make more sales, too. Do more qualifying. I often qualify my prospect when I first meet with him as an … [Read more...]
Google, Misinformation and Sales
Did you read the memo? Yes, that memo. It’s the one that James Damore wrote that got him fired from Google. I did. I seriously disagree with Google’s firing of Mr. Damore. Yet, Damore’s varied statements as reported did seem inflammatory and cause for disciplinary action. The only problem is that once you read what he did write, you come to a very different conclusion. You … [Read more...]