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You are here: Home / Newsletters / Sales Call Strategy and CEO Mistakes to Avoid- August 2014

Sales Call Strategy and CEO Mistakes to Avoid- August 2014

November 14, 2014 By maurasf

 

                                                                             
-Monthly Selling Newsletter with Ideas to Sell More Now-
August-2014
Selling Quote for the Month 

“In every block of marble I see a statue as plain as though it stood before me, shaped and perfect in attitude and action. I have only to hew away the rough walls that imprison the lovely apparition to reveal it to the other eyes as mine see it.”

-Michelangelo

 For Salespeople… 

Do you think Michelangelo is in sales? He certainly has the right idea.  You should consider removing everything from your sales call that you don’t need.  Every sales call should be focused on achieving your objective that moves your sales process forward.  How do you do that?  Ask yourself as you plan your next sales call, “What do I want to accomplish?” and “What do I need to do that?” Like Michelangelo, you’ve just removed the unnecessary and helped your prospect see what you want to see—your sale.  

To my newsletter readers: Thank you to all of you and those who send comments. I always enjoy hearing from you!    


 

Get more selling ideas  at Allbusiness.com 


Selling Ideas for this Month

 

  CEO Mistakes to Avoid

Just because you have a big salary doesn’t mean you always have great ideas. These C level executive actions give sales professionals some clear sales strategies to avoid. 

JCP: Listen to your customers.  Do you remember when J.C. Penney’s CEO, Ron Johnson declared JC Penney a discount free coupon free zone? You might have wondered where he got that idea because the results were disastrous. Penney customers soundly rejected the strategy and it didn’t bring in enough new business to offset what they lost. If only Anderson had asked the employees who worked for him what they thought before he implemented his idea. Better yet would be to try it on a smaller scale and judge the pilot before changing the entire company culture. 

Companies who ignore what their customers want will suffer and often it’s sooner rather than later as Penney found out. In the oil business we had a panel of distributors who met quarterly with management.  These distributors were our largest and smaller customers.  They listened to management’s ideas before they were implemented. 

Often, management uncovered unforeseen barriers to a successful implementation and could correct with the panel’s input. New strategies were developed if the panel pushed back.  Many disasters were avoided because of this input. 

YAHOO:  Speak for yourself.  Do you remember when Yahoo’s CEO Marissa Mayer (the fifth in five years) banned telecommuting? The New York Times reported that  out of Yahoo’s 14,000 employees there were 200 with telecommuting contracts.  The telecommuting was put to a stop by a confidential internal memo sent to all employees and written by the new HR director, not CEO Mayer. 

Mayer gets points for communication.  They’re all taken away because she didn’t do the communicating herself.  You need to deliver tough news yourself. In sales you’re going to have price increases, product performance problems and other tough issues.

Don’t have someone else do your dirty work for you. Either talk to your customers yourself or write your own letter.  A sub point is to avoid creating problems. If in fact the New York Times story is correct and only 200 people are involved, then why is Mayer fixing a problem that doesn’t exist?

FACEBOOK: Don’t ignore a customer’s concern. You may have heard about Facebook’s CFO, Sheryl Sandberg, and her best-selling book Lean In.  In it she discussed a presentation at Harvard. One woman asked about work life balance and Sandberg dismissed her concern because the woman who asked was neither married nor considering starting a family. I think that the woman needed to hear Sandberg’s answer so that she could be comfortable in the future pursuing a high powered career. 

Never dismiss a customer’s questions.  I’ve seen salespeople listen to customer questions and then say the question is unimportant.  Risk averse customers ask lots of questions.  When salespeople dismiss their customer’s concerns they’re not going to get the sale. 

Even C level executives make mistakes.  Perhaps that gives you comfort. Don’t get too comfortable. When you make these mistakes in sales you’re likely to suffer some painful consequences. 

Best wishes for your selling success!


Action Items

1.  Talk to a few large and medium sized customers and get feedback on a few of your products or programs.  

2.  Do you answer all your customers’ questions? 


Did You Know?

Here’s a tip this week for your sales success.  


So I never assume, here’s a brief list of services I offer.

A. Consulting/Coaching/Mentoring

By hour or by project.

  • Plan sales call strategies
  • Develop effective proposals that prevent “low price” shoppers from picking your competiton
  • Reduce the stress of working for a difficult manager
  • Shorten the time for a new hire to be productive 
  • Design customized selling tablet app
  • New ideas to sell more
  • Develop questioning strategy to shorten your sales cycle and increase sales
  • 90 Day Performance Plan for new sales hires to be productive faster and increase retentionFor info, please see Consulting/Coaching.Call 972 380 0200 for a free initial consultation.

B. Speaking at Sales Meetings to Improve Sales Performance

Present Sales Performance improvement programs at sales meetings and conferences

RECOMMENDED IF:

  • Your salespeople lose proposals based on price. 
  • You have underperforming salespeople.
  • Your salespeople have too many deals that they say are closing and they don’t close.

Programs for Your Sales Success

Visit [email protected] to see upcoming programs.

Consultative Selling: Asking the Strategic Questions that Sell:  Did a customer tell you he needs to think about your sales proposal?  Your questioning strategy is flawed. You will learn to ask the questions that sell for you and not hear “I’ll think about it” any more. This webinar is key to your sales call success. 

Sell More Now Programs:   Selling Strategies to Sell More Now!Your successful selling is more than talking and listening. It’s developing the strategy to get in front of the right customers the easiest and most effective ways. This thoughtful, strategic approach to your selling will shorten your sales cycle and increase the profitability of your business. You will learn to develop your successful selling strategies in this one-hour (approximate) program.You will learn to make strategic decisions that help your customers make a buying decision and see you as the preferred supplier. Your strategy work continues as you demonstrate why they should continue to buy from you. This program will guide you to formulate your sales strategies so you get in front of the right customers, help them make buying decisions faster, and create long-term business relationships.

You will learn:

1. How to get customers to quickly understand that you are the preferred supplier.

2. How to identify the customers you can best serve.

3. How to get customers to come to you.

4. How to avoid wasting time on the wrong prospects.

5. How to be perceived as an expert so customers quickly trust you.

Sell More Now with Mentoray Marketplace


Delegated to Done

Are your sales stuck and you need to sell more?

Delegated to Done can help you sell more especially if you’re a sales professional, solopreneur, or are looking to get more customers on line. You wil learn how to build the right plan, systems and team to free your time and catapult your income to make more money.


Build a High Performance Team the Smart Way: Outsourcing

You can’t do all your work yourself if you want to be truly successful (and rested!)

Are you looking to build a team to do the work you need to do? You will learn how to with The Mechanics of Making More program. The answer is building and leveraging a team of capable support professionals that have talent and share your vision for building your business and changing the world. This is the program for you whether you want to start systemizing and outsourcing, but aren’t sure how to get started or if you’ve already got some help and systems, but you’re ready to grow your team and leverage their talents even more to grow your business. 


You Can Still Learn!

Did you miss the webinars to help you sell more.  View them now!
Increase Your Sales:  Find Ideal Prospects Who Will Buy

Successful salespeople have a clear understanding of who they should sell to. Their prospects are most likely to need and want what they are selling. Yet, too many salespeople lack focus on identifying and approaching these ideal prospects. In this program you will learn to create a successful prospecting strategy which will shorten your sales cycle, make selling less stressful, and increase your sales.
You will learn to:
· Identify true prospects so you avoid wasting time on low probability customers
· Predict when a prospect is ready to buy
· Leverage your strengths to find more prospects who are ready to buy
· Use your existing resources to find more receptive prospects
On-Line Webinar: Would Have Liked to Know That!: A Salesman’s Guide To Sales Success 

If you’re new to sales or thinking about a career in sales, you will want to avoid the setbacks and obstacles that might be part of your career. Selling is a fulfilling yet challenging job. You can learn to maintain the selling attitude you need to thrive. You will learn to focus on the skill that’s most important to sales success (and it’s probably not the one you think.) You will identify the strategies to implement that will lead to your sales success.

On-Line Webinar: Secrets of Persuasion to Sell More Now

Sales professionals who use persuasion and influence get better results in business. This seminar will teach you to identify the behavioral clues you need to effectively

persuade others. You will learn what the clues mean and how to use them with customers to shorten your sales cycle. You will increase your sales when you have the tools to persuade.

                


Do you need to increase your sales? Why not consider sales coaching? Are you looking for proven strategies to sell more?
Contact Maura@Bestatselling.com or 972 380 0200. Free 15 minute consultation to determine if this program is for you.
“You have also taught me a great questioning strategy for every account. I can now get past price and get deeper into a business than before. This has not only given me more confidence when I walk into a prospect, but it has shortened my sales cycle. This has been my biggest goal throughout our working together.”
Jordan DaleAccount ManagerWestern Marketing, Inc

“Maura has proivided the expertise to retool our entire sales process.  She has single handedly created the sales side of the cutting edge technological sales tools we are implementing at this moment.  She has been invaluable.”
Charles Read
President
Custom Payroll Associates Inc. 

Follow Me on Twitter
My id is BestatSelling  You can follow BestatSelling on Twitter.
See you there! 

You can read my monthly selling column Ask The Sales Pro for SOLD magazine where I answer readers selling        questions. You can subscribe to the magazine and read my answers to solve their selling challenges. You can also ask questions! Get answers to your tough selling challenges.

 

 

Monday Morning Sales Tips: Do you need ideas for sales meeting? Are you looking for weekly motivation to sell more? 

Real-World Selling: A book with selling skills and strategies that work in the real world of sales.
Secrets of Persuasion: Audio CD for the clues to use to speed-read people and close more business.
 

The Blogs and Other Columns

 
I’m now a guest columnist for the Dallas Business Journal. My column is called “Customer Connections.”  I’ll be answering readers’ questions about selling. Do you have any selling
questions? Send them to info@bestatselling.com 
 

About Maura Schreier-Fleming

Maura Schreier-Fleming works with business and sales professionals to sell more and get better results at work. She speaks at international conferences on sales and business. Her [email protected] clients create long-term client relationships and sell more. Clients include Fujitsu, UPS, Administaff and Dr Pepper/7UP.
 
With over 20 years of sales experience, she teaches the art and science of selling with a unique hands-on perspective and a great deal of real-life insight. She is the author of Real-World Selling for Out-of-this-World Results (a book filled with ideas to make selling easier and more productive) and Monday Morning Sales Tips. 
 
Her business column ‘Selling Strategies’ appears in the Insurance Record magazine. She is a guest columnist for the Dallas, Austin and Houston Business Journals. She has an M.S. in Textile Engineering from Georgia Tech and was Mobil Oil’s first female lubrication engineer in the U.S. You can contact her for seminars at company or trade association meetings at 972 380 0200 or info@BestatSelling.com

Selling Tips

Get more selling tips from Maura’s ebook: 97 Ways to Sell More Now E-Book


Looking for new strategies to improve your persuasion skills? This easy to apply Audio CD will give you many new ideas to easily improve your persuasion skills so you can sell more and close business faster.


I’m always looking for success stories and other tips from sales professionals. Please feel free to email me at info@bestatselling.com with ideas that have worked for you.


Here are some selling tools to help you sell more now. 
Monday Morning Sales Tips: Do you need ideas for sales meeting? Are you looking for weekly motivation to sell more? 
Real-World Selling: A book with selling skills and strategies that work in the real world of sales.
Secrets of Persuasion: Audio CD for the clues to use to speed-read people and close more business.
 

Hire Maura to speak at your next conference or sales meeting! Contact: info@bestatselling.com

 

You can contact her for seminars at company or trade association meetings at 972 380 0200 or info@BestatSelling.com

 Need an Article for Your Newsletter?

Articles from this newsletter may be used in your free publications or posted on your web when given the following credit:

Written by Maura Schreier-Fleming, [email protected] (https://www.bestatselling.com). Maura works with business and sales professionals who want to sell more and be more productive at work. She is the author of Real-World Selling for Out-of-this-World Results and Monday Morning Sales Tips.

For free articles, selling ideas and morale boosters visit BestatSelling.com 

 

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Contact Information

1. Web site: https://www.BestatSelling.com

2. E-mail: info@bestatselling.com

3. Call: In Dallas 972 380 0200

4. Mail:

PO Bob 798027 Dallas, TX  75379-8027


(c) Copyright 2014

 Maura Schreier-Fleming. All rights reserved  

 

 

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*What was your last “mistake?” Did you make it before? There’s nothing wrong with making mistakes in sales provided you are making different mistakes. (You are learning from them!)

About the principal

Would you take auto mechanics classes when you buy a car? Maura did because she wanted to be able to work on her car. She takes that same approach to selling. She can show you how to get below the surface of selling to learn why and how different strategies work. She will show you which skills to implement that will shorten your sales cycle and increase your sales. She was Mobil Oil's first female Lubrication Engineer in the United States and one of Chevron's top 5 salespeople in the country. She knows what works for sales.

"I would recommend your work to other sales organizations who want to get better results from improved selling strategies."
Jamey Rootes
President
Houston Texans

Sales Expert at Allbusiness.com

Selling is the easiest job in the world. Just ask anyone who is not in sales. Read Maura’s ideas on “more brain…less mouth” selling to make your selling easier and more successful.

Maura’s Allbusiness blog posts

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