Image by Getty Images via Daylife Everyone is looking for the sales silver bullet. Unfortunately, there are few short-cuts. Getting to “Yes!” is a skill that needs to be practiced and learned. The best practice is contacts, and lots of them. If there is a secret to selling it is he with the most contacts [...]
Return Every Call, How Many Sales Are You Blowing?
Image by Getty Images via Daylife I am continually amazed at the number of customers that go uncalled at the hands of sales people. The latest surveys from groups like Forrester and MarketingProfs indicate that still 40-60% of online lead inquiries never get contacted. If you are buying aged mortgage or debt leads this is [...]
Sales Training, Creating Buying Personas
Image by scimanal via Flickr Have you ever thought about who you are selling to? What makes them tick? What makes them different from others you sell to? What do they really need? Are there patterns? If you want to increase your sales production you should begin to segment, identify, and train against personas–creating scenarios [...]
Top 3 Sales Books You Should Read
Cover via Amazon There are literally hundreds of sales books, but what books should be in your library? A good sales person is someone who is constantly seeking to learn–about their craft, how customers think, and the world around them. Here are a few books that should be in every great sales persons’ library: Little [...]
Great Sales People Make It About People
Image via Wikipedia Have you ever noticed that the best sales people make landing deals look easy? They don’t seem to be sweating their numbers. They always seem to have extra time. They always seem to be playing–dinner, golf, charity events. Why is that? I have a theory…struggling sales people make sales about widgets, quotas, [...]
Your Sales Process is Critical to Success, Perfect It!
Image by Getty Images via Daylife Internet marketing is an amazingly complex and sophisticated art form. The things marketers are doing to bring you the “right” customer is incredible. However, do not over estimate the capability of marketing to close a deal for you–it can’t. In fact, there are some studies that show, at best, [...]
Treat Your Sales People Like Customers
Image via Wikipedia In sales and marketing we often talk about treating customers like gold. They are “always right,” we are “customer-centric,” our “responsiveness” to customer inquiries is unparalleled in the market. Can you say that about how you treat your sales force? What would happen if you treated your sales staff like customers? Would [...]
Don’t Make These 10 Sales Management Mistakes
Image by lumaxart via Flickr Do you want your sales team to reach their maximum potential? Of course you do. Unfortunately, we as sales managers often make simple mistakes that cripple the motivation and productivity of our sales force. Here are some of the most common you should guard against. We are already battling a [...]
10 Rules That Will Increase Your Sales
Image by christophercarfi via Flickr Sales is truly a contact sport. The basic rules of success can be simple, but so often they are not consistently applied. Here is my top 10 list of sales principles. When diligently applied, they are guaranteed to produce results. 1. Appointments are Everything: Whether you are telesales or a [...]
Carefully Consider the Behavior Your Sales Incentives Reward
Image via Wikipedia Sales compensation and commissions are somehow embedded in the DNA of good sales people. They can optimize the pay-out math on their sales pipeline faster than calculating new debt or mortgage payments. It is a simple fact of sales management. So, when you consider your sales incentive plan make sure it will [...]
