Preparing for your 2008-09 Sales Year

By / / Business Acumen, Sales Forecasting, Sales Management, Sales Measures - Inputs & Outputs, Sales Pipeline, Sales Planning, Sales Strategy, Value Proposition & Value Add, Vision, Mission & Purpose

If you haven’t already it may be worth your while to hold a formal review and business/sales strategy planning session with your team before the new financial year kicks in. Many markets have and are going through major changes and this requires us to be on our toes and ready for action.

The challenge for any business, especially those of us who run a small business with limited man power and resources, is to take the time out to work on our business and plan for the future rather than stay stuck in the day to day of our businesses. This …

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We’ll meet again!

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brand & Reputation, Ethics & Values, Networking

Ever been treated with an attitude of indifference? Ever been ignored as a customer because you didn’t look the part or didn’t fit the stereotype of a typical buyer? Ever been fobbed off in favor of someone else because you are (supposedly) not famous enough, well connected or prestigious enough to do business with?

The world is littered with stories of people who were passed over and ignored by judgmental, blinkered sales people only to take their business somewhere else where they were treated with respect and were able to buy what they wanted despite how they may have appeared to …

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The Law of Reciprocity

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brand & Reputation, Emotional Intelligence, Ethics & Values, Mindful selling, Sales Relationships

Starting out a prospecting call or receiving a customer call with a negative, resigned or flat, uninterested attitude will not inspire anyone and more than likely lose you customers. I find people are often very unaware of just how they come across to other people and then act surprised when people are rude to them or treat them with indifference. They do not seem to realise that they are often the cause of the response.

One of the key challenges of being in a customer-facing role (sales, customer service, technical support, etc.) is that you are not in control …

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Contact vs Connection

By / / Brand & Reputation, Collaboration, Emotional Intelligence, Mindful selling, Networking, Sales Relationships, Value Proposition & Value Add

Know the feeling when you make contact with someone and you both promise that you will keep in touch but never do? Or someone you met briefly at a function, where you exchanged business cards, calls you up asking for one favour after another never seeming to return the favour? Or others still who seem to make friends with you only to use you to get to someone else and drop you and soon as they do? Well you are not alone. These are some of the pitfalls when it comes to networking and …

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Thinking of promoting your best sales performer to sales manager? Think again!

By / / Assessments, Attitudes & Behaviours, Role Clarity, Sales Coaching, Sales Leadership, Sales Management, Sales Talent

Many businesses have made the mistake of promoting their best performing sales person into the role of sales manager. Their logic – well they are great at selling, they’ll be great at sales management. Sadly most of these situations end in disaster.

To start off the top performing sales person has usually been given no training or a development framework to help them make the transition into what is a very different role. It is almost assumed they will know how to be a sales manager because they ‘know’ (sadly usually only intuitively) how to sell. The …

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Healthy Salespeople – Healthy Sales Results

By / / Brain Science, Mindful selling, Resilience, Sales Excellence Acadamy, Sales Talent, Wellbeing

Warning! This might sound like your mother.

As I have stated previously, sales is a demanding profession. Top performers know that to sustain a high level of performance, they need to keep fit and well – both physically and psychologically. They are self disciplined, self managed and take good care of themselves. You only have to look at them and know they are healthy. Their skin is clear, they have a vitality about them that is fresh, their attitude is positive and they are keen to learn.

What sort of sales culture do you encourage? Is it one of health and wellbeing …

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Trust-based relationships

By / / Brand & Reputation, Collaboration, Customer Service, Ethics & Values, Networking, Prospecting, Sales Relationships, Sales Results, Sales Skills, Sales Talent, Up-selling & Cross Selling, Value Proposition & Value Add

I typed ‘Sales’ into youtube.com the other day just to see what was on offer. I have to say that some of the initial videos displayed on the front page were very disappointing indeed, especially when it came to building trust-based relationships with clients.

One well-known speaker was spruking ways to get your prospect to call you back. His idea was to leave a provocative half message that said something along the lines of “I’ve just been speaking to your competitors and they said you are in big ” then he suggested hanging up before you competed the message. …

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Peak Performance in Prospecting

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brain Science, Call Reluctance, Emotional Intelligence, Mindful selling, Networking, Neuroscience in Sales, Prospecting, Resilience, Role Clarity, Sales Pioneer, Sales Skills, Self Promotion, Wellbeing

Building on from last week’s topic ‘The Optimistic Sales Professional’ I thought I would extend the theme further and explore the topic of ‘Peak Performance in Prospecting’.

A peak performing prospector is a salesperson who displays passion, self motivation and results focus. They are disciplined in their approach, evaluate and purse viable opportunities while remaining optimistic, resilient, committed and energized. They are ethical at all times and display empathy, respect and courtesy towards their prospects. To help us look at this in more depth let’s look at what is considered peak performance.

What is Peak Performance?
“Sustained, continuous performance at …

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The Optimistic Sales Professional

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brain Science, Emotional Intelligence, Mindful selling, Neuroscience in Sales, Resilience, Wellbeing

Sales is a demanding profession. Top performers know that to sustain a high level of performance, they need to keep fit and well – both physically and psychologically. An increasing body of research is showing that keeping an optimistic outlook, and having the physical energy to meet the demands of working in sales are critical to a sales person’s effectiveness, success and overall well-being. Something many of us know intuitively, however it good to have it validated.

Managing and overcoming setbacks is key to succeeding in anything. In sales we are tested everyday. Without a sense …

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Networking

By / / Networking, Sales Relationships, Self Development, Value Proposition & Value Add

Although technology has become increasingly important in recent years, the importance of relationships in business has not changed. Upon reflection, it appears that we have taken the following path.

Technological Era ——> Industrial Era

In fact, it has been predicted that over the next ten to fifteen years, we will see a new era emerge; that being the era of the relationship in doing business. It is estimated that the relationships we have in business with our customers and within organisations will be the key differentiator for businesses worldwide.

…

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