Don’t tell me it’s out of your control

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brand & Reputation, Value Proposition & Value Add, Vision, Mission & Purpose

‘It’s out of my control.’ ‘I can’t do anything about it.’ ‘I’m just the sales person.’

Sales people who sell in equipment and service contracts take note. This story is about you and your responsibility to the customer for the life of the sale not just the initial sale of the machine and the signing of the contract.

The quotes above are what I heard this week from a sales person from a well-known equipment manufacture who sold us a complete equipment and service package 18 months ago. It certainly wasn’t what I wanted to hear. Without going into too much detail …

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You’re on show

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brand & Reputation, Emotional Intelligence, Ethics & Values, Sales Culture, Sales Relationships, Self Promotion, Value Proposition & Value Add

Today people are looking for honesty and authenticity and do not have time to be misled. They want to work with people who are what they say they are. They are assessing your every word and action. They are looking beneath the surface and are wanting to see the real you.

Many people are now more wary about companies and sales people making big claims and promises with lots of ‘sizzle’. They are wary of the ‘charmers’ and the sales people after the ‘big kill’. What they are now looking for is the steak and all that comes with …

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Broken Promises & Bagging the Competition

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Competition, Ethics & Values, Value Proposition & Value Add, Vision, Mission & Purpose

Watching the antics of all the parties in the Federal Election, especially the two major parties, and how they go about trying to convince the electorate to vote for them, has reminded me about what NOT to do in sales:

  • Make promises you cannot keep
  • Bag the competition

Nothing irks customers more than sales people overstating their capabilities and making claims and promises they cannot keep or live up to. It’s the fastest way to break trust and leave customers doubting you and your business. Making grand claims with little or no substance is foolish at …

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A Time To Reflect

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brain Science, Emotional Intelligence, Mindful selling, Wellbeing

I don’t know about you, but I often find myself reflecting on a whole range of things in my life including my professional sales career and wondering at all the things I have learned over the years.

Conscious reflecting on sales has now become almost a daily occurrence for me, especially, since I have been writing this sales blog. There are so many aspects to selling that the more I look into selling the more I find to reflect upon. So it was with some amusement that I found myself reflecting on reflecting itself and how valuable it …

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Same, Same but Different

By / / Sales Research, Sales Talent, Sales Training

I came across some research on sales motivation which seems to shed some further light on why it is important to use programs which are culturally specific to your sales peoples motivations and values.

A major study of sales motivation presented at the annual convention of the Society for Marketing Advances has revealed significant cultural differences driving sales success. It has helped explain why some of the better made-in-the-USA sales management practices aren’t more effective in other nations. The answers may lie in what really provides motivation for salespeople.

The study (coauthored by Dr. John F. Tanner, III, associate professor …

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12 steps field sales coach plan

By / / Coaching, Performance Management, Sales Coaching, Sales Management

The reality is that most sales managers do not spend enough time with their staff in a coaching capacity. Providing constant feedback and being a role model who demonstrates the right skills.

Many managers today are still focusing too heavily on short term efficiency and not long term effectiveness. Development of staff through on-the-job coaching is a critical function of modern day managers but can take second place to some of the more urgent, but less important priorities.

On-the-job coaching is something that managers recognise they need to do with junior members of the team. When it comes to salesperson …

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Learn to say ‘NO’

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Call Reluctance, Communication, Ethics & Values, Resilience, Sales Skills, Sales Training, Value Proposition & Value Add

Giving away the margin and undercutting your prices because you can’t say ‘NO’ is no good for anyone. It devalues you, your product, and your market. If done on mass then customers expect ‘cheap’ all the time, not fully appreciating the real value of the products or services they buy. All you do is risk devaluing you and your business.

Just look at the ‘perpetual sales’ going in retail all the time. No one ends up making any money and people go out of business.

Let’s face it; there will always be someone offering their products or services cheaper than you. …

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What do clients want?

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Sales Relationships, Value Proposition & Value Add

Clients don’t expect to be coerced, bullied, tricked or intimidated into buying. They don’t expect to be treated like an idiot by sales people who just talk at them and flash brochures or product sheets. Relationships do not work effectively if they are forced!

Clients are now after ‘Business people’who can sell.

Most clients know what they are after even if they don’t know how to articulate it sometimes.

The ‘market challenger’ or ‘early adopter’ clients are open to new ideas and innovations and whilst they don’t know what they don’t know they are often happy to see competent sales people to learn …

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Your pre-call & post-call checklist

By / / Sales Planning, Sales Skills

How well did your last sales call go? Did you achieve what you set out to achieve? Do you know what your next course of action will be with that customer/prospect? Do you have evidence that a real sales opportunity exists?

Using a pre-call and post-call checklist is a very useful process when assessing the effectiveness of your sales calls.

Too many sales people, however, invest too little time thinking about and planning their approach to developing prospective sales opportunities. Many sales opportunities involve a range of variables that need to be accounted for and acted upon if they are to achieve …

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