MYTH: Cold calling is a good idea

By / / Prospecting, Sales Skills

In the “olden days” when I first started my business, over 95% of my sales came about through cold calling, which I had learnt to do really well when I worked as a sales recruitment specialist with Morgan & Banks.

At M&B – and in my business – it was very clear that if I didn’t bill anything I didn’t earn anything. So I got on the phones and I prospected to people I didn’t know – that is, cold calling.

This was well and truly before the internet was in mainstream use and I had the privilege of learning how to …

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Motivation or manipulation?

By / / Ethics & Values, Sales Coaching, Sales Culture, Sales Leadership, Sales Management, Sales Research, Sales Skills, Sales Strategy

What is the line between motivating sales staff and manipulating sales staff? How do you make sure you don’t go over the line and place people under extreme pressure to achieve?

Research both here and overseas shows that high performing sales people identified how important it was to their performance that they remain motivated, which they recognised can be influenced by both internal and external factors, with a sense of self satisfaction found to be the most important contributor to their motivation.

The recent 4 Corners program on Telstra staff and a bullying culture that is supposed to be being cultivated in …

Motivation or manipulation? Read Post »

Exceeding customers’ expectations?

By / / Communication, Sales Consulting, Sales Culture, Sales Skills, Sales Strategy, Teamwork

If I hear “Oh let’s exceed our customers’ expectations” one more time I will scream.

Usually my response is: ‘Why don’t we just meet their expectations in the first place?’ Too many times the marketing hype (the promise) does not always connect with the sales expectation set up by the sales team, which doesn’t always translate into a service experience we were promised in the first place.

We are often left disappointed, jaded and, if it happens more than once, cynical.

Too many of us have stories of where we have been let down by businesses not fulfilling our expectations. We see broken …

Exceeding customers’ expectations? Read Post »

Selling and managing are not the same

By / / Coaching, Performance Management, Sales Leadership, Sales Management, Sales Results

Last week I spoke about sales burnout and the challenges many SME business owners have of being all things to all people including, usually, the main sales person and sales manager.Like many people, I have known that selling and managing are not the same thing. They are two very distinct jobs with different demands and expectations.

Some home truths about sales management:

  • Sales teams cannot be lead from behind a desk.
  • Sales people cannot be cloned into the image of the top sales-person-now-sales-manager.
  • Mediocre supervision can put a big dent in the effectiveness of good salespeople.
  • Sales people need sales leaders and coaches, not administrators …

Selling and managing are not the same Read Post »

Burnt-out, tired, had enough?

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

Sales is not for the faint hearted, nor is running your own business. For those of us who run our own businesses and/or have careers in sales or sales management, we find we are often faced with stressful situations such as:

  • Budgets to achieve in tougher markets.
  • Challenging clients, staff, peers, bosses or suppliers.
  • Changes that effect your competitive edge with products and services.
  • New market competitors, products, ideas and innovations.
  • Dealing with unethical people or business tactics.
  • New system upgrades or old systems that don’t work well.
  • Not to mention our personal lives and the many changes we face on a daily basis.

How do we …

Burnt-out, tired, had enough? Read Post »

Men are from Mars. Women are from Venus.

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brain Science, Communication, Emotional Intelligence, Gender & Sales, Neuroscience in Sales, Sales Relationships, Sales Research, Sales Skills, Self Development

Last week I explained that my blog is called Sell Like A Woman because there is an increasing body of research overseas showing that woman are often outperforming men in achieving sustainable results in sales and client relationships. And I promised you I would start to highlight, from my research, what successful sales women do especially well. So here is your first snippet.

Men are from Mars. Women are from Venus.

I asked 50 highly successful sales women across a wide variety of industries about the differences between male and female sales people.

There was a uniform feeling among all the women interviewed …

Men are from Mars. Women are from Venus. Read Post »

Get me a woman

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brain Science, Emotional Intelligence, Gender & Sales, Sales Research, Sales Skills

Some of you may be wondering why my blog is called “Sell like a woman”. First, Sell like a woman is not a feminist manifesto nor is it a male bashing exercise.

The creation of the title was inspired by an increasing body of research overseas showing that woman are often outperforming men when it comes to achieving real and sustainable results in sales and effective sustainable client relationships.

This led me to begin my research project and the book I am now writing, also called “Sell Like A Woman”. I have always been curious about women and their success in sales …

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What is good selling?

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Sales Assessments, Sales Coaching, Sales Pioneer, Sales Research, Sales Skills

Like many people, I have always been curious about what makes “great sales performance”. This is a perplexing question that has been asked and attempted to be answered by many people over the years.

Also, are great sales people born? (most people believe this to be true – but it’s not). What does it take to be an elite sales performer, and can anyone learn how to sell well?

Many people have looked for one magic quality, one key ingredient that distinguished top performing sales people from all others- a magic ingredient with which only the special are anointed.

Here are some of …

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The huge cost of hesitation

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brain Science, Call Reluctance, Emotional Intelligence, Neuroscience in Sales, Prospecting, Resilience, Sales Research, Sales Skills, Self Development, Self Promotion

I knew that being hesitant in the sales arena was a no-no, but I didn’t know just how much business it could cost.

From my experience, hesitating sales people miss out on about 15 new sales opportunities a month. People who do not hesitate to prospect or make contact with customers are five times more productive than their hesitant colleagues.

I find that most people in business hesitate to make contact with prospective buyers on a regular consistent basis, often leaving prospecting to chance. It is one of the biggest issues facing most businesses when it comes to making sales and staying …

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How not to make a prospecting call

By / / Call Reluctance, Communication, Emotional Intelligence, Prospecting, Sales Skills

I was working from home when the phone rang. No sooner had I finished getting the greeting out of my mouth than the distant monologue began.

I somehow worked out that the woman on the other end of the line was calling from a charity. At the 30-second mark I interrupted her and asked her what the purpose of her call was, but she did not respond and just kept going. Sound familiar?

At the one-minute mark I again interrupted, and asked her what the purpose of the call was. Guess what she said? “I’m getting to it love!” She wasn’t rude …

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