4 Questions to Test if your Sales & Prospecting Tactics are Ethical

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Ethics & Values, Performance Management, Prospecting, Sales Driven Organisations, Sales Management, Sales Motivation & Rewards, Selling Better
  • Do other people stand to gain from your sales tactics and actions?
  • Do your sales tactics and actions have a positive influence on your own and others’ well-being and self-esteem?
  • Do your sales tactics and actions move you and your customer closer to your respective short- and long-term goals?
  • Would most people approve of how you prospect for new business and sell?

    • If each of us can honestly answer “yes” to these questions, then it would appear that our sales and prospecting efforts are underpinned by sound ethics and behaviours and set up to deliver a fair exchange of value for both buyer and …

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    Back to sales basics

    By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, CRM, Education in Sales, Marketing, Prospecting, Sales Driven Organisations, Sales Essentials, Sales Results, Sales Tips, Social Media

    I like to keep on top of what is current, what is emerging, and what is still an idea. This is why I make time each week to do research as it helps me navigate my way around the present and into the future. However, I am finding there is so much to read, so much to get my head around, and so much to integrate into my business that it can take up a lot of time… and it only seems to be increasing.

    This is why I want to get back to basics.

    As I wade through all of the …

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    Don’t die wondering, the real secret to sales success – Part II of II: the person

    By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Business Acumen, Education in Sales, Emotional Intelligence, Life Skills, Prospecting, Resilience, Sales Skills, Solution Selling

    How many times have we all been tempted to click on a link that offers us ‘the secret of sales success’ only to find a website or article that is promising a silver bullet ‘if only you do this one thing’ which doesn’t help us at all?

    As I mentioned last week, the business of sales excellence is like the diet industry, full of tempting offerings that lead us nowhere fast.

    It is only natural that people want simple answers to complex problems. ‘The world would be so much easier if only…’ we sigh.

    However, “Explanations exist; they have existed …

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    Hone your targeting skills to win more sales

    By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Education in Sales, Prospecting

    Investing quality time with prospects delivers better margins and displaces your competitors.

    One of the time-tested methods for surviving a tough or slow economy is to home in on prospects who match the profile of your most successful customers. This may sound like Sales 101 but it’s worth your attention right now because when times get tough, the opposite happens – namely, desperation can make it tempting to pounce on any lead that ‘wanders in the door’.

    Instead, we urge you to invest more energy in obtaining a deeper understanding of your current customer base and then use that understanding as a …

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    If you complain about price being a barrier, wear a bicycle helmet

    By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Procurement, Prospecting, Sales Tips

    Salespeople who complain about price as a barrier need to wear bicycle helmets.

    As a salesperson, the next time you feel you are losing deals because of price, take your prospect to a cycle shop and ask them if they were to ride a bike, which one of the helmets they would buy – the one that’s on sale for $10 or the sleek, ventilated $150 model that promises it meets all testing standards?

    The bet is they’ll opt to buy the $150 model. Why? You need guaranteed protection from a helmet in a crash; as a cyclist you need good ventilation; …

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    How to reach prospects and keep the door open

    By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Innovation, Prospecting, Sales Tips

    So how do we reach  prospects and keep the door open?

    While everyone is trying to go big – go small and use innovation to capture share of mind.

    Imagine you are at home opening your mail and you find an unsolicited brochure about some product or other. What do you do? Chances are you drop it in the trash. Well, the vast majority of leads to whom you send your brochures, flyers or emails to are going to do the same thing.

    When you want to get access to decision makers –particularly decision makers in big companies– product emails, brochures, …

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    Why online prospecting is often lazy and very annoying

    By / / Call Reluctance, Prospecting, Sales Relationships, Social Sales

    This week’s article comes off the back of last week’s topic ‘ Getting prospects to talk to you’.

    It will take a different approach. I have documented the conversation John Smibert and I had in relation to online prospecting. Here it is. Enjoy.

    John: “…I was thinking that subject to the particular company, products and industry that maybe a phone call is not always the first contact these days. The reason this came to mind is that with the advent of social selling many salespeople are having considerable dialog with potential customers before making a phone call – many are …

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    Getting prospects to talk to you

    By / / Call Reluctance, Education in Sales, Prospecting, Sales Skills, Sales Tips

    Do you take time to really think about why you are calling a prospect or a client?  Do you reflect on how effective you have been post the call?

    Making prospecting calls to new prospects and existing clients is still one of the most important sales and business development activities you can do on a daily basis.  Even with all the electronic communication and marketing options at hand most businesses still need to have someone prospecting for them to build and forge real business relationships. Top performing salespeople make sure prospecting is part of their daily repertoire.

    Prospecting …

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