Getting prospects to talk to you

By / / Call Reluctance, Communication, Prospecting, Resilience, Sales Motivation & Rewards, Sales Skills, Sales Tips, Self Promotion

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 sales people make sure prospecting is part of their daily repertoire.

Like many things prospecting …

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The Entrepreneurial Sales Person

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Education in Sales, Emotional Intelligence, Neuroscience in Sales, Prospecting, Resilience, Role Clarity, Sales Excellence Acadamy, Sales Motivation & Rewards, Sales Relationships, Sales Talent, Self Development, Success

As part of my ongoing professional and personal development I belong to a CEO leadership group where we meet monthly and discuss a whole range of topics to stimulate our thinking and decision making.

Recently we discussed the concept and qualities of Successful Entrepreneurs. Besides making the obvious comparisons with ourselves as to whether we met the criteria of successful entrepreneurs I found the content translated extremely well into what I and other research is seeing in successful sales people today.

It seemed to me that successful sales people had a lot in common with successful entrepreneurs who are often the main …

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Exceptional Prospectors

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brain Science, Call Reluctance, Competition, Networking, Prospecting, Resilience, Sales Pioneer, Sales Psychology, Sales Relationships, Sales Results, Sales Skills, Sales Talent, Sales Tips, Self Promotion, Social Media, Social Sales, Success
  • “My most important appointment is prospecting and I do it first up every day.”
  • “I qualify all leads I generate and have an approach to handle those that aren’t ready yet.”
  • “People appreciate a professional sales approach and are able to make an informed decision to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ because I clearly explain, up front, my reason for contacting them using a customer centred approach. They need only say ‘no’ if they’re not interested.”
  • “I have a list of categorised prospects or influencers and a set approach for each category.”

    • Is this what you say, and how you feel and act about prospecting?

    These …

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    A Test of Character

    By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brain Science, Ethics & Values, Mindful selling, Neuroscience in Sales, Resilience, Sales Psychology, Sales Talent, Self Development, Success

    I can honestly say I did not enjoy the early years of my sales career. I initially found it hard, relentless and sometimes really distressing. I was asked to do things I didn’t always understand that significance of. I often felt overly scrutinised by the constant monitoring of activity and performance by my managers. I worked in tough markets in tough times and sometimes wondered if it was worth it. I felt under pressure and sometimes wished I didn’t have to sell at all, however I came to realise that this tough introduction to …

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    Persistence and the Honourable Retreat

    By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Call Reluctance, Prospecting, Resilience, Sales Results, Self Promotion

    Did you know:

    • Over 50% of sales people give up at 1st contact if they get a ‘NO’ from the prospect never to go back to that prospect again .
    • At the 5th contact 7% of sales people are left to speak with the prospect to see if they can do business together.
    • At the 8th contact there is only one sales person left to work with the prospect. Hopefully it is you.

    Many sales people, especially those new to sales, often take it personally when a prospect says ‘NO’. Many fail to persist and often fail to favourably position themselves to ‘leave …

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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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    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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    Watch who you let near your mind

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

    With the Sub-prime market issue in the US and its effects on countries and the world’s stock markets featuring as a daily major news item at present who can blame people for getting a bit nervous and worried about the future. You can see it with the panic selling of shares and so forth. However if we let this and other issues get to us and allow ourselves to blow things out of all proportion we can, in turn, create our own demise. Whilst it is critical for business owners and sales people to keep abreast of …

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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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