Category Archives: Sales Strategies

Are You Selling or Searching?

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By Colleen Honan images

A typical day in the life of a sales person… Come in to the office. Check voice-mail  Go through prospect list and find customers marked for follow up. Call the list only to find out some of the prospects no longer work for the company, other companies have gone out of business, and others just simply aren’t ready to buy. That was a good 2 hours wasted.

Moving on to cold calling. Starting with a search engine, the sales person searches for all companies in his/her territory. Once they find the company, the search begins for the right person with whom to talk. After several phone calls, they are finally given an email address for someone who might be the right person to make a decision. The email bounces. And that’s another hour or two down the drain.

If this sounds painful and time consuming, it is. [...Continue Reading...]

The Impact and Importance of Brand Adoption by Sales Reps and Managers

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Dario Priolo of Richardson Sales Training & Strategy Execution has research suggesting that executive level buyers are turning toward brand influenced engines for the informationimages they desire.

Richardson has conducted a survey and it has been found that B2B buyers frequently search by brand name. This influences the ability of your brand to be found and influences your ability to differentiate, showing the impact and importance of brand adoption by sales reps and managers. Take a look at the following trends they have identified...[...Continue Reading...]

 

SOAR Selling: How To Get Through to Almost Anyone—the Proven Method for Reaching Decision Makers

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By David Hibbard, Marhnelle Hibbard

BREAKTHROUGH FORMULA FOR REACHING TOP DECISION MAKERS AND INFLUENCERS

SOAR Selling is the best practice for reaching decision makers. Its secret is simple; its approach is based in the mechanics and psychology of call execution with a foundation of a powerful mindset shift. The authors’ research reveals that with SOAR, a salesperson can make 12 net dials and reach a combination of 10 top-level decision makers and influencers!  [Details/Purchase]

How to Make an Accountant Your Top Sales Producer

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To Sell is Human

I am in the middle of reading “To Sell is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others” where Daniel Pink explains that although only 1 in 9 Americans are in sales jobs, that actually everyone should think of themselves in sales.  Every day, we make recommendations to friends and co-workers with the intent to persuade – selling is a natural human trait.

Businesses should take Pink’s position one step further and create a sales culture where every team member uses those human traits in support the sales process.

5 Ways To Keep Your Prospect Talking

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By Mike Brooks images

I’ve always said that the number one skill of a Top 20% producer is his or her ability to listen. Your prospect or client has their own reasons for needing or buying your product or service, but unless you ask questions and shut up and listen, you’ll never know what they are. And in today’s economy, knowing how to keep your prospect talking is more important than ever.

A Top 20% closer is an expert at asking questions, layering those questions, questioning the red flags, etc., and at the end of a prospecting call or presentation, they call can tell you exactly where the prospect stands.

The key here is to listen by keeping your prospect talking. Here are five statements you should begin using today to help keep your prospect talking: [...Continue Reading...]

 

Eliminating Common But Not So Obvious Opening Value Statement Mistakes

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By Michael Pedone

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Your opening value statement plays a critical role in advancing the sales process. It is what you say after “Hello, this is …” that will determine if you will be advancing the sales call or shooed away.

There are lots of integral parts to a successful opening value statement and today we are going to focus on a few common but less obvious mistakes that may be causing your prospects to pull back rather than lean in. [...Continue Reading...]

The Truth About 50+ Year Old Salespeople

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By Steve W. Martin, Heavy Hitter Sales Blog images

It’s still hard times for salespeople and sales managers over 50 today. As companies have downsized, they find themselves five times more likely to be let go when compared to their younger counterparts. They also have a more difficult time finding new jobs because younger sales managers have five basic fears about hiring someone older than themselves.  [...Continue Reading...]

A SUCCESSFUL CONFERENCE: 3 SALES SECRETS WE’RE NOT AFRAID TO SHARE

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By RJ Tracy, Account Executive, DOMO

Although our infographic could argue that looking the part is an investment worth making in imagesthe sales world, we’re here to tell you three secrets that have nothing to do with swagger and everything to do with closing deals. Here’s how to turn those tradeshow leads into closed deals and improve your sales metric.

Calibrated Success: Part 3 in a 3-part series from Miller Heiman

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Each year, the Miller Heiman Sales Best Practices Study captures and measures imagesthe behaviors, attributes and performance of “world-class sales organizations” – companies that outperform the rest in key sales performance metrics such as lead growth, quota achievement and average account billing. The 2013 study results were released in early April and reflect data collected from more than 1,100 sales professionals from around the world during fall 2012.

So, what are the world-class sales organizations doing that separate them from the rest? The Miller Heiman Sales Best Practices Study identified three common attributes that define and separate world-class sales organizations from the pack – Customer Core, Collaborative Culture and Calibrated Success. 

Organizations that are deemed “world class” know precisely what makes them successful. They are consciously calibrated. 

  [...Continue Reading Part 3...]

The Currency of Collaboration: Part 2 in a 3-part series from Miller Heiman

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Each year, the Miller Heiman Sales Best Practices Study captures and measures the behaviors, attributes and performance of “world-class sales organizations” – companies that outperform the rest in key sales performance metrics such as lead growth, quota achievement and average account billing. The 2013 study results were released in early April and reflect data collected from more than 1,100 sales professionals from around the world during fall 2012. 

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So, what are the world-class sales organizations doing that separate them from the rest? The Miller Heiman Sales Best Practices Study identified three common attributes that define and separate world-class sales organizations from the pack – Customer Core, Collaborative Culture and Calibrated Success. 

World-class sales organizations know that greatness is rarely achieved alone. Collaboration is their currency and what helps set them apart from the competition. 

 [...Continue Reading Part 2...]