By Michael Leimbach, Ph.D., Vice President of Global Research and Design for Wilson Learning Worldwide
How does a done deal come undone? Your rep had a good relationship with a great contact, the right solution to meet the customer’s needs, and strong buying signals right up to the last. Then came the dreaded call: “Thank you for the proposal, but we’ve decided to go with someone else.” So, what happened? Could this loss have been prevented?
Things have changed…to name a few:
[ Read entire article here...]
How have these changes impacted your business?
12 Key Steps to Improve Your Sales Team | Executive Street.
Jack Daly is a sales training and coaching expert that always shares lots of practical growth ideas. I came across a posting from 2012 that is packed with useful steps to improve your sales team. I particularly liked his views on improving the talent level on your team. Which of his 12 Steps do you find most critical to driving growth in your business?
How to Create Good Sales Habits | Inc.com.
Now is the time to get rid of bad habits, especially when those bad habits are hurting your sales. Tom Searcy shares with Inc.com some common good and bad habits that have a significant impact on your results.
Read more and then share your thoughts on Tom’s suggestions or add your own!
By Steve W. Martin, Heavy Hitter Sales Blog 
If you were to ask a hundred different salespeople who sell complex solutions to describe their selling approach, one of the most frequent responses would be “consultative.” Simply put, this sales approach is based upon establishing oneself as a business expert who sets out to understand and solve the customer’s business problems. Like a consultant, the salesperson studies the customer’s environment and applies industry knowledge to create a solution that theoretically differentiates the salesperson from the competition.
Obviously, it is better to have the customer think of you as a business expert than to think you’re a money-grubbing salesperson, so this approach makes sense. And when it was introduced decades ago, it was unique. Unfortunately, most of your competitors are employing this approach today. Worse, most salespeople confuse the consultative approach with an actual sales strategy, which it isn’t It is only a communication tactic to establish your credibility and deliver your information in a nonthreatening way. [ Continue Reading...]
Every job is different. An auto-mechanic does not have the same tasks as a HR manager, who does not have the same tasks as a urinal toilet cleaner. These jobs are all different, and require different types of knowledge and abilities.
Sales interviews are no different. The best way to prepare for a sales interview is to study up on the possible questions that you may face during the interview process. Here are 15 sample sales interview questions so that you can get an idea about what types of questions you may receive.
CEOs often have the desire to step in and manage the sales process, but it can be harmful. CEOs need to learn to trust the people they have hired. They should request to be informed and should certainly be invited to be part of the sales process, but not in a way where they are involved on a daily basis.
So here is the scenario. Sales don’t come in. The CEO panics and thinks he/she needs to take control. As a result, the sales people fear that they might lose their job and/or that they won’t make money.
The sales managers do both. They panic and fear, both for their team, for their compensation and for their reputation.
Here are 7 reasons why CEOs should not be involved in the sales process.
Sales Coach Keenan at ASalesGuy.com asks the hard questions to make you think while wrapping up Q1.
How close are you to making it? What has to happen between now and March 31st to make your number?
If you don’t know with about a 90% certainty, you’re in trouble.
This is the time to open your quarterly plan and review your goals, strategies, initiatives and tactics. What were the things you said you would be doing this quarter? Are they working out? Are they delivering like you thought they would?
It’s also time to start thinking about next quarter. If you’re off, what are you going to do next quarter to catch up? If you’re on track or exceeding plan, how is your pipeline positioned for next quarter? Is your pipeline thin going into Q2? Can you continue on the current trend or are you looking at a fall back in the second quarter? Regardless of whether you are ahead or behind in Q1 the key is to be clear on what are you going to need to focus on heading into Q2?
Read the entire article here.
There seems to be wide agreement that at any given time, only a small percentage of your target market is Actively Looking for what your are selling, estimates seem to be about 15%. A similar percentage, fall into a group I call Passively Looking, leaving about 70% of the target group is removed from the market, not looking, or working hard to look the other way, the Status Quo. Many pundits will tell you to stay away from the 70%, erroneously telling to avoid these apparently entrenched potential buyers, and spend your time with the other two groups.
Sure that is easier prey, but at the same time it is prey that is surrounded and stalked by every other sales person looking for an easy kill. Although you have to ask why it is easy, well, not only are these Passive and Active buyers, self declared, but they have been engaged gathering information, (if not knowledge). One bit of information they have is that most leading products’ feature overlap as much as 80% – 90%, leaving sellers a small and narrow platform to succeed from, leaving little more than price to lean on. Just like on the savannah, the weakest go first, the sale goes to the lowest price.
According to award winning author, speaker, and B2B sales execution specialist Tibor Shanto, it is time to be contrarian, stop chasing the obvious, and sell to those who may not be in the market, but still have objectives and opportunities they want to achieve in their business. Continue Reading [...].
A guest post by Jennifer Hines from Accelerated Performance Solutions, a leader in business performance improvement solutions.
Many business leaders are frustrated that their revenue is not growing as quickly as it should. What is preventing you from meeting your top-line revenue as goals?
As a sales and leadership development expert, I find five factors most often drag down sales growth.
