Your boss comes into the office and announces that the team will be instituting a new practice program. You think to yourself, I’ve been selling successfully for twenty years. I’m living the dream now. The future is bright! Why does the boss think I of all people need to practice? For the same reason that…
A positive attitude must be a hard and fast expectation for all employees – not just customer service personnel or management – and everyone must be held accountable to it. Like most job expectations, attitude must be tracked and enforced consistently. If a person stole money or product from a company, he or she would be…
A little old lady answered a knock on the door one day to be confronted by a well-dressed vacuum cleaner salesman. “Good morning,” said the young man. “If I could take a couple of minutes of your time, I would like to demonstrate the very latest in high powered vacuum cleaners. “Go away,” protested the…
I’ve talked a lot about getting to know your prospects through purposeful questions, i.e., questions about your prospect’s needs and wants. Dorie Clark writes about their “secret wants,” what author Kevin Allen calls their “unspoken, visceral” motivations. When you ask questions, you need to get beyond the surface and really help your prospects articulate their…
“Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.” – Babe Ruth. We can easily get discouraged by sales we fail to close, but each of these can serve as a reason to quit or an opportunity to close the next sale. Which will you choose? Will you allow strikes to get you down and…
“If ignorance is bliss, why aren’t more people happy?” – Thomas Jefferson Our third president’s witty remark speaks to a truth important for the sale professional: knowledge can lead to happiness. How so? When we put our knowledge about effective salesmanship into action, we take a step closer to achieving success, and success is one…
“Life is pain, Highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something.” So says the Dread Pirate Roberts in the classic film, The Princess Bride. His line illustrates the stereotype of sales people as deceitful opportunists who are not to be trusted. Like pirates. What can you do as a sales leader or sales professional to…
When you get into the office, do you reflect upon your own performance and how it affects your team? Both managers and coaches may do this, but their considerations will differ. The manager will think in terms of short-term efficiency and productivity, in short having a well-managed office and team. The coach, however, will be…
Basketball superstar Larry Bird reminds us of the often forgotten obvious: “the best players will play. That’s the way it will always be.” This is also true of sales professionals. No matter how long you’ve sold, how many successes you’ve earned, or how much money you’ve made, you won’t stay on the top without maintaining…
In an interview with Kristi Hedges, Andrea Howe suggests one way to get beyond the fear of saying the wrong thing and, instead, build trust: Getting curious is a great antidote for high self-orientation, as it requires you to get away from yourself and into the other person’s world. If you can find ways to…