Category - Blogs

The Internet.  That – in one word – is why cold calling is dead, even for B2B sales. Before the Internet, the role of the sales rep was to educate a prospect through a presentation.  If it generated interest, the sales rep would qualify the prospect and then focus on closing the sale.   Back then, …

In his book, Achieve Sales Excellence, author Howard Stevens set forth “The Seven Rules of the Customer.”  These seven rules emerged from comments recorded in over 80,000 interviews his company conducted as part of a fourteen-year study of 7,500 sales reps from 2,500 companies.   One of the things study participants – all of whom …

Many sales reps who have been in the business for a while have been experiencing a steady decline in their performance for the last decade or so.  Unfortunately, most of them cling to the ways of selling they learned two or three decades ago, despite the fact that these techniques are no longer effective.  These …

During a sales call or demo, it is easy to be very product-focused.  After all, the product is what you’re there to talk about, right? In my last post, I talked about why focusing on your product or service during a sales call is the #1 mistake you can make.  Your customer wants your conversations …

There are two forces that drive a customer’s buying decision: business reasons and personal motives. A successful sale depends on your ability to accurately identify the reason your customer has for buying and what he’s looking for in a vendor. If you fall short in either area, you are likely to lose the sale. To …

During a sales call or demo, it is easy to be very product-focused.  After all, the product is what you’re there to talk about, right? As sales reps, we tend to focus on the product because that’s where our comfort zone is.  We talk about our products every day.  We know them inside and out. …

According to a 2015 Salesforce.com study, 82% of sellers are out of sync with their customers.  In my experience, the most probable cause of this is that there are a lot of salespeople who are using outdated sales techniques based on an approach to selling that does not work in today’s environment. Until the 1990s, …

Steven M Covey in the book The Speed of Trust states that companies that have high trust outperform low trust companies by as much as 286%. To get that level of performance, the employees are fully engaged. What does trust have to do with engagement? Everything! Trust is the foundation from which everyone builds relationships. According …

Goal setting is one of the most powerful tools and methodologies to improve engagement – engagement of sales people and engagement of employees. Billy Cox writes in the All Star Sales Book: Get in the Game, Boost Your Number and Earn the Big Bucks  “Why do such a small percentage of people reach the elite performer …

As you begin 2017 do you believe your team is fully committed? Is your leadership team all in? Are your sales reps all in? Is your customer support team and operations team all in? Employee engagement and team dysfunctionality are two areas that suck the life out of a leader. The leader knows that his/her …