Selling Nuggets

A company we are working with wants it's sales professionals to penetrate more large, corporate accounts. The sales cycle for these accounts is obviously longer and more complex than other business opportunities they have worked in the past. The problem with the company's strategy is its sales team is paid on a 100% commission basis that is predicated on B to B daily transactions of buying and selling. As a result the teams focus is imme...

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Last week I attended a 100 anniversary celebration of one of our customer's being in business. A great accomplishment in and of itself. A number of dignitaries including Harvey McKay well known sales speaker and author were present. It dawned on me the theme, integrity in business was not a subject that is aired frequently. It gets lost in all the strategies and tactics that clutter the literature and discussions in the sales world. Often i...

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I was watching the Waste Management Open golf tournament and marveled at Kyle Stanley who had just lost an event after leading by 7 strokes the week before. He persisted and closed the deal and won in Scottsdale AZ.This remarkable turnaround made me think about many sales people that do all the necessary work, but fail to close the deal. At a recent sales meeting one of the sales people commented he was having difficulty closing enough deals. ...

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Sales tenacity or sensitivity that is the question? Today a potential vendor called me for the third time on a follow up of a previous conversation regarding engaging him for services we needed. He politely suggested he didn't want to bother me, but on the other hand he wanted to be responsive.  Here in a nutshell is the sales dilemma of the ages. When to push and when to back off. In retrospect I thought the sales person ha...

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During a training event at a call center a new sales person asked when do I start the sales process? I explained the sales process starts the moment you pick up the phone with your greeting. And within in the first 15 seconds you don't have to do anything accept allow the caller to tell you what they are interested in, if you give them a chance. Thus a well placed question such as, "how can I help you today?" generally sets the stage for the ...

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What is the score? Is a sales manager a score keeper or coach? Back in the day George Carlin an off beat comedian did bit where he was a radio announcer and gave baseball scores; 3 to 2, 5 to 1, 2 to 0 etc. That was it no names for the respective teams or any details! Many sales meetings are basically the same thing just focusing on the results at the end of a sales period vs. examining the details, thus missing the  opportunity ...

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A client asked me to listen in on some telephone calls with their sales team for prospecting as well as managing existing accounts. The majority of the sales people were in their mid-twenties to mid-thirties. I was shocked and appalled at the poor grammar and basic phone skills exhibited by theses otherwise intelligent sales professionals. There was the quintessential proliferation of the use of “like”, it sound similar to a beatnik...

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There was a recent article in our local paper the Arizona Republic entitled, "Ice Your Fears of Public Speaking", that triggered a few thoughts about successful sales people. The article captured one of the key success factors we see in world class sales professionals. The ability to deliver a concise, cogent and compelling presentation. In today’s business to business environment competition for sales is at an all-time fever pitch. Wit...

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One of our clients asked us to work with a young sales professional who was having trouble growing a large existing account. The sales professional had met with some success initially; however she knew there was more business to be had. She was stuck with no growth for the past two years. We reviewed her account activity in there Microsoft Dynamics CRM online system including: ·        Her routine co...

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My daughter recently gave me a book entitled, Everyone Communicates Few Connect by John C Maxwell, world famous author and expert on leadership. As I reflected on his simple message: when you actually connect with others, you position yourself to make the most of your skills and talents. What a message for all of us in sales to consider. It certainly might compel us to re-evaluate if we’re just talking and making noise or really understa...

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