The short answer is...“it depends.” Let me tell you a story about Jim (not his real name). Jim’s sales manager was finding it hard to move Jim away from larger deals in his pipeline that were stuck. In a coaching session, Jim kept mentioning the amount of one deal, so I asked him, “what [...]
What sales approach do you use the most? Most salespeople are inclined to build a relationship with the buyer through the adaptive selling approach. Adaptive selling is one of the best ways to build a relationship with the buyer and gain their trust. There is, however, a subtle and potential pitfall when using adaptive [...]
The sales reps looked really uncomfortable. No, it wasn't the furniture, the room temperature, or environmental things. It was the topic. We were training them to use a Sequence of Events with their buyers. Their sales manager was ready to tear his hair out because he requires them to use this tool and update [...]
“Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves” -Carl Jung True, but Carl Jung left out one crucial part. The key is stopping to ask yourself “why” you feel irritated in the first place. The best coaches and leaders ask that sort of question. They know they [...]
One Perspective "I'm a successful salesperson because I have good intuition." From the perspective of a veteran sales professional, intuition is a crucial trait of successful salespeople. Some see intuition as a powerful trait that separates great and good salespeople. However, the evidence tells us otherwise. The Evidence Research on the performance qualities of [...]
Sales Performance Behaviors Sales and marketing budgets will consume an average of 12% of company revenues, according to the Gartner 2016-2017 CMO Spend Survey. With that level of spending focused on promoting your company's products and services, you want to ensure that your most potent customer-facing asset, your sales team, is trained and coached on [...]
What comes to mind when you define "coach?" Some guy with a whistle, maybe a memory of someone you played for on a team, or people on the sideline directing their team to play better? Most of us have the context of the sports-type coach. But, unfortunately, this is where the pitfalls of do-it-yourself [...]
Things are very exciting in New England! The Patriots are in the playoffs! I know; not a huge surprise, given the team's talent and coaching. But, one of the things they do well is executing their plan. For you, it's a new year. There is a new sales plan and new goals. But, despite [...]
Force Multiplier: A capability that, when added to and employed by a (combat) sales force, significantly increases that force's (combat) sales potential and thus enhances the probability of successful mission accomplishment. (JP 3-05.1) – "Official definition of the United States Department of Defense military term "force multiplier." In a competitive, data-rich, knowledge-based economy, we [...]
"In the moments before a word is spoken, anything is possible" Barbara Brown Taylor Cold Calls v. Intelligent Phone Prospecting Using the telephone to connect with prospective customers has been accused as inefficient. "Cold calling is dead" has been the proclamation. But, unfortunately, many sales teams take this proclamation as a license to avoid [...]
