In the realm of sales, the question of how to measure performance is a ubiquitous one. When posed to our clients, the responses we receive often revolve around outcome-based control system measurements such as meeting revenue and profit goals, as well as acquiring new customers. These metrics, while important, represent a traditional approach that [...]
We have discussed the negative impact of authoritarian sales leadership in previous posts because of its negative impact on performance. Democratic or egalitarian leaders lead elite, high-performing sales teams. Workplace Bullying According to WBI – The Workplace Bullying Institute's 2014 national survey, the number of workers affected by workplace bullying is estimated to be [...]
So your sales team has done their sales call planning. This is an important call. It is with a large prospective customer you have been pursuing for a long time. Your sales team is well prepared. They know the market; they have researched the prospective client and have an understanding of some of the [...]
Economy 1.0 says, regarding negotiations, "let the opposing party give us their number first." Guess what – in some cases, this is the wrong strategy. Suppose you have a high-performance Economy 2.0 sales team. In that case, they know that studies repeatedly have shown that the first-mover advantage favors the initial offer in a [...]
Tell me if you recognize this conversation between you and a veteran member of the sales team: You: "I just found out that Customer AB, who has been with us for years, has decided to go with the competition. I thought you were on top of this account? You tell me that you know [...]
The numbers are clear, there is an interesting imbalance set to dominate the B2B selling environment – the relationship between buyers and sellers is shifting but not for the reasons you think. Driving the imbalance are factors like: Aging workforce Number of new workers into the workforce Trends towards early retirement According to the [...]
Quick – Who makes the best sales person – an extrovert or an introvert? Quicker answer – Neither….. If you are like most people we asked you said extroverts make the best sales people. They make great sales people for a few reasons. First, since they have to interact with a wide range of individuals [...]
Economy 2.0 is more than just formulating a “solution” from a specific product and/or service then presenting it to the prospective client. This may have worked in the old economy, but does not work in today’s marketplace. Economy 1.0 was driven by “solution sales” techniques which dictated that with a series of scripted questions [...]
We are all busy but consider the following activities: Define assigned quota Increase margins Increase market penetration Develop target account list Conduct daily, weekly, monthly calls on target accounts Develop business plan Conduct product demonstrations Communicate product features and benefits Identify customer needs Identify competitive threats Provide solutions Coordinate internal resources (pre and post [...]
As we work to tune client sales teams to become high performance forces in the market, we introduce the principles of influence which are the strongest when we are attempting to move (a.k.a. persuade) others. Constant in our conversations is the distinct and clear boundary between manipulation and persuasion. To persuade is to move [...]
