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Build Your Salespeople’s Strengths And Use Them As Launch Pads For Better Sales Success

I used to work for a company that tried to change me into someone I just was not. In an interview, the HR manager said, "This company will help you overcome your weaknesses by thrusting you into different kinds of situations. We will help you grow to become a completely different person." Here is the thing. There's nothing wrong with "overcoming your weaknesses". But to turn me into a "completely different person," that's something else. Back then I didn't realize the repercussions of that statement. Now that I've got years of experience as a sales manager, I know better than to try and change my sales reps into something they're not. My sales reps are themselves. They are not their colleagues. They are not their friends. They are not me.

The Art of Closing the Sales Call!

There is not a winning technique, not a single magic bullet, nor any secret sales closing course you should take to increase your rate of closed sales calls. If you want to consistently close sales calls, consistently move business, and consitently increasing the number of prospects that turn into customers, then you need to simply work to engage the prospect, listen to what they need, provide value and yes ask for the business.

Franchise Sales Success Improves by Using a Franchise Proposal
Franchise prospects don’t buy a franchise they buy the benefits of the franchise. The key questions all franchise prospects want answers to are “Who you are, what you do, what makes you different and why consumers do business with you.” A well-crafted franchise sales proposal will clearly articulate these answers.

Making Sales using Features vs. Benefits Skill, Risk Reduction Technique and Action
Buyer's are looking for safety and not necessarily a cheaper price. Play to that, work on your sales education and techniques and be aggressive. You will meet with sales success!

Something Old and Something New - Apply Both for Sales Success
The phrase "something old and something new," which is often heard while brides are getting married, can be applied to using social media tools successfully. Many companies jump on the new idea band wagon, often discarding old ideas and methodologies that still produce results. Let's take a look at two ways you should combine new social media with good 'ole fashioned sales principles.

Five Attributes To Lead You To S.A.L.E.S. Success
Now, more than ever, it's important for salespeople to go back to basics. Here are five attributes that have led to my 20 years of success in sales. See how you can develop or strengthen them in yourself to help get you to where you want to be.

The 18 Disciplines of Selling: Part 5: The Finale

This is it, the final elements of the 18 Disciplines of selling. Our four previous articles covered what I believe to be the fundamental building blocks of sales success that a businessperson must understand in order to just survive let alone thrive in todays markets. The Disciplines have been to many very simple and they are but that is where the challenge is. How tough are you? How disciplined are you to do what must be done, what you know needs to be done every day, whether you want to or not? Here are the last of the 18 disciplines. In our last article we covered the skills necessary in selling with Disciplines #7 through #11. In Part 5we're going to discuss disciplines #12 through #18

Success Comes When You Are Sold on You - the 3 Step Formula
Have you ever heard yourself say, “I hate sales” or “I am not very good at sales”? Are we not all in sales? Besides any product, what we are selling is ourselves: our personality, our skills and our knowledge. This article provides you with a simple 3-step formula you can apply, to increase your success... on the business and home fronts.

Just Like Magic
The great thing about being in sales is that we all have an opportunity to raise our game, increase our success, and reap the short-term rewards of our efforts. All we have to do to sell more is to work a little harder or think a little smarter, or get a little luckier. Alternatively, try a little magic.

Close Faster By Wearing Your Prospects’ Shoes

There are many skills salespeople need to learn to be successful. In teaching these skills I have found that there are two words in the English language that most salespeople fail to clearly understand in meaning and application: “sympathy” and “empathy.” Not knowing the difference, and not knowing which will help you earn sales success, can cause significant delays in deals or may break them.

Anatomy Of A Buying Decision

Before your prospect makes the decision to buy your product or service, four decisions must be made. For the most part these decisions will be made inside their heads or in conjunction with others depending on whether it is a joint decision making process or not. In small to medium sized businesses one person may make the buying decision, but in larger companies it is usual for the decision be made by a group of people. Whatever the amount of people involved in the buying decision, the same four decisions must be answered.

Guaranteed Sales Success in 2010
There are no guarantees in life or in selling. Yet we look for one each time we buy and so do our clients. Shouldn’t we, as salespeople, be looking for guarantees too? Guarantees that we will reach our goals? Regularly we witness great salespeople overcome the odds, the economy or the competition to be successful. Haven’t you always wondered how they do it?

Consignment --- A Sales Adventure

Once upon a time, many years ago when I was a young, ambitious salesman selling flat, rolled steel, I called on one potentially large account for months and months with zero success. I was going nowhere fast. The only thing I got from this rather large, burly looking professional purchasing agent was frustration. He knew I was young and short on experience and, I believe he actually enjoyed watching me squirm month after month. I tried every sales technique I had ever learned. Of course, he was familiar with every one of them and had seen them many times before. Nothing seemed to work on this guy. I just couldn't reach him. So, I went back to something very basic that most of us in sales (especially we Baby Boomers) learned from day one. I remember the words from my most cherished mentor, "Build a relationship son. Get the man to like you

Exclusive Short Term Revenue Focus, Long Term Business Issues

Revenue is king. It is the primary focus for most sales leaders, and the measuring stick for sales success. While revenue is an important indicator of sales success, sales leaders also need to broaden their focus to consider the sustainability of revenue over a long period of time. Sales leaders who focus on achieving repeatable results through an effective sales process will consistently realize the revenue they desire.

Off the Cuff --- Sales Execution

Execution involves the day-to-day activities of the salesperson. For most industries, this entails both planned, proactive tasks and opportunistic, reactive events that the salesperson uncovers by doing the right things in the right place at the right time. It's critical that the progress of the tasks in target action plans is carefully monitored to avoid surprises. This is the equivalent of monitoring your daily exercise before the effects start to show up on the scale. The SEP circumvents the most common mistake made in distribution today: trying to manage results. You must manage activities because it's the activities that produce results. Once the results are in, the horse is out of the barn and everything you do from that point on is reactive. If you proactively manage the activities, the expected results will follow.

Shoot From the Hip Sales Mentality - Ten Steps that Focus on Sales Success

Sales people all do what they do with good intent and because they believe... it is the right thing to do! However is it the most productive thing to do? Remember, sales people will sell what you pay them to sell. If you want them to sell shovels but their incentive is based on selling hammers --- they will sell hammers. We as human beings are habitual; and habits form routines. As sales people we all form a subconscious sales approach or routine. During tough economic times sales people do not change. Instead they become extreme in their behavior. They may run faster but not work smarter. The solution is not simple but it's obvious that doing more of what isn't working is not the answer.

Sales Planning --- A Critical Component of Sales Success

A sales plan is a schedule of events and responsibilities that details the actions to be taken in order to accomplish the goals and objectives identified during the contingency - recovery - strategic planning process. The plan ensures everyone knows what needs to get done, coordinates their efforts and keeps close track of progress. Sales plans must define the objectives, time line and resources required to meet the growth objectives of the business unit, department or branch. This level of detail is unnecessary in the overall initial planning process.

Eleven Sales Success Secrets
Use these ideas to increase your sales productivity:

How to Increase sales in Retail – The ONLY 3 ways to do it

This afternoon I met up with a long lost friend of mine at his request. He basically wanted my advice on how to increase sales in retail business. He was planning on putting up a business in the auto industry and hoped to get some valuable tips. The tips that I shared with him are mentioned here, which you can use to increase sales is retail as well as home business. These are universal tips that I was first exposed to through the great Jay Abraham.

Building Relationship Capital - Sustainable Sales Success

The most recent global recession has reminded businesses all over the world of some simple truths: - Customers have more choice than ever. - Customers will not continue to work with people they do not trust. - Customers can not be easily won back when they are lost (if at all). And yet, many sales organizations are still hiring people with the wrong skillset, and even worse, the wrong mindset! So, what factors are the most important in winning and retaining new business in the 21st Century?

7 Secrets for Sales Success
Sales professionals sometimes make the simplest mistakes that keep them from being successful. This article identifies 7 simple things you can do to dramatically increase your success in sales.

Becoming an “Inner Winner” in Your Sales Career

Traditional sales training techniques ignore the biggest obstacle to sales success: Not recognizing and taking control of the Internal Critic that lingers within every sales person, and every athlete. The internal critic is basically a habitual pattern of negative thoughts that people allow to continue unabated until they recognize that they are engaging in such thinking. Using techniques that professional Sport Psychologists use to help elite athletes overcome their obstacle to success works the same wonders on sales people.

Will this Sales Dog Hunt?
Why doesn’t a new hire’s true success in the past transition to success in a new position...? Below are six areas to examine when determining whether past success can transition into a new sales position.

Secrets of Sales Success
Knowledge, Belief, Understanding, Promotion, Communication, the action of the Sale, and Feedback combine to create a remarkable outcome every time, with every customer or client. These are the Secrets of Sales Success!

The Secret to Sales Success and 5 Key Reasons Why This IS So Important
Are you wondering why your promotional and marketing materials don’t pack the punch you had hoped they would? Keep reading to learn the secret to sales success.

How to Share Your Expertise and Get More Website Traffic
Create a content strategy and leverage your expertise with article marketing.

Do Your Marketing Materials Include an
Ask your customers to take action and watch your sales increase.

9 Elements to Help Your Copy Connect with Your Ideal Customers
Knowing the formula for creating a sales letter will help you connect with your ideal client. Regardless of the length of your copy you can incorporate the basic formula to ensure you’re providing all the information your customers need to make a sound decision about investing in your products and services.

5 Tips For Successful Online Press Releases
Press releases are a great way to share with the world what is going on with your business. There are however, some guidelines you should follow to avoid making your press releases too “salesy”. Follow these 5 tips and you’ll be on your way to press release success in no time.

Why Salespeople Fail to Make Needed Changes

If your salespeople are going through any kind of up-to-date sales training or coaching, then they know they're supposed to ask questions and resist presenting company or product features and benefits. In the classroom they get it. In the classroom they can do it. In a coaching session it works. But as soon as you plug them in to a real sales call, by phone or in person, they revert to being obsolete.

Rejection Proof - The Science Behind Success in Sales

The stronger a salesperson is, the less likely rejection is to have a major effect. That said, there are effective salespeople who have a rejection problem but they manage it better than their less effective colleagues. There are also some very ineffective salespeople who don't care about being rejected. In fact, their lack of caring about it may even lead to their ineffectiveness since their strategy rarely includes consideration of how to avoid resistance!

The Delayed Impact of Lack of Sales Commitment
If you are a client, upon learning that a top producer lacks commitment you might be asking, "How can that be?"

Case History - How Not to Hire Salespeople

A company wants to hire 5000 salespeople - but why? 2000 drop out before completing training, and another 2000 drop out during the first 90 days in the field. Another 500 drop out during the first 6 months, and at the end of the year they only have 500 of the original 5000 standing. What would it be worth to them from a cost, time, resources and practicality standpoint for us to simply identify, in advance, the final 500, before anyone is hired?

Salesperson ROI - How Long Must They Stick to Pay Off? Part 1
Is there a connection between sales success and tenure? Is it really a given that a successful salesperson will stick around longer than an unsuccessful salesperson?

The Holidays are a Great Metaphor for Sales Success
Which do you anticipate more? The gifts that you will receive? What will it be? Could it be what you were hoping for? Will it be smelly socks? Will you have to return it? Will you love it? Will you hate it? Or... The gifts that you present? Will they be surprised? Will they be delighted? Will they be speechless? Will they know how much thought you put into it? Will they be appreciative?

How to sell new business meetings - the greatest secret revealed
Do you want to know the greatest secret of selling new business meetings for sales prospecting. Its really easy to do and can double or triple your effectiveness overnight. Find out what it is here....

Sales Tip - Increase your prospecting skills by being an Industry expert
Ensure your sales prospecting success by becoming seen as an Industry expert. If you follow the techniques shown here, you will soon become the top sales representative in your industry. Check this out here.....

...and by gosh, this Web 2.0 & Social Media stuff is fabulous for selling knowledge!

When you blow all the smoke away, knowledge is the only thing any of us has to sell any more. That's always been the case for a consulting-type business, but today, profitably selling even the most commoditized of commodities requires lots and lots of knowledge. It's all about finding and/or purchasing and/or packaging and/or shipping and/or installing and/or applying and/or maintaining and/or disposing of and/or... It's all about the intellectual content. It's the knowledge, stupid!

Making The Transition to a Social Business

Tim Bernes-Lee thought the Web was a nice little friendly place when he first unleashed it on the iNet. You know something to futz around with in your leisure time. Then you decided that it was great to play with at the office. Then you started throwing up anything/everything about yourself, your friends, your enemies, your ex up on the Web. Then the marketing folks thought what a fantastic place to advertise. Cheap, directed ads ... how cool. Of course the boss doesn't mess with it but what the heck you're so with it...until it bites you then BAM!!! Hey, who knew that stuff would live...FOREVER!!!!

7 Questions You Must Ask Before Buying Sales Training
Before you whip out your wallet or sign on the dotted line there are seven questions you should ask to make certain you are making the best decision for you. After all, you wouldn’t be investing in sales training unless you expected to get real value. So...

5 Double Readership Path Techniques to Increase The Effectiveness of Your Copy
Double readership paths are essential to appealing to both analytical thinkers/readers and scanners at the same time. This means you can capture the attention of both kinds of readers by using simple formatting tools like bolding, italicizing, highlight, underlining, using all capital letters and incorporating bullet points.

The Long & Short of It -- Long Copy Versus Short Copy
There's an age old debate about long copy versus short copy. Which is more effective in marketing? TThe long and the short of it is that both are effective when incorporated in your overall strategy.

A Forgotten Secret of Sales Success

Brad learned early in his career that left to his own devices, he would find ways to avoid picking up the phone and making calls. Like so many salespeople, he suffered from call reluctance, fear of rejection, fear of failure, and more. Over time, he learned to trick himself, play games and, most importantly use purpose, motivation and fear to assure that he was consistently filling his pipeline. Listen to the show to hear more about this compelling topic.

Community Pages and Good Landing Pages

Assuming a company is actually selling products and/or services and not just monetizing a blog, we treat "landing pages" as the places to induce action (and give the most vital information to further the chain of events leading to action. While blogs are wonderful and we endorse the use of them, chances are it's safe to say you didn't start a company just as an excuse to blog. When a person looking for (x) services lands on the company blog, they will most likely scour through a few posts and not see the information they need to know (pricing, etc) and back out. A blog unquestionably adds value but it generally will not produce the kind of information to immediately induce a successful outcome from a new visitor looking specifically for your services NOW.

Start Managing Using Your Sales Team’s Talents & Stop Focusing on Their Weaknesses

From you role in sales management, do you manage from a perspective focusing on existing talents or from a weakness one? If you truthfully answered from a more negative than positive focus, then can you answer this question?: Why do winning teams win because of their strengths or their weaknesses? Now is the team to change your management style especially if you wish to increase sales and have a high performance sales team.

What Makes a Great Sales Professional?
Being great in sales is not about having the "gift of gab" or being aggressive. There are three critical attributes for sales success today. Read on for more.....

Communicating For Sales Success
Do you have what it takes to Out-Communicate your competition? Have you taken the time to record yourself and analyze your communication style and skill level? If not, then you should consider the following information if you want to earn and win more sales.

Sales Prospecting on Steroids

With all of the articles written about sales and cold calls being dead (I usually write the counter arguments to that. How would you find new business if the only thing you could rely on was a lead?) it was a breath of fresh air when Michael Strickland, my guest on this week's edition of Meet the Sales Experts, spoke about prospecting on steroids. His five tips for sales success in today's economy are:

Sales Assessment Comparison - Objective Management Group vs. Devine

It's not often that we get to compare the assessment results of an individual that took our assessment and another. Why? Because most companies don't use multiple assessments that report on similar findings. Notice that I said "report on" and not "look at". While other assessments report on findings similar to ours, they don't look at or measure the same information to draw their conclusions. That's why the reports I received today make for such an enjoyable comparison.

Market First, Sell Second to Increase Sales in 2011
During turbulent economic times, the continued push to increase sales comes first with marketing going to the side of the road. So what is more important marketing or selling?

What should I look for when I hire a salesperson?
Over the years, I have personally hired and developed many talented salespeople across multiple industries, and for me it's always about finding and developing salespeople who possess the 6P's for Sales Success:

One Suprising Key to Selling Value

Gary Harvey, my guest on this week's episode of Meet the Sales Experts, has great advice for companies that are trying to avoid getting sucked into having the lowest price. His secret? Purchasing Agents have always told salespeople that they go with the lowest price. When he asks them why they do this, they always tell him the same thing. "Because it works on every other salesperson until we met you."

Hit More Fairways and Close More Sales

Eric Dunn, my guest on this week's Meet the Sales Experts Radio Show, stressed the importance of positive self talk, affirmations, and transformation as keys to sales success. That Eric is a former golf teacher, his philosophy should not surprise anyone familiar with the mental aspect of golf. And during the interview it became clear that Eric knows a thing or two about my sport, baseball, too. Eric talked about the similarities between golf and selling and at one time he even sold golf equipment.

Partner Attitudes and Knowledge For Business and Sales Success
If performance failure be it the lack of business or sales success, is an issue and honestly it is an issue for every business, then maybe you are not asking the right questions to implement sustainable change.

How to Make Sales and Marketing a Doable Strategy
It’s kind of like the old argument, what came first the chicken or the egg. Only in business it’s what comes first sales or marketing.

Same, Same but Different

I came across some research on sales motivation which seems to shed some further light on why it is important to use programs which are culturally specific to your sales peoples motivations and values. A major study of sales motivation presented at the annual convention of the Society for Marketing Advances has revealed significant cultural differences driving sales success. It has helped explain why some of the better made-in-the-USA sales management practices aren't more effective in other nations. The answers may lie in what really provides motivation for salespeople.

2 Things Race Car Driving Has in Common with Selling

Karl said that for him, the single biggest commonality between racing and selling is the ability to be in control of his emotions, a strength which, in selling, not too many salespeople have mastered. It was as a professional race car driver when Subaru, his first real employer, would send Karl to struggling car dealers to help them push cars - despite the fact that Karl didn't view himself as a salesperson. However, if you listen to his very entertaining stories about growing up, you realize that he was always selling - because he had to.

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SELLING
Telemarketing 1

Fix the sales force you have

Would we expect any elite sporting team to enter a competition without a clear game plan, talent plan, fitness plan, business plan and action plan? No, of course not. We expect them to be aware, organised, focused and determined to play their best and aim to win. Well, more than 90% of sales people do not follow any logical process when selling. They are often left to their own devices and simply fly by the seat of their pants, relying on intuition and hoping for the best. They often cannot articulate their value proposition or know how they compare to the competition. Nor are they clear about what activities they need to do on a daily basis to achieve sales success. Most make it up. No wonder many don't meet business owners expectations.

The Invisible Close Sales Nugget: How to create ‘A Small Window of Opportunity’ so that you can see Big Results!
Ever find yourself in a situation where you’ve been asked by an interested prospect for a price quote, a bid or simply for your rates? You quote them and then you don’t hear from them for a while?

Sales Simplified - Discovery... The
Salespeople must be skilled at asking key questions on every call in order to find the solution that would best fit the needs of the customer/client. How do we do we do it effectively?

Let Go of What You Cannot Control to Increase Sales & Reduce Stress
Is your inability to increase sales directly related to where you are investing your resources of time, energy, dollars and emotion? Is this increasing your stress levels? Learn a quick way to regain control of your sales and your life.

the A-Z of sales success
A is for attitude!

A-Z of sales success!
B is for Beliefs

A-Z of sales
C is for Confidence!

How Just One AMP Can Increase Sales
Sales! Must have more sales! Sales! Where can I find new customers? Sales! I am just one person! If you have had any of these thoughts, you may find this article of interest

Increase Sales by Remembering Your Footprints in the Sands of Business
Many individuals know the poem “Footprints in the Sands.” In business and especially in sales, we leave our own footprints. With the economy expanding from local to global, our footprints in the sands of business can quickly disappear.

How You May Be Losing Sales Because You Are Pushing Your Prospects Instead of Letting Them Pull You
Is your sales approach all about pushing your prices, products or proposals onto your potential customers? Maybe it is time to consider another, more effective one?

Sustainable Sales Success Combines Effective Marketing with Selling
Marketing and selling are both necessary to increase sales and achieve success. Yet for many this creates increased confusion and keeps the goal from being achieved.

Is Your Sales Training Demonstrating 20/80 or 80/20?
Where are you putting your sales training efforts and what are the positive, measurable results from those actions? Are they 20/80 or 80/20?

Are You 'Offering' Your Customers REAL Value?
Here are some of the basic elements to keep in mind when you begin to write your copy.

Get Out of the Way and 8 Tips for Sales Success
This was a very interesting, fast-moving show where Chris shared his 8 tips for sales success, talked about sales management's role in growing sales, the biggest obstacle he had to overcome in order to succeed, how to succeed in this economy, and much, much more. One of his 8 tips? Get out of the way!

How Telling Your Story Can Generate More Sales
The real heart of copywriting is your story.

Sales Performance- Does it Correlate with First Impressions?
How much can you tell about a salesperson in your first impression? Is it a good indicator of future results?

Headline Copy Tweaks You Can Make Today to Increase Sales Tomorrow
Do you know what people read first - practically EVERYTIME they read your copy?

How to REALLY Connect With Your Customers on Their Terms to Build Relationships and Generate More Sales
Knowing how to engage your readers with attention grabbing headlines is important and at the same time, it's not enough to really create a relationship, build trust and eventually win a customer or client.

Self Management for Success
A crisis is an event that is urgent and important. Crises require immediate response. Events that qualify for crisis management include September 11, 2001, the stock market crashes of 1929 and 1987, a child in the hospital, death and serious illness, the loss of your job. You get the idea.

What is your product really worth?
The secret of selling is the art of value visualization. A natural sales person will lead the buyer through a series of structured questions, whereby the buyer will actually “see” what the product will enable them to do. The Sales person then will encourage the prospect to put their own value on that capability.

How Sales Professionals Forget That Sales Are Personal Yet Cannot Be Personal
Do you want to increase sales? Have you tried various marketing techniques from direct mail to cold calling to referrals? Yet, your sales are not where they need to be are they? Why not? Have you considered that the thoughts you have might be keeping your from sales success? Let me explain.

The Race to Success by Cheryl A. Clausen
Are you losing the race to success? Would you like or even need some sales coaching to self improvement tips? Then look no more for this book has it all!

How the Choices You Make Will Determine Your Sales Results
Norman Vincent Peale once wrote: Change Your Thoughts, Change Your World. Your choices come from those thoughts. In sales, have you ever consider the impact of those choices as to your sales results?

8 Ways to Translate Tiger Woods' Experiences into Sales Success

I was reading an article about Tiger Woods in Golf Digest . The article explored whether Tiger would be better or worse after he returned from surgery and rehabilitation on his knee. It went on to detail how effectively he played while injured and in great pain, and how much potential he had to be even better when he could move weight to his left leg. It also went on to describe his many potential distractions. Finally, I read a part of the article that talked about how prepared Tiger is for adversity.

To Arbonne Or Not To Arbonne : Effective Techniques Guaranteed To Help You Attract Dozens Into Your Arbonne Business

Becoming a 6-Figure income earner Arbonne Consultant is not a difficult thing to do! Yes you maybe finding it a little challenging to find people who are genuinely interested in building a sound Arbonne business, but that is no reason to give up. Following are 5 Proven steps that any Arbonne Ineternational Consultant can employ in order to realize your dream and become one of the many direct sales success stories.

Sales Assessments vs. Personality Assessments Episode III - The PHD's Strike Back
Are PHD's more sensitive to criticism than the rest of us? I heard from a few over the past week and they weren't happy with what I wrote here and here. I rocked their world and they couldn't cope.

Personality Assessments for Sales - The Definitive Case Study
Nearly two years ago we began development of an exciting new way to evaluate Executive Management Teams. We brainstormed, conducted surveys, performed research and identified 16 qualities that CEO's wanted their Executive Managers to possess, along with 9 Styles crucial to a Management Team's ability to grow their companies.

Top 7 Pitfalls That Keep Sales Professionals from Their Goals to Increase Sales
Most individuals are involved in selling whether it is selling learning to selling an idea. However a few are compensated for their sales efforts because they sell products or services. Far more sales professional could dramatically increase sales if they would change their behaviors (sales skills) by avoiding these top 7 reasons for sales failure.

Silence Is as Good as Gold
A vital key to sales success is listening. The ability to listen well is absolutely indispensable for success in all human relationships and is probably the single most important skill for today's selling professional.

Five Fundamentals to Sales Super-Stardom in 2009

The single biggest difference between success and failure is your attitude. While this might be a much talked about concept in all walks of life, the reality is that only a very few actually ever truly get it. Great attitude is the common denominator of success; everything else including talent follows or is learnt. Top sports people have got it, top business people have got it and top salespeople have got it.

Top 9 Reasons Salespeople Fail
Sales is tough. Many people fail. Read on for the top nine reasons people don't make it in sales.

How 2.0 are you?
In other words, what “version” of the Internet experience are you providing visitors to your Web site?

Sales Training – Salespeople Get Uplifted With Jukebox Music!
Salespeople can find comfort in music. Actually, studies prove that listening to music has positive effects from reducing stress to making you smarter. Sellers, put some money in the Jukebox!

Sales Training – Salespeople Debut of Confidence
Without confidence, salespeople will have it tougher to get to the top of their career, their business or their earning power. With six phrases in a song from The Sound of Music by Rodgers and Hammerstein, salespeople can begin to demolish those doubts.

Sales force productivity: Eight Practices to Ensure Your Sales Success

We have never needed to improve sales productivity more than we do in this dreadful economy. For decades, businesses have embraced productivity and cost controls in operational functions like manufacturing and distribution; programs like Total Quality Management (TQM), Six Sigma and LEAN are thriving all over the map. Except in the sales department. We suggest that sales organizations can benefit dramatically from adopting some basic principles of productivity management, simple business techniques that lower costs, improve customer profitability and retention, and reduce sales-person turnover. This article explores the eight key practices that contribute to productivity. If the practice is in place in your usiness, it will contribute to productivity. But if it is not, it will actually inhibit productivity and drive up costs.

Can Sales Assessments Actually Predict On the Job Sales Success
Stathead was hell-bent on learning about the technical nature of how the assessment works, how it was created, how it was validated and its impact on protected minorities. While this is important, it can be very misleading. As you will read below, a test can meet all of those criteria and not help with selection at all!

What Michael Jordan Can Teach You About Success in Sales
From the lessons learned from Jordan's mastery of the mental game of winning we can find paths to the same level of success in professional selling. The key to doing so is in finding parallels with the mental game of winning in sales and learning to to apply them with the same intensity that he applied them to the game of basketball.

Direct Sales Strategies- Building Instant Rapport for Sales Success
James is the most popular name for males in the United States accounting for over 4.8 million individuals. Dennis happens to be the 40th most popular, given to just over 600 thousand. If that is the case, why is your dentist more likely to be named Dennis than James? More importantly, how is that relevant to the profession of selling?

Get Leads Coming to You and Get Them to Act Now
Rather than dialing for dollars and getting your name out there what you need is a steady stream of highly qualified prospects reaching out to you. This is especially true now when business owners and consumers are guarding their wallets like Fort Knox. You aren’t going to get those wallets open doing what you’re doing now.

Sales Training Uncover the Treasure Trove with Your Sales Prospect
Finding the treasures in selling is easier than it likely was to find the treasures in King Tutankhamen’s tomb in Egypt. What are selling treasures? How do you find them? They’re found in the career, the prospect and yourself. Let’s go to the selling treasure trove.

The Fork of Customer Service Can Determine Sales Success
The customer service experience is a great predictor for organizational and sales success. How your employees (internal customers) handle your actual clients (external customers) will either make your day exceptional or a sales nightmare.

The 7 Secrets to Improved Prospecting
Prospecting is a core skill anyone in sales absolutely must master. Without prospects you have no one to sell to. Without someone to sell to you can’t sell.

Don't Allow the Economic Crisis to Infect Your Sales
The crisis that devastated Wall Street has now infected every sector in the market. Plus it’s spread to every corner of the world. If you allow it the crisis will infect your sales possibly putting you out of business.

You can't build business “thinking” about it
If your sales are not where they need to be, what are you doing about it? What is the problem? Why are they not where they need to be? Stop thinking about it, figure it out, find a solution and move forward. Plain and simple enough, don't you think?

How to Increase Sales Is By Keeping Head on the Challenge, Heart on Prize and Hands in Action
How many times in sales are we so focused on just the prize that we forget about the challenge or challenges preventing us from sales success? Knowing what the prize is that being an earned sale, is important. Yet, we must not forget to make sure that all of our actions are aligned both to that prize and challenge.

Increase Sales Through That Third Contact and Beyond
Did you know that 25% of sales people make a second contact and then stop! Are you one of those sales professionals who gives up after the second and does not make a third effort to connect with that desirable prospect?

Will You Choose Sales Success or Sales Distress?
Now I know you’re thinking, of course, I choose sales success. Let me ask you a question then, “Do you know how to get potential buyers contacting you?” If you don’t then you aren’t choosing sales success you’re choosing sales distress.

Help Your Way to More Sales
People buy because they want something they don’t have, they want to avoid something, or they want to solve a problem. They’re looking for someone to help them. Can you be the exact person to provide that help?

Get Them to Act on Your Sales Offer
How do you get a complete stranger to buy from you? That’s one of the biggest challenges you face. Your ability to overcome that challenge greatly impacts your sales success.

Top 5 Reasons Why the OMG Sales Assessment is More Predictive
I was asked why Objective Management Group's (OMG) assessments are so much more predictive of sales success and future performance than behavioral styles assessments and personality assessments. There is more than one answer to this question and I'll try to explain the top 5 answers...[read more]

How to Avoid 4 Key Sales Objections
As you’re holding a sales conversation with a potential client there are three conversations going on. The outward verbal conversation between the two of you, the inward conversation in the potential clients mind, and the one you’re having in your mind. Currently you monitor two of those three conversations.

How to Say it to Sell More
You don’t necessarily respond to what you hear and what you read the same way your prospects do. The reason is because your prospect may not have the same underlying motivation to act or respond as you. I don’t just mean in a sales conversation.

Selling to the Old Brain – Three Ways to Increase Sales Results
Many salespeople have heard the phrase that selling is an art and a science. This phrase is moving beyond a cliché with research results from the world of neuroscience. The profession of sales is changing and sales professionals that desire a true competitive advantage know and apply the neuroscience behind how and why prospects make buying decisions. Astute salespeople sell to the old brain...

The Secret Assassin Within
The more I speak to salespeople, the more I think about the reasons for success or failure in sales, is it just down to your skills and work ethic or is there another reason why people have sales nightmares?

Sales Coaching Tip: Stop Confusing Motion with Progress to Increase Sales
Are your sales suffering? Maybe, it is time to determine whether you are in the motion business or progress business?

A Magical Selling tale
When I was a little girl I believed in fairy tales, magical kingdoms and a world where all your wishes came true if you wished for something hard enough. It didn’t take long to discover that life has a cruel way of shattering illusions and the adventures of life can cause a cynical hardening of aspirations in the face of adversity.

Increase Sales with a Fine Tooth Comb
What’s the difference between what you do and how you do it and how top producers do the same things? It’s all in the details. The stuff you don’t even notice or think about. The stuff you can’t even see.

Kick the Competition to the Curb & Sell Like Crazy
As if it hasn’t been tough already it’s going to get a whole lot tougher. You either do what it takes to win, or you’ll get taken out of the game. It’s every man for himself.

Sales Success or Dead Cat Bounce?
Who doesn’t want to succeed in sales? And if you listen to some of the so-called experts you’d have to be nearly incompetent not to succeed in sales. The catch is you aren’t getting the whole story.

Professional Sales Management - Key to Sales Success

In an environment where customer demands predominate, because competition is both relentless and increasingly international, the world of selling must accommodate a dramatically changed world of buying. Critically, sales management must catch up to this new world of selling. All too often, many sales forces are populated by dispirited, burned out salespeople and managed by short-term-oriented and narrowly focused sales managers. Indeed many sales forces are managed as if it were 30 years ago and the sales managers themselves were salespeople doing the work, instead of orchestrating the action.

Transform Your Selling DNA
Seven Special Powers That Will Take Your Sales Revenue From So-So . . . to Sensational

The Nine Most Common Hiring Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
To err in hiring is human – and very expensive. Many “standard” hiring procedures are actually common mistakes, so to choose more competent candidates, prepare to revise your hiring methods. Learn the nine hiring errors managers often make, then eliminate them from your hiring practices to help you choose only the cream of the crop.

Sales Success Requires a Tracking Process -

The world’s oldest profession is selling. Before anyone can purchase or use any service or product, they must be sold. Everyone in your company should be selling, as they are an ambassador for the company, no matter where they are. This is very evident in today’s social media world, where employees need to heed what they post on a public web site. When we talk with presidents, CEO’s and owners of a company, we tell them that they must be selling all the time, or they are just overhead. The head of a company must constantly sell to customers, partners, suppliers, bankers, investors and employees.

Reflections of a Lone Sales Wolf

How time flies. I remember back in the mid 1970's when professional selling was easy and a whole lot of fun. We were Lone Wolfs back then. We controlled everything, we were professionals, we owned a patch of dirt. All we had to do to maintain ownership was to produce sales. We had our tools, a company car, trunk files, brochures, samples and a calendar/card file. As time passed, some of us even got car phones. Sure, we did call reports and had sales meetings, but make no mistake, we were pros. We owned that patch of dirt and most of the customers who were on it. If we chose to leave for greener pastures, most of our customers went with us. We had respect. Everything focused on relationships. I mentioned how I even remember my first sales training seminar, "Needs Satisfaction Selling." I was a rookie and having the time of my life.

How to be More Effective Selecting Sales Candidates
I'm all for sales benchmarking. However, when it comes to assessing sales candidates, I strongly discourage benchmarking and here's why.

Does Fear Prevent Your Sales People from Executing Your Sales Plan?
Don't let self-limiting beliefs get in your way. Identify and over come them.

Super Simple Increase Sales Secret
Do you ever feel like you must be making things harder than they are? You very well might be.

Basic Alignment Drives Sales Results
As important as product, technology, market message, and strategy all are, there is nothing more essential to the overall organization’s sales success than the internal alignment between the sales leadership team and the corporate strategy. The point transcends Sales and applies to every function within the firm, but SalesFulcrum's founder discusses it specifically to Sales.

How 2 Beliefs Increase Sales
While the way you think and what you believe is important when it comes to your sales success the beliefs of your prospects matter too. There are two beliefs your prospect must have, or you’ll never increase your sales success.

Unlock Your Natural Abilities to Increase Sales
Many of the myths associated with sales are believed simply because they’re repeated so often. Others have fortunately been debunked. At one time people didn’t think women could sell.

We Live in a Headline World; Will Yours Do its Job?
You may not think headlines have anything to do with you or your sales success, but you’d be wrong. You’re exposed to headlines everyday whether those headlines are presented in a written format, audio format, or visual format.

Happy Sales People are Superior Sales People
If you want to increase your successes in hiring sales people for your team, look for a high level of Happiness and Well-being. Research has identified Happiness and an essential piece producing high performing sales people.

What does Strategic Planning have to do with Insurance Sales Success?
If you enjoy working hard, and struggling day in and day out to hit your targets then strategic planning has nothing to do you’re your sales success. But if you'd like to make more and work less then strategic planning has everything to do with your sales success.

When Something has to Change it's up to You to Create that Change & Increase Sales
When customer retention is falling or returns and cancellations are increasing it doesn't take a genius to determine something is terribly wrong. The exact reason(s) these bad things are happening may be related to actions taken by someone other than you.

How Awkward is it for You to Ask Questions?
Maybe you aren't asking the right questions in the right order for the right reasons? Asking the right questions is definitely a skill and the best sales people are very adept at it.

Fail to Plan to Increase Sales & Plan to Fail
You've heard it before, but you don't understand the impact and implications. You can't get the results you want if you either don't know how, or won't take the time to plan to get them.

Does it Make Sense to Keep Doing What isn't Working & Expect Increased Sales?
Persistence is good, but not if you're persistently doing the wrong things. That's just being pig headed and stupid.

Help, I Don't Want to be a Salesperson
When you hear the word "salesperson" do you cringe? But you realize if you don't learn how to sell you'll be out of business.

Are You Feeling like an Also-Ran when You want to be a Top Producer?
You're sales training may not have included the keys to standing out. Standing out enables you to get the attention of the right people, and get known among those right people.

Where are all the Increase Sales Opportunities?
You pass up more opportunities each day than you could ever handle. Anyone who wants to be a top producer knows there are two aspects to sales success.

How is Fear Impacting Your Sales Success?
The fear you focus on is the fear that is getting in your way and keeping you from sales success. Most sales producers harbor fears related to: talking to people, rejection, or failure.

What Actions Aren’t You Taking to Increase Sales?
Sales training isn’t getting you the results you want? Is it the training that’s letting you down or the actions you aren’t taking?

How are You Dealing with Apparent Sales Success Failures?
There is only one way to fail and that is to quit, so everything that doesn’t work out short of quitting is just an apparent failure. You need to learn how to effectively deal with the apparent failures so you can get to the sales success you want.

Do You have a Selling Attitude?
Don’t confuse a positive attitude with a selling attitude if you want sales success. You can have the most positive attitude of anyone in your field yet absolutely stink when it comes to results.

Are You Tracking for Increased Sales?
How you track your sales funnel and sales cycle can significantly impact your sales success. All too often the way you track is complicated and cumbersome when a simple system would be more efficient and effective.

Why this Common Sales Mistake is Costing You More Sales than You Realize
The exact language you’re taught to use puts pressure on your prospect. This pressure increases your prospect’s anxiety, and reduces their ability to make a decision.

Increase Your Trade Show Sales without Renting a Booth
Trade shows for your best prospects are a great way to generate leads and increase sales if you know how to take advantage of the opportunity. You can reap the benefits without renting a booth.

A Luxury Once Had Becomes A Necessity
Two techniques to turn a luxury into a necessity in the buyers mind. A luxury an item that is desirable but not essential. a product or service that gives great pleasure.

How well do you know your product/service?

So how prepared are you? How well do you know your product or service? How much do you practice? Seem like elementary questions – right? I mean outstanding athletes practice. Outstanding actors practice. And trust me on this one, so do outstanding sales people. This should be a “no brainer”, yet is it? Three things for you to take with you today. We are all sales people. There are things each of us has to sell. So learn the process.

Six Questions You Absolutely Need the Answers to for Sales Success
Co-author of Rainmaking Conversations, Mike Schultz, stresses the importance of continuous self-evaluation in your efforts to reach sales success.

The "Use Seasoned Sales Professionals As Trainers" Myth
In some selling organizations, if formal sales training exists at all, it is often performed by seasoned sales representatives or top performers on the staff. Big mistake!

The "Never Play Favorites" Myth

Many year's ago, while training at a branch of Dean Whitter (now Morgan Stanley), I learned an important management truth. The branch manager at this office was mandated by corporate to spend a minimum of 60 percent of his time working with and supporting the stock brokers who had been given offices (based on their top performance) surrounding the "bull pen," where the vast majority of the brokers had cubicles. Those staff members in the cubicles were allocated 40 percent of the manager's time.

The "Video Role Playing Is Counterproductive" Myth
Many sales managers and trainers feel that video role playing sales presentations and prospecting methods is just too stressful for their sales representatives to be an effective training tool. On the other hand, in most sports, video taping of an athletes performance is a standard training procedure. Today, video tapes play a major role in an athlete's conditioning by most coaches and managers.

The You Can Tell If A New Hire Will Succeed In The First Two Months Myth
Most companies set arbitrary sales success time periods at about two and no more than three months. Big mistake!

Using Analytics with Direct Marketing to Ride Out a Tough Economy -- Part 2
This is the second in our series of how to be a smart marketers in today's economy. This article talks about the importance of communicating with everyone in your company to ensure that all goals are aligned.

Descriptive Stories Sell on More than One Level
Perhaps you've heard or been taught that sharing Features, Advantages and Benefits (FAB) is a more effective approach than just feature dumping on our prospective customers. But do we effectively do that in our sales conversations? Let me share a simple experience where a young shoe salesman (Joseph) did this very well.

Think Like a CEO

Debra Benton, author of Think Like A CEO, speaks to audiences all over the world about this topic. She is often directing the conversation to other leaders in the organization, not necessarily the sales department. We think it’s time that salespeople quit thinking like salespeople and take Debra’s advice: start thinking like a CEO. These are such salespeople and here are their thoughts, behaviors and actions.

Did you meet your sales goals through June?
Why not? What are you doing right now to make sure you will make your sales goal in the second half of the year? What is your plan? Today, our mission is very simple - answer these three simple questions. That is it.

Direct Sales Strategies: 9 Sales Tips for Sales Success from High Performing Salespeople

Can a collection of the best sales tips make you a great salesperson? I doubt it. But can the best sales tips give you something to think about, point you in new directions, help you rediscover sales techniques and practices you may have forgotten, remind you of why you sell, refresh the reasons that you got to where you are, or show you how to get to where you want to go? Yes, the best sales tips can do that.

7 Deadly Mistakes in the Sales Process
Great sales people really don't sell at all, instead they get their customers to buy. We all love to buy, but few of us love to be sold to. When will we understand that? Today I want to share with you 7 of the most deadly mistakes most sales people make.

How to Generate Sales and the Danger of Vitamin C Deficiency
Vitamin C deficiency could be critical to the health of your career. Here's a prescription to ease your symptoms and help you work towards a cure.

Sales 101: Product Knowledge
As critical as product knowledge is to sales success, it often gets ignored or disregarded even by the most seasoned salesperson. In this sales climate, in this economy... is that an option? I think we both know the answer to that. Learn the importance of product knowledge and discover why you need to pay attention.

The Truth Behind Linear Selling: Why It Can Make Prospects Run The Other Way
Sean works for a major telecom company.

Wooden You Like To Be Successful?

John Wooden is known as one of the finest basketball coaches in America. He took his UCLA team to the NCAA playoffs 10 of 12 years and was named coach of the Century by ESPN. John Wooden was a great teacher and coach. The brilliance of his teaching is that he focused on the mental aspect of the game as well as the technical skills of basketball. John Wooden repeatedly told his team that controlling emotions was at the core of winning the game.

Book Review: You Can’t Teach a Kid to Ride a Bike at a Seminar
Are you having trouble getting people to buy what you are selling? Read this book. Let’s say you already know that to be successful marketing your business you need to identify your audience’s problems and show why you have the best solutions. Isn’t that good enough?

15 Sales Tips To Start Selling Smarter In 2008
These 15 sales tips provide an excellent jumpstart to 2008 enabling you gain an advantage over your competition.

How to Recruit Top Sales Guns

Companies have systems and processes for accounting, shipping, and marketing. It’s time to get a system in place for hiring top guns. These high flying sales folks will make you money, regardless of the economy. Stop using the excuse that it’s hard to hire good salespeople because they interview well and are charming. Sharpen your hiring process, become even better at interviewing and take the first step in making your life easier as a business owner or sales manager.

The Advantage that Focused Salespeople Have
A focused salesperson is a good salesperson.

Are You A Good Customer?
There are great books on the market about customer service: Raving Fans, Contagious Customer Service and Exceeding Customer Expectations. All good books, however, none address a core issue required for receiving great customer service from vendors and suppliers: be a good customer.

The 'Being Efficient' Myth In Sales
You need to take time to soften a decision-maker with appointment confirmation notes and telephone calls. Also, a series of direct mail softening letters, faxes, e-mails and endorsement letters need to be sent before and after a sales presentation to reinforce the benefits that you have demonstrated.

Why Great Sales Skills Ain't Enough
Selling is an essential skill in business. But even the most highly skilled salesperson is not guaranteed to get fantastic sales results. That’s because there is more to being successful in sales than just having great sales skills.

A Favorable Juncture of Circumstances
Opportunity is a noun, a favorable juncture of circumstances. When given a sales opportunity to meet with a prospective client, use this opportunity to build trust and rapport, and in so doing, you will find you can then make the right recommendations of your products and services.

The Difference between Motivation and Commitment
Motivation and commitment are not the same thing!

Qualify the Buyer
It doesn't matter what you sell.- if you don't qualify the buyer, you are wasting your time. Qualify the buyer as early in the process as you can. That does not mean you forget building relationships. That does not mean you are rude. It simply means, buyers are buyers and everyone else is everyone else.

To Become a Better Salesperson, Find a Mentor
Becoming an award-winning salesperson isn't something you just do, but rather a journey of constant self-improvement. There is another critical component that most top salespeople leverage which is a sales mentor to help guide them along the way.

Brother can you Spare a Sale?
Sometimes you have to look beyond sales and to unexpected sources to figure out what you have to do to succeed in sales; so be it if it can make a real difference.

I Couldn't Do That
The start of the year allows for new things, new habits, new approaches; Some will look for ways to improve and change, other will look for reasons why they could not try something new. Which one are you?

Sales and the City
What kind of relationships is your sales approach creating? One night stands, or long-term productive partnerships. Learn to consistently create the latter. If you're a sales person, whose only relationship is with their commission, rather than your clients. You should consider a more meaningful, long-term and rewarding (financial and otherwise) sales relationship.

Thank You!
sometime the smallest thing can either differentiate you and your approach, or demonstrate that you are just like the rest. The difference is about 30 seconds, and old fashioned courtesy, thank you.

Sales Apps for Top Sales Success
To achieve greatness in sales, professionals must be organized, prepared for all circumstances, and effective in self-management. Here is a list of sales apps to help achieve these goals.

The Happiness of Pursuit
In sales the pursuit is the thing, real sales people enjoy the process as much as the outcome. Of course if you are not getting the results, it is hard to like the process.

Question Testing
Questions are the key to sales success. Creating the right questions is a process, the more you mater it, the more productive you will be.

The LAW of MotionFirst = SUCCESS
It is my fundamental belief that success comes from movement - Motionfirst. To succeed, you must consistently take action.

How to Handle the “I Am Not Interested” Objection
Being able to turn a negative viewpoint into a positive profit is a transaction sales people and consumers will mutually benefit from. The techniques outlined below can help you identify, address, and nullify objections that keep you from making sales.

How to Handle Price Objections
Objections to price are the most frequent of all objections. Your ability to meet these successfully is a valuable asset, and being efficient in sales is impossible without it. It is so important that every sales manager should take special efforts to see that each member of his sales force is able to meet successfully price objections.

Sales is Like Fishing
When we go selling we have prepared We have selected the right place. We have the right product/service and technique. We have read and practiced and gotten great. We are going to close the deal.

Sales Training Fails for a Reason
With so many options out there designed to appeal to your preferred learning style, why do so many sales training programs fail?

Sales Training Fails for a Reason
With so many options out there designed to appeal to your preferred learning style, why do so many sales training programs fail?

The Captain of the Titanic Wasnt in Sales
Did you know sales success and icebergs have something in common? And no ...this article is not about cold calling!

There Is No Instant Gratification: Winning In The Trust & Value Economy
If you want to succeed in this economy, then understand there in no instant gratification. Be patient and invest in your clients.

Make Your Networking Count! Relationship First, Business Second
Networking is both a science and an art. To make it work you need to understand how to combine the rules with a little human touch. Make your networking count!

Selling in 21st Century
There has been a revolution in everything in our society except in sales. The sales industry has crawled while other professions have been running: "new" sales books are still talking about the same tips, tricks and techniques that were working in last century and bringing the success to sales people.

10 Ways to Increase your Sales
Want to increase your sales and grow your business but worried you will come across as a pushy sales person? Not sure what to do or where to start to ensure your business is a success this year? The key to success, particularly in sales, is planning ahead and always be willing to try something new.

Know When to Walk Away - Turn Your Prospects Into Customers
Managing your time is crucial in sales. Knowing who, when and where to spend your time makes all the difference between sales success and sales failure. Understanding when to walk away in the sales process is key to ensuring you meet your ultimate sales goal of turning your prospects into customers.

Increasing Sales and Productivity: Action and Fundamentals
I recently surveyed dozens of sales managers about tools and solutions they use to help their sales teams be more productive and successful in selling. When I analyzed these expert sales managers’ feedback, the key ingredient or “secret” to high sales productivity is ACTION! Another important aspect of success and sales performance is focusing on the fundamentals.

The Zen of Sales and Marketing
All success in life – including success in sales and marketing – is predicated around achieving Zen. Zen means turning reactive sales and marketing into a passionate, active outpouring!

Boost Your Sales With Presentation Skills Training
Presentation skills training is critical to sales success. Whether you are new to sales or an experienced pro, great communication unlocks doors. Learn 7 master keys to get faster sales, bigger sales, and build strong relationships with loyal customers.

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