The 80/20 Rule, is it Sales Fact or Fiction?
The 80/20 Rule in Sales: Fact, Fiction… or a Management Problem?
Ten Tips to Improve the Performance of Your Sales Team
This is the first in a series of practical, field tested tips designed to give sales leaders tools they can use every day to steadily improve performance and revenue.
The Difference Between a Name and a True Referral
Customer Relationship is the eighth and final “C” of the SELLability 8 Cs; and it may be the most powerful of them all. That’s because strong customer relationships are the engine that drives referrals, and referrals are the lifeblood of elite sales organizations.
The Difference Between a Name and a True Referral - OLD
It can happen that, when you have closed a sale, you then ask, “Who do you know that should be using our product or service?” Your new customer then provides one or more names and contact information.
What do you now have? Well, you have just got a name. Sure, when you call them, you can “drop” the name of your customer. But it’s only a little better than a cold call—they still don’t know you and don’t even know if you really made a sale to the person who referred you unless they hear it from them. And on top of that, they do not know if your customer is a happy customer.
The Question Every Salesperson Wishes They Asked Sooner
Why the First Minutes of Your Presentation Matter More Than You Think
Selling With Pride: The Code Behind Sustainable Success
Pride, Integrity, and the Professional Salesperson
The Competitive Analysis: Why Should the Prospect Buy from You? - OLD
Part of a company’s competence is understanding what makes its product or service unique. In other words, why should a prospect buy from you as opposed to the competition? That question would be addressed through a competitive analysis.
Outthinking the Competition: A Simple Strategy That Works
Competence and Competition: Don’t Overthink It
In Sales, It’s a Matter of Trust - OLD
Very early on in any sales cycle, you must establish trust. This is, in fact, the first job of a salesperson. In order to sell to a prospect, you must get them to tell you about their lives, hopes, dreams, and problems—which won’t happen unless they trust you enough to tell you what they’re really thinking.
Trust Comes First: Why Real Communication Is the True Beginning of Every Sale
Trust Comes First: Why Real Communication Is the True Beginning of Every Sale
Discovering and Developing REAL Buyer Interest - OLD
A vital part of sales certainty is the skill of discovering and developing real buyer interest. How is this done?
The first major step is getting the prospect to talk. It’s a bit of a balance—you don’t want the prospect to go on and on and on, but you do need to make it safe for them to talk and get them going.
The One Time You Shouldn’t Trust Your Gut in Sales
Never Assume: It’s the Fastest Way to Lose a Sale
Train, Drill, Drill, and Drill - OLD
In sales, nothing builds confidence like continuously improving your skills.
Salespeople who regularly have trouble selling are either missing one or more basics in their sales skill arsenal, or they just don’t practice them enough so that they’ve really “got” them.
Defining Real Sales Control - OLD
If there’s one factor that sales organizations cry out to have—and that salespeople themselves crave—it is control. That is control over the deal. Control over the prospect. Most of all, control over bringing the deal to a close. What is real sales control?
How Ordinary People Become Extraordinary Salespeople
Great Salespeople Are Not Born — They’re Trained
The One Skill That Instantly Separates Closers from Everyone Else
Why Control Is the Oxygen of a Successful Sales Organization
The Missing Skill Behind Every Easy Close
As we continue our series on control, we arrive at one of the most overlooked truths in sales:
you’ll never reach a true win-win close without control.
The #1 Reason Prospects Tune You Out
Paying Attention: The Secret Skill Most Salespeople Skip
Positive Control Means a Win-Win - OLD
Continuing our series on control, we come to another reason that control is of such vital importance: you won’t reach the win-win of a closed sale without it.
The Decline of Communication in the Digital Age
Has Modern Technology Actually Improved Communication?
(Or Have We All Just Become Really Fast Typists?)
The Decline of Communication in the Digital Age - OLD
When speaking on the topic of communication, I am often asked this question: “Has modern technology improved communication skills?”
More recent generations grew up with this technology—are their communication skills better as a result?
The myth of selling - OLD
Manners in Communication - OLD
Manners and communication work hand-in-hand, and in fact, it could be said that one won’t work very well without the other. Just try communicating with bad manners—what you’re trying to say will not get across very well, and if it reaches the other person at all, it’s likely to cause a bad reaction.Why Prospects Ghost You and How To Fix It
Manners and communication go together like peanut butter and jelly, remove one, and things get sticky fast. Try communicating with bad manners and watch how quickly the message turns into confusion, irritation, or a full-blown emotional dumpster fire. Even if the words technically land, the experience sure doesn’t.
You are Only as Happy as Your Last Close - OLD
As salespeople, we truthfully love the sale, the whole sales process, and all of the challenges that culminate in the CLOSE!
Each close brings us happiness, a sense of accomplishment, and satisfaction for a job well done, but how long does this last?
Why Your Last Sale Is Costing You the Next One
If you’ve been in sales longer than 10 minutes, you already know that feeling.
You hang up the phone, shake a hand, or click “Submit Order,” and suddenly the world looks brighter. Your shoulders drop. You breathe again. Birds chirp. Coffee tastes like victory. You’ve just closed a deal, and for a moment, life is good.
Are salespeople interrupted by the new communication technology? - OLD
In the past, we usually communicated to each other face to face. The business was done at lunch meetings and we flew or drove to meet our clients in person. In this way, we felt we really knew each other and could maintain our business relationship.
Fast forward to today, and you can surely see the benefits of the advancement of our communications with the emergence of the internet and mobile technology and this will only continue to grow.
We’ve Never Been More Connected—and Communicated Less
A little over three hundred years ago, “fast communication” meant two people standing in the same place… or someone spending three days handwriting a letter with the kind of pen that required actual feathers.
