One of the best strategies to gain increased engagement with a prospect or customer is to approach them with three thoughtful, relevant ideas about how you can help their business. In this way, you’ll drive an agenda favorable to your business, increase your credibility as a strategic partner, and differentiate yourself from the competition. I […]
Top Producers
To Win the Sale, Rewrite the Rulebook
The best salespeople are proactive and take control of the sale. Rather than simply allowing themselves to be led by a customer who controls the agenda, top producers constantly add value, establish their authority as thought leaders, and steer the customer’s thinking in favorable directions. They don’t play by the rules, but instead look for opportunities […]
The President’s Club: What’s the Big Deal?
All sales professionals aspire to earn the prestigious “President’s Club”. This is the ultimate sales achievement award that is also sometimes referred to as “The 100% Club”, “The Winner’s Circle”, “The Chairman’s Inner Circle”, etc. From the moment you graduate from sales training and are assigned your sales territory you hear about this great award […]
Deconstructing “The Joy of A Salesman” Video
What is “The Joy of a Salesman”? A couple of months ago I received a link to this video from two separate friends in the sales game. It was posted on YouTube by “mrsalesguy01” back on August 9th but it didn’t come to my attention until October. As of today it has accumulated a very […]
Calculating the True Cost of Marketing
Over a century ago, retailing pioneer John Wanamaker famously said “Half my advertising is wasted, I just don’t know which half.” The same challenge confronts most companies today. But what if you could know exactly which of your lead sources was producing what results and calculate your marketing and sales costs to the penny on […]
Is Sales The World’s Most Valuable Profession?
How is it that successful salespeople can earn more than doctors or lawyers, or sometimes even more than the owner of the company they work for? Economists agree: it’s because they practice the world’s most valuable profession. How valuable is it? Here’s a short quote from my 2004 book, The Greatest Job You Never Thought […]
Freeing Salespeople from the Burden of Marketing
Too often, I see companies placing the burden of Marketing on the shoulders of their salespeople, obscuring their true function and diminishing their effectiveness. In The World’s Greatest Sales Team, I imagine a firm which gives salespeople every opportunity to succeed by relieving that burden, allowing their salespeople to do what they do best; sell. […]
Recruiting Top Producing Salespeople
Good help is hard to find. Never is that phrase more true – or important – than when it comes to finding, developing and keeping good salespeople. Sales team member development will be covered in my articles on training. Retaining good salespeople is generally a question of properly setting and managing expectations which will be […]
Zen Selling
We’ve all known salespeople who seem to be the the marketing equivalent of “The Natural.” They know everything; about their offering, their clients, their prospects and their competition. They’re prepared for and calmly overcome every objection. They never get flustered or seem desperate, never take “no” for an answer. When they are faced with unavoidable […]
The World’s Greatest Sales Team?
This site was born out of frustration. Like most salespeople, over the years I’ve been frustrated with different aspects of every organization I’ve been associated with. Whether as an employee, independent contractor or consultant, it seems that invariably I find multiple, critical aspects of the sales process either ignored or poorly handled by the companies […]
