There are no silver-bullets in sales, or sales leadership for that matter. The greatest sales people take the best parts of multiple strategies and combine them with their existing skills. They continually add to their arsenal to ensure they have options whenever they need them.
I will continue to source strategies and post them on this page so that you can review them at your leisure. You could find most of them yourself, but that would require hours of internet research each week. So, why waste your selling-time when I am doing the research for you?
I will spend my time to find this information, so that you can spend your time prospecting, attending appointments, taking care of your customers and making money.
To save time, use the search tool below to find what you need.
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Managing your Time in Professional Sales-3 Tips for Effectiveness
Across all industries, one of the major issues professional salespeople struggle with is proper time management. All too often, at the end of the day the professional salesperson can look back and feel as if they accomplished nothing of value. We evaluate three key tips to improving time efficiency and your mastery of time management. - MORE
Improve Your Sales Strategy With the Secrets of Personality Type
Is there anything more frustrating to a sales rep than a customer who leaves your business to purchase the same product or service from a competitor? Despite your best efforts, the sale evaporates, and you rarely know why. However, businesses who have the resources often conduct “lost customers surveys” to find out what happened. The top reason cited for leaving a business to make a purchase elsewhere? - MORE
The Frustrated Sales Man
5 days on and John had not gotten an answer from the the client he presented to the week before. He did everything that was required of him. He followed the sales pitch correctly, asked the right open questions, gained their interest and finally asked for the order. He was now waiting for the phone call of a life time. The “Yes John, we’ll fax over the booking form in a minute” call. - MORE
Stop Selling, Ask for a Sales Referral!
A sales referral is when you, as a sales professional, ask a client, a prospect (or even an acquaintance or friend) for the name and contact information of someone who might have an interest, need or want for your product or service. An introduction to the individual makes the sales referral even more powerful. - MORE
What are the 3 vital parts of a winning sales call?
So why do so many business owners and sales people alike, have problems securing the deal with a hot prospect. This article helps you unlock your magic code, to securing far more business at sales meetings. - MORE
Winning Sales Proposals
Your proposal is selling for you when you’re not there, so it must reflect your standards of professionalism. - MORE
Successful Sales Strategies: Winning the Close Ones
The “Three Cs” in building customer relationships are a key component of professional selling skills. - MORE
C-Level Selling - Generating More Sales
Sales growth will come from (1) existing customers; (2) old or lost customers; (3) new customers; (4) existing products or service; and/or (5) new products/ services. - MORE
Sales Turnaround - From Closing Sales To Opening Sales
To turn things around we turned around our whole sales process. Instead of talking about closing the sale we changed the language to opening the sale. This focused the team on asking the right questions to qualify customers and identify needs. Opening sales turned the focus into starting a conversation rather than just answering questions. It turned a reactionary team into a proactive team. - MORE
How To Connect With Your Prospects
Years ago I got one of the most important pieces of advice on how to truly connect with my prospects and clients while selling over the phone. When I heard it I thought it was too simple to be effective, but after getting into the habit of using it, I was soon convinced of its effectiveness. The advice? - MORE
How To Handle Incoming Leads
80% of your competition mistake the “implied interest" of a call in to mean they are already qualified, and all they need to do is explain their product or service. Wrong! - MORE
The True Definition of a Qualified Lead
Know these five things and chances are real good you're going to close this prospect. Leave one out -- or two out -- and chances are even better that you're never going to close this prospect. - MORE
Consultative Selling is Classic and Classy
Is Consultative Selling obsolete? Not if it will serve both the seller AND the buyer.
Many sales organizations and individual salespeople are looking for a selling system. They know that a good "fit" with a system will make them more productive. The question is, which one? It's too easy to follow the fads and invest in the latest sales approach simply because it's new. - MORE
Ten Deadly Sales Sins
Great basic advice and tips for sales people. - MORE
Voicemail: Love It or Leave It?
If you're prospecting and the gatekeeper says the president is busy, would you like her voicemail, always say yes. - MORE
Permission Seeker or Pushy Salesperson?
Opening a call is not easy to get right. It’s a question of knowing exactly what you want from the person you’re talking to. It’s also a question of attitude and approach. - MORE
Half Dozen Basic Sales Tips for New Salespeople
So, here are a few basic sales tips for individuals launching their new career in professional selling. Use these sales tools and selling techniques to get to the top of the rankings. - MORE
5 Ways To Work With Existing Customers
I received an Ezine topic request this week on how to handle ongoing customer contacts without appearing to be a pest or without seeming to call just for another order (which was the reason this sales rep was calling!) Do you ever face this situation? - MORE
Double Your Sales in 90 Days!
Sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? Stan Billue, a top telemarketing sales trainer in the late 80’s, claimed that he had a sure fire technique that could double your sales in 90 days if you’d just follow it. So I did. And it worked! - MORE
Presenting To A Group
Presenting to a group can be a daunting prospect it is easy to be intimated when having to do it. These nerves can cause us to make basic mistakes when presenting. I'm sure that you had had the misfortune to sit in on some quite terrible presentations over the years and hopefully also had an opportunity to see some great presentations. - MORE
The Death Of A Sales Pitch
Far too many people in business waste time pursuing leads that refuse to pick up the phone or return calls. - MORE
Sales Pipeline - Know Where Your Contacts Are At
Sales pipelines are an important concept in business marketing. At any one point you will have different people in different phases of the buying process: your sales pipeline. How you market to these people varies. When you know who, and how many, you have in your sales pipelines you can plan your strategies effectively. - MORE
How To Avoid Rejection
Anyone in sales knows about rejection. And to 80% of salespeople, this is what they fear the most. Fear of rejection creates call resistance, long lunch hours, sick stomachs and can turn a telephone into a 200 pound weight - hard to pick up. - MORE
Questions To Ask During the Close
I get a lot of ezine topic requests each week, and many of them are requests for different questioning techniques to use during the qualification stage. - MORE
The Key To Building Value
You hear it all the time -- if your price is higher than your competition you're told to “build value." You’re instructed to stress the quality, the warranty, the features, etc. But your prospects have heard all that before, haven’t they? Want a better way? - MORE
The Thermometer Close
I'm not a big fan of so called tricks of the sales trade but here's one that is worth mentioning called the thermometer close. - MORE
When Chasing Sales Becomes Wasting Sales
We all been there, spend hours attending the meetings, given the presentations, prepared the proposal and then after all this personal investment, what appeared to be a certain big deal now starts to look increasingly shaky. - MORE
Notes! To Take or Not To Take?
Recording details on paper with the prospect during a sales meeting is a subject that divides a lot of salespeople. - MORE
7 Pitfalls of Using Email to Sell
* Are you sending e-mails to prospects instead of calling them?
* Is e-mail your selling medium of choice because it lets you avoid the rejection that you experience when you make real cold calls? - MORE
Moving Beyond Consultative Selling to Deliver Industry Leading Sales Results
While solid product knowledge and advanced consultative selling skills can deliver increased revenue, they will not deliver industry leading sales results. Industry leadership comes when real business acumen is added to the mix and you become a trusted advisor as opposed to merely acting as one. - MORE
Asking The Right Probing Questions
Asking questions and listening to the buyer's needs are two fundamental and critical selling skills. Both aspects are important. You need to ask the right questions and listen to the answers. This process is the single best investment of your time. - MORE
Does Your Team Sell Transactionally or Are They Trusted Advisors?
In a head-to-head competition a well trained Trusted Advisor will win almost every time. In fact, transactional behaviors will only magnify the differentiation and value of the trusted advisor and the vendor they represent. This is about competing and winning. - MORE
11 Rules for Selling to a Skeptic
Once internalized, these 11 points will mesh into an effective sales strategy. You will begin to think of them not as individual points to be mastered, but one comprehensive selling technique. They are designed to compliment each other and give you a thorough footing for selling to those who are naturally doubtful about you and your service. Master them and win! - MORE
Increasing Sales using the Different Methods of Gathering Business Leads
Business leads are one of the most important parts of a marketing plan. It allows companies and individuals to find investors, donors, response buyers and even a new business to expand company production. However, looking for business leads is not as easy as it may seem because you have to go through thousands of consumers and contacts before you can find the right leads. - MORE
Overcoming Small Business Sales Resistance
Ultimately sales is part of the marketing process. We have to understand the components of resistance and inoculate against it. We need to be better about really personally connecting with our customers and prospects. We need to be genuine, keep our promises, and help our customers do our sales for us. - MORE
Expert Qualities in Sales
The relationship between a doctor and patient is built on trust and developed over time, therefore a doctor doesn’t have to sell anything, he simply has to recommend things, and people will buy.
Unfortunately, for sales people, it just isn’t that easy. Here are a few ways you can begin to command the respect of your customers so that they will see you as an authority on the products you sell. - MORE
How To Plan Your Presentation So You Close Sales
By the time you finish reading this article, you will have learned how to present your product or service properly. - MORE
Persuasion in Selling
How convincing are you? Do you think you could generate more business sales and be more influential if you were more persuasive? Persuasion comes from having a strong belief or conviction either in yourself or the product or service you’re selling. - MORE
Are trade shows & conferences worth the effort in B2B marketing?
If I had a dollar for every time I've heard a CFO rant about the high cost and no measurable results of trade shows, I'd have, well honestly, I'd have about 10 bucks. But the point is: the CFOs may be right. - MORE
Sales Lead Generation Starts with a Strategy - Step 1
If you're selling professional or technology services to business and you're not satisfied with the options and costs to outsource your lead generation, consider doing it yourself. There are challenges, but they can be overcome, even without a well staffed marketing group, senior marketing leadership or the expense of recruiting. - MORE
Three Sure-Fire Sales Rebuttals That You Can Use When Your Prospect Says, "I'm Not Interested!"
What do you say when your sales prospect says, "I'm not interested?" Do you just move on to the next prospect? Or, do you attempt to ask a few more qualifying questions to get to the heart of why they said no? Below are three example sales rebuttals that you can use to take the "not" out of the "I'm not interested" sales objection: - MORE
"Hunter" vs. "Farmer": How Do You Sell?
The cost of finding new customers is estimated to be between 500% and 800% higher than that of repeat or additional sales to existing customers. With profitability, therefore, significantly higher when selling to existing customers, it's time to decide what kind of sales representative you want to be: transactional (hunter) or consultative (farmer). - MORE
Go From Good to Great: Five Ways to Boost Your Sales Career
Many experienced sales professionals don't see the need for continuous improvement. They often think, "I've been selling for fifteen years, so I must be great." The number of years experience is not a measure of excellence - any honest golfer knows that. Such thinking can limit sales professionals from achieving a higher level of success. - MORE
How To Get Your Calls Returned By Becoming an Industry Expert
Mary Haven, who is a top rainmaker for her company believes that she gets her calls returned because her clients know that she has a wealth of knowledge about what's going on in her industry. She can discuss business trends as well as who's been promoted, demoted or changed jobs. This type of industry knowledge, or gossip, is very enticing. Taking a telephone call from Mary is really an opportunity to get updated on trends and who's doing what in her industry. - MORE
Dealing with the RIGHT Decision Maker
If you look at your forecasting for the rest of the year and wonder how many of the deals you're working on will close, don't think you are alone. - MORE
WIIFM? The Million Dollar Sales Question
Success in sales negotiations is more about listening than it is about talking, especially in today's totally transparent business environment.
Here are a few tips to help sales pros get and stay on the fast track. - MORE
The Sales Person’s Kryptonite
Superman, as strong he is, is paralyzed by kryptonite. It brings him to his knees despite his superhuman strength. Sales people have their own kryptonite called RFPs, the dreaded Request for Proposal. An RFP process doesn’t have to be kryptonite. Superman has no choice but to fight this nemesis to survive. Sales people have choices. - MORE
Integrity in sales – Consultative Sales
You are a sales rep and not a consultant - don't forget that. Consultative sales is about how you conduct yourself, not what you printed on your business card.
If you start off the relationship by being disingenuous about your position why would anyone want to buy from you? - MORE
Tips and Tools to Help Exceed Sales Goals
Stress is high and so are sales quotas. You walk around trying to determine methods that enable you to hurdle the obstacles.There are some things that are within your powers and will enable you to reach those audacious issues, but you must do things differently and you must submit to make needed changes. - MORE
Quit Being a Salesperson
Many sales are lost because of "sales." To be successful in this profession requires listening to the customer. Unfortunately as salespeople, we often hear so many different things that we feel the need to provide solutions for all of their problems. When this happens, sales professionals can overwhelm the customer, causing them to become confused, and, ultimately, losing any sale. - MORE
Listening Skills - Pay Attention With More Heart Than Talent
Only one-third of the speaker’s meaning is conveyed by words. Two-thirds is conveyed by body language, indicating emotional tone.
Listening will directly impact your potential for sales and prospecting for new associates or distributors. Becoming a good listener requires practice, patience, and a genuine interest in other people. - MORE
Tips and Tools to Help Exceed Sales Goals
Stress is high and so are sales quotas. You walk around trying to determine methods that enable you to hurdle the obstacles.There are some things that are within your powers and will enable you to reach those audacious issues, but you must do things differently and you must submit to make needed changes. - MORE
How to Double Your Sales Appointments in Half the Time; Part 4
Here are the final 3 ‘Sales Prospecting Errors’ that lead to low sales appointment success. Find out how to avoid the ‘Slippery Slope’ of low sales appointment conversion ratios. - MORE
11 Proven Sales Strategies to Help You Close The Deal
There are a number of sales closing strategies that you can learn with different ones applied in different situations. Each salesperson might be more comfortable with one or another. As a business owner, you want to be certain that you and your salespeople become exposed to a number of different strategies so they can choose the one they prefer depending on different situations. - MORE
How to Double Your Sales Appointments in Half the Time; Part 3
There are 6 Major 'Sales Prospecting Errors' that lead to low sales appointment success. In this article we will discuss the ramifications and remedies of the 1st three. - MORE
High-Income Selling Strategies: 5 New Rules To Govern Your Behavior And Actions In The Sales Cycle
Everyone wants to earn more, but few are willing to change behavior to do so. In fact, most aren’t. In my work of over 19 years with the high sales achiever, I find that most of them operate with a different set of rules about selling and the pursuit of new business. These new rules help govern their behavior and actions in the sales cycle. I have over 25 rules that I’ve documented, but here are the top five for you to consider: - MORE
How to Double Your Sales Appointments in Half the Time; Part 2
Why is ‘Setting Sales Appointments’ a Critical Sales Performance Competency and How Do You Build a Prospecting System to Set More Sales Appointments in Less Time? - MORE
Sales Strategies for Entrepreneurs: The #1 Way To Skyrocket Your Sales This Year
Completely grasp the power of the Best Buyer Concept and you will double your sales within the next twelve months. The concept is easy to understand, yet powerful: There's always a smaller number of ideal buyers, compared to all the possible buyers, so ideal buyers are cheaper to market to and yet bring greater rewards. - MORE
How to Double Your Sales Appointments in Half the Time; Part 1
Sales organizations live by growth. And Sales Growth is measured by sales revenue. If you want to know how to increase sales revenue…there are only three ways to do it: - MORE
How to Overcome Sales Objections
The first step in overcoming objections is to create synergy between the prospect and yourself. You want the two of you on the same team working against the objections. This generally involves agreeing with the prospect that the subject is important and then getting them to work with you to solve the problem. - MORE
10 Ways to Overcome Sales Objections
According to the experts who conduct sales coaching and sales training courses, most of the sales objections take place when a sales rep has failed to show to the client the usefulness of the product. Overcoming these objections is a very important lesson for a sales rep. - MORE
Objection Handling Techniques
The ability to effectively handle objections is without doubt the single biggest factor in getting prospects to buy. An objection is first and foremost an indication that at some level the prospect has or is considering buying and should be welcomed by the salesperson. - MORE
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