Motivation is critical to a salesperson’s success. And it needs to be intrinsic (driven internally by the person) and not extrinsic, which is driven by external forces, such as the sales manager. Sales leaders can dangle a carrot as an incentive to perform or use a stick as a penalty for not performing. Extrinsic motivation […]
Personality Styles
What about Training for the Manager?
I talked last month about the importance of coaching, but I’d like to go further. I believe one of the areas of sales training that doesn’t get as much attention as needed is training for sales managers. It is very common in the sales profession to reward those people that do well by promoting them […]
Using Dialogue to Build Relationships
Building a relationship with a prospect or customer is a prerequisite to successful selling. I believe that creating a genuine dialogue at the beginning of the sales call is critical to making that happen because it’s all about making a genuine connection. It’s focusing on their needs and interests not yours. At this point you […]
How to Coach your Sales Team
Coaching your salespeople is never successful with cookie cutter techniques. Yes, you can ask an array of standard questions for each person, but the interaction and the way you go about connecting effectively with your people is directly related to their personality style. Your goal as the manager should be to build trust, open communication […]
Understanding Your Sales Leadership Competencies
Sales leaders have different views of what leadership looks like depending on their personality style. What each style values in leadership will help them understand where they need improvement. As I’m sure you know, a great salesperson does not necessarily make a great sales leader. How many of you have worked for someone who fits […]
Should I Sit Back and Wait?
Should I sit back and wait? You’re making calls to build your pipeline as we all persevere through the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet what your prospects are telling you, “we’re re-evaluating our business right now due to the pandemic. Why don’t you touch base with us in about six months?” Does this sound familiar as it’s […]
Selling in a Crisis
With the spread of the COVID-19 virus worldwide, world economies have been crushed. Many businesses have closed, some permanently and others temporarily, and companies have furloughed millions of people. One of our favorite restaurants in Addison, Chamberlain’s Fish Market is closed. Yes, you can say it’s depressing. We don’t know when or if it will […]
The Scarcity Effect
It’s a very difficult time for our country and the world with the COVID-19 virus. I would never have thought of going to the store as soon as I could to buy as much toilet paper as possible. Now that we are approaching a month of sheltering in place, I would think that the stock […]
Is Your Price Too High”
How many times have you heard, “Your price is too high?” If you’re like me, too many. When the prospect questions your value their only response is, “It’s not worth it”. They may even say, “If you can lower your price, maybe I’ll buy”. But what’s really going on when they protest your pricing? You […]
How to Create Customer Urgency
Have you ever been here? It’s the end of the year and you have several customers straddling the fence on committing to buy. You know that the good ole end of year “only” discount strategy can certainly be approved, but is there a better approach? Does the customer truly see the value in your solution? […]
