Bernadette McClelland
AUGUST 7, 2012
'Is it time to think in opposites? Counterintuitive Selling. I have the privilege of working closely with a pretty cool guy by the name of Nils Vesk who is all about thinking differently. He’s into innovation and has written a great book “Ideas with Legs” which is well worth reading. One of his key messages is to ‘Be Counterintuitive’ So how can a sales person be innovative by being counterintuitive?
The Sales Heretic
AUGUST 2, 2012
Virtually every personal development “guru” and business “expert” extolls the value of persistence and perseverance. Quitting is considered the ultimate sin. Phooey. Quitting is valuable. Important. Even crucial to your success, both in sales and in life. If your sales, your career, your project, your relationship isn’t where you’d like it to be, your best course of action [.].
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SBI Growth
AUGUST 6, 2012
Are your sales resources properly aligned with growth opportunity ? The Sales Leader is about to receive the 2013 Revenue Number. He will rely on you, the Head of Sales Operations, for sales strategy advice. Have you conducted growth opportunity analyses in your market? Are you confident the sales team’s people, money and time are accurately allocated for the upcoming year?
MTD Sales Training
AUGUST 1, 2012
Often during a sales interaction, the sales person will attack and downgrade their competition. While this is never a good thing for many reasons, it is even worse when the prospect starts bashing your competition. Many sales people love it when the prospect starts to downgrade their rivals as the two “tag-team” the competition. The sales person believes that this will make the relationship between the sales person and the prospect stronger and increase the chances for making the sale.
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The Pipeline
AUGUST 3, 2012
Wednesday I posted the first in a series of 3 Things you Should Not Say on a Cold Call! , looking at avoiding the phrase “Just need…”. By the way, the word just should also be avoided when following through with a prospect, rather than saying “I am just following up”. Be proactive and leave out the JUST, get to the point, the thing that will move the sale forward. .
Sales Pro Central brings together the best content for sales professionals from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
Bernadette McClelland
AUGUST 31, 2012
'When the answers are in our questions. “Why don’t you live with your Dad anymore?” my son Matthew asked a few years ago. ”Cos Mum and Dad fight too much” came the other little voice. Two nine year olds, whilst maneuvering their play station controllers, were having a simple conversation. Even though only nine, it brought home to me the innate ability most children have to get straight to the point and ask the most pointed questions – and get an equally direct
Steven Rosen
AUGUST 26, 2012
Or are you hiring on “gut” and tired of making hiring mistakes? Then Systematically Selecting Sales Super Stars is for you. You will learn how to more effectively select top-performing salespeople. Steven will teach you a three-step, systematic process to identify better reps who can deliver improved team performance and sales results. In this webinar you’ll learn how to: Identify and leverage key Super STAR traits.
SBI Growth
AUGUST 26, 2012
I hear from sales and marketing leaders on a regular basis that they need more leads. The most common marketing efforts to drive leads include paid search, SEO, social media, outbound email, teleprospecting and trade shows. When I ask about inbound marketing and what they are doing about content marketing, things like publishing a blog , their eyes glaze over.
MTD Sales Training
AUGUST 16, 2012
For a quick break from the norm, here is another one of those witty water cooler stories I thought you might find amusing. As always, what follows is just a story I heard from a sales person, who will remain nameless. Also as before, I do not sanction, verify, agree, or approve of the follow scenario, nor am I suggesting that you do anything like this.
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The Pipeline
AUGUST 27, 2012
One of the easiest ways to dismiss Interruptions and to get the most out of Conditioned Responses , is by telling the caller that you are busy. Prospect: I’m really busy, can you call me back? Caller: Sure, when is a good time? Prospect: Call me Tuesday morning! Chick chack, back to work in less than five seconds. Let’s look at the replay in slow motion.
Sales and Marketing Management
AUGUST 11, 2012
Issue Date: 2012-08-12. Author: Kathy Maixner. Teaser: Turning down business is not easy, in strong economies as well as struggling ones, but it may be preferable to lose the sale than to start a new customer relationship by cutting into your own profit. Turning down business is not easy, in strong economies as well as struggling ones, but it may be preferable to lose the sale than to start a new customer relationship by cutting into your own profit.
Bernadette McClelland
AUGUST 20, 2012
'Excuse me, you have spinach in your teeth… Ever wondered why some people can’t bring themselves to call it as it is – tell you that you have spinach in your teeth, loo paper on your shoe or god forbid that your fly is undone…? I recently wrote a post that pushed the boundary of political correctness, although my intention was a positive one, and a friend of mine told me she cringed when she read it.
Steven Rosen
AUGUST 12, 2012
Demystifying Business Acumen. Join Steven Rosen on Wednesday Aug. 15th at 11:00 AM for Demystifying Business Acumen. . In Demystifying Business Acumen , you will learn simple approaches to view your business more strategically. Make wiser decisions, plan better, and effectively allocate your resources based on customer needs and potential for growth.
Speaker: Carlos Hidalgo, Co-Founder & CEO of Digital Exhaust, Author, International Keynote & TEDx Speaker
Recent research shows that only 50% of B2B organizations state that they have good alignment between their marketing and sales teams. This lack of alignment tremendously impacts the ability to meet business goals, and is a limiting factor for building and maintaining customer relationships. While many B2B organizations continue to struggle with aligning their marketing and sales teams, they can take practical steps to unify both teams and simplify their overall approach.
SBI Growth
AUGUST 23, 2012
Here it comes, the 2013 budgeting process. On top of finishing out 2012, you need to determine which Sales Strategy initiatives to prioritize in order to make the 2013 number. Avoid the conventional lip service you pay sales strategy development ; that’s old school, develop a sales strategy that the sales team understands and can really rally behind.
MTD Sales Training
AUGUST 23, 2012
I imagine the title of this piece not only grabbed your attention, but also caused a bit of confusion or even shock. First, let me clarify exactly what I am saying. There are only TWO objections that exist. That’s all; just two. They come disguised as dozens of other issues and appear to be tons of objections. My contention however is that there are but two real objections , and understanding this will help you close more sales today.
The Pipeline
AUGUST 1, 2012
Prospecting is not fun for most sellers, and cold calling ranks as the least favourite form of the activity. While some may want to debate whether cold calling is still a viable part of a broad prospecting regime, I firmly believe it is, and the numbers prove it. There is no doubt that it is a difficult task, perhaps explaining its lack of popularity, but there are things sellers do, that make it more difficult and less productive than need be, further fueling the sense of frustration and poor
No More Cold Calling
AUGUST 9, 2012
Not every industry lends itself to social networking. Find out where you can get the most bang for your social-selling buck. There are way too many people and “so-called experts” offering tips about social media. Then I met Kurt Shaver: He’s different. He has carried a bag, been a sales executive, and actually provides tips we can use. I never considered the active LinkedIn industries that mapped to my Ideal Client.
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The Sales Heretic
AUGUST 22, 2012
My buddy, Shaari, was staying with me for a couple of weeks in between overseas assignments. (He teaches English in various countries around the world.) His next job is in Afghanistan, so he needed a heavy winter coat. We headed out to the nearest sporting goods store. When we arrived, we found a few lightweight jackets, [.].
Sales and Marketing Management
AUGUST 4, 2012
Issue Date: 2012-08-05. Author: Ofer M. Yourvexel. Teaser: Affordable and comprehensive sales solutions accessed through easily portable tablet computers can help reps for wholesalers make the leap from being far behind to very current – and they can do it almost overnight with a mobile sales force automation (MSFA) plan. Affordable and comprehensive sales solutions accessed through easily portable tablet computers can help reps for wholesalers make the leap from being far behind to very c
SBI Growth
AUGUST 16, 2012
As a quota carrying sales rep, you have a number to hit. The year is well under way. Are you going to rely too much on marketing to provide high quality leads to hit the number? Let’s be honest, the majority of reps would be out on the street if they had to rely solely on marketing for Lead Generation What can you do about it? Simply put, you have to drive your own brand to ensure that prospects are finding you when searching for options.
MTD Sales Training
AUGUST 7, 2012
You finally get through to the decision maker (DM) and before you can even explain the reason for your call , you hear, “I’m not interested!”. What you need to realise is that this impulsive, nearly subconscious response is NOT actually an objection. The prospect has nothing to object to at this point. However, most sales people launch into a plethora of “rebuttals” in attempt to overcome this non-objection, resulting in nothing but a virtual fight.
Speaker: Joe Heather, Deliverect GM (UK&I) & Noah Hayes, Deliverect GM (US&CA)
Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) and Quick Commerce (Q-commerce) are two vibrant sectors that have undergone significant transformations with the advancements in digital technology. With growing internet penetration and the proliferation of smartphones, consumers' purchasing habits have unsurprisingly evolved. They now demand quick, convenient, and seamless shopping experiences, which both FMCG and Q-commerce sectors strive to provide.
The Pipeline
AUGUST 8, 2012
Success in sales comes down to ensuring you allocate enough time to the right activity, high-value activity, and how well you execute those activities. So any time you can find a tool that helps you reduce the time it takes you to do a high-value activity, and lets you do it in a better way with better results, you know you have a competitive advantage.
Understanding the Sales Force
AUGUST 2, 2012
Understanding the Sales Force by Dave Kurlan It's not really the price as much as it's the context for which that price is provided. Let's take mobile apps for example. $9.99 on its own seems very inexpensive, but with apps available for $3.99, $1.99, $.99 and even free, it's expensive - by comparison. Look at the moon - we think it's fairly large, but when you look at it in comparison to Earth and Mercury's moon, it's a blip in the sky!
No More Cold Calling
AUGUST 23, 2012
Do what top salespeople do: ask probing questions, and get the answers to seal the sales deal. Sales pundits suggest salespeople must change the way they sell: stop pitching products, become consultants and strategic advisors. Let’s get real. Top salespeople don’t pitch. They never have, and never will. Top salespeople ask good questions, they listen, ask more questions, and extract information and perspectives from the client where other less-experienced salespeople are clueless.
Sales and Marketing Management
AUGUST 19, 2012
Issue Date: 2012-08-20. Author: Jim Swift. Teaser: While the science of customer purchasing behaviors has been around since the dawn of commerce, these principles have not been applied to the B2B space. Times are changing, and when it comes to adopting such successful B2C marketing techniques within the B2B space, the time is now. While the science of customer purchasing behaviors has been around since the dawn of commerce, these principles have not been applied to the B2B space.
Speaker: Jake Miller, Senior Product Marketing Manager, Allego
Buyers are savvier, buying teams are larger, and new research shows that buyers' attention spans have dropped to just 8 seconds. This means that the old approach of blasting buyers with email-heavy, generic communications no longer works. Instead, buyers need to be surrounded with relevant communications and personalized, self-service content throughout their journey.
SBI Growth
AUGUST 9, 2012
“For me, Sales has been a challenging group. Among all organizations I support, Sales is the most resistant. Sales leaders do not want interference from HR. They bring HR late in the game. HR is used for tactical, not strategic support. It is hard to influence things. I have seen this with many sales leaders. This is not just an isolated case.” - Senior VP of Human Resources.
MTD Sales Training
AUGUST 2, 2012
There are countless tips, tricks and gimmicks on how to begin a cold call. Of course, the majority of these ideas focus on how to get the call started or how to begin the call and hopefully develop some rapport. However, there is so much focus on how to begin the call, that how you end the call NEVER gets attention. Yet, how you end the call, in practically when you have closed the sale or set the appointment, is just as important, if not more so than how the call began.
The Pipeline
AUGUST 6, 2012
Before we get into the third installment of this series, I wanted to take a minute to ask you, based on your experience either as cold caller or someone who receives their share of cold calls, what are some specific things you believe should be avoided in cold calls. Happy to share so we can all make the art better. So we’ve looked at not being diminutive in stature by the over and wrong use of the word “Just” I have also given you permission to be bold and articulate your o
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