Virtual Salesperson- Part 5
Break up the work into module's so that progress in one location is not overly dependent on progress in another location....
Break up the work into module's so that progress in one location is not overly dependent on progress in another location....
Part 2 concentrated on who the the team members might be- now let's hone in on these members to maximize your team......
I am sure you are on this "treadmill" of the never ending work day. One project leads to another which leads to more work etc. And while technology can help, it can also hinder- as an afternoon out at a client results in an overflowing inbox! You do more, you try harder and why does it feel like your never caught up?
Selection of Virtual Team Members
If the way to expedite business development or rainmaking results is by integrating networking, marketing, and sales, how can professionals who are trained salespeople reconcile that? Suzi Pomerantz author of "Seal the Deal "answers.......
Using Online Resources to build teams........
Techslog addresses the needs of virtual sales people in a series of articles that help you be more productive and advance your career from afar……
Continue reading "Working as a virtual salesperson, how can you be most effective?" »
Excerpted from the book, "I just got a job in sales! Now what?"Todd Natenberg offers some ways to get those messages returned and how you can improve the messages you leave.
Brian Jeffrey (a.k.a. The Sales Wizard) offers some pearls of wisdom on how to walk out of a sales call with the information you need and without committing any "accidents".
Success in sales and in life is an ongoing process rather than a final destination. Great salespeople understand this and are constantly searching for ways to improve. In my experience of more than 20 years as a sales rep, sales coach, and sales executive, the best sales professionals are people who are driven by an unbending desire to achieve greatness. They are unwilling to settle for less and are always open to new ideas.
There is a common language used by top-level managers in every company, and these managers assume you can speak that language. It is a language centered on business concepts and understanding a handful of concepts. As a sales rep, what does this language mean to you?
Let's face it, we have all had those sales cycles that have had some incredible speed bumps to slow down the process, how can you recover and still win the business?
Let's face it, executives are busy. They, like the rest of us, are multi-tasking and travelling and have many key initiatives on their plate at any time. So how can you stand out and establish rapport when the only way to communicate is via the phone?
Perhaps you’ve heard of “The Secret” that is going around; Oprah highlighted the movie on her show, and there is a lot of buzz in the media right now. Maybe you have even seen "The Secret" and wonder how you may harness this to help you with your sales. Read on to learn how you can attract more sales than ever before!
Continue reading "“The Secret” and how it can work for you in Sales" »
You sell to many different types of buyers, how can understanding their personality type help you in the sales cycle?
Sales Quota's seem to keep increasing every year. How can you strategize to meet your sales quota, and seperate yourself from the pack.......
Continue reading "Seperate yourself from the other sales reps!" »
On any given day an Enterprise sales rep is wearing many hat's-leading and managing his resources- at both his company as well as his customer. How do Enterprise reps do it? What does it take to be a succesful Enterprise sales rep?
Continue reading "Enterprise Sales Executives- The Jack of all trades-What does it take?" »
Eight steps to make your software sales calls more effective:
With the onslaught of metrics there is a buzz word bouncing around enterprises, and that is Actionable Intelligence.
What is Actionable Intelligence and how can it be used in Sales?
“Cold calling is a waste of time. It doesn’t work.”
“I picked up my largest client from cold calling.”
“Does cold calling really work?”
Continue reading "Cold Calling Success Stories- an Oxy Moron?" »
I am currently reading a great book that focus's on intense listening. While intense listening is vital in my coaching practise, good solid listening skills are an important skill for any sales rep. Look at it this way-
Better listening skills = higher earning potential.
Continue reading "Tommy can u here me? Listening skills can increase sales" »
There's so much talk about emotional intelligence and how it can promote personal and business success. What is it really? What are its basic tenets?
Sometime soon you will be attending some training. It may be a one hour tele-seminar, a one day class, professional conference, or a weekend retreat. It may be something that you are paying for, or it may be something your organization is investing in. Whether you are paying the bill or not, you are making a significant investment of your time, energy and attention to participate.
Continue reading "7 Ways to Get the Most Out of the Next Training You Attend" »
It’s the age-old question in sales: Are great salespeople born or made? Toss that question into a roomful of sales executives and you’re guaranteed to get some lively discussion on the issue. And for good reason: the question has implications for everything from hiring to training to coaching – in short, everything within the purview of the sales manager hinges on the answer to this single question.
Continue reading "Were Your Best Reps Born Great, or Made Great?" »
In today’s business world it is not uncommon for many sales people to work from a home office. At first this may seem like a great opportunity, however, it does create some unique challenges. One of the biggest obstacles is the number of distractions that can take us away from our work and prevent us from achieving our objectives.
Strengthening customer relationships is like strengthening a marriage. Have you ever faced a situation where you thought your relationship with a customer was still going strong, only to find she’s got her eye on a rival vendor? You come back from a sales meeting feeling confident and secure, only to find a message on your voicemail that your business won’t be up for renewal because a competitor bid lower! You feel so betrayed—how could your customer do that to you after all that you’ve done to support her, without even a hint that she was unhappy with you?
Continue reading "Strengthening Existing Customer Relationships" »
Frustration and animosity are stifling the business-to-business sector. Executives are frustrated because they can't translate the differentiated products and services, which they work so hard to create, into bottom line profitability. Their customers are frustrated because they frequently don't achieve the benefits they expect after purchasing those same solutions. Sellers and buyers stand on opposite sides of the value gap and blame each other.
Continue reading "How Executives are Closing the Gaps Between Value Creation and Value Delivery" »
When I conduct sales training, the most common problem that comes up is the prospect who won’t make a decision. Of course, we’d all prefer prospects to say yes, but at least when they say no we can move on. Fence sitters can take up inordinate amounts of your time and energy, often with little to show at the end.
The problem is, some of the best customers are also slow to decide – especially in the initial stages of the relationship. So how can you sort out the real opportunities from the dead-enders? Try this three-step approach to get the sales process moving – or figure out whether it’s time for you to move on:
Excerpted from the new edition of Get Clients Now!: A 28-day Marketing Program for Professionals, Consultants, And Coaches
One of the biggest challenges in marketing is getting people to respond to unsolicited calls and emails. When prospects enter your marketing pipeline as the result of your cold call, their casual visit to your website, or your finding their name on a list, you are essentially a stranger. Unless they have a compelling need for the service you are offering at the exact moment you contact them, they have no real incentive to take your call or answer your email.
With the complexity of today's business solutions and their far-reaching affects, more often than not senior level executives are actively involved in the process of assessing the issues and their options. Yet many companies are finding their best sales and marketing strategies are highly diluted by the time they reach their customers, and their sales professionals are not connecting to the power in the executive suite. Gaining access and connecting to executive decision makers is one challenge that most sales professionals continue to seek a better solution to.
Continue reading "Seven Common Sales Challenges that Prevent Executive Level Access" »
Most people have read the Dr. Seuss tale "Green Eggs & Ham", either as kids or to their children. What is interesting is the relevance this story has to selling. Learn the secrets of Dr. Seusus's selling technique and build your sales.
If you sell for a smaller company that competes against the big guys, the age-old story of David and Goliath might come to mind. In this story, the giant, Goliath, was beaten in a fight by the small boy, David (later to become King David), because of the boy's ability to outsmart the giant. However, in today’s hypercompetitive, risk-averse, buyers' market, it’s Goliath that often has the advantage. If you're the David in this scenario, read on. By the way, if you're Goliath, you may want to see what David is planning...
Continue reading "Selling Against Goliath: How to Take on the Big Guys and Win" »
To succeed in sales, you must be able to find and close a sufficient number of qualified prospects. That points up the reason most salespeople that do traditional “cold calling” fail. They fail because most of the appointments they make are with Low Probability Prospects who cannot be closed. Furthermore, their attempts to get an appointment with everyone they talk to causes so much resistance that most prospects will not talk to them again. That prevents them from developing a favorable relationship with most of their prospects.
Last week, when the Europeans won the Ryder Cup, golf's team event, one analyst credited the win to the Europeans hugging. In fact, the European team was hugging… and high-fiving, and generally supporting each other throughout the match.
The Americans? Tiger Woods and the others played like they play on a typical Sunday afternoon. No talking. No eye contact. They were in their personal zones.
Unfortunately, we see the same thing in sales. Few of the teams I work with communicate with each other on a regular basis. With the exception of sales meetings and training sessions, many never interact at all.
Your team is a valuable asset to you if you use it. How? Contacts, tactics, support and more.
What's scarier to most Americans than spiders, heights, or even death? There hasn't been a horror movie made about it yet, but more than 75 percent of Americans surveyed report that they suffer from "glossophobia," a debilitating fear of public speaking. Statistically, far more of us claim that we would prefer death to giving a speech; even comedian Jerry Seinfeld used to joke that at a funeral, most people would rather be lying in the casket than delivering the eulogy.
No amount of research and preparation is going to drive home a sales presentation if the rep's voice and demeanor are weak or ineffective. Kate Peters, a voice coach in Yorba Linda, Calif., and author of Mastering the Vocal Elements, offers the following tips to a better vocal impact.
When Was Your Last Wow?
When was the last time someone said, “Wow!” to something you did for him or her? It’s an important question for salespeople because wows lead to sales. “Wow!” builds you not a customer base but a fan base, which is far more powerful. “Wow! leads to loyalty, referred business, and word-of-mouth advertising,” says Jeffrey Gitomer in his latest book, Jeffrey Gitomer’s Little Black Book of Connections: 6.5 Assets for Networking Your Way to Rich Relationships (Bard Press, 2006). “Wow! creates reputation in the most positive of ways,” he adds, “and gives prospective customers anticipation that a Wow! may be bestowed upon them if they do business with you.”
DATE:
9/29/2006 1:02 a.m.
SUBJECT:
Procrastination - The Success Killer
MESSAGE:
Once again, a wonderful tale from the Trainers Network...
Why don't we succeed in our careers? It's not because we don't have enough skills, knowledge, opportunities, passion and potentials, but we fail because of our attitude to procrastinate. We put off things at the slightest difficulty. We think we have plenty of time and hope opportunities will come again and believe we will do it better later. But alas, opportunities are gone and we never do anything at all.
You're probably sitting there thinking, "Why would I want to be my own worst enemy?" And the answer, of course, is that you certainly don't want to be. But it happens, and it could happen to you.
I've seen salespeople with the potential to be top performers fall short because they either didn't know what it took to be a top performer or they knew and were just too lazy to do what was required.
Continue reading "Don't Be Your Own Worst Enemy by Brian Jeffrey" »
What is it that separates Top Closers from their competition? More importantly, what can you start doing today to become one? After working with thousands of inside sales people worldwide, I've identified ten Secrets that all Top Closers share. Check out the list below and ask yourself how many of these are you practicing, or could be practicing, to move you into that elite group.
Continue reading " Ten Secrets of Top Closers by Mike Brooks, Mr Inside Sales" »
All of us have innumerable skills, deep knowledge about things, treasure of other resources and best opportunities yet only few of us succeed in life. Skills, knowledge, talents and wealth alone won't make us successful. We need them surely, but we need more a positive attitude to win our battles. It is our attitude that makes us progress in our lives and become successful in our careers.
Let us imagine a scene when we are a part of some tough and highly charged conversation.Whether we react, or slam the door or handle it tactfully ? Here is a short but very meaningful article by Jamie S. Walters on the subject. Hope you all will like it.
Regards, Lucy Doss
Continue reading "Six Tips for Redirecting Highly Charged Conversations" »
How to Use a Blog to Sell Software
Over the past two years, we’ve provided basic information on how to deal with the mass media. As useful as we believe that advice to be, there is one key media where a different set of rules applies: Web logging or blogs. Since an increasing number of sales reps are now using blogs to help keep in touch with their customers and to develop new opportunities, we thought it would be useful to provide a set of rules that should be followed when using this new and unique form of mass communication.
Using “Help Wanted” Ads to Increase Software Sales
Have you ever really thought about the phrase “help wanted”? At first glance, it’s just shorthand for “we want to hire people” but the phrase “help wanted” can also be seen as a signal that there’s a major sales opportunity lurking somewhere in the company. And that’s especially true now that services have become an increasingly important part of software sales.
Continue reading "Using "Help Wanted" ad's to increase software sales" »
What You Need to Know to Sell Software to SMBs
It’s no secret that the big growth market for software sales is supposed to be in the small- and medium-businesses (SMB) segment. Selling into the segment is challenging, though, because the revenue from an SMB opportunity is likely to be much smaller than a large enterprise sale, but cost your company the same or more. The big software vendors have been struggling with this fact for about a decade, and still haven’t come up with much of a solution, which is why there’s still opportunity in this area.
Continue reading "What you need to know to sell software to small and Medium size business" »
Many of you have a sales process that often requires a formal proposal in order for a prospect to become a customer. And if you’re like me, you’ve been burned in the past by someone who you thought was a hot prospect, consequently you jumped through hoops for to crank out that detailed proposal full of price quotes, charts, graphs, and glowing testimonials, only to call back and have the wind gut-punched out of you by a prospect who said, “We went with someone else, thanks anyway.”
Or, “We decided to hold off.” I want to help you minimize, if not eliminate, the time--time that could be more productively used with other real prospect and customers--and expense you spend on unnecessary proposals.
Even with boilerplate templates on word processing and contact management computer programs, complex proposals can take hours--maybe even days in some cases--to prepare. If your bids or quotes are relatively simple and don’t gobble up huge chunks of time, it’s still time that could be spent more productively. Therefore it’s essential that you invest your valuable time only with people who have the interest, need, authority, money and intention to buy. And, ideally, you want to do everything you can to ensure they buy from you. Here are ideas to use with your own proposal-writing.
Continue reading "How to Avoid Wasting Time on Unnecessary Proposals" »
Achieving credibility with client executives is a major factor in developing lasting business relationships, according to two studies done by OnTarget and the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina and the Center for Business and Industrial Marketing at Georgia State University.
These two studies focused on the relationships that professional salespeople developed with senior executives, from the perspective of C-level executives. The conclusion of the two studies: That becoming a trusted advisor to these executives should be a major objective for most salespeople involved in high value, complex sales campaigns.
So how does a salesperson become perceived as a trusted advisor to these executives? According to the research, executives indicated that salespeople can begin to establish credibility with them by thoroughly understanding their business and by being able to marshal the resources they need to solve a problem.
Continue reading "Achieving Credibility with Client Executives" »