The Best Sales Blogs in the World

JF’s Big Weekend Shout Out ….

Sat, 18 May 2013 10:43:55 +0200

There is so much happening over the next couple of weeks that I thought I should provide you with a heads up so that you don’t miss any of the action. In date order …. We are delivering Modules 5 and 6 of the Top Sales Academy Sales Management Level next week. On Tuesday [...]

Cluelessness Continues for Sales Starved Entrepreneurs

Fri, 17 May 2013 21:20:24 +0200

Once again at a morning business to business networking event I was confronted by a clueless small business owner whose behaviors are replicated by so many entrepreneurs. Without a hello, what’s your name to I am, a new entrepreneur said “Here take my card. I do…(name remains anonymous). I have a price sheet if you are [...]

Free Webinar: The Missing Link to Winning More Sales

Fri, 17 May 2013 20:35:00 +0200

Date: Thursday, May 30, 2013

Time: 2 p.m. ET

Duration: 45 minutes

Presenters:
Mike Schultz, President, RAIN Group
Author, Rainmaking Conversations

Jill Konrath, Sales Strategist
Author, SNAP Selling & Selling to Big Companies

You’ve likely been taught that in order to win the sale, you need to listen to your prospects’ needs and present compelling, effective solutions. But there’s a problem—everyone else has been taught the same thing.

In today’s competitive sales landscape, you must take an additional step if you want to stand out from the crowd: you must collaborate.

If you treat your prospects as partners, and work closely with them to find the best solutions to their problems, your success rate will be much, much higher.

In this fast-paced and engaging session, RAIN Group President Mike Schultz and sales expert Jill Konrath will discuss why collaboration is so essential to your sales efforts and how you can use it to separate yourself from your competition.

Click here to register (limited seats available).

The Secret to Persuasion

Fri, 17 May 2013 16:55:06 +0200

Today’s quotation is short and to the point. It is completely true and too often forgotten in practice. “One of the best ways to persuade others is with your ears – by listening to them.” - Dean Rusk, U.S. Secretary of State Questions to Ponder - What is my first inclination when persuading someone – to [...]

Lies Customers Tell That Will Help You Sell

Fri, 17 May 2013 14:00:00 +0200

Customers lie because they secretly hope that you'll sell them something.

Customers are human, which means that they sometimes bend the truth. Here are the most common lies that customers tell and how to use them to your sales advantage:

Lie 1. "We're totally happy with our current vendor."

No matter how much a customer claims to "love" their current vendor, they're always willing to consider a better alternative. Your job is to make it clear why you're the better alternative.

Lie 2. "We don't have the budget."

Unless the customer is actually bankrupt, what this really means is "other projects have a higher priority." Your job is to explain why your offering is more important than what's already been budgeted for.

Lie 3. "I am the sole decision-maker."

This is usually wishful thinking. Even in "Mom and Pop" operations, "Mom" can veto decisions that "Pop" makes. In big companies, decisions are always by consensus. Your job is to discover (and sell to) all the stakeholders.

Lie 4. "Send me some information and I'll look it over."

This is how customers say "I'm busy so get lost" without being rude. Your best bet here is to agree to send the information but also ask something like: "Just out of curiosity, what are your priorities in this area." Keep the conversation going.

Lie 5. "I'm sorry I missed our scheduled meeting."

Well, probably not all THAT sorry because clearly something more important came up. Fortunately, social convention now puts the customer under an obligation to do something to make up for wasting your time.

Lie 6. "We'll consider all bids equally."

Sorry, but in every sales situation that goes out for bidding, there's somebody who's got the inside track (usually they wrote the RFP). Your job is to either be that somebody or earn the write to tweak the RFP.

Lie 7. "Your competition is much cheaper."

The customer is well aware that there's a perfectly good reason (like better service or more features) why your offering costs more. If not, then the problem lies in how you're presenting and positioning your offering.

Lie 8. "If you don't give us a huge discount, the deal is off."

These last minute demands are how customers test to see that they've negotiated the best deal. If you fold and give the discount, they'll know you were about to cheat them. If you stand your ground, they'll sigh in relief and pull out the checkbook.

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Are You the ExhaustedTasmanian Devil When It Comes Your Sales Activity?

Fri, 17 May 2013 12:44:47 +0200

Do you feel like an exhausted Tasmanian Devil when it comes to your sales activity? You are a whirlwind of action. You find yourself attending numerous small business to business networking events; passing out business cards; grabbing the cards from others; stuffing the cards into your pockets; posting on various social media channels to scheduling meeting after [...]

It Doesn’t End With the Sale: Managing Customer Relationships

Fri, 17 May 2013 09:33:44 +0200

The Pipeline Guest Post – Megan Totka Customers are the lifeblood of any business, and attracting new customers while strengthening your relationships with existing ones is a constant challenge. The best way to do so, however, is a matter that often leaves your sales and marketing staff at odds. Your … Read more →

Customer Relations: The Huge Gap Between Intention and Reality

Fri, 17 May 2013 01:27:20 +0200

When it comes to looking after our customers, quite often there’s a gap, a huge gap between theory and practice. There are books about customer relations; there are videos about customer relations; there are Gurus (mostly self-appointed) about customer relations. None of them actually have to deliver customer relations. That chore is left to [...]

Preparing to Sell in the Next Economic Downturn

Fri, 17 May 2013 01:03:08 +0200

Preparing to Sell in the Next Economic Downturn is a post from: The Sales Blog | S. Anthony Iannarino

Preparing to Sell in the Next Economic Downturn is a post from: The Sales Blog | S. Anthony Iannarino It is easy to sell when the economy is booming. When things are going well for everyone, you are selling into a target rich environment. People have needs and money. In really good times salespeople with [...]

[Video] Selling is a Language – Coach the Language

Thu, 16 May 2013 22:53:45 +0200

Your A Players are clearly more effective communicators than your C Players. So if selling is a language, why aren’t we coaching our salespeople’s language and message? Get notified each time a new 60-Second Sales Coach video is released. Complete transcript taken from a live Q & A session in Phoenix. Would anyone here disagree ...

Rule #12 – Be a Superstar

Thu, 16 May 2013 20:00:46 +0200

We all like winners and can appreciate superstars when we see them. We admire the superstar athlete who is talented beyond question and helps his team win games. But we’ve seen superstars come in a variety of packages. Some are boisterous and obnoxious to their teammates, fans and opponents. Others are quiet and gentle, shy [...]

Slow Sales? Training May or May Not Be the Solution.

Thu, 16 May 2013 17:56:31 +0200

Is your company and/or sales team in a bit of a sales slump? I know it may surprise you to hear me say this, but sales training is not always the solution. Unfortunately, training is often pegged as the solution for everything. Obviously, I do often see where organizations could benefit greatly from training. Sometimes, [...]

"Your Fees Are Too High": Steps to Handling Objections That Will Get You Closer to the Sale

Thu, 16 May 2013 17:05:00 +0200

If you really do put a small value upon yourself, rest assured that the world will not raise your price. - Anonymous

How many of us, as professional service providers, have heard from prospects, "Your fees are too high," "Someone else will do it for less," or "I don't see why I have to pay all that money just to have you do an audit, write a brief, create a marketing plan, etc.?" And, more important, how many resist the urge to simply lower our fees to get the work?

The answer: all of us and few of us. The problem with lowering our fees for a particular piece of work is that we forever have established our value as that lower amount. As our anonymous friend said, if we ourselves put a low value on our work, certainly no one else is going to suggest our value is any higher.

Why do so many of us fall victim to these worst tendencies? To answer this, we first have to look at objections in general and how they fit into the selling process for professional services...

Good Reads for B2B Sales - Sales Intelligence with Google

Thu, 16 May 2013 15:15:00 +0200

Keeping up to date on the latest innovations and opinions in sales can be time-consuming, especially in the the digital space. Sales Sphere features relevant blog articles from PointClear's online B2B sales circles.

Tap CRM to Give Your Customers a Pleasant Surprise

Christopher Bucholtz says itâs time to use the data in your CRM to help cement your relationships with your customers. Using CRM intelligence about customersâ desires and needs, businesses should create personalized experiences and rewards that match their interests. Businesses should go deeper with data and create a competitive advantage, according to Bucholtz. Via CRM Buyer

Deal Value Or Buyer Value?

Salespeople tend to focus on how much potential deals are worth, but they should also assess the value that they can provide to customers, writes David Brock. By concentrating on buyer value, "we focus our deal strategies and next steps on things critical to the customer, instead of focusing on ourselves," he writes. Via Partners in Excellence Blog

Sales Intelligence with Google: Marrying What You Want to Say with What They Want to Hear

Sam Richter, author of "Take the Cold Out of Cold Calling,â shares few tips for using the Google to find news about a prospect or company and to identify individuals with particular job titles. Via Marketo Blog

3 Things Sales Leaders Must do to Stay in Sync with Their Sales Team

A Sales Guy Keenan says that most sales leaders have been guilty of not being connected with the sales team. He suggests an accountability process and that sales leaders put themselves in their teams shoes and really understand their challenges. Via A Sales Guy

Sales Quiz – Accurate Sales Pipelines

Thu, 16 May 2013 15:00:55 +0200

What is the one thing you can do right now to improve you sales pipeline accuracy? Take the quiz and find out!

Why Old-School Selling No Longer Works

Thu, 16 May 2013 15:00:29 +0200

…
Read more »Just say no to “no.” There’s a longstanding mantra in sales: The more no’s we get, the closer we are to a yes. Well, not in my book. It’s time to retire and toss this worn-out way of thinking. Out

The 99% Success Formula

Thu, 16 May 2013 14:00:00 +0200

Every success formula ever written or published boils down to these seven steps.

If you boil down every "success formula" that's ever been devised or published, you pretty much end up with the following:

1. Know where you're starting from. (A).

Every journey has a starting place. With the journey towards success, it's an understanding of yourself, the resources you have available, and the realities of the world around you. Without this, any action you take will be meaningless.

2. Know where you want to be (B).

Every journey has a goal, too. Nobody defines success in exactly the same way, so your destination must be specific to you. The more specific the goal, the easier it will be to get there, which is why goal-setting is so essential.

3. Build a plan to get from A to B.

Everyone needs a plan, so spend the time to create one. However, the trick with success plans is to remember that they're always tentative and subject to change. Use whatever role models and methods you like, but don't cast anything in concrete.

4. Take massive action based on that plan.

Most people with a plan don't take enough action. A few tentative steps aren't going to let you discover whether your plan is working or not. Do 10 things when most people would be satisfied with one or two. You've got to totally blitz this sucker.

5. Observe whether you're closer to B.

This is difficult for most people because once they've put some effort into a plan, they desperately want to see the results they hope for. They even see such results when they're not actually there. So take a hard, objective look. Get outside help if you need it.

6. If the plan is working, double down on Step 4.

If you can prove to yourself (and to an objective observer) that the actions based upon your plan are truly getting you from A to B, then you should redouble your efforts. Take even more massive action. Don't forget, though, to do Step five afterwards.

7. If the plan isn't working, go back to step 3.

The reason you took massive action is that you can't fool yourself into thinking that the problem was that you didn't really try. You can now go back and build another plan, armed with the valuable knowledge of what didn't work.

I called this the 99 percent success formula because it raises the question: what's the other 1 percent?

It's "luck."

The whole point of every success formula (including this one) is to reduce the influence of "luck" so that you don't have to think about it when you're either planning or taking action based on your plans.

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Your Professional Network Is Money in the Bank, Invest It Well

Thu, 16 May 2013 12:45:49 +0200

People buy from people they know and trust. (Sales Buying Rule #1) As an entrepreneur, sole proprietor, small business owner, C Suite executive and even college student, by meeting new people you as a business leader expand your business to business professional network. This expansion is very much like interest earned on your savings account [...]

Converting Prospects through Follow-up

Thu, 16 May 2013 11:30:16 +0200

In our previous post we discussed how to build a future buyers system so that you can increase your market system. In today’s post we are going to discuss what you can do to help with converting prospects through follow-up. Here are some things you can include: 1) Industry standards. 2) Good questions for future [...] No related posts.

Stop making sales predictions and start executing

Thu, 16 May 2013 09:33:36 +0200

by Tibor Shanto – tibor.shanto@sellbetter.ca As some of you may be aware, I have a monthly column on the Globe and Mail’s, usually the third Tuesday of each month. These pieces are unique from what I usually post here on The Pipeline. I will post links to these posts as … Read more →

On Investing in Oneself

Thu, 16 May 2013 03:55:12 +0200

On Investing in Oneself is a post from: The Sales Blog | S. Anthony Iannarino

On Investing in Oneself is a post from: The Sales Blog | S. Anthony Iannarino One of the reasons people don’t invest in themselves is because they really don’t understand the enormous return on that investment. I was fortunate enough to attend Harvard Business School for my executive education. The very first class I took [...]

WITCE Wednesdays – Inventory Velocity

Thu, 16 May 2013 01:49:25 +0200

I’m gonna take a break from economic indicators this week. I had a desire to touch on a company

Read more →

Are Self-Limiting Beliefs Constraining Your Sales Performance?

Thu, 16 May 2013 01:23:37 +0200

“The winners in life constantly think in terms o ‘ I can’,’ I wil’l and’ I am’. Losers, on the other hand, concentrate their waking thoughts on what they should have done, or what they don’t do” – Dennis Waitley Allowing self-limiting beliefs to constrain performance will in turn limit sales results, because like [...]

5 Tips of How to Lose The Sale Before You Realize You Lost It

Wed, 15 May 2013 22:00:48 +0200

Within the last 2 weeks, I earned a new executive coaching client. During our two conversations (one on the phone and one face to face), my soon to be client shared she was meeting with two other executive coaches or sales coaches to find the best fit. I told her that was great because finding [...]

Salespeople Must Stop Snorkeling and Start Scuba Diving

Wed, 15 May 2013 15:48:00 +0200

Understanding the Sales Force by Dave Kurlan

We talk a lot about the importance of using a Consultative approach instead of a transactional approach to better differentiate and sell value instead of price. When we explain Consultative selling we usually emphasize the importance of listening and questioning. When we further explain effective listening and questioning it becomes much more difficult to describe in a paragraph or in the absence of a demonstration or role play.

Until today.

Snorkeling, or moving along the surface of the ocean, is akin to poor questioning, moving from fish to fish or question to question, never finding anything of significance and only seeing that which is near the surface.

Scuba diving, or doing a deep dive, is akin to good, tough, timely questions that lead to the buried treasure of selling - a prospect's compelling reason to buy from you. When you scuba dive you explore a single site, but when you snorkel you go sight-seeing, continue traveling without really stopping to explore.

Dive in, continue your dive, and don't stop the dive until you find the treasure.

I'll be giving the keynote at an Executive Luncheon in Boston on Wednesday May 21 at the Westin Copley Hotel. My topic is Changing Trends in Sales and How They Will Impact Your Revenue. If you live in New England or will be visting next week and would like to attend, send me an email and I'll send you a discount code so that you can attend as my guest.