Articles and commentary related to leadership and sales management.
In today's Sales Leadership Quick Tip video, we're going to be talking about sales dashboards. A sales dashboard is a mirror that you can put in front of your sales people to raise accountability and raise the results that your…
In this Sales Leadership Quick Tip video, I want to share a game you can play in your sales meeting called “Pepper”. Pepper is a game I use to practice sales skills in sales meetings. Or it can be used…
Our best intentions don't always lead to our best leadership practices but they can blind us from what's not working. Here are 5 sales leadership sins you want to avoid. 1. Doubting or not believing in your sales people. The first…
As leaders, it's easy to share advice, solve problems or give directions. But if you want to spend less time fixing and more time watching your people become independent, find the Power in Asking One More Question. https://youtu.be/b4kLaVnhtzQ I want…
In this Sales Leadership Quick Tip Video I explain how to approach poor performance in your sales team and how to build trust while delivering bad news. https://youtu.be/tzBIOhjEAcE Have a Trusting Relationship You need to have a trusting relationship; one…
In the Sales Leadership Quick Tip Video, I want to share with you why clarity trumps authority for accountability when you are running a sales team or any team in your business. https://youtu.be/n6QS9bk81-8 Why do we want accountability from our…
I have a few points I'd like to share on how to show your sales people you care about them. When people know that you care about them, then they will care about what you ask and expect of them.…
Most employees place personal value on the culture of their work environment and so building your sales culture can really pay off. There were times in my career that I was paid less but found fulfillment in a particular job…
In this Sales Leadership Quick Tip Video I share a personal experience where I learned that pushing content material and over prepping for sales meetings is not always the best way to facilitate learning. After this experience, I decided to…
As the sales manager, finding balance in your sales meeting conversations will increase your teams' meeting engagement. Usually there are dominators who love to talk and can go on and on. They can take too much time making their point. …
I recently read a blog post, The Peculiar Idol of Personal Opinion. Why do I bring this up on this blog that focuses on sales and business? Fair question. Since I read that post, a lot has crossed my mind…
I ask two questions in this Sales Leadership Quick Tip video: Should we hold sales people accountable? Or should we allow them to hold themselves accountable? A sales manager can create an environment where sales people hold themselves accountable. Start…
When a sales team is failing or results are inconsistent it’s easy for a sales leader’s responsibilities to be neglected and for the leader to fall into a trap of becoming responsible for the sales team. Another way to look at this situation is to become…
Communication is not just important but critical in any of our human relationships. Whether it be with family, in a marriage, with friends or in our sales role. Communication plays a pivotal role in reducing misunderstandings or improving clarity and…
Holding a weekly sales meeting to develop a sales team is very important but keeping that meeting engaging and effective can become challenging over time. The meetings can become repetitive and boring or even worse, negative complaint sessions. To keep…
The weekly sales meeting is the hub of the Part-Time Sales Management System. Most salespeople love to talk, so when you engage your sales team by facilitating a discussion among the team members in a weekly meeting is much more…
Increasing sales is what most of our clients want when they call us, but what goes unsaid is they hope we can change disliked sales behaviors that are difficult to manage. As a matter of fact, most owners usually have…
Just about everyone is familiar with this simple fire safety technique. Most of us learned it in elementary school, but they never told us back then it might help us win or keep a customer one day. Fires create panic…
Having the trust of people in our lives (work or personal) lays the foundation for those relationships to have and accomplish mutually beneficial things. That’s why you’ll find a myriad of blogs and articles written on this topic. But do…
A loyal sales team is required if you want to realize sustained success with the least amount of effort. To build a loyal sales team you might need to redefine how you view them. Be honest with me. When you…
Remember when your parents would say, “You’ll understand the value of this when you grow up?” They were trying to convince us to do what they were saying in hopes that someday it would make sense and we would appreciate…
How is your sales team doing at meeting your sales expectations? Are they hitting their goals, following the sales process, completing their admin tasks and meeting your activity expectations? …..Sorry, I’m having a hard time hearing that loud, YES! But…
What are the body posture and faces of your sales team telling you during your sales-team meetings? How willing are they to engage into discussions you initiate? I hope they’re engaged, but let’s face it weekly sales-team meetings can become routine and easily fall into a rut. When that happens at a small business the meetings usually stop taking place. If you ask the team if they want to keep having the meetings, they’ll be polite and tell the boss, “If you want to.” But what they want to say is, “These meetings are boring.” There’s no one else to blame but us, the sales leader. What can we do about it? Let me give you some ideas on how to keep your sales-team meetings interesting.
When I’m making a purchase I want the most out of the money I spend. Sometimes I’ll buy the most expensive choice and other times the least. But in either case I’m looking for the greatest value for what I spend. When it’s time to provide sales training for your sales team you’ll be faced with a wide range of costs and programs to evaluate. Ian Altman, in his article How Much Does Sales Training Cost written for Forbes/ Leadership presents figures of $500 – $5000 (per sales) rep for public trainings and $3500 – $25,000 (per team) for private training. Within that range of training choices lies an incredible value that’s worth every dollar you’ll spend. But in this blog, I won’t be addressing those choices. Instead, I want to share how a low cost sales training through a team book study can possibly be the value your looking for at a cost of $15-$200 per sales rep. I’ve been leading these book studies with great results for years and so can you, if you follow some simple steps.
Dear Salesperson,
I’ve seen the hard work you put in all day. I see you making calls, doing research, sending emails and making more calls. You put in this effort to produce selling meetings required throughout your sales process. You then prepare for your meetings and engage. May I ask, “Are you really prepared as well as you should be for each meeting you enter?”
Selling meetings are where decisions are influenced and made. In most cases it’s during these meetings where we have the greatest impact on the outcome of a sale. If selling meetings carry this much opportunity shouldn’t we ask ourselves, “Are we really prepared for our next meeting?”
In my personal selling experience as well as watching others sell, I’ve come to appreciate selling conversations that are enjoyable. They’re not a struggle or stressful. There’s no guessing or worrying involved. They’re simply a series of conversations that are enjoyable. We keep the conversations enjoyable by staying in the present. When you focus on the end (the order) during a sales conversation you can easily remove yourself from being present. Of course “the order” is a point of reference and a job priority, but it’s important to keep it in the proper perspective. The order will take place at the proper time if your buyer chooses to purchase with you. Before that happens staying present in your selling conversations will keep the process enjoyable and profitable.
It’s easy for me to write about sales people because I’m one myself. Being a salesperson provides me an insider’s perspective on who we are and what makes us tick. The most desirable sales traits of a good sales person can cause a little disruption in the company as well as help them sell. I’ve included in this blog a list of “Desirable Sales Traits for a Hunter/Closer” type-rep and how they play out in the sales arena and in the office. It’s my hope that having this dual perspective can help you develop more support and belief in your team, which will lead to greater sales results. It should also provide you a guide on what to look for when hiring your next rep.
When you are at the check out at most big box stores you can expect to be asked, “Are you a rewards member?” The rewards are designed to encourage us to buy at the store more frequently. Loyalty is being developed toward the reward but not to the company or people working there. I wonder if this was intentional or simply an evolution? What about you? What type of loyalties are you building around you?
If you’re a salesperson, you’re usually measured on sales revenue or account additions. When you’re ahead of the game it comes with a pat on the back and maybe a bonus. If you’re behind you get a reminder to work harder and make more calls. Have you ever thought, “Is that all there is, make more calls and work harder?” After all, that‘s what you’ve been doing.
If you’re a business owner leading your team you might be wondering what else you could suggest to them. If there was only a selling skills blueprint that would help you both know what skills to improve on? There is, and it’s packaged in a sweet little sales improvement tool called Profiles Sales CheckPoint TM