sales posts, articles, and infographics

Drive-By Selling is Dead. It’s all About Scale.

February 3, 2012 by Kathleen Steffey
with 45 views

Photo by Shane K via Flickr

Remember the old days of drive-by selling? You’d roll up on a prospect, (by phone, or car, or email or direct mail piece) and hit them up with why your company, service and product was the s*** and why they needed to buy it. Drive-by selling was successful because there was nothing else. All you had was perseverance, a keenly refined... [read more]

Are Your Customers Doing The Right Job Of Qualification?

February 2, 2012 by Dave Brock
with 10 views

I think sales people need to go further–I think sales people need to hold the customer accountable for qualifying the opportunity—is it real for them? [read more]

Will You Be the One to Make the Next Sales Move?

February 2, 2012 by Frank Belzer
with 30 views

Sometimes sales people have to navigate dangers and there are points in every sales relationship where things could and often do go disastrously wrong. How many times are you surprised when you lose to a competitor? Why are you shocked when speaking with a purchasing person results in a competitive price war [read more]

Generating Trust Is an Essential Leadership Responsibility

January 31, 2012 by Jonathan Farrington
with 48 views

Image courtesy of author's blog

A very good friend and ex-client of mine runs a highly successful information technology service in the South of England and his private-sector customers include many Times Top 100 companies. We often exchange opinions and I recently asked his views on leadership, because I have always been impressed with his commitment to “... [read more]

A Lesson in Professional Persistence

January 30, 2012 by Kelley Robertson
with 38 views

Image: Dana Lookado/Flickr(creative commons)

A few years ago my personal trainer was interested in auditioning for a television show that focused on helping people maximize fitness results through the use of food and supplements. Unfortunately, when the auditions were held he was on vacation. Joe is not the type of person to let a good opportunity slip past so he called the... [read more]

Metaphor Shapes Obama's Selling Points

January 27, 2012 by Anne Miller
with 28 views

Photo: Anna/Flickr(creative commons)

What do you do to sell your idea of unity to an audience that is diverse, divided, and, in many cases, downright hostile to you and your views? Engage them immediately through metaphor. That is exactly what President Obama did in his State of the Union speech. [read more]

The 3 Biggest Listening Mistakes Sales People Make and How to Avoid Them

January 26, 2012 by Sean McPheat
with 109 views

Image: Courtesy of HigherSights

As sales people elevate their sales skills in other areas, often the area of listening begins to suffer, and usually it is the more experienced pros who are the biggest culprits. [read more]

Tips for Stopping Sales Failure

January 26, 2012 by Drew Stevens PhD
with 34 views

Photo by 401K via Flickr

It is unbelievable that so many people think that they can sell. Selling like any other profession requires tenacity, patience and professionalism. Suggesting that anyone can sell is similar to saying anyone can be a surgeon, fly a plane or become an Olympic champion. Everyone has a certain set of innate qualities that allows them to... [read more]

Sales Negotiating: The WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY and HOW

January 25, 2012 by Mark Hunter
with 60 views

Image: Courtesy of author blog

Too many salespeople begin negotiating with customers too quickly. As soon as the customer gives any sort of resistance, it seems like the going norm is for the salesperson to roll over and play dead and give away the farm. [read more]

Garbage In, Garbage Out: The Question Is How Do You Keep The Garbage Out?

January 25, 2012 by Nesh Thompson
with 28 views

Photo by Steve W. via Flickr

I came across an article on the Sales Benchmark Index website entitled ‘Sales Performance Management: Getting A Fighting Chance'. It was an very interesting read and furthermore I completely agree with the key finding that viewing your data in different ways is not the most important thing and that attaining and maintaining... [read more]

Five Attributes of Top Sales Influencers

January 25, 2012 by Lori Richardson
with 143 views

Image: Courtesy of author blog

Being recognized this month as a Top Sales Influencer made me wonder: What IS an influencer, and how can this help build a business or a brand? I mean, it is a great thing to have happened – quite an honor – but what is it, really? [read more]

The Most Counterintuitive Sales Strategy You’ve Ever Read

January 24, 2012 by Chad Levitt
with 63 views

Tweet I just finished Aaron Ross’ new book entitled: Predictable Revenue. If you are in Sales or Marketing leadership you need to read it. If you are a front line sales or marketing professional, read it too and buy it for your boss. For those of you that don’t know Aaron lead the charge at Salesforce.com in building their Enterprise... [read more]

What Every Sales Leader Should Learn from 'Moneyball'

January 24, 2012 by Lee Salz
with 122 views

Photo: Brett Farmiloe/Flickr(creative commons)

If you aren’t a baseball aficionado, you may have missed one of the greatest sales management movies of all time – "Moneyball." Billy Beane, General Manager of the Oakland A’s, is faced with a challenge. [read more]

The State of Sales Training 2012 | Part 2: Some of the Sales Training Leaders

January 24, 2012 by Dave Stein
with 40 views

Image: Courtesy of author blog

I promised to share with you who ESR considers sales training industry leaders. As you are probably aware, ESR’s Research Methodology enables our research team to produce very accurate profiles and evaluations of the sales training providers that we cover. [read more]

Performance Management — Abandoned Deals

January 21, 2012 by Dave Brock
with 41 views

Photo by Nic McPhee via Flickr

Last week, I talked about the importance of Win Loss Analysis. No one questions doing win/loss analysis, in particular, we really worry about losses. There is a hidden performance and resource drain that can have a dramatic impact on our success. It’s the abandoned deal. Abandoned deals happen more... [read more]