Share this challenge with everyone you know and let’s make it go viral. Our aim? To heighten the awareness of what it takes to really, truly listen to others and to give others that wonderful, rare feeling of truly being heard. Without explaining what you’re doing, commit to one conversation each day for the next… Read More
Taking Good Care Ensures Good Customers
Here’s a true story: A friend of mine went into a business with a firm idea of what he wanted in the configuration he desired. The salesman made no offer to find the exact product. #1 On the contrary, he tried to talk my friend into something else. #2 So, my friend left the business…. Read More
That’s a Good Question
(This article originally appeared on Deb Calvert’s blog) These four little words are magic to my ears in any conversation. When someone replies to a question I’ve asked by saying “That’s a good question…” I know I’ve just added something of value, something they didn’t have before that moment. Usually, when someone pauses and says… Read More
The Art of Customer Loyalty
In today’s world of empowered buyers, attracting and keeping customers can be a challenge. Even if they’re satisfied, many customers succumb to lower prices and other offers, abandoning you for your competitors. So how can you make them stick around? Join Sales Coach Deb Calvert and special guest Cindy Solomon as they discuss how to… Read More
The Competitive Edge You’re Missing Out On
You may have great products, a brand that practically sells itself and all the latest sales enablement tools. So why are buyers commoditizing your products and barely giving you the time of day? You need a competitive edge. And there’s one you could have… should have… but may be overlooking. We spoke with four sales… Read More
The Difference between a Proposal and a Presentation
(This article originally appeared on Deb Calvert’s blog) In selling, these two words are often used interchangeably as if they have the same meaning. They don’t. This is more than a matter of semantics. Many sellers truly don’t understand the difference between a proposal and a presentation. Not knowing can leads to a lot of… Read More
The Ethics of Selling
Ethics has always been and will always be a hot topic for sales professionals. But what does it mean to be an ethical seller? From lies and blame to shame and defamation, this show will set the record straight on what traps sellers fall into ethically. Join Sales Coach Deb Calvert as she digs down… Read More
The Importance of Encouraging Your Buyers
In the workplace, people talk about encouragement as if it is something reserved only for managers to dole out to their employees. Nothing could be further from the truth. In sales, encouragement is essential if you are to advance the sale. Sellers need to be effective in encouraging their buyers. To encourage means to “put… Read More
The Job of a Sales Manager: What It Is and What It Is Not
Is there any role in any industry with less clarity and consistency? This is an article for people who hire Sales Managers. It’s an article about the pure role of Sales Manager – a person who does not handle accounts personally but does supervise direct reports (called salespeople) whose primary function is to sell. It… Read More
The Links between Customer Loyalty, Employee Engagement and Leadership
Every sales organization shares the same challenges: keeping high-performing and high-potential sales people on the team, finding ways to boost sales productivity, retaining customers and keeping them satisfied in a competitive marketplace, and driving top line revenue for bottom line growth. Sales enablement and a host of quick fix solutions promise to do it all…. Read More
The Need for an All New Needs Assessment
It’s time to transform the hackneyed needs assessment interview into a rich, engaging two-way dialogue with buyers. Why? Because: Buyers don’t have time or patience for sellers’ self-serving Socratic questions. Buyers don’t want to be sold and resist sharing information that overtly sets up the sale. Buyers don’t see value in the recycled questions every… Read More
The Secret Ingredient to Build Buyer Trust
When you hear the word “trust” what do you think of? For most people the words honesty and integrity immediately come to mind. These two words are, for some, completely synonymous with trust. What most sellers don’t realize is that there are 10 additional dimensions of trust – 10 more ways to build trust on… Read More
The Simple Reason You Shouldn’t Use Nicknames
One of the first things our parents give each of us is a name. Our names may be steeped in tradition, created, mixed and matched, debated, tried out, and lovingly conferred even before we are born. Our names are special. Despite the care that goes into bestowing a name on someone, names are often used… Read More
The Truth about Why We Don’t Listen
Sure, every leader knows we’re supposed to actively listen to each other in the workplace. Leaders understand that actively listening is a desirable skill. But in a popular CONNECT2Lead webinar workshop, we elicit these honest answers from leaders about the reasons why they don’t do a better job of listening. If you’re honest with yourself,… Read More
There’s No Such Thing as Social Selling?!
You’ve probably heard about the need to do “social selling” which is defined as selilng by using social media. You can scarcely pick up a business magazine or glance at any social medium without seeing some reference to the rising trend of social selling… So why on earth would anyone say “there’s no such thing as… Read More
Timing Is Everything in Sales
(This article originally appeared on Deb Calvert’s blog) In sales, being in the right place at the right time really matters. But it’s not luck that will land you in the right place at the right time. Instead, it’s strategic thinking and business acumen. One of the greatest obstacles for many sellers is the notion… Read More
To be PROfessional, you’ve got to be PROactive
Are your selling days filled up with putting out fires, jumping from one activity to another without any time for planning? Do you feel overwhelmed by the details and tactical fixes? Wouldn’t you like to be more strategic so you can work smarter, not harder? Check out this archived recording from CONNECT! Online Radio for… Read More
To Engage Your Buyer, Sequence Your Questions Properly
Are your questions drawing your buyer closer to you or making your buyer back away from you? It may depend on the order in which you are asking questions. Adjusting the sequence of your questions can make a difference in how the buyer responds. Early in a buyer/seller relationship, questions that seem sales-focused cause mistrust…. Read More
To Reach the Pinnacle, Don’t Be Clinical or Cynical
I’m alarmed by a recent trend I’m observing as I coach and train frontline sales professionals. In an effort to protect themselves from rejection, sellers are erecting defensive walls. It’s evident in the interactions I observe and in the conversations we have about how to open sales. I hear it in the questions sellers ask… Read More
Value is a Moving Target
This may be the most important concept to understand in order to succeed in selling. Value is a moving target. Value is never the same from one buyer to another. Values change even in the same buyer because value is inherently circumstantial. What’s more, value is something we can never make assumptions about. When sellers… Read More
Wanna Be a Rainmaker?
Being a rainmaker is absolutely essential in sales. And it’s easier than you think to become one! Join global expert Carolyn Coradeschi, author of “The Rainmaker’s Quick Guide to Lasting Sales Success” to cut out continuances, put an ending to pending and stop stalling out on CONNECT! Online Radio for Selling Professionals. Following a career… Read More
We’ve Got to Stop Meeting Like This
Picture yourself in a meeting with your buyer. If you are meeting in person, you’re on one side of the table or desk and your buyer is on the opposite side. If you are meeting by phone, there’s an equivalent divide with each of you on opposite ends of the line. It’s time you stop… Read More
What Defines YOU as a Sale Professional?
What do you stand for? What are your values? What is your philosophy? How do you want to be described by others? The best sales professionals are the ones who can answer these questions. In fact, they can answer these questions in exactly the same way they would respond whether talking about their professional life… Read More
What Do You Want In an External Sales Trainer?
(This article originally appeared on Deb Calvert’s blog) In last week’s blog post we talked about the misperceptions and common mistakes made in selecting an internal sales trainer. This post will focus on selecting external sales trainers or training vendors. As Corporate Director overseeing sales training for a Fortune 500 company, I heard a lot… Read More