Old ways of doing business no longer work… The increasingly intense competitive challenges of the world economy force everyone, everywhere, to adapt in order to prosper under new rules. In the old economy, hierarchies pitted labor against management, with workers paid wages depending on their skills, but that is eroding as the rate of change… Read More
The Sales Cabinet
The Sales Cabinet concept is a sophisticated process for analyzing, planning, directing and monitoring the activity of a sales team. It is an essential tool for setting sales policies and the management, at whatever level of a sales team, if not every sales call produces an order and there is a time lag between the… Read More
The Six Golden Rules Of Dealing With An Unhappy Customer
The focus of all modern management thinking, and strategic business practice, has to be the customer. Keep your customers happy and your sales will continue to soar – neglect them, or take them for granted, and your bottom line will suffer accordingly. To respond to a customer who has a legitimate complaint you must, in… Read More
The Ten Easiest Ways To Lose Your Customers
These are my favorite ten – no doubt you can think of plenty of others! Pass the customer around – whatever you do, make it virtually impossible for the customer to get what they want when they call you. Make them work by asking them to repeat themselves. Then, to add that extra bit, get… Read More
There Are Social Media Experts – and There Are Social Media Experts
Barbara Giamanco and Jonathan Farrington discuss the rise of unqualified “Social Media” experts, which is now reaching epidemic proportions. https://s3.amazonaws.com/TopSales/SalesHardTalk/2014/february/BarbaraGiamanco2014-02-17.mp3
They Are Still Marching – But Not to Our Drum!
Yes, it is true, customers and prospects are still marching, but they are no longer marching to our drum – by “our” I mean us sellers. They have wrestled the drum away from us and they are now organizing their own marches. They decide if, and when, we are invited to join them – except… Read More
Thinking of Buying Sales Training? Then Think Very Carefully
Over the past few weeks I have been sharing my thoughts on the significant changes taking place within the “sales space” – specifically, the way that we sellers sell. These thoughts have been based not only on my own assumptions, which have been formulated over the past couple of years, but also on conversations and… Read More
Transforming Sales Coaching into Sales Results
Linda Richardson discusses why Sales Coaching is the single most important thing you can do to increase productivity. https://s3.amazonaws.com/TopSales/SalesHardTalk/rec_linda.richardson_16_May_2013.mp3
Twenty Essential Questions To Use In Analyzing Your Daily Time Planning
Here are twenty essential questions you should get used to asking yourself about your daily time planning: • Did I accomplish all of my high-priority goals? • Did I reach or surpass all of my other goals? • Did I invest as much time as I planned in persuading others? • Did I contact every… Read More
Two Tips for Finishing the Quarter Strongly
Just four weeks to go until the end of Q3, and there is still time to hit your quota – or even surge through it: Not only do you have the opportunity to do that, but you can also lay some strong foundations for that all-important Q4. Here then are two tips, which should help… Read More
Understanding Types of Needs
Customers and prospects possess a hierarchy of needs which have to be uncovered. The very best professional salespeople have become masters at recognizing those needs. Rarely do you get information, unless you ask for it. You need information to sell your services or products and look for future sales possibilities. Skilful questioning means that you… Read More
Up-Selling & Cross-Selling
To increase the revenue and margins of an order by selling products and services at a higher price – i.e. up-selling – or by selling additional products and services – i.e. cross selling – we must be able to prove to the customer that there is something in it for them. We must show them… Read More
Want to Create Better Emails? Take Some Tips From Old Letter Writer s
Before email, letter-writing guides were best sellers, the faddy self-help books of their day. There are still many things that we can learn from them before pressing, “send” Keep it brief, make it simple. This advice first appeared in a Latin tract somewhere between the 4th Century BC and 4th Century AD. A letter should be… Read More
Want to Get More from Your Best Accounts?
For a long time, the only objectives I used for major accounts were very specific business objectives: “We will increase turnover by X%” or “We will introduce two new programs and increase our profitability by Y%.” Then, one day, I had what could only be described as a “minor epiphany” – I began to understand that these… Read More
We Will Not Succeed in Sales Unless …
I hope everyone now accepts that standards of selling are spiralling downwards alarmingly; the quality of skills being displayed is now worse than I have ever witnessed and companies are investing less and less in their front-line sales teams – and yet are expecting higher levels of achievement. Have we become over-reliant on technology and sales… Read More
Welcome to “Me Only Territory”
The very best consultative sales professionals operate exclusively in “me only territory” and that demands an explanation, so let’s begin by examining the traditional sales environment ….. For the sake of this explanation, let’s use a baseball park (not that I know anything about baseball): So traditional salesmen and women are operating left-field, they are… Read More
What Are The Characteristics Of The Very Best Sales Performers?
As you can imagine, I am often asked by sales leaders, anxious to recruit the best salespeople they can afford, just what is it that makes a consistently top performer, what are their characteristics, where are their strengths and what differentiates them? Over the past twelve years, I have trained and developed thousands of sales… Read More
What Does Your Calling Card Say About You?
Of the four business meetings I have held so far this week, only in one case was the other person able to produce an up to date and informative business card – despite the fact that they were all very senior executives… As I have said on numerous occasions, a common (and often overlooked) image… Read More
What Exactly Constitutes Excellent Customer Service?
Most of us are involved in some form of business acquisition for our respective companies. We all know that winning business often requires a significant investment in time, resources and energy and that the thrill of the chase is an exciting one. Isn’t it a shame that sometimes the customer, who you worked so hard… Read More
What Will Distinguish The Top Sales Professionals of Tomorrow?
It is common knowledge that even today in most industries, a very high percentage of training budgets are spent on product knowledge workshops and training sessions. This is understandable to a degree, particularly in the more technical sectors, but what about all the other types of “knowledge?” That statement is guaranteed to produce a lot… Read More
When Buyer and Seller Act as Partners, They are Building a Bridge to Profitability
As I have said on numerous occasions, sales success today demands a radical shift from the “peddler” mentality of merely demonstrating products and expanding on their features. It requires treating the customer as a participant. More often than not, a “flashy” sales presentation alone alienates rather than persuades. The best salespeople regard the sales call… Read More
When Buyer and Seller Act as Partners, They are Building a Bridge to Profitability
I think we all accept that sales success today demands a radical shift from the “peddler” mentality of merely demonstrating products and expanding on their features. It requires treating the customer as a participant. More often than not, a “flashy” sales presentation alone alienates rather than persuades. The best salespeople regard the sales call as… Read More
When Is The Best Time To Ask For Referrals?
People will freely give referrals when they have benefited from your product/service and have an established relationship with you. This rarely occurs during the initial meeting because, whilst they may like you, they haven’t yet validated what you can do for them. That’s why asking for referrals should be when the relationship you have established… Read More
When It Comes To Making Presentations, The Best Presenters Are Seekers
When It Comes To Making Presentations, The Best Presenters Are Seekers All professional salespeople have to be involved in a presentation at some time in their sales career – Top 5 % players present their proposals every time. Presentations allow us to: Influence a group of important people Gain consensus and commitment Find out who… Read More