If you’re like me, you dread talking about certain things with your prospects because they’ve always caused you problems. But, deep inside you know that it’s just a matter of time before you get asked about it – and then you’ll stumble through a lame response that makes you sound like a total loser. So… Read More
About Jill Konrath
[Video] Biggest PowerPoint Mistakes Salespeople Make
What are the biggest mistakes salespeople make with PowerPoint presentations? Too Product / Service Oriented and Too Many Slides Most salespeople totally miss the point of their presentation, thinking that the more they can cover about their company and its products and services, the better they’ll be. As a result, their presentations have ballooned to 40… Read More
[Video] You’ll Never Close Deals Calling on Powerless People
If you’re tired of calling on people who really want to work with you, but can’t seem to get anything approved, listen up! Spending one more day working with these really nice individuals is a total waste of your time – even though they love you and what you’re selling. You’ll never close deals that… Read More
10 Sales Plan Activities That’ll Quickly Improve Prospecting Results
Are you at the cusp of something new? Perhaps you’ve taken a new sales position. Maybe you’re selling into new markets or to new buyers. You could be launching a new product or service. You might be responsible for onboarding a new rep. Or just maybe you’ve finally realized that you’re doomed unless you figure… Read More
3 Tips to Get The Best Response From LinkedIn Inmail
Since publishing my two free ebooks Cracking the LinkedIn Sales Code and LinkedIn Sales Secrets Revealed, I get asked tons of question about how to use LinkedIn best. One of the most contentious issues relates to the use of InMail. Numerous people have written to tell me it’s a total waste of time — that they never get responses… Read More
5 Ways To Use LinkedIn For Prospecting
Finding the Prospecting Needle In the LinkedIn Haystack. When we did our 2013 Sales & LinkedIn survey, lots of people shared their thoughts and strategies about how they were using LinkedIn. I love what Paul Meyers had to say: “I use Linkedin as a surgical tool when I need to ferret out a very specific… Read More
7 Hot Email Prospecting Tips
Your challenge? To quickly capture your prospect’s attention, pique their curiosity and prove your competence. 1. Eliminate Delete-Inducing Words Get rid of all verbiage that activates the delete response. Here are some serious offenders: exciting, state-of- the-art, solution, partner, leading edge, passion, unique and one-stop shopping. 2. Keep Your Message Simple Your email needs to… Read More
A LinkedIn Strategy That Amplifies Your Credibility
Lots of sellers don’t realize just what a big impact LinkedIn can have on their personal credibility. In our 2013 Sales & LinkedIn Study, we found that top sellers are doing far more than other salespeople to leverage LinkedIn to help them develop trust and credibility with their prospects and customers. Top sellers willingly and… Read More
A Simple Strategy to Increase Win Rates
What would it take for you to double or even triple your win rates? According to LinkedIn research, you have a significantly better chance of closing sales when you have multiple connections within a single account. Can it really be that simple? Not exactly … Winning isn’t simply a function of having lots of LinkedIn… Read More
Are You Impressive or Impactful?
Finding the right words to describe your product or service offering can be an agonizing task. As you well know, in today’s crazy business environment it’s tough to stand out from the crowd and impress corporate decision makers. That’s why all the time, effort and resources invested in this valiant effort are so worthwhile. But… Read More
Attracting More Customers
Discover how to create a customer-enticing elevator speech “So what do you do?” Now that’s a million-dollar question! Everyday you meet people who could use your products or services. But unless you tell them what you do in a compelling manner, those relationships go nowhere. DOWNLOAD HERE
Being Customer Centric is Not About Being Nice!
“Customers want a seller who brings them ideas and insights. That’s what’s valuable today – it’s the new NICE!” says Jill Konrath “I really care about my customers,” Terry told me as we were driving to an appointment. “I try to do the very best I can for them and make sure that their needs… Read More
Can LinkedIn Really Increase Your Sales?
We recently surveyed over 3000 salespeople, entrepreneurs and business professionals to find out the answer to that question. We wanted to know what was working and what wasn’t. We uncovered some really interesting information and insights that we compiled in Cracking the LinkedIn Sales Code. For starters, 4.9% of all survey respondents (who we called… Read More
Can You Learn How to Sell – Or Do You Need Innate Ability?
If research showed that sales was 100% a learned skill, how would that impact your perception of your own success – or lack of it – today? I know that sounds strange to ask, but bear with me. If it was true, how would it impact how you reacted to a competitive loss or when… Read More
Dealing With the “Current Vendor” Sales Objection
Here’s a typical exchange between a prospect and a salesperson when this common sales objection is raised: Prospect: “We’re already working with xyz firm.” Seller: “Oh. How are they doing for you?” Prospect: “They’re okay.” Seller: “What will it take to get you to switch?” Prospect: “We’re not interested.” Click! Clearly, that’s not working.
Don’t Fall Into the “Tell Me About Your Stuff” Trap
How should you respond when a prospect asks you to tell them about your stuff? Most of us get excited because we think they’re really interested in what we’re offering, but the truth is they’re really looking for a way to dismiss us. Beware — if you talk about your stuff, you’ll be brushed off… Read More
Don’t Send Prospecting Emails Like This – Please!
There’s no way around it. Email has to be a core part of your prospecting strategy. Decision makers rarely answer the phone and seldom get back to you when you leave a message. But with the overwhelming amount of information flooding inboxes today, every single word in your email to a decision maker has to be… Read More
Easy Sales Tool That Can Increase Close Rates by 18%
Did you know that sales pros spend 3.9 hours/day doing stuff that isn’t selling? [That’s straight from this 2014 study.] One of the biggest time suckers of all is dealing with the minutiae required to get proposals and contracts negotiated and signed. Unfortunately, the longer it takes, the bigger the risk that the deal will completely… Read More
Elevator Speech vs. Unique Selling Proposition vs. Value Proposition
Without a strong value proposition, it’s much harder to sell your products or services in today’s economy, much less even get in the door of big companies. But what is a value proposition? And how is it different from other commonly used terms? A value proposition is often confused with an “Elevator Speech” or a “Unique… Read More
Examples of What NOT to Say When Prospecting
If you’re selling to the corporate market, one of the biggest challenges you encounter is getting face time with decision makers. Corporate buyers, after years of continual down sizings and reorganizations, have way too much work to do and not nearly enough time to do it in. Under constant pressure to deliver “results,” they zealously… Read More
Examples of What To Say When Prospecting
To get sales meetings, the business value of your offering must be crystal clear. A while back, I had lunch with the president of a $1/2 billion division of a major corporation. She told me that if someone contacted her and said he could reduce waste by just 1%, she would meet with him immediately. Why? Because… Read More
Five Warning Signs Your Sales Opportunity Won’t Close
Hope is rampant in sales. We need it to keep going. But we also need to avoid being fooled by false hope. The longer a deal stays in your sales pipeline, the less likely you are to ever close it, even if your prospect claims that he or she desperately needs your offering. Purging your… Read More
How to Ask for an Appointment in an Email Cold Call
When I got the message below from Daniel McLellan, I had to share it with you. The way he “closes” his emails is much better than what I recommended in my new Ultimate Guide to Email Prospecting. Click here to get your free copy! Why is it better? The person on the other end feels… Read More
How to Close a Sale: The Only Thing You Need to Know
Have you ever heard the phrase “detach from the outcome”? It’s a tenet of Eastern religions. For many years it was a concept that I found totally unfathomable. After all, sales itself is about outcomes. Our income is at risk. We need to get the business. But over the years, I’ve learned the wisdom of… Read More