But here’s what they’re missing on referral B2B lead generation. Suddenly, everyone’s on the referral bandwagon for sales lead generation. However, most sales “experts” get referrals all wrong. I’ve had it with all the referral myths and misunderstandings—which include, but are not limited, to: Referrals don’t scale Referrals are a favor Referrals can be digital… Read More
To Get B2B Leads, Pick Up the Damn Phone!
Have you forgotten that selling is social? “Turn off your computer. You’re actually going to have to turn off your phone and discover all that is human around us.” That’s what Eric Schmidt, then chairman and CEO of Google, told the graduating class of the University of Pennsylvania in May 2009. Ten years later, his advice is… Read More
Trust Trumps Technology—Who Do You Know?
This is not a rant about technology. (It’s the opposite.) An executive at a leading marketing automation company surprised the heck out of me when I interviewed him for Pick Up the Damn Phone! I expected to hear all about the advantages of marketing automation. Boy, was I wrong! Instead, he talked about the power… Read More
Truth Bomb: You All Look Alike to Your Buyers
How do you tell one internet security company from another? One IT provider from another? One marketing resource, one insurance broker, one attorney, one banker, one consultant? Often you can’t tell them apart, because they have similar offerings and the same party line about what they do. There’s nothing unique and certainly no reason to… Read More
Want to Get Referrals? Don’t Do This (UPDATED)
Don’t assume your team knows how to ask for referrals. Tim told me his team was “doing referrals.” He figured they knew how to get referrals because he told them to do it. I asked how that approach was working for him. Dead silence. And therein lies the problem. A big problem. It’s the misguided… Read More
What Salespeople Can Learn from Sandcastles
When deals don’t go your way, dust yourself off and go in search of the next one. Remember the sandcastles you built as a child? When you were just getting started, you used wet sand and buckets. But as you got better at building them, they became larger and more complicated. It wasn’t long before… Read More
When is it Time to Let a Client Go?
When is it time to let a client go? Turning down new business isn’t easy, but it just might be the best decision you’ll make for your sales team, especially if: Your company doesn’t have the expertise. (Maybe because the problem your prospect described was not the actual problem. Happens a lot.) Your team is… Read More
When to Start Prospecting for 2023?
It’s time to start your sales prep for 2023. Try these tactics. There’s an old adage in sales: “If you’re on time, you’re late.” If you’ve just started prospecting for 2023, you’re already late. There’s only a few months left to go, and your pipeline won’t fill itself. I’ve always said that the last quarter… Read More
Where Are the Minority Women on Your Sales Team?
Five saleswomen told me they could only work four hours during the day. All had young children at home and were sharing small spaces with their partners during quarantine. Not only was it hard to concentrate on work, but they felt guilty for not spending more time with their kids. So, they worked at night… Read More
Why Do Sellers Leave Winning to Chance?
Your sales strategies are annoying your prospects. Sales leaders, it’s time to put a stop to this madness. Your over-dependence on technology to drive sales has gone too far. It isn’t filling your pipeline, it’s just filling people’s inboxes. And annoying prospects is not a winning strategy. The problem has gotten worse as companies have… Read More
Why Sales Reps Can’t Get Referral Leads on Autopilot
“Did you ever close a deal on email?” That’s what a VP of sales at a software company asked her sales reps, knowing few (if any) of them had. She understood the power of personal relationships to connect with prospects and generate referral leads, but her team was only communicating through product demos, social media,… Read More
Why Should the CEO Actually Lead a Referral Program?
Sales responsibility starts at the top. Ernest, CEO of a CRM company, had sales all figured out … or so he thought. He’d implemented a “perfect” sales process, which he explained to me in detail. He even drew a chart with circles and arrows for each step. Ernest recognized he had a problem: He lacked… Read More
Why the Best Sales Techniques Won’t Win You Clients (Here’s What Will)
Without strong relationships, your sales career is DOA. Salespeople are asking the wrong questions: What are the best sales techniques? What tech tools will help me generate hot leads and land new clients? How do I sell effectively on social media? It’s not what will help you win clients; it’s who. The answer is you…. Read More
Why the CEO Should Drive Sales
Sales responsibility starts at the top. Ernest, CEO of a CRM company, had sales all figured out … or so he thought. He’d implemented a “perfect” sales process, which he explained to me in detail. He even drew a chart with circles and arrows for each step. Ernest recognized he had a problem: He lacked… Read More
Why Women Don’t Want to Work for You
It was 1936. My mom graduated with a degree in finance from Syracuse University, but she couldn’t get a job at a bank. They didn’t hire women, even as tellers. That was 16 years after the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granted suffrage for women. We’ve come a long way since then, but some… Read More
Why You Can’t Automate High-Stakes Selling
What’s the one thing computers will never do better than salespeople? Computers do many things more effectively and efficiently than humans can, but outside of a few terrifying science-fiction movies, there’s still one thing they can’t do: think for themselves. Yes, I know a computer named Watson won the Jeopardy challenge in 2011. But thinking… Read More
Why Your Clients Won’t Automatically Refer You
When I ask salespeople if they consistently ask their current clients for referrals, uniformly, the answer is either “no” or “sometimes.” Practically every one of us neglects to leverage our most valuable asset—our current clients. Your Current Clients Pack Punch Think how powerful it could be to mine this valuable resource for more business. Clients… Read More
Why Your Email Goes Unanswered
Pick up the phone and be heard above the clatter. We all know digital communication isn’t as personal or powerful as a live conversation. But we tell ourselves that it’s faster, easier, and more convenient. And that’s just not always true. Digital conversations often take longer and become far more complicated than a simple phone call…. Read More
Why Your Sales Reps Can’t Automate Referral Leads
You can automate systems, but not relationships. Everyone loves a good shortcut. We live in microwave time—tapping our fingers because 15 or 30 seconds is just too slow. While there’s much to be said for efficiency, there are no shortcuts when it comes to relationships with customers. And without strong relationships, you can forget about… Read More
Women in Sales Have Everything They Need to Succeed
Growing up, I had sales all wrong. I believed salespeople were life-of-the-party types—extroverts who could talk to a wall. I wasn’t like that. I´m still not, but it hasn’t been a problem in my sales career. My first job out of college was with Joseph Magnin, a women’s specialty store in San Francisco. I entered… Read More
Women Need to Get Out of Their Own Way
Men say they don’t understand women. Women say men don’t listen. Men say the best salespeople they know are women, but they also say we should stop talking so much and get to the point. How do we ever get any work done with such a big communication divide between the sexes? Saleswomen have the… Read More
Would You Dare to Walk Away from a Sales Opportunity?
Test your integrity quotient to meet your quota…or not. If you regularly read my blog, you know about the PITA client—”pain in the ass” prospects who drain your team’s time, resources, and morale. I’ve made the case many times that salespeople should walk away from a PITA sales opportunity as fast as you can. However, there are other… Read More
You are Smarter Than Your Buyers
This is the age of the informed buyer, Buy 2.0. Buyer 2.0 is very good at homework; rumor has it that our prospects and clients don’t need us anymore. Joanne Black doesn’t believe that. She says sellers also have access to lots of tech tools and we know a lot about our prospects. https://s3.amazonaws.com/TopSales/sales-library/2014/june-5/You+are+Smarter+Than+Your+Buyers.mp4
You Are the Ultimate Sales Technology
“I don’t care how your technology works until I know what it can do for my business.” Technologies come and go. The most important decisions your customers make still are based on personal relationships. Tweets and status updates don’t take the place of real human engagement. Go ahead and use the tools, but remember you… Read More