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Quote "As I reflect on this past year, one of the most significant accomplishments that we achieved was in the growth of our overall sales. Quote

J. M. Distler Auto Concierge, Operations Manager Ford Motor Company

Sales Tips & Tactics


    Communicating Your Sales Message - Read more...
The first few moments of interaction with prospects are the most crucial. It’s in those instants that prospects form an initial opinion about the value of investing time, any amount of time, to speak with you. In the first 10 seconds of your interaction, prospects decide if you have something worthwhile to offer that is relevant to their goals or challenges...or if you are “just another salesperson” attempting to sell a product or service—someone most often dismissed with a “send me some literature” request.

Are You Obsessed? - Read more...
Successful salespeople are. They are obsessed with doing what has to be done each and every day to reach their goals. They have an obsession for doing those things to their very best ability - no compromises. They are absolutely, positively obsessed with their work while they are engaged in it. That doesn't mean they work 14 hours per day, seven days a week. It does mean that while they are working, they have no time to "shoot the breeze" at the water cooler, watch the clock, read the sports page, surf the Web, or participate in the radio station phone-in contest. Those activities are reserved for non-working hours ("no-pay" time).

Six Tips For Effective Listening - Read more...
When you interact with clients, they should be doing at least 70% of the talking, which means you're doing at least 70% of the listening. Listening is crucial for effective sales-it's the only way you'll learn what your prospect or client REALLY needs. Follow these tips for effective listening:

Is Your Sales Cycle Set? - Read more...
Is there anything you can do about your sales cycle? We will discover there are many patterns in the sales world. If we understand the patterns and what causes them, we have a chance to shorten the sales cycle. Many salespeople believe that their sales cycle pattern is set, and it can’t be sped up or done differently. They are convinced that, “It is what it is,” so they follow the outline that has been laid out before them, convinced that they are powerless to change things.

Close The Sale or Close the File - Read more...
For many salespeople, there is an inverse relationship between the size of their pending file (filled with opportunities they are pursuing) and the size of their commission checks.

Go Three More Feet - Read more...
In Napoleon Hill’s book Think and Grow Rich, R. U. Darby learned the secret of success. When all seemed hopeless in his search for gold, digging three more feet uncovered riches beyond Darby’s wildest dreams. People who want to give up on a goal because of some short-term discomfort are invariably discouraged. They are seldom engaged fully in what they are doing or with whom they are doing it, and have no idea how to move forward.

Have Prospects Close Themselves- The Tactic - Read more...
Memorizing trial closes is easy. Using them is even easier. And any salesperson that uses trial closes knows to expect to objections from the prospect. Fully expecting that objections will arise, the salesperson is poised to swoop down and deal with them. And then try another trial close. Around and around in this cycle of trial close, raised objection, answered objection, and back to trial close.

When To Send Literature - Read more...
Sooner or later, a prospect is going to tell you, "Send literature." It's a natural response to a salesperson. It's an easy way to reject the salesperson without getting personal. Before you agree to send literature, ask yourself, "Why is the prospect requesting literature? Is this a sign of no interest?"

Agonize or Organize? - Read more...
The most frequent excuse for not reaching a goal or completing a task is, "There isn't enough time." The business owner grumbles about being bogged down with budget meetings, conference calls, vendor disputes and not having the time to launch the strategic planning sessions he's been talking about for several months. The sales manager complains about wasting time putting out fires, approving special orders, chasing down reports, crunching sales numbers and not having the time to complete an accurate market analysis with which to create a targeted growth strategy.

What Lies Ahead For 2012 - Read more...
With a new year just over the horizon, it's time to take stock of where you are. Without question, 2011 has been a challenging year for some businesses. Many thrived; others struggled. Regardless of how your company fared, the question is the same: What are you going to do in 2012?

Do You Dare To Dream? - Read more...
I have never been able to understand why some people can only see as far ahead as the end of the current day. Instead of aiming for long-term goals, they just wallow in their everyday problems. Sure, the job of running a business, selling, and hanging on to your clients day-to-day can be a full-time job. But a crucial part of that job – any job – is to look far ahead, to anticipate change and new challenges, and be prepared for them.

Motivation - Read more...
Do your salespeople, individually, care whether or not your company is the "Best in the World" or "The Leader in Widget Performance"? Undoubtedly that is important to them, but is that what gets them up in the morning, and keeps them going out in the field?

Defining a Good Fit in Sales - Read more...
In today’s business environment, selling is more complex and prospects more sophisticated. Continually pushing for the “yes” – ignoring the possibility that your product or service may not be the best fit – and refusing to take a “no,” will lead you down a path to a dead end. The result will be wasted time, effort, and resources that could have been invested in other opportunities.

Sell Today, Educate Tomorrow - Read more...
Every fall, most Michiganders look forward to three things: the changing color of the leaves, hunting season and college football. If you've ever attended a college football game, particularly between the two state rivals, you will hear fans jeer and chant throughout the game. If you pay attention, when the announcer comes over the loudspeaker with each of the away team's players names, you will likely hear home fans recite in unison, "who cares?!"

5 Things Salespeople Must Have - Read more...
While there are several factors that contribute to success in the sales arena, there are five things you must have in order to maximize your potential and the results you achieve. You must have a system—a process for identifying, qualifying, and developing selling opportunities. Pursuing anyone who expresses a casual interest in your product or service is a poor investment of your time and energy. Even pursuing only those who have a real interest but not the wherewithal to buy it, or the ability to make a decision to buy it, is a poor investment of resources. In order to obtain the greatest return on that investment, you must be able to systematically qualify opportunities quickly using appropriate measurable criteria.

Six Ways To Be A Better Manager - Read more...
Part of your responsibility as sales manager is to help your sales team increase their capacity to perform and improve the outcomes of their performance. In other words, help them become better salespeople. To that end, you conduct regular sales meetings to hold them accountable, you provide coaching to keep them on track, and your provide training when needed.

Cutting Through Roadblocks to Change - Read more...
What happens the first time you try a new selling technique? It's usually uncomfortable and doesn't go as smoothly as it did in the seminar or how you imagined it would go. Often it results in a less than satisfying outcome. There are physiological reasons for this discomfort and awkwardness.

Warm Up To Cold Calling - Read more...
Cold calling: For many of us, the word "cold" is the key. Just the thought of picking up the phone sends a chill up our spines. Unfortunately, if we approach cold calling with an attitude of negativity, we'll communicate that attitude to the prospect.

If The Competition is Doing It-Stop - Read more...
Successful salespeople are often experts at differentiating themselves from the competition. This isn’t a coincidence. It’s vital because if the prospect has no way of differentiating between sales people, they’ll default to their tried and true method, price. Poor and mediocre salespeople are the ones that cut their price and try to low ball a deal. Successful sales professionals avoid the situation and when circumstances place them in that battle, they usually walk away. So as a rule of thumb, if the competition is doing it, do something else.

People Don't Buy Features and Benefits, They Buy Ways to Avoid or Overcome Pain - The Tactic - Read more...
Despite what customers and prospects say, they buy from you to get rid of some pain that either is present or will be present without your product/service. They do not buy the product/service because you are a wonderful person. Of course, this does not mean that you should be anything less than wonderful. The point is that your customers and prospects can buy what you are selling from any number of other vendors at anytime. So why do they buy from you?

Breaking The Success Barrier - Read more...
There is an invisible barrier which holds you back. It was built brick by brick since the day you were born, unintentionally maybe, by people who would have wanted more for you. But, nevertheless, there it is - blocking your path to success. And since it is part of your inner core, it is hard to tear down.

Prospecting With A Plan - Read more...
A good pool of prospects is one of the keys to a successful selling career. Knowing how to prospect effectively keeps a career vital, and is truly the lifeblood of sales. Yet, so many sales professionals overlook the crucial element of having a prospecting plan. With a plan to follow, you can measure your efforts and results.

Rejecting Rejection - Read more...
No one in any profession is successful 100% of the time. Keep rejection in perspective as you move toward your goal. 1. Expect your share of rejections. 2. Focus on the long term. Tomorrow you'll barely remember those rude words barked at you today. Next week, you'll have to struggle to recall them. Life goes on.

I Dare You - Read more...
I never have been able to understand why people can only see as far as the need of the day in which they are operating. It astounds me even more how these same people can be motivated at all. On a day-to-day basis, the job of running a business, selling, and hanging on to your clients can be tough.

Twelve Sandler Steps To Sales Success - Read more...
This is a collection of twelve simple steps all salespeople should live by. 1. Being genuinely interested in your prospect’s personal and professional opinions will do as much (perhaps more) to develop rapport as identifying his personality style or discovering if he is a football, baseball, or hockey fan.

Eleven Qualities of a Successful Sales Plan - Read more...
A good sales plan establishes goals, priorities, timetables, and necessary resources. A sales plan that will achieve your ends has these characteristics:

Why Prospects Buy - Read more...
The reasons you give a prospect to buy are rarely the reasons a prospect buys. In fact, a prospect sometimes buys in spite of your reasons. Our reasons for buying are a stock list of features that many times mean nothing to a prospect or they simply don’t care about them.

I Need More Time - Read more...
A major frustration for salespeople is dealing with prospects that can't seem to make a decision. Perhaps the biggest of those frustrations is struggling with prospects who indicate the desire to make a decision (and to do so by a certain date), but when the date rolls around, they invariably need more time.

What Is Your Mindset? - Read more...
If being successful would be as easy as reading a book or attending one seminar, we’d all be doing it-- right? Like most things worthwhile in life, it takes commitment of time, energy, and mindset that will help begin your journey to where you want to go.

Three Steps to Greater Selling Success - Sales Tip - Read more...
If you want to excel in the sales game, you only have to follow three simple steps. If you're already at the top of your game, following these steps will take you to higher levels of success. Even if you're at the other end of the success spectrum, in a slump perhaps and ready to throw in the towel, following these three steps will get you out of your slump and on your way to success ... guaranteed! So, what are these three magical steps?

Stop Selling To Close More - Read more...
When you really want (or possibly need) to close a sale, it’s easy to drop into “convincing” mode. You begin to sound like the stereotypical “high-pressure” salesperson explaining the benefits of the various features of your product or service and “justifying” the costs.

Up Front Contracts - Read more...
Surprises can sometimes be fun, but not when you’re dealing with a prospect or client. Surprises during a meeting, either from the prospect or from you, can be a deal breaker or, at the very least, compromise a positive relationship between you and your prospect. But, there’s a Sandler technique to avoid this pitfall: Up-Front Contracts.