For many sales professionals, prospecting and qualifying are the least favorite aspects of their jobs. In the rush to dig into a new account and make a sale, qualifying is often skimmed over and salespeople end up spending time with the wrong people, negatively impacting their effectiveness. How to Qualify Your Prospects In this era
Summer vacations are coming to an end and the kids are heading back to school in a few weeks. For salespeople this means business is about to get hopping again. Decision makers are back in the office, a new quarter is set to begin and it’s busy season until Thanksgiving. Wise salespeople can get a headstart and take full advantage of the next 3 months by taking some simple actions now.
It’s been called everything from an economic downturn to one of the most important challenges of this generation, and no matter how you choose to define the state of the economy today, everyone recognizes a simple fact: these are game-changing times. Old rules and old assumptions must yield to new ones. And indeed, that transformation is already taking place in businesses and professions of all kinds across North America and around the world.
You know this story, I’m sitting at my desk, the phone rings, I answer, and an enthusiastic voice: “Good morning Dave!, I’m Roger from XXX…..” The pitch begins. I barely had the words, “tell me what you do” out of my mouth when the script started.
Your primary competitor is very difficult to outsell. You run across your biggest competitor far more often than you run across that Big Name Company or top salesperson. And more than likely, you lose far more sales to this competitor than you do to all other competitors combined. Paul McCord on indecision and stalled deals.
Sales is a very personal game, there is a lot of emotion involved, both good and bad, a lot of ups and downs; at times it is like the old Wide World of Sports intro, remember, “the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat”, it’s all there in a sale. Which is why it is
In a cut-throat market filled with competitors, how do you stand above the crowd with an 80% close rate and minimal churn? Jill Konrath provides a concrete example of a sales process that helps you accomplish just that.
One of the simplest tools sales professionals can use is the meeting agenda. Not only does it help focus your thoughts on key objectives, both the client’s and yours, but it can also you uncover potential obstacles or challenges before they could prove to be troublesome.
Used properly and consistently, they can reduce the length of meetings, especially where there are a number of participants from the buying organization, and uncover and confirm the decision hierarchy in the group.
As life begins to come back to sales organizations, and they start contemplating hiring new reps, I am often asked “should I hire someone who can sell but lacks industry experience; or should I search for someone who has been around the industry and has good product knowledge?”
I advise them to hire a rep that can sell, and teach them the specifics of the industry. Here is why.
A good friend and I were having an interesting conversation this morning. One of his regional VP’s was having great difficulty with one of the organization’s top sales people who refused to update the CRD system. What would you do? Would you fire the the sales person?
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