“Selling is more challenging now than it was just a couple of years ago.” Most of the participants in my sales seminars nod solemnly when I make that statement. And then they begin to fidget in their seats when I follow that up with this: “And it will be more challenging next year than it is today.”
They become really uncomfortable when I extend that idea: “And it will be increasingly more challenging every year..."
Over the decades that I’ve been involved in sales, I’ve worked with tens of thousands of salespeople. Certain negative tendencies — mistakes that salespeople make — keep surfacing. Here is number five of my top five. See to what degree you (or your sales force) may be guilty of them.
Again this week I encountered what has become a common event. I was called in to consult with a client. Sales were flat for too long, and the client knew that something had to be done. One of my first questions was this: “What do you know about your customers?” The answer was a glazed look
and some mumbling about information in the credit department.
Trying to refine a sales system without adequately knowing your customers is like playing pin the tail on the donkey — you’ll stumble around blindly unless you’re lucky enough to stick something by chance...
Stories can be powerful tools to shape behavior and dramatically communicate expectations. Wise executives continually seek for opportunities to capture and then relate a story that supports and illustrates the organization’s culture. If the story can be tied to a piece of physical support, then it’s even better.
Here’s an example...
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A salesperson, by virtue of the job, is in contact with a lot of people. That is, after all, the heart of his job. And each contact and every relationship offers an opportunity to shine just a little piece of God’s providence and love into that situation. By maintaining the perspective of a Christian servant,
and tightly clutching an inviolate set of ethics, the Christian salesperson can add light to a set of relationships and transactions that often sorely lack it...
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