Sometimes, prospects (or people in general) don't say exactly what they mean and to compound the problem, sometimes the recipient (especially salespeople with 'happy ears') hear what they want to hear. You can see the original version of this table in BuzzFeed. I couldn't help myself. Enjoy!
When I work with someone that wants to be a Sales Rock Star, I always warn them that "I'm either showing it to you or doing it to you 24/7." I got that quote from David Sandler 30 years ago. I interpreted it to mean that I will always be setting the example that I expect you to follow. Thank you, Mr. Sandler!
Pete started the conversation with 3 Theories I'd like to Prove About Selling. (You need to read the article AND the comments. BTW, although there are other commenters, Pete and Trish were the only ones that engaged with me. There's a lot of brain power in the comments.)
I just got off a coaching call with a client that told me about a prospect that just put a deal off until Q2.
I could have titled this, "Apps I use every day."
Today, one of my sales rock stars in progress asked me if they could send me a video. I said, "Sure! Why?"
Sales is different from other professions because it seems to have different rules. Doctors, lawyers and many other professionals need to go to many years of school. When they’re done with school, they have to pass the medical boards or the bar exam before they can practice and if someone were to pretend they were a doctor or lawyer, they could be prosecuted for practicing medicine or law without a license. Furthermore, at least in the U.S., you may be allowed to practice medicine or law in one state, but that doesn’t necessarily allow you to practice in other states. Even after these professionals pass their respective licensing exam and practice, they must continue to keep up to date by earning continuing education credits from designated educational resources.
There is no standard educational or licensing process for salespeople. Just say you’re a salesperson and start selling and keep doing it as long as somebody will pay you to sell. You don’t need to earn continuing education credits. You aren’t required to keep learning. As a matter of fact, small business people, sole practitioners and solopreneurs may ‘sell’ so that they can deliver their product or services, but they often don’t think of themselves as salespeople. They read trade magazines, manufacturers’ updates, etc. to learn about what they do, but they may not put any resources into improving the effectiveness of their sales process. Consequently, there are millions of people that are trying to ‘sell’ that have never been educated as salespeople, never been licensed and aren’t required to prove that they actually know what they’re doing. As a matter of fact, I did an evaluation of a group a few years ago and 39% of the salespeople were found to be untrainable, which means that not only didn’t they know how to sell, but they couldn’t be taught to sell.
I originally wrote this article for publication elsewhere last September, but it never got used. I'm glad because it really fits with our conversation about American Hustle and the #1 Sales Challenge. Enjoy!
Topics: trusted advisor, earning trust in sales, Sales
I was on a coaching call yesterday with one of my Sales Rock Stars in progress. We were debriefing a recent sales call that we had 'rehearsed' and my client (Penny) said something like, "It was magical. It was like you called my prospect and told them how to answer my questions and they bought." Then Penny added, "I don't understand why my company is teaching XYZ Sales Methodology. It doesn't work anywhere nearly as well as what I learn from you."
Ending updated for 2020...
Topics: sales and marketing alignment, B2B Selling, American Hustle
I'm involved in a conversation on the Hubspot Partners Forum on LinkedIn. The original question was "Increasing lead to customer conversion rate: any HubSpot trade secrets?".
Yesterday, I wrote, 7 Deadly Sins of Sales Goals. It was OK, but it didn't do what I wanted it to. So, let me make seven specific suggestions that I do that will help you increase your social footprint, establish yourself as a thought leader, sell more and make you more money.
This post was inspired by Mike Williams and gazillions of "How to Set Sales Goals in 2014" articles that were posted recently and will be posted in the near future.
Robin and I don't always agree, but she posted "CTL +ALT+ DELETE, 2013 the "Year of Full Moons" is ovah! Bring it 2014!" to her Facebook page on New Year's Eve and it caused me to ask, "Should we "CTL +ALT+ DELETE" our life, sales process, and/or daily habits?
