SalesHQ

You go to a sales seminar to learn how to sell; you read Sales Horror Stories to learn how not to sell. Heed the warning and avoid the mistakes our brave contributors made. Read, learn, make your own mistakes, and then deposit them into the Sales Horror Crypt. h4. Lingerie Sales Monster.com member kristysg reveals this tale: I was in the ...

When you control the meeting's focus, you control the meeting. During the first two minutes, you want the meeting's focus to be the prospect's problem, not you and your product. We live in the Age of Interruptions. The typical businessperson experiences 170 to 190 interactions per day. These interactions include voice mail, email, faxes, pages, hallway conversations and the dreaded "got ...

When Michael Jordan came out of retirement for the second time, he said he needed the competition - the chance to prove himself against younger players - more than the money. Many successful businesspeople who could afford to retire keep on working. Warren Buffett still picks stocks. Bill Gates's concession to success is to no longer work on Sundays. Successful people ...

Many sales reps think that somewhere inside their customer's headquarters is a single decision maker. But today, even CEOs reach consensus with their direct reports before making important decisions, according to Neil Rackham, author of SPIN Selling. h4. Meet the Decision Makers In a recent Selling Power magazine article, Rackham observes that decision making for the purchase of any significant product ...

Most sales professionals wrongly believe that a referral takes place when a customer is nice enough to give you the name of another potential customer. Referrals don't have much to do with friendliness but are rather about risk and trust. To make referrals, your customers must be willing to risk their credibility and/or relationships with others -- because when they pass ...

In this tale, an experienced sales pro, Tim, learns a lesson about the value of asking questions before blindly making assumptions. He pays a steep price for the lesson, since it costs him 85 customers. Here's Tim's story: Cecil was an older man about to retire. As president of his company, he was determined to see that his insurance needs, as ...

Successful salespeople are adept at gaining their clients' trust, though they might be hard-pressed to explain precisely how trust influences people's buying decisions. Research has shown that in product sales, clients often trust the reputation of the product itself as much as they trust the salesperson. But when you're dealing with a service sale involving intangible elements, trust becomes the buyer's ...

Life is one big seminar. It is not always necessary to go to formal training sessions to learn how to sell. There are many accidental seminars put on by people you encounter every day. In this one, I learned a valuable lesson about asking questions and controlling a meeting's focus. Sarah McCann, my partner and wife, and I were spending our ...

Sales is about making connections, though not just with customers. Your long-term success as a salesperson depends on your ability to collaborate with others. Networking, whether it involves securing employment, generating business leads or seeking professional advice, yields immeasurable rewards. Many salespeople find it tough to commit the time necessary for effective networking. These tips will help you fit some key ...

Creating a structured plan and process is vital to any successful venture, whether launching a new business, orchestrating an organizational turnaround or managing your job search networking campaign. It is critical that you clearly identify your network contacts, develop a personalized networking plan and build an administrative process to manage it all. Before starting to create a two-tiered networking system, remember ...

Email is arguably the most important sales prospecting tool to come along since the invention of the business card. Yet even as email has become essential to the way sales organizations function, many salespeople remain in the dark about how to harness this powerful tool’s full potential to open a dialogue with potential customers. h4. A Way to Connect with Customers ...

It's a conundrum faced by many, if not most, job seekers: You want to cultivate all the connections you can to maximize your chances of plugging into the best career opportunities. But the more word gets out about you, the more chance your exit strategy will get back to the boss. Even professionals in industries rife with job hoppers are careful ...

There is more to networking than running around a room collecting business cards. Effective networking is an art, not a science. Put your networking plan into place today, and you will soon reap the rewards by being well-connected in your community. h2. The Importance of Networking A vast number of job openings never make it to the newspaper or job boards. ...

After you’ve successfully completed a job search, shouldn’t networking be the last thing on your mind? Not so, say networking experts. In fact, internal networking, right from the beginning, is key to maintaining the upward trajectory of your career. Here’s how to successfully launch your networking campaign at a new job. h4. Why Network from the Start? “When you start in ...

Think an MBA or law degree will advance your career? Think twice. Experts say the best way to advance is by having a trusted and powerful mentor. A mentor is a person who advises and coaches you, offers support and acts as your advocate. From the beginning, a mentor shows you the ropes, introduces you to the right people and points ...

Monster Member Will Asks: I'm really a friendly guy, and I have excellent relationships with people. But I tend to have a few good friends rather than many superficial ones. I like to have long quiet dinners with people where we can really talk about what we're thinking and feeling. I've always hated fraternity parties and mega-events where you go to ...

h4. Womens Organizations Thousands of women's organizations, such as businesswomen's associations and societies of women engineers, have sprouted up. These groups offer invaluable networking opportunities. For reasons too complicated to explore here, there are few men's networking organizations. Recently, I spoke at an American Women in Radio and TV event. During the networking session, I noticed that the few male attendees ...

When I give talks to students in college and grad school, they always ask me: What are the secrets to success? What are the unspoken rules for making it big? "So you want the inside scoop," I respond. "Fair enough. I'll sum up the key to success in one word: Generosity." They are shocked, because they thought I'd help them learn ...

If you want to make networking a natural, comfortable part of your work life, look for opportunities during your day; there are tons of them. The trick is to recognize them and redefine networking as something beyond just approaching strangers for favors. Here are 10 often-overlooked opportunities for networking: Telephone Calls Every day, you call people. You call friends and family ...

You wouldn't wear jeans to a job interview, but do you pay as much attention to job-hunting etiquette when networking? Everyone talks about networking but few realize how to do it well. Most people start networking when they start looking for a job. In any job market (and especially this one), a network will provide you with more opportunities and more ...