SalesHQ

Professional writers often worry that their work is unnecessary. After all, can't anyone with even a basic education write? The answer: no, they can't. Even college graduates don't seem to be learning composition basics. Of course not everyone is going to be the next Mark Twain, but career success does depend on not looking stupid. Sure, some clients, coworkers, or resume ...

You may look good on paper or in your suit, but if you're looking to nail your big interview, looks aren't everything. How you sound is often more important. But many job seekers let careless speech habits sink their chances of landing that plum job. The Bottom Line: You don't have to study elocution to speak well. Simply slow down, take ...

The responsibility for ensuring that every member of the sales team is successful and performing at optimum levels lies entirely with management and below are the eight reasons why sales people fail. In fact, I usually ask just three very straightforward questions, in order to identify why a salesperson is underachieving i.e., • Are they visiting/talking to enough clients/prospects? In other ...

1. A Closed Body Whether sitting or standing, your body should be loose and open. Do not cross your arms. Do not cross your legs. While you may think it conveys a sense of ease, studies have shown that a people read a closed body differently: they subconsciously think you have something to hide. What's more, you're missing a golden ...

Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society. —Mark Twain We hate to admit it, because we personally feel that clothes shouldn’t matter. In a perfect world, a person would be judged at their workplace based solely on their performance. Unfortunately, that’s not how the world works. How you choose to dress each morning reflects how ...

Constipated Clauses Reporting on the feats and foibles of the Red Sox, a writer for South Coast Today notes: "It goes without saying that these exploits take a tremendous amount of skill." If it "goes without saying" then don't say it. If it doesn't, in fact, go without saying, then don't say it does. "Obviously, the sky is blue." Putting ...

What's the difference between the rising star whose career is picking up speed and his counterpart who can't seem to get the engine to turn over? Often, the star has mastered the nuances of business etiquette - the subtle but critical behaviors that can make or break an important meeting, influence a first impression or impress a potential client. According to ...

[photo:42331] Stanford University School of Business conducted a study that monitored a group of MBAs 10 years after graduation. What did they learn? That their ability to converse had a huge impact on their success and grade point averages had no bearing whatsoever. These are not traditional public speaking skills, but the way you interact with people less formally. The ability ...

We hate to admit it, because we personally feel that clothes shouldn't matter. In a perfect world, a person would be judged at their workplace based solely on the caliber of their work. Unfortunately, that's not how the world works. How you choose to dress each morning *reflects how you feel about your job* – that you take your position seriously, ...

More and more e-mails are arriving in my in-box from people who hate cold calling. Here's what they're saying: • “Cold calling terrifies me.” • “The phone feels like a 10,000-pound weight.” • “Every time I have to make a cold call, I freeze up.” • “I feel like a fraud when I’m cold calling.” • “I can’t take the rejection ...

Have you noticed that the old "tried and true" cold calling techniques which were once successful have completely lost their effectiveness over the years? They just don't work anymore. Nevertheless, many salespeople are still use them because that's all they know. They're working from that old, ineffective cold calling mindset. And they're making the same mistakes over and over again. These ...

Mistake #1: Not earning the buyer’s trust. If your prospect doesn’t trust you, 98% of the time, you won’t make the sale. There are two important things to remember about trust. First, trust extends from you. If you begin the sales process by building rapport so that the prospect starts to like you, they will soon begin to trust you ...

Mistake #1: Monologues Communication is a two way process. Leaders who consistently tell without taking into account feedback get one of two things. A subservient group of people doing as they are told or a frustrated group of people who are negatively disposed to much of what they are asked to do. In the former case, the organisation loses the capacity ...

Excerpt from Keith's best selling book on prospecting endorsed by Ken Blanchard and Brian Tracy! More here. In all of my years of training and coaching managers, business owners, sole practitioners, non-selling professionals and salespeople, one thing is for certain. Each person has a unique communication style and approach. That's a great thing and something I certainly encourage each person to ...

Because salespeople are people first, they make mistakes. Sometimes the mistakes cost them sales, but on occasions wonderful recoveries are made that save the sale. If you’re in sales or thinking about getting into sales, read these true stories submitted by real salespeople who are willing to share their most traumatic moments with you. You get free training on what not ...

I received a call from an ex-student this week who is designing an induction program for new recruits about to embark upon a career in sales. He asked that if I had to create the "12 golden principles of selling," what would I come up with? Clearly, this is not only a very subjective view, but also I found it terribly ...

"I always hear people talking about how e-mail is today's 'killer app,'" my coaching client Janice told me when we were discussing ways of making contact with prospects. "But I'm afraid that people will think I'm spamming them if I try to e-mail them when we haven't met yet. I know I hate spam with a vengeance!" "You're not the only ...

Details (yuck!) are the bane of a sales professional’s existence. None of us want to crunch puny little numbers throughout the day. Save that for the accountants who eat that stuff up. Let us be free to sell, sell, and sell some more. The only puny numbers we’re interested in are numbers like ‘ones’ and ‘zeros’, as in the number one ...

Over the past few weeks, I've found myself on the receiving end of a series of particularly heinous sales techniques, all of which were aimed at getting through a gatekeeper to a decision maker, and all of which ended disastrously for the sales reps involved. I firmly believe that, to improve our skills and the relationships we have with our prospects ...

Excel is one of those programs. Sometimes it seems as though it's perfectly harmless and easy - until you accidentally hit enter and erase all the data you just spent the entire day creating. With the help of featured writer Richard Rinyai, we've put together this 10 Excel pro tips that will help you do your job better, faster, and give ...