SalesHQ

What are you doing with those prospects that are in your database that aren’t ready to purchase yet? Are you in the process of establishing trust and good will—or are you demonstrating that you aren’t trustworthy or that you really don’t have anything of value to offer? Or what about your existing clients? Are you teaching them to pay attention to ...

Have you ever gotten frustrated when you realize that your prospects keep stereotyping you as a "salesperson"? And because of that, they don't give you the trust and openness that you deserve, and that are essential if you're going to help them solve their problems? That's what's been happening to Michael, who calls companies to set appointments with decision makers. "I ...

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 ...

[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 ...

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 ...

Sales pros aren't the only ones who can offer valuable lessons in the art of persuasion. I saw a great sales job in the Tampa airport by a person who probably didn't even see himself in sales. It was an airport security person who did a masterful job of crowd control. We had an 8 a.m. flight from Tampa to Toronto. ...

Like Angela Lansbury in “Murder, She Wrote,” I run into cases of murder everywhere I go. Unlike Lansbury who faced cunning villains who intentionally murdered, the cases I come across are unintentional, but with the same deadly results. Lansbury’s villains used guns, knives, and other assorted weapons; the killers I come across use words. She dealt with homicide; I deal with ...

Anne Connolly, a researcher for the State University of New York system, talked with me about words we have grown tired of hearing, especially since they mean almost nothing. (In fact, they take away impact, because they are annoying.) Initially, we mentioned "basically." If the topic is so basic, do we need to talk about it? Quickly, we added "actually," a ...

Handling any sort of conflict requires you to draw on all your resources, your communication skills in particular. The reality is that we all have many communication skills but don’t always use them effectively and certainly do not take the opportunity to improve them as often as we should. We relate to people on two levels: Consciously: when we carefully select ...

Like you, I've been selling all my life and what I've learned is, asking good questions and listening effectively are the most powerful selling skills. Unfortunately, the dynamics between sales people and prospects/customers, coupled with tension and old habits makes asking questions and listening very difficult to execute consistently. Yes, many of you will say, you ask questions and listen. However, ...

1. Change Your Question Once you've targeted an account to go after, instead of focusing first on "How can I sell this to them?" ask yourself, "How can I improve their business?" When this question is at the forefront of your thinking, you start behaving different. You can't make calls until you've researched their firm, know their company's objectives and understand ...

We have all heard this warning: 'You never get a second chance to make a good first impression.' In fact, psychologists caution that we only have from seven to seventeen seconds of interacting with strangers before they form an opinion of us. With this widely acknowledged pressure to 'make our case' instantly, here are seven tips for making your first impression ...

     Expanding the Ability to Communicate  Discovering ways to improve can be quite frustrating when there are no suggestions and experimentation is the only avenue. It becomes trial and error finding something that may work and does work. More often than not there are many more discoveries of ways not to use than ways to use. The suggestions have been ...

A conference is a huge opportunity to build relationships with extraordinary people -- people who might have a significant impact on your professional or personal success. To make sure you maximize the return on your (or your organization's) investment of time and money to attend, you can't afford to be a conference commoner. You have to be a conference commando. Here ...

The sales process you are defining to grow your business may be the very thing that is keeping your sales team from selling. As the economy has made sales competition fierce, companies have heavily focused on the sales process. Many, for the first time, are clearly defining all of the critical steps for their sales team. Some are even taking this ...

Salespeople need to smile more, and not forced smiles like Arthur Miller envisioned in Death of a Salesman: He's a man way out there in the blue, riding on a smile and a shoeshine. It takes much more than a smile and a shoeshine to succeed in sales today. Still, they are a good place to start. I sell speeches. A ...

At a recent meeting attended by more than 50 salespeople and sales managers, the speaker asked this question: “If your children were choosing a profession, would you recommend that they choose sales?” Not one hand was raised. There’s the problem. Selling is not viewed as a profession—it’s not something we suggest our children do. It’s definitely not what we learned in ...

Body Language Tips for the Office Party The holiday office party offers a great opportunity to socialize with co-workers, meet new people, and develop or deepen relationships. However, a holiday get-together can also quickly turn into a career-limiting event, unless you understand the do's and don'ts of appropriate behavior. The desire to relax and have fun - especially in these ...

Meeting new people and starting conversations is often challenging. It can be difficult to enter a room and view strangers everywhere you turn. Meeting all these people and engaging in conversation with them can be exhausting and overwhelming. But it does not have to be this way. Skilled conversationalists turn business and social interactions into opportunities for making a good first ...

Big words belong in the dictionary, nowhere else. A few days ago, I was walking near an office building and I saw this sign on the lawn: Experimental Turf Area Please Avoid Pedestrian Traffic on Turf Honestly, that's what the sign said. My immediate reaction: KEEP OFF THE GRASS has worked quite well in getting that same message across, for many ...