SalesHQ

Dick Clinton had wanted to be a professional trumpet player, but that didn't work out. But after 50 years of selling life insurance for MassMutual Financial Group, he wouldn't have it any other way. "I love what I am doing," said Mr. Clinton, 72. "I'm in this business because I enjoy it, and I truly enjoy my clients." He said the ...

We lost several notable celebrities in the latter days of June: "Charlie's Angels" star Farrah Fawcett, broadcaster Ed McMahon and, probably most notably, prolific musician Michael Jackson. But I've noticed that within the teen community, the most upsetting news was the death of that brusque, burly, bearded TV pitchman Billy Mays. Mays, 50, was found dead in his Tampa, Fla., home ...

Denise and I were getting ready to wrap up our weekly coaching call. She’s been a salesperson for about 18 years and recently took a new position in media sales. I sensed there was something going on with Denise that was getting in her way; some limiting or dangerous thinking that was sabotaging her selling efforts without her even knowing it. ...

We are living in a time when honest discussion is often drowned out by the noise of partisan cheerleading. More and more, cable TV shows, blogs, radio stations, Web sites and magazines exist to openly advocate a political agenda, ideology, candidate or product. Journalistic institutions are in decline, and many professional reporters are looking for new careers. As an old reporter ...

Dave Wedzina detests pushy salespeople. Like many of today's shoppers, the Lackawanna man likes to do his own research and make his own purchasing choices. Sure, he wants a sales associate to be around if he has questions, but he doesn't like feeling "sold to." "I want them to say, 'If you need any assistance, my name is Fred,' not 'I've ...

When was the last time you were introduced to a professional salesperson and when asked what they did for a living, they said openly and honestly: “Oh, I sell?” No, rather most salespeople prefer to disguise themselves behind euphemisms such as: “Sales Engineer”, “Account Executive”, “Technical Consultant” etc. But nowadays we have to accept that we all sell everyday - doctors, ...

Lacking some confidence? Do you suffer from low self-esteem? As you can imagine, there’s no room in sales for anything less than a winning attitude. So, how do the top producers do it? How do so many of them go from initially lacking the confidence to sell or close a deal to an extreme abundance of self worth? Here’s the secret ...

Practicing what you preach is not merely a mark of good morals, but a mark of good salesmanship, too. One salesman ignored this principle when he tried to impress Kelly, a training manager. The salesman failed miserably. Here's Kelly's story: I'm the manager of training for a Canadian retailer and am often contacted to see if I would like to purchase ...

When Tom got a call from a woman working at the one of the largest advertisement agencies in the world, he thought his low-income days of selling party-planning services were over. A big client like that could keep him fed for years. Here's Tom's story: The woman calling wanted to hear about our offerings on the phone, but I insisted that ...

Jack was a true sales pro, pushing software worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. But his lack of attention to a seemingly minor detail ruined his shot at a big sale with a big company. Here's Jack's story: While selling specialty software, I had arranged a presentation in front of a group of facilities managers for a former computer giant. The ...

How savvy are you as a salesperson? Do you act and talk like every other rep out there, or have you found ways to distinguish yourself? Insurance salesperson Carol recalls blindly using an old technique that resulted in her failure. Here's her story: The sales call started out smoothly. I had generated a good lead and called on the company to ...

You're taught to plan for success, but how well do you plan for failure? Bill is now a highly successful sales trainer whose clients fly him around the US to coach their reps. But he wasn't always so competent. Here's his story about dressing for an interview: As a rookie rep, I was extremely proud to land an appointment with an ...

How skilled are you in handling candid conversations with strangers? This is something sales professionals need to master. With a decade's worth of experience in insurance sales, Ken describes himself as witty, engaging and proficient in building relationships with prospects. But there was a time when Ken wasn't as savvy. Here's his story. It was my first sales call without my ...

It's not long past the season of completing business planning and it would be remiss of me not to provide a few helpful definitions of business planning nomenclature. Bottom up planning: planning completed from the absolute building blocks of the business so that the targets are in complete synchronisation with the resource requirements in terms of capital and operating expenditure, human ...

Like Napoleon Hill wrote, "Desire is the starting point to all great achievements." (THINK AND GROW RICH, 1937) "To be or be too?", contrary to the old "to be or not to..." (from the Shakespearean mind), is the new philosophy--mine--.     I personally don't believe in the bandwagon effect just for that sake!  I believe in being an innovator and a ...

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 ...

As any journalist who covers the financial services industry will tell you, there is a lot of turgid writing about. By that, I am not, of course, referring to any of my colleagues, whose limpid prose graces the pages of this paper and many other personal finance sections, magazines and websites. No, what I am referring to is the never-ending reports ...

I hold my hands up, I am a wicked salesman. I confess to selling a pound 181,000 Norwich Union mortgage protection insurance policy and a Holloway income protection insurance plan to a couple in the next village a couple of years ago. The husband has just had a terminal-illness payment for stomach cancer, which has cleared his mortgage and the Holloway ...

The most common error in selling occurs when salespeople are so focused on what they or their company wants from a sales relationship that they lose sight of what their prospects want from it. Buyer’s markets are crowded markets; crowded markets are filled with buyers who are confused and far too many sellers who use outdated, “me-too” marketing techniques. Because of ...

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 ...