Frustrated with rejection at the top? Wondering who’s greasing whose palm to get access to the million-dollar decision-makers? Working at convincing yourself that the CEO/President isn’t really THE Top Dog for your particular product/service? All you’ve gotta do to change this frustration and rejection to outrageous success is this. Learn to think like a girl … You’ll be relieved to know ...

"My salespeople need to get better at closing," the Vice President of Sales said to me shortly after I arrived in his office. If I've heard that line once, I've heard it a hundred times. Despite being on an important sales call, I couldn't help but cringe. You see, I will never, ever train people on closing techniques if they sell ...

"No" is unpleasant. It's frustrating, it's demoralizing, it's downright annoying. It's also inevitable if you have a career in sales. You're going to hear it at some time or another, and though that initial sting might get you every time, there are ways to make "no" work in your favor. It doesn't have to resound endlessly in your mind and undercut ...

If you are involved in prospecting, then you will already know the challenges of persuading a prospect to give you the business. Ultimately, there is a four-step process involved in buying that all of us follow: 1. We have to feel motivated to make a purchase, irrespective of its type or size. 2. At some point after we have become motivated ...

You'll pay the price if you swing the wrong way when navigating the price point waters. The price debate is a yo-yo dilemma with serious consequences for your business. How do you know if you should be fighting for every penny or luring in customers with low-price deals? You'll pay the price if you swing the wrong way, so here's a ...

I'm walking through Terminal 2 at O'Hare Airport lugging two heavy bags. I see the shoeshine stand directly ahead. The shoeshine man is looking for his next sale. I'm walking and thinking about getting to my connecting gate. Somehow, he catches my eye. When he has it, he looks down at my shoes. My eyes follow his. As I pass, trying ...

There's a difference between lost customers and dead customers. Most sales managers and salespeople don't make that distinction, but Jill Griffin does in her book Customer Winback: How to Recapture Lost Customers - and Keep Them Loyal. In the rush to get new business, we ignore lost business. Marketing Metrics, a Paramus, New Jersey-based consulting firm, estimates that the closing ratio ...

Riddle: Four frogs are sitting on a log. Two decide to jump off. How many are left on the log? Answer: Four, because deciding to do something is not the same as actually doing it. The same riddle is applicable to everyone feeling good about a closing at the end of a sales meeting -- it does not mean the deal ...

You hear it all the time - if your price is higher than your competition you're told to “build value." You’re instructed to stress the quality, the warranty, the features, etc. But your prospects have heard all that before, haven’t they? Want a better way? Let’s face it - prospects will often buy from people they like, know or trust. Your ...

Caught in the end-of-the-year trap? On the one hand, you’ve got pressure from your manager to close deals NOW! On the other, you’re getting the put off from clients who want to call you back after the holidays, next year! The end of the year is a time when both you and buyers have fires burning bright and often those priorities ...

Even skilled and seasoned negotiators struggle sometimes when it comes to trading concessions, prefering to take the swiftest rout to closure and thus leaving so much money on the table - here are my thoughts: A Win-Win negotiation can only be achieved if both parties are prepared to concede some of their ‘would like to have’s’ in favour of preserving their ...

You know that moment when you're thinking about buying something, but you're just not sure if you should pull out your wallet? That's "purchase anxiety." Most people feel it at some point, especially when they're buying a big-ticket item. Or when they're buying something over the internet. Online shoppers tend to suffer from purchase anxiety more than offline shoppers. After all, ...

If you were asked to name your biggest competitor, whom would you name? A specific company? Maybe a specific salesperson? Possibly, you view your biggest competitor as a product instead of a company or salesperson? Competition is all around. It may seem that competitors lurk around every corner. Moreover, the bigger the competitor, the more fear it engenders. For some salespeople ...

Nothing is more frustrating - or time-wasting - than to find out that you have been selling to the wrong person! Influencers can not buy, they can only recommend. A decision maker is the only person that can say yes. Hint: If your proposal needs approval, you are working with an influencer. Decision makers write cheques, approve POs, and sign cheques ...

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 ...

Gertrude Stein once famously said, "A rose is a rose is a rose." If in fact Stein was right about roses, she was miles off base when it came to sales. Rather, the truism for every salesperson is "Not every sale is created equal." While every sale is a good sale, it's the giants-the Sales of the Century-that make your ...

Last week I was speaking with a new prospect who had called in to inquire about one of my inside sales training programs. I went over her needs, matched up my training to fit those needs, gave her the price options and then closed on dates. And that’s when I got the old stall, “Well, let me run this by my ...

Recent exhaustive surveys suggest that only 5% of professional salespeople reach and remain at the highest level, which we call Level 3. A further 15% attain Level 2 status, but the majority, i.e. a massive 80% remain at Level 1 in terms of potential achievement. Level One salespeople sell products and depend on having the right technical solution for the ...

One advantage that salespeople posses is this; aside from being a salesperson, you are also a consumer and a prospect, enabling you to better connect with each prospect you speak with. Think about what goes through your mind when you make a buying decision. Here are the top twelve most commonly asked questions as it relates to making a purchasing decision. ...

My wife and I were about to undertake our last remodeling project. Being a consummate consumer, I wanted several qualified companies to bid on our next project. After calling ten contractors, I scheduled an appointment with the five that called back. Following our meetings, one gave me a price on the spot and two never responded with an estimate. Two contractors ...