How do I keep from getting “passed down” in the organization?

If you get passed down, simply acknowledge the request, demonstrate your willingness to work with the appropriate person/team in the organization on an evaluation and then ask, “why”?

The star who lost his shine

Michael was the top rep in the company last year. He finished the year at 147% of quota…earned top honors in the company and made a mint in commissions.

The Rock Star that won’t use CRM

The Rock Star that won’t use CRM

How do I get my prospect to open up and answer questions?

Customers don’t automatically want ot open up or get grilled by a sales rep. It can be hard to convert time into useful information unless you have the right techniques for getting information. I uses two base approaches.

Increase the urgency?

Urgency has two facets; “Can we make them buy any faster?” or “Can we predict the outcome and avoid delays?”.

Moving up the food chain…evolve into an enterprise sales team

Many companies selling to the SMB struggle when they begin to want to move up the food chain and sell to the enterprise. There are many compelling reasons to make the move including deeper pockets, larger average sale, more visibility and higher margins. And face facts; many times small company deals can be just as hard to win as big ones. However, true enterprise selling is very different…like fishing in deeper waters. Different baits, different techniques and different (but larger) fish!

The Art of Influence, Persuasion and Yes…Control – (Part 2)

Seven tips to become a Control Freak!

The Art of Influence, Persuasion and Yes…Control – (Part 1)

This might be a generational thing and make me seem “old school” but I don’t feel entitled to win the deal just because I show off my product, align it to business problems and get the customer to like me and my company.

Positive Culture in Tough Times

I was talking to someone at lunch the other day where a kids was screaming “holy you know what”. The parent tried many things to get the kid to behave…none was effective. I said to my friend that it was way too late to get that kid to behave that it should have started at birth and been re-enforced every day of the kids childhood.

I think attitude, confidence and positivity of a selling team are just the same.

Skills before Process- (Part 3)

Once you have a framework for the skills you feel are best suited to highly effective selling, create a formal or informal way to assess each and every rep. I am not in favor of blast training all skills to all reps. Your sales managers need to develop an individual assessment and program for each and every rep. Identify the gaps and a program to fill. VP’s need to use the individual development models as an Sales Manager assesment tool.