“Test your ideas in the field, not in your head.” This is the mantra salespeople—and by extension, potential business owners—must tattoo on their minds. You don’t have a monopoly on ideas. Customers reward the sales person they connect with first, not the one who later laments, “That was my idea, he stole it from me.”
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Dear Business Owner, some problems in sales get blamed on marketing—and some problems in marketing get blamed on sales. Few internal battles drain more energy, money, and morale as much as the sales and marketing conflict. Here are 3 common examples—and what you can do about them. (And, by the way, for the uninitiated, marketing
#endingthewarbetweensalesandmarketing, #relationshipbetweensalesandmarketing, #salesandmarketingdifference
A comfortable salesperson is a dangerous thing—dangerous to the business, to their own growth, and to the team’s overall productivity. Motivating him doesn’t work-scaring him does. Comfort is dangerous to selling. Your ‘pep talks’, contests, trainings, even repeated “Believe in yourself!” quotes, don’t break comfort in sales. If anything, they reinforce the comfort. That salesperson
You may not realize it, but your personality type could be influencing your focus as a sales professional in leadership—and not always in ways that help your team hit target. We all come into sales leadership with strengths. But those strengths have blind spots. And blind spots in sales management cost money, morale, and momentum.
#commonleadershipblindspot, #identifyblindspotsdevelopment, #leadershipblindspotassesment, #selfawareness
Dear Sales Manager, are you managing numbers or managing people? If your entire sales management strategy fits into an Excel sheet of monthly targets, congratulations—you’re not managing. You’re hoping. But, “Sales is a game of numbers,” you say. True. Also true, is that, not all sales people are motivated by money or targets. Now, as
If you did not connect with the buyer during the pitch, you will not with your proposal. If your meeting ends with a bland, “Send us the proposal, we look at it and we will get back to you,” translate that to mean, “Ciao, adios, we’re done.” If it ends with a summary of the
#differencebetweenpitchedandproposed, #differencebetweenproposalandpresentation, #howtowriteapitchproposal, #isaproposalthesameasapitch, #proposalandpresentation, #proposalisnotthepitch
Is AI coming for your job? That’s the question echoing through boardrooms, sales floors, and WhatsApp groups alike. But let’s be honest: AI isn’t your biggest threat. Your mediocrity is. When ChatGPT launched, a wave of panic swept through the workplace everywhere. Sales was no exception. Reps started whispering about automation. Managers scrambled to attend webinars
Yes. That’s right. Your top sales person can leave you. In fact, he will if you fail to manage him as you should. Good sales people leave for different reasons and when it happens, it usually catches everyone off guard. Jaws drop. Managers shake their heads in disbelief—often masking blame as concern. “Poor Sheila. She
Are you busy following the sales manual or actually getting results? Following instructions will keep you busy—and keep the peace. It gives you cover when targets are missed: “But I followed the manual.” But that excuse won’t last long. Because in sales, it’s not the manual that moves the sale forward—it’s the hard sales conversations.
#activityvsproductivity, #controllingtheconversationexample, #controllingtheconversationinsales, #conversationintelligence, #hardsalesconversationtopics, #hardsalestechnique
Facts inform; emotion moves. You know this. So, why are you still leading with facts? Leading with “Our revolutionary fuel has additives,” is fact. All good to know. But not good enough to close. You may say that excitedly, and indeed, being ‘revolutionary’ you are personally moved to sell it, but that’s you. And you