"Someone might have a germ of talent, but 90% of it is discipline and how you practice it, what you do with it. Instinct won't carry you through the entire journey. It's what you do in the moments between inspiration." -- Cate Blanchett, actress
Time in sales means money. Make the most of yours by practicing, practicing, practicing.
Showing posts with label sales inspiration. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sales inspiration. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
SalesDog Quick Tip
Find the real value.
If your company offers a lot of different products, think carefully about where their real value lies. What end result are your customers really buying from you? That's the best place to begin your prospecting and lead generation messages.
Today's quick tip comes from Kendra Lee. Kendra Lee is a Prospect Attraction Specialist and president of KLA Group. Specializing in the IT industry, KLA Group helps companies rapidly penetrate new markets, break into new accounts and shorten time to revenue with new products in the SMB segment.
If your company offers a lot of different products, think carefully about where their real value lies. What end result are your customers really buying from you? That's the best place to begin your prospecting and lead generation messages.
Today's quick tip comes from Kendra Lee. Kendra Lee is a Prospect Attraction Specialist and president of KLA Group. Specializing in the IT industry, KLA Group helps companies rapidly penetrate new markets, break into new accounts and shorten time to revenue with new products in the SMB segment.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Irritating Listening Habits
Today's article from sales trainer Tom Reilly describes the kinds of listeners we don't like to be around - people who don't actually listen, but are constantly thinking about themselves. Read about these types, and then make sure you're not one of them!
Top-achieving salespeople spend 60% of their time listening on a sales call. Listening is a core competency for salespeople, yet too few companies and managers emphasize its importance to success. Schools rarely teach it. Training budgets generally ignore it because it is a soft skill. Most people assume that if you have two ears you know how to listen. Wrong. Here are some of the irritating listening habits I have noticed in training salespeople:
Competitor —this person is a master of one-upping the other person. The competitive listener typically says, “You think that’s something, let me tell you about something I did.”
Anticipator —this person spends most of his or her listening time thinking about what they will say next.
Rusher —this person is always giving the other person the bum’s rush. The attitude is, “Hurry up and finish, I have something to sell you.”
Distracted —this person is a walking billboard for attention deficit disorder. Every little distraction catches his or her attention. Their being distracted distracts the speaker.
Disinterested —this person cannot even feign being interested. They find the conversation dull and make no pretense to be interested.
Multi-tasker —this person thinks they can effectively communicate with others as they check text messages and emails. This is the phone conversation when you can hear the keyboard in the background. This is just plain rude.
Effective listening requires the listener to put his or her focus on the other person, not themselves. Too many people fail to subordinate their interests in an effort to understand the other person. You can only fully understand what someone is saying (and feeling) when the conversation is more about them than you. This is good listening. This is good selling.
Tom Reilly is the president of Tom Reilly Training. He is an authority on value-added selling, and speaks to thousands of salespeople and managers annually on increasing their value to their company and customers.
Top-achieving salespeople spend 60% of their time listening on a sales call. Listening is a core competency for salespeople, yet too few companies and managers emphasize its importance to success. Schools rarely teach it. Training budgets generally ignore it because it is a soft skill. Most people assume that if you have two ears you know how to listen. Wrong. Here are some of the irritating listening habits I have noticed in training salespeople:
Competitor —this person is a master of one-upping the other person. The competitive listener typically says, “You think that’s something, let me tell you about something I did.”
Anticipator —this person spends most of his or her listening time thinking about what they will say next.
Rusher —this person is always giving the other person the bum’s rush. The attitude is, “Hurry up and finish, I have something to sell you.”
Distracted —this person is a walking billboard for attention deficit disorder. Every little distraction catches his or her attention. Their being distracted distracts the speaker.
Disinterested —this person cannot even feign being interested. They find the conversation dull and make no pretense to be interested.
Multi-tasker —this person thinks they can effectively communicate with others as they check text messages and emails. This is the phone conversation when you can hear the keyboard in the background. This is just plain rude.
Effective listening requires the listener to put his or her focus on the other person, not themselves. Too many people fail to subordinate their interests in an effort to understand the other person. You can only fully understand what someone is saying (and feeling) when the conversation is more about them than you. This is good listening. This is good selling.
Tom Reilly is the president of Tom Reilly Training. He is an authority on value-added selling, and speaks to thousands of salespeople and managers annually on increasing their value to their company and customers.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Quote of the Week
"Don't let yesterday take up too much of today." -- Will Rogers, humorist
It's really easy to dwell on the past. We've all done it - after a particularly difficult day, we all sit there thinking about what we should have said or should have done. Here's the thing - while you're thinking about that, you could be making sales today!
Each day is a clean start, so make the most of it! Put yesterday behind you and focus all your energy on what you can control today.
It's really easy to dwell on the past. We've all done it - after a particularly difficult day, we all sit there thinking about what we should have said or should have done. Here's the thing - while you're thinking about that, you could be making sales today!
Each day is a clean start, so make the most of it! Put yesterday behind you and focus all your energy on what you can control today.
Friday, August 26, 2011
"Free" Does Not Have Value
Happy Friday! Today we have a great post from sales trainer Mark Hunter. It will definitely give you something to think about over the weekend!
If something is free — or worse, available in unlimited quantities — how could it have any real value?
My problem with “free” is it’s what far too many salespeople and marketing teams are using as a way to try to create loyal customers. Ask yourself, “How loyal are you going to be to something that’s free?”
Yes, offering something for free can be part of a strategy to create awareness or to reward loyalty, etc. Unfortunately, “free” is being thrown around way too much, and as a result, it winds up becoming something people expect. Now we have a real problem — not only does “free” have little value, but it’s what people expect.
What makes free even worse is many times it’s used as part of a strategy to get somebody to buy something that would be considered high-price. This only winds up creating an even bigger problem, as the contrast between “free” and the high-priced item is too much for the customer to understand.
My other problem with “free” is it attracts customers and potential customers who can’t afford to stick with you when you attempt to move them to full-price. What results is a pattern of continued discounts all in the name of trying not to lose a customer. Ironic, isn’t it?
Yes, “free” has a place. You’re reading this blog for free. In fact, you might say my website www.TheSalesHunter.com is nothing but free stuff, and you’re right. Before you call me a hypocrite, let me explain.
I use “free” as a way to create awareness and to build traffic on my website. This is similar to the way another company may do direct mailings of a product sample or a salesperson might host a “lunch and learn” session with clients.
The goal of using “free” is to know how you’re going to use it in your overall sales strategy.
Before you offer anything for free, you need to ask yourself the following questions:
1. What is the goal of what I’m trying to offer?
2. How will I measure the results?
3. What is the process I’m going to use for moving prospects from “free” to “fee”?
4. How firm is my pricing plan to make sure I have a profitability plan that works?
5. Will I be offering “free” to everyone? If I don’t, how might it impact those who don’t get it for free?
Keep in mind as you develop your “free” strategy that your banker and your accountant don’t accept “free.” Offering something for free might make you feel good, but until you monetize the “free” you haven’t put any food on your table.
Finally, don’t think you can copy the strategy used by some software companies in becoming successful because of giving away millions of copies of something. For each software company that made that strategy successful there are at least a dozen or more that failed. I like to tell people if you want to try that strategy, then let me give you another one you can copy even faster.
Each month there’s at least one or two people who buy a lottery ticket somewhere that is worth a million dollars or more. Since that worked for them, then why not go do it yourself and let me know how that strategy turns out for you.
“Free” is over-rated and over-used!
Now, let’s all get back to work selling real value!
Contact Mark Hunter, The Sales Hunter for your next Conference or Sales Meeting. To see and hear Mark Hunter now visit www.TheSalesHunter.com
If something is free — or worse, available in unlimited quantities — how could it have any real value?
My problem with “free” is it’s what far too many salespeople and marketing teams are using as a way to try to create loyal customers. Ask yourself, “How loyal are you going to be to something that’s free?”
Yes, offering something for free can be part of a strategy to create awareness or to reward loyalty, etc. Unfortunately, “free” is being thrown around way too much, and as a result, it winds up becoming something people expect. Now we have a real problem — not only does “free” have little value, but it’s what people expect.
What makes free even worse is many times it’s used as part of a strategy to get somebody to buy something that would be considered high-price. This only winds up creating an even bigger problem, as the contrast between “free” and the high-priced item is too much for the customer to understand.
My other problem with “free” is it attracts customers and potential customers who can’t afford to stick with you when you attempt to move them to full-price. What results is a pattern of continued discounts all in the name of trying not to lose a customer. Ironic, isn’t it?
Yes, “free” has a place. You’re reading this blog for free. In fact, you might say my website www.TheSalesHunter.com is nothing but free stuff, and you’re right. Before you call me a hypocrite, let me explain.
I use “free” as a way to create awareness and to build traffic on my website. This is similar to the way another company may do direct mailings of a product sample or a salesperson might host a “lunch and learn” session with clients.
The goal of using “free” is to know how you’re going to use it in your overall sales strategy.
Before you offer anything for free, you need to ask yourself the following questions:
1. What is the goal of what I’m trying to offer?
2. How will I measure the results?
3. What is the process I’m going to use for moving prospects from “free” to “fee”?
4. How firm is my pricing plan to make sure I have a profitability plan that works?
5. Will I be offering “free” to everyone? If I don’t, how might it impact those who don’t get it for free?
Keep in mind as you develop your “free” strategy that your banker and your accountant don’t accept “free.” Offering something for free might make you feel good, but until you monetize the “free” you haven’t put any food on your table.
Finally, don’t think you can copy the strategy used by some software companies in becoming successful because of giving away millions of copies of something. For each software company that made that strategy successful there are at least a dozen or more that failed. I like to tell people if you want to try that strategy, then let me give you another one you can copy even faster.
Each month there’s at least one or two people who buy a lottery ticket somewhere that is worth a million dollars or more. Since that worked for them, then why not go do it yourself and let me know how that strategy turns out for you.
“Free” is over-rated and over-used!
Now, let’s all get back to work selling real value!
Contact Mark Hunter, The Sales Hunter for your next Conference or Sales Meeting. To see and hear Mark Hunter now visit www.TheSalesHunter.com
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