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Guy Kawasaki on How to Increase Your Likability in Real Life [Infographic]

July 26, 2011 by Guy Kawasaki with 463 views

An infographic from Guy Kawasaki on good smiles, good handshakes, [read more]

Are you writing sales negotiation emails like prospecting emails?

April 5, 2011 by Kendra Lee with 93 views

Email has become the primary communication tool for sales reps. We use email to prospect instead of cold call. We confirm meetings via email. We follow up on sales calls with an email. We answer prospects’ questions through email. We discuss proposal terms in email. Some savvy sales reps even close the sale through email!For the last two... [read more]

Forrester finds that only 1 in 8 Sales Meetings are Valuable

March 15, 2011 by Bob Apollo with 238 views

What makes a sales meeting valuable to a prospect? It’s when the sales person clearly understands the prospect’s business issues and can clearly articulate how to address them. So how often does this happen? According to the latest research from Forrester, in an average of no more than 1 in 8 sales meetings... Just think about that for a... [read more]

The iPad of Air-Care

March 14, 2011 by Jonathan Salem Ba... with 404 views

P&G's Febreeze is about to announce that it has grown to annual sales of $1 billion of its Febreze brand in an "air-care" category that is down overall and in which its competitors' results are flat, at best. And it did it without have a single conversation with its customers via social media. In fact, products are sold in drug and... [read more]

11 Secrets of Tactful and Diplomatic Selling

December 3, 2010 by Jim Estill with 521 views

A friend of mine talked to me about internal family business politics. A different friend talked to me about frustration in working for a big company and not being able to "get her way" which was causing high frustration.I loved being in business with all my brothers and even hired my father. We worked together for years. On balance... [read more]

How I Blew a Sales Layup

April 24, 2010 by SalesVPI with 173 views

A layup is the easiest shot in basketball, if you're not able to dunk. But it's not unusual for a player to miss a layup. Why is that? Most likely because they overlook fundamentals and fail to concentrate. We recently had a sale not close -- neither lost nor won, just won't close. The customer has a significant and recognized need,... [read more]

Five Big Shifts in Social Media Marketing

April 19, 2010 by Tom Pick with 1,221 views

Social media reflects a larger trend toward buyer empowerment that has changed not only the practice but the underlying philosophies of marketing over the past several years. Power has gradually shifted over the past couple of decades from manufacturers (e.g. HP, P&G) to the channel (e.g. TigerDirect, Wal Mart) to... [read more]

Will you Marry me?

February 25, 2010 by Editor Bloggertone with 226 views

Thankfully, this was not too difficult a question for my husband nearly two years ago. Luckily for him I said yes! For others, it is not so easy to ask this all-important question. Why do men and women fall short of confidence when contemplating such a status-altering question? I could probably list 101 standard reasons why not, and... [read more]

One Company’s Approach for Ride-Alongs with Salesreps

October 20, 2009 by Dave Stein with 184 views

At SMT’s conference last week in Orlando, Laurie Weed, Western Region Sales Development Manager at Ricoh, presented her company’s approach to ride-alongs (at Ricoh they’re called field rides) with sales reps. We’ve seen different approaches to this critical reinforcement process at ESR. I really like Ricoh’s for several reasons. First... [read more]

Lean Consumer Expectations: Can you deliver the Experience they Want?

October 6, 2009 by Peter Auditore with 303 views

The challenge is simple for all companies large and small: can your company deliver consistent value across all your products and services in the new economy that meets the expectations of the lean consumer? More importantly, can you exceed your competition and gain competitive advantage and market share in the new economy? These are... [read more]

Cold Calling Isn’t the Only Way to Get Prospects

September 15, 2009 by Kendra Lee with 444 views

Not many sellers like cold calling. They may be forced into it but they go kicking and screaming, avoiding it with any excuse. Unfortunately, they think it's the only approach to prospecting, but it doesn't have to be that way. John was a managed services provider looking to grow his company. He created a cold calling plan to reach... [read more]

Uncover your hidden influencers

July 16, 2009 by BarbaraFrench with 182 views

I was fortunate enough to spend quality time with a number of new clients and prospects in Silicon Valley during the first half of the year. One of the influencer topics that cropped up again and again during our conversations was the ‘hidden influencers.’ There’s a particular interest right now in understanding how to spot hidden... [read more]

Top Ten Business Strategies for Early Stage Startups in the Millennium

April 7, 2009 by Peter Auditore with 574 views

In the last two posts I discussed the top ten characteristics that startup employees should have, followed by the top ten pitfalls of startup decision making. This week it’s the top ten business strategies that startups should consider at the critical early stages of their development. 1.    Architect a clear business... [read more]

Should You Spend Your Money On Sales 2.0 Or Sales Training?

March 6, 2009 by Dave Stein with 156 views

Sales training is more than 100 years old. With few exceptions, it’s not very sexy. Many salespeople believe (PDF) they’ve been through enough of it to last a lifetime. For many reasons, most of their managers don’t see any value, so they take a tactical, event-based approach just to check the “trained my people this year” box.On the... [read more]

Ten Strategies to Profit

January 26, 2009 by Tracy ONeill with 29 views

  Sales are the backbone of organizations. Without customers, there is usually no business. Sales personnel must be managed and held accountable for results. This means they must make an effort to call on their accounts regularly for add on business and to seek out new business. Not many commissioned sales personnel are allowed to... [read more]

Launching a New, Non-traditional Offering

December 3, 2008 by Kendra Lee with 57 views

KLA is often introduced to companies that want to launch a new offering outside their traditional suite of products and services. These companies have developed a valuable service, but aren't sure how to generate awareness and drive leads with their customers and prospects. This challenge is especially difficult when approaching... [read more]

The Subtleties of Selling Services and How to Recognize Them

December 3, 2008 by Kendra Lee with 51 views

My company has the opportunity to work with a number of outstanding sales professionals who are excellent at selling products. They understand the sales process and excel at getting customers to buy specific products and solutions. Many companies hire these superstars thinking they will help their services business skyrocket at the same... [read more]

Increase Sales: Jumpstart Your Lead Generation

November 28, 2008 by Kendra Lee with 57 views

Are you getting the sales you need? If not, consider diversifying your lead generation techniques. Cold calling and direct mail are common approaches to lead generation however there are many other ways to make your leads flow. Break down your territoryIt's important to break down your sales territory into manageable "chunks" so you... [read more]

Is Email Hiding Your Personality?

November 28, 2008 by Kendra Lee with 35 views

Email is so much easier to use for prospecting than the phone. You can write it at any time day or night. You don't have to worry about being hung up on and you won't catch your client "at a bad time." But it's also easily deleted with no response. When you put yourself into your email, your chances of getting prospects to respond... [read more]

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