SalesBlogcast

3 Quick Tips From the Super Bowl Champions

Leadership – It begins with head coach Sean Payton. He is a great decision maker and understands how to rally people around a cause.

Commitment – When you think of the Saints, you think of a team who is committed to something greater than any one individual. It was never just about winning the Super Bowl. It was about a history of struggle and relentless perseverance…

8 Follow-Up Strategies to Keep Your Prospect Engaged

How do you follow-up with your prospects after your first conversation or after your first appointment? Sometimes we get so tired of chasing people down that we lose focus and take the lazy approach of “calling to touch base,” or “calling to check-in,” both of which bring little value.

Here are 8 follow-up strategies you can use to bring constant value and keep your prospect moving forward through the buying cycle. As you work through each of these, keep asking for the business!

Does Feedback in Your Organization Flow Both Ways?

Written by John Hersey
[Contributing Author]

Feedback is vital for learning and improving, as much in business as in life. As one very successful business author once said, “The major difference between the most successful and least successful executives is their level of self-awareness. Successful executives are critical of their own performance. Unsuccessful executives are critical of the performance of others.”

3 Steps to Accurate Sales Projections

Sales projections are among the most common challenges for sales people and their managers.

Why? What causes these forecasts to be so far off the mark?

Here is a list of 3 steps I take to ensure my projections are accurate…

More People Dreaming of Entrepreneurship?

Reader Q&A:

More than ever, I hear people talking about their dreams of entrepreneurship.

Is it just me, or is the number of people wanting to run their own business increasing rapidly? If you are noticing the same entrepreneurial trend, what do you think is the cause?

Using Stall Tactics to Your Advantage!

Don’t you love it when a prospect throws out the same old lame stall, “Can you just send me some information?” For years, we’ve been taught to respond with our own canned reply, “What kind of information would you like me to send you?” …ultimately knowing that we really don’t send any information at all.

You can use this stall tactic to your advantage.

6 Cold Calling Scripts that Win!

If you look at the Lijit search widget on the right side of my blog you’ll see that the most popular topic readers search for is… Cold Calling Scripts. I find it interesting because using scripts is one of those “BIG Debate” topics that sales people and their manager often argue about. In my very first management role I wanted everyone to, “say it just like I say it …word-for-word and you’ll close more deals!” I quickly learned it was the wrong approach. I got a lot of push back, and my sales people would always revert back to saying it their own way… That’s when it hit me.

5 Ways to Turn Managers Into Great Coaches

Written by Steven Rosen

A highly successful vice president of sales recently shared his frustration with the members of his sales management team. He felt the managers were focused only on results, and he worried that they were not spending any time developing their salespeople. His longer-term view is based on the belief that developing people to the best of their potential improves performance and retention, and it also helps develop a pool of succession candidates…

The Problem with Leadership

Last week, I asked the question, “Do we have a leadership problem?” We received some terrific answers from everyone!

As promised, this week, I’m sharing my own thoughts on the subject. The biggest problem with leadership is…

Emails That Win Deals!

One of our top performers called me to her cube today and said, “Doyle… I need your help. I was supposed to get a final decision today from a big account I’ve been waiting on. Although the prospect promised to call me… she didn’t. I’ve tried calling her and haven’t been able to reach her. It’s the end of the day, and I’m writing her an email. Can you read over it and tell me what you think…”

I read through the first three sentences and noticed it was just a bunch of fluffy language that didn’t really say anything… a bunch of blah, blah, blah. We’ve all been there right? So I told her…