If you’re honest with yourself, deep down you know they never will – despite your salespeople protestations and best efforts.
That’s because they aren’t qualified properly and your customer doesn’t see or feel the value in buying from you.
CEOs & Sales Leaders! Low Proposal Win Rate?
In the last couple of weeks, I’ve been coaching and mentoring several sales teams on how to navigate to power and involve true decision makers in their conversations – so that they’ll win significantly more business.
My Top 10 Blogs in 2019 to Improve Your Sales Results
With the new year and new decade just commencing, I thought I would share my top 10 blogs in 2019! If you’re looking to take sales performance as an individual or team to the next level in 2020, apply these insights.
Read moreCEOs & Sales Leaders! How Do You Rate Your Salespeople’s Level of Awareness?
Many salespeople - and some sales leaders - will admit that they don’t know what makes them successful. When things are going well, they don’t know why.
Read moreWhat Gets Measured Gets Done. Not Quite…
If you’ve spent any time working in sales, you’ll no doubt have heard, “What gets measured gets done” (variously attributed to W. Edwards Deming, Peter Drucker, and Rheticus).
Read moreYear in Review: 2019’s Biggest Sales Challenges…
In the spirit of providing immediate value (tis' the season), I thought I would share my biggest takeaways from working with sales forces in 2019.
Read moreCEOs & Sales Leaders! Do Your Salespeople Nail Their First Meeting?
If you’re like me, you will find these stats staggering. Whether these meetings have been self-generated by salespeople or sourced through marketing, it doesn’t matter.
Read moreCEOs & Sales Leaders! Are Customers Surprised by Your Pricing?
Do your salespeople wait until the customer asks them what the price will be for your product/service/solution?
Read moreCEO's & Sales Leaders! Can You Teach Curiosity to Salespeople?
Over the years, I’ve often heard CEOs and sales leaders lament that they wish that their salespeople were more curious. Perhaps you wish that, too?
Read more4 Reasons Why Companies Struggle to Grow Sales, Starting with the CEO...
So many businesses struggle to generate enough new sales to take their growth to the next level…and it doesn’t have to be this way.
Throughout my career, first as an inside sales rep (SDR), new business field sales rep, sales leader, executive and finally as a consultant and advisor, I’ve seen the same issues at nearly every company I’ve worked at and consulted with, small or large.
Read moreCEO's to Salespeople: How to Answer, "So, What Is It You Do?"
So, you’ve been let loose at a conference or are manning your company’s stand at an exhibition.
You’re looking sharp. Hair recently cut, shoes polished or heels just high enough and your favourite suit or outfit makes you shine with confidence. You look every inch the successful salesperson, head of sales or CEO.
That is until someone walks onto your stand or starts making small talk with you in the line up for the buffet and innocuously asks, “So, what is it that you do?”
Read moreSales Leaders! Are YOUR Limiting Beliefs Affecting Your Sales Team?
You may have heard from me before that “words have power”.
So do the stories that you tell yourself habitually.
Recently, I worked with a sales leader and his team on a project to improve their positioning and messaging so that they sounded and acted in a competitively distinct manner to their competition.
Read moreCEOs and Sales Leaders, How Is Your Offering Different?
Last week, I wrote an article – CEO! Sales Are Struggling Because of YOU! – on why salespeople often struggle to discover and create customer value because of the way YOU talk about your products, services and solutions – what they are vs. what they do specifically for your customers.
Read moreCEO, Sales Are Struggling Because of YOU!
In the course of my sales growth advisory, training and coaching engagements over the last ten years, it’s become apparent to me that much of the responsibility for sales organizations that struggle lies at the feet of the company’s most important salesperson: you – the CEO.
Read moreCan You Do What Your Sales Team Does?
If you’re a parent, you’ll know that your kids model what they see you doing and what they hear you say – not necessarily what you tell them to do.
The same applies if you’re a CEO or sales leader – your salespeople will model the behaviours they see, hear and experience from you habitually.
Read moreSales Leaders! Competition or Status Quo?
Perhaps your sales team isn’t struggling to get enough appointments. If so, you’re one of the fortunate ones.
And, are they winning enough opportunities to hit their quota and for you to hit your number?
If you’re losing opportunities to competition, or your potential customer decides to stick with what they already have after speaking with your salespeople, then competition and status quo aren’t your challenge.
Read moreCommon Sales Playbook Errors
Sales playbooks are a common tool used in the onboarding of new sales hires. The intent behind them is sound – to accelerate the time to productivity of new sales hires so that they and the hiring company are successful. Seems to be an obvious win/win.
Read moreA Sign Your Salespeople Are Prospecting / Selling Too Low
CEOs and Sales Leaders! If the customer testimonials on your website are from VP, Dir, or Mgr job titles, then your salespeople are prospecting and selling too low.
How do I know?
Read moreHow to Spot an "A" Player in an Interview
Ah, those elusive unicorns! The “A” player salesperson.
Everybody wants them – and there aren’t enough to go around.
So, how can you identify if you’re interviewing an “A” player vs. a good “B” player?
Read moreHow to Increase Sales Success in 2-Steps
If you’re struggling to sell in the sales/martech landscape, you’re not alone. But if you don’t take deliberate and massive action to hold and gain more ground in this industry, you won’t be around for much longer.
Many previously successful sales leaders and salespeople are struggling to sell in a fiercely competitive market characterized by heavy discounting by incumbents, companies big enough to buy share and new entrants with exciting new offerings. And potential customers who are not responding to prospecting messages.
Read more