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Kendra Lee/
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Articles by Kendra Lee

Browse published articles attributed to Kendra Lee, with full-archive search.

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By Kendra LeeRecently published1 topic

Prospecting Letters Still Open Doors

I’m often asked about the effectiveness of letters as a prospecting strategy in today’s electronic world. You see email, cold calling, and webinar tips, but rarely hear about letters. Direct mail has fallen off considerably. Anything suspected to be a sales approach gets tossed in the name of productivity savings. It’s harder than ever to ensure your letter reaches the intended recipient. Even when you pay the extra money to send it via Express Mail it’s frequently an assistant who opens your letter and determines if the boss will read it.

Primary topic: Sales Training

2,136 views

By Kendra LeeRecently published1 topic

Create Email Subject Lines That Draw Prospects In

Email is now the preferred prospecting tool, far surpassing the phone to the relief of many sellers who hate cold calling. Yet it hasn't necessarily made prospecting any easier. Response rates are low and many sellers are discouraged by how difficult it is to engage contacts. Often the culprit is the subject line. It's one of the most important keys to getting people to open your emails. Many sellers love to use fun subject lines like "Enticing Ideas: Kendra Lee, Did You Catch the Wave?" They think that a bit of humor will lighten the recipient's day, prompting them to open it.

Primary topic: Sales Training

1,444 views

By Kendra LeeRecently published1 topic

Increase Attendance at Your Events with Social Networking

I find events to be one of the most effective strategies to uncover qualified leads. The people who participate choose to come because they’re interested in your topic. You get to share your perspectives and recommendations, highlighting yourself as an expert they want to work with. The prospects who attend feel as if they know you and want your assistance. With today’s technology, events are inexpensive to run.

Primary topic: Sales Training

1,387 views

By Kendra LeeRecently published1 topic

Attract Prospects with Easy Web 2.0 Techniques

The Internet is my best friend for attracting new prospects. In a flash my name and an article I’ve authored have “gone viral”. I’m promoted all over the world and I’m suddenly the expert everyone wants to talk with. Leads start flowing in from people I’ve never met and new opportunities abound. Is it magic? No! It’s Web 2.0, and you can do it too with little investment other than your time. Don’t know what Web 2.0 really is, and therefore afraid you can’t leverage it? It’s simple.

Primary topic: Sales Training

1,270 views

By Kendra LeeRecently published1 topic

Cool Sales Tools to Make Prospecting Easier

Prospecting has never been harder – or easier. Yes, it’s hard to get responses, but you have all the tools at your finger tips to increase your odds of grabbing the attention of your top contacts and getting a reply. Gone is the dialing for dollars mentality. You can do better than that. You can use these tools to do everything from identifying who your best-odds prospects are to deducing why they’d want to speak with you, writing a powerful email, and ultimately attracting them to you.

Primary topic: Sales Training

1,245 views

By Kendra LeeRecently published1 topic

8 Steps to Reach Your Sales Goals

The end of one year and beginning of a new one is a great opportunity to examine your successes from the previous year, determine what you want to replicate, what you want to change and then set some goals for the new one. Because setting attainable sales goals can be a lot trickier, and more stressful, then people tend to think, I'd like to offer a step-by-step guide to help you set and reach your yearly target.

Primary topic: Sales Training

1,188 views

By Kendra LeeRecently published1 topic

Create Opportunities in our Tough Economy

Every day we’re hearing about how tough it is out there. Prospects won’t take calls. Budgets are on hold. And yet, I remain optimistic, seeing opportunity all around us. While many clients are halting spending, others are getting creative and looking at their businesses from new perspectives. They are seeking ways to leverage these difficult times and evolve their own companies. They refuse to let the difficult economy stall their growth. One client I was speaking with the other day said I must be an ete al optimist, refusing to face reality. Maybe.

Primary topic: Sales Training

1,166 views

By Kendra LeeRecently published1 topic

Cold Calling Isn’t the Only Way to Get Prospects

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.

Primary topic: Sales Training

1,153 views

By Kendra LeeRecently published1 topic

Give Your Prospecting Legs with Social Media

Social media is all the buzz in prospecting lately. You hear about it everywhere with Facebook Fan pages, tweeting, and LinkedIn profiles. You may even have an account on several different social networks. But have you given thought to how to use it to increase your prospecting results, or do you just see it as something fun to do when you have time? Or, is it possible that you’re one of the skeptics who don’t believe social media can really bring you new prospects? Let’s ponder that for a moment. The two primary questions in prospecting are always:r

Primary topic: Sales Training

1,147 views

By Kendra LeeRecently published1 topic

When Sales Training Isn’t Working

Nothing is more frustrating than investing the time to identify the need, design, develop, and deliver great sales training and then discover that sellers aren’t implementing what they learned when they get back to the field. Whether you’re delivering product or soft skills training, participant time away from the job is expensive and your organization has a right to expect to see a sizeable return on their investment.

Primary topic: Sales Training

1,139 views

By Kendra LeeRecently published1 topic

Fill Your Pipeline by Refining Your Referral Requests

Lately I’ve heard a lot of people talking about how to get referrals. No doubt about it, they’re one of the quickest ways to fill your pipeline. They’re definitely easier and less stressful than cold calling. They’re more accessible, and there’s less competition to close the deal. Knowing this, more and more sellers are asking for referrals as a primary approach to filling their pipelines. But they aren’t getting the number of high quality referrals they’d like or need. The techniques we’re hearing aren’t working consistently.

Primary topic: Sales Training

1,127 views

By Kendra LeeRecently published1 topic

No Voicemail = A Missed Opportunity

Leave a voicemail? Don’t leave a voicemail? This is a question that sellers are passionate about. Many suggest not, but isn’t that a missed opportunity? I always leave a message because how else will they know that you want to speak with them? In today’s world where it’s acceptable to screen calls, you may never reach your prospect if you don’t. Add to it that a message allows a prospect to hear your interest in talking with them and your professionalism. So why not do it?

Primary topic: Sales Training

1,126 views

By Kendra LeeRecently published1 topic

Cold Calling Perfection: Are You Hearing This?

In email prospecting strategies, one of the first things I advise is that you send yourself a draft before hitting the final send. That way, you get a sense of what it's like for your prospects to receive your emails. You can quickly see where you need to make adjustments to grab your prospect's attention and get a reply.

Primary topic: Sales Training

1,111 views

By Kendra LeeRecently published1 topic

Increase Your Sales with Actionable Emails

I hate long emails. They take too long to read and typically include action items I just don’t have time for. No doubt you’ve experienced it, too. Your customers are no different and it’s impacting your ability to close sales. Sure, you carefully word your email, expanding your questions to avoid being misunderstood, or outlining a great recommendation. You format it with underlining and bolding to call attention to critical details. You use bullets to make it simple to read.

Primary topic: Sales Training

1,102 views

By Kendra LeeRecently published1 topic

Mine Proposals for Hidden Gems of Opportunity

With the economy causing prospects and clients alike to clamp their wallets shut, we’re looking everywhere to fill our pipelines. One place you may not have examined recently is in your past proposals, yet they could be the quickest place to find new opportunities. When I’m working with a prospect, I like to look further and deeper than the initial problem they see to get to all the potential issues creating it. Often the problem isn’t a simple one and the deeper I dig with questioning, the more I learn about how we can solve it.

Primary topic: Sales Training

1,097 views

By Kendra LeeRecently published1 topic

Use Testimonials to Attract Prospects and Win Sales

In today’s economy you need every advantage in your sales kit. Prospects are scrutinizing all requests for their time and each purchase decision. You want to pass their piercing investigation but the sales tools you’ve used in recent years aren’t cutting it. You need something more, and testimonials are the answer. They can be the difference maker in not just winning opportunities but also in attracting attention in the first place. Testimonials are your clients’ stamp of approval.

Primary topic: Sales Training

1,087 views

By Kendra LeeRecently published1 topic

How to Prospect With a Catalog of Products

Last week an interesting question was posed to me: how does a seller go about cold calling, prospecting, and lead generation when they have a wide range of products to sell? How do you know what to tell prospects about when you have hundreds or more items available? This wasn't an abstract inquiry. The newsletter subscriber in question had recently moved from selling high tech to promotional items. Before, she'd had only a few solutions to work with; now, there were literally thousands. Her situation isn't as unusual as you might think.

Primary topic: Sales Training

1,072 views

By Kendra LeeRecently published1 topic

What's Your Value to Prospects?

As sellers, we know that one of the keys to opening doors with new prospects lies in positioning our solutions as something different from the competition. In fact, sales and marketing departments spend a significant amount of time trying to determine exactly what their company's unique selling proposition is, and the best way to explain it to potential clients. But is it possible there's more to the equation? What many sales reps don't realize is that they have another competitive advantage, and one that no one else can match: their own skills, talents, and expertise.

Primary topic: Sales Training

1,058 views

By Kendra LeeRecently published1 topic

How writing sales prospecting emails and negotiation emails is different

Have you noticed that suddenly you’re negotiating with your customers and prospects through email? They don’t have time for face-to-face or phone meetings. Instead, they’d just like “a few quick questions” answered through email so they can make a decision. As this occurs, it’s critical that sales reps adjust their easy-going sales prospecting email approach to a more formal and professional business writing style to successfully negotiate in this new manner. Here are a few ways in which sales prospecting emails and negotiation emails are different so you know what to change.

Primary topic: Sales Training

989 views

By Kendra LeeRecently published1 topic

Are you writing sales negotiation emails like prospecting emails?

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 years I’ve guided sales reps on how to write prospecting emails that get a response. I’ve shared all my secret tips and tricks and they’re working for you!

Primary topic: Sales Training

988 views

By Kendra LeeRecently published1 topic

What’s Holding Your Prospecting Back?

There aren’t many certainties in selling. What works well for one person can be a dead end for another, and what looks like a sure sale can easily deteriorate into a missed opportunity. One thing you can count on, however, is that a lack of strong, qualified leads will always be a stumbling block on the way to new business.

Primary topic: Sales Training

957 views

By Kendra LeeRecently published1 topic

What Are Your Real Sales Goals for 2011?

What do your sales goals for the coming year look like? The most successful sellers usually have two numbers in mind: their quota, which is their piece of the company's yearly revenue target, and then another higher number that represents what they need to sell to achieve their own personal goals. The second number is the more important one, since the best goals come from inside your own mind. Just as you can't lose weight because someone else wants you to, neither can you feel excited or motivated about a target that has been imposed on you from the outside.

Primary topic: Sales Training

927 views

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