Sales Training Articles

Did you know that the original act of sabotage is thought to have occurred not long after the introduction of machinery when someone slipped a workman's wooden shoe, called a sabot, into a loom in order to stop production? How does sabotage enter in to your best home based franchise business? How does sabotage enter into you taking the action that is required in becoming a top sales producer in your company? The actual definition of sabotage is to halt all production.

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.

“What’s the secret?”...”What do you do in your marketing that makes your home base franchise so successful?”... “Tell me your inside scoop to your home based business franchise success”…”Give me exactly what you do every day”… The questions are never ending when seeking the winning lottery ticket of being a successful home base franchise entrepreneur. While I am going to give you eight “secrets” to the best home base business success; the bottom line is that there is no secret and your success depends on YOU.

DOES IT SOMETIMES SEEM AS THOUGH DECISION MAKERS are residing in a gated community? Learn how to bypass gatekeepers (GK) — those professionals who “guard” the decision makers and often run interference for them — to get in front of decision makers (DM).n nTraditionally a secretary, administrative assistant or switchboard operator blocked entry. Now there are electronic nemeses as well: voice mailboxes and blind e-mail addresses. Yet gatekeepers can be your adversaries

The Benefits and Advantages of Sales Leadership Training. It is widely accepted and recognized that the staff or employees have to be trained some new skills in order to prevent being stagnant. A situation like this not just regresses the person’s development, but also the company’s, too. In coming to terms with this problem, several companies have created some programs wherein their workforce could come together in many forums to talk about the many factors of their work

At a recent conference, I was presenting at a session with sales managers and business owners, and the topic of referrals came up. The sales leaders in the room expressed frustration that their team wasn’t asking for referrals, despite the fact that everyone on the team knew that the quality of a referred lead is far superior to that of a cold lead. Let’s look at the facts: 1. A cold lead, or an inbound lead from a random source, has a closing rate of around 25% to 30%. r

I'm going to share two sales closing tips that will help you close more sales. One will show you how to eliminate the fear of closing. The other, how allowing your fear to prevent you from closing is costing you sales. Sales Closing Tip #1: Write Down and Practice What You're Going to ...

Many people claim to believe in the value of customer service. However, most don't really institute programs that ensure they are going the extra mile and can be implemented consistently over time. It's more like they get a spark of creativity and take brief action. Then, within a very short time they are on to something else. Times are very competitive and you need a differentiator. Customer service can be the difference between keeping and losing a client.

Aren't you selling your service rather than a product? So what are you doing marketing products? Stop trying to market or sell products and start increasing your sales. n n Dan Kennedy talks about the technique of selling money at a discount. And that’s exactly what you should be doing, but you’re approaching it all wrong. You’re using the approach of let me quote your insurance, and approach has low interest and low value. When you should be using the appro

Networking. You've heard it before - the best leads come from someone you know, or from someone who knows someone you know. So why aren't you out there doing it? Not enough time? Don't think it works? Too expensive? Think again! What is a networking event? A networking event is a meeting of ...

1. The More You Tell The More You SellnnContrary to what many believe, through the teachings of traditional marketing, you should explain what you sell in detail. People want and need to know everything they can about a product before they purchase. Just think about when you are buying a product. Do you just purchase without asking questions? You should tell as much about your product in all your marketing endeavours. When you do, your product is perceived as being better val

Self-development is a critical component. Here is the transcript of an interview I recently gave that outlines the importance of self-development.nn“Let’s start with what seems to be an obvious question…why is self-development so important?”nnBusiness is more competitive and challenging than ever which means we need to continually improve our skills if we want to maintain a competitive edge. Also, because business is changing, what worked well last year, last month or

We all know how important it is to follow up with a client after we do the work. The question is how to do it well. One of my newsletter subscribers asked me to address this issue. Actually, her exact words were, “What is a good way to word a follow up email once you’ve shipped?” So, here we go!

If your prospect does not see the value in your product or service, and if the only difference between you and the competitors is in pricing, you didn’t do a good job as a sales person. The main description of your position inside the company is to create the value, not just to show your ...

Customer relationship management tools abound, yet let's hear it for old technology. Your voice is the most multifaceted customer service tool in your toolkit. Your voice can convey concern, care and compassion. It can alternately convey boredom, neglect or contempt. Your challenge: to insure your voice reinforces the service you strive to deliver through your actual words and action.n nCustomer service is about more than mouthing the words customers want to hear. You have to

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.

What's that ringing sound you hear at this time of year? It'snthe sound of store registers ringing up the sales generated by Santa Claus. Just because he's old, overweight, long haired,nunshaven and dresses funny, don't overlook his marketingnsuccess. Santa is a marketing expert and you can become one,ntoo, if you follow his marketing methods. What's that you say? You don't believe in Santa Claus or youndon't celebrate Christmas? It's true that Santa may be mostlynmythical,

"I was at your site for all of two minutes before I bought one of your manuals. I'm impressed!" I love to get emails like this one sent by Vicki from Tucson, Arizona. Marketing my business would be easy if every client bought my products within two minutes of seeing my marketing materials, or signed up for my coaching services after a few minutes on the phone with me. Do you make most of your sales in 2 to 20 minutes from the time a prospect first reads your marketing copy,

rnBeginning in the early 1980s, organizations and well-renowned establishments such as the Harvard Business School, The Gallup Organization, the Chally Group, the Xerox Corporation, among others, began studying outstanding salespeople to identify the competencies – also referred to as the vital behaviors – that contribute to their extreme levels of success. Two of the most surprising discoveries – and these are very important because it doesn't matter what product or se

The sales world is changing and you should be aware of the impact of the changing tastes of consumers and how it can effect your business. Do you know what makes a millennial tick? The Millennials: Other wise known as the Generation Y, the Echo Boomers and the Net Generation, they are born after 1982 and there are estimated to be around 75 million of them with a buying power of $1 trillion. They are tech savvy, social networkers who are diverse, ambitious and wireless savvy. Millennials are one of the hottest target markets for 2009 and beyond.

Most sales reps hate getting objections. Their hearts sink into their stomachs, their palms start to sweat, and they start wondering how they're going to pay the rent. Sound familiar? When sales reps ask me how they should handle objections, they are often surprised by my answer. I tell them ...

Here's a sales tip, especially for new salespeople. Here are the 2 biggest mistakes most salespeople make. 1. Thinking you’ve got the right stuff from the get go! Once you think you’ve got it, you’ve had it! Don't be too quick to be full of yourself. And remember - you probably don't know ...

The world as you know it exists because of sales. If someone, somewhere, somehow is not selling every single day, you wouldn’t have food to eat, a car to drive, or a house to live in. We can live a day without the skills of a lawyer, or even a doctor but you can’t live even one single day without the skills of a salesperson.nnSelling is one of the most important functions in our society. Capitalism and the advancement of any society are dependent upon sales. nnEveryone is

Since the human brain seems to be able to focus on only one thought at a time, it's difficult to evaluate an advertisingidea from the perspective of both a marketer and a customer. That's why it's necessary to use a two-step process when developing highly effective ads, sales letters, web pages, and e-mails. nnThe first step involves creating a rough draft of yourmarketing message, while emphasizing the strong points and best attributes of your product or service. Your messag

Having a great closing technique doesn't guarantee you'll close sales. Closing the sale begins before you walk in the door. You can learn every closing technique there is, however, each one will be more effective if you've taken the time to qualify and present properly. If you get to the end ...

I was recently at a conference and one of the speakers was talking about the uncomfortable feeling of developing and growing our home based franchise and ourselves to becoming a top producer is kind of like a rubber band. This association resonated deeply with me since I used this exact example on a daily basis when I was in medical sales. In fact, I carried the BJ’s sized bag of rubber bands around with me on sales calls to illustrate my point. The rubber band concept goes like this. Sit back and visualize having a rubber band and you are stretching it and stretching it.

Tradeshows can be a great way to connect with clients, prospects and referral partners. It’s good to ‘be seen’ and to see what’s out there. However, if not handled well, a tradeshow can be an expensive waste of time. So, what can you do to improve your odds of success? Have a plan and work the plan.

One of the best ways for you to increase targeted traffic to your website when you don't want to spend a lot of money is to join some free traffic exchanges and start surfing. (Most traffic exchanges also have a paid program, but we will be focusing on just the free aspect in this article.) Your first tendency might be to think that these are not worth your time since they are free. However, you're about to see that they can bring you large numbers of targeted traffic in a re

Ever know anyone who you knew could do something but still didn’t do it? We know a lot of people who could succeed in sales – they have the knowledge, they have the skills, and they know the process, but they don’t actually succeed because something else is holding them back. Our most recent book is Rainmaking Conversations: Influence, Persuade, and Sell in Any Situation. If you think the book is about how to succeed in sales conversations with prospects and buyers, you

When I look at the various aspects of business I am drawn to the idea that the same three Cs apply to creating an environment for success. Those Cs are: Clarity, Communication, and Consistency. They actually work in concert with each other and therefore, are inseparable. Let’s visit each independently and you’ll see how they work together. 1. Clarityr

We are looking at the quickest ways to win new business by careful sales prospecting. The reality is there is no quicker way to develop a list of target clients than to revisit your past successes, the companies involved and target their competitors and their Industry. An Example: A company I was doing some work for received an unsolicited inbound call from a company in an Industry sector they had never worked in before. In fact they would never have thought of approaching them.

In today’s world every business and profession depends upon how well you can sell it. Whether you are appearing for an interview – where you sell your skills – or whether you are working in a business or organization you will find that you would be required at one time or other to sell something. How do you do this successfully? Good salespeople know that it takes much more than a glib tongue to sell anything. Here are the 5 attributes that rake in the gold. Do you have

We always try to talk to or interview individual sales people before we deliver in house sales training. As part of this discussion the salesperson is asked about the areas of their selling that they feel they need help with. At this stage we must have talked to nearly one thousand salespeople ...

"I hate sales pitches!" You may have felt this way yourselfnor heard others say it. If it's such a common response,nwhat's the best way to organize your marketing to attractnnew clients and customers? While getting all aspects of your marketing right can bencomplicated, the simple truth is that you can attract manynmore clients and be far more successful by doing just onenthing. To get the attention of your prospects and gain their trustnand their business, base your market

"I'm getting zero conversion on my Web site (no ezine sign-ups). What can I do to improve my lead generation and income?"n- Beth, from Chicago If you have a web site or are thinking of building one you want it to do two things. You want it to generate leads for your business and help you grow your business. What should you do if your web site marketing isn't accomplishing these two tasks? Imagine you had a new car in your driveway that didn't start reliably or wasn't runnin

Virtually everyone in sales is required to negotiate. After conducting hundreds of workshop and working with thousands of people during the last decade, I have discovered that most sales people are not as effective at negotiating as they could be. nnHowever, I do come across great sales negotiators from time-to-time and have noticed that they typically have a few things in common. Here are the characteristics they usually possess.nnUnderstanding of the negotiating process. Hi

Time management is a HUGE topic these days. Just about everyone struggles with it. I submit that the problem starts with how we view our responsibilities. I think we see the things we are hoping to accomplish as so big we are instantly overwhelmed. Okay, that's how we see things. The good news is that this is easy to change. Seeing things large? Break them down. Let's explore 3 aspects of time management. 1. Priorities:

"Advertising doesn't work." I hear it from my clients all the time. One client was about to file for bankruptcy because she wasn't getting a good response to her radio ads, and the cost was killing her. But she knew her target market was listening; she knew she needed to get her name out there to generate more business. What should she do? Owners of small businesses and professionals like yourself realize that to take your business to the next level, you need to get your pro

In earlier articles we wrote about the power of using hidden commands in normal conversation to increase sales, convince others to do something or to accept your ideas.nn This is often done by separating out a simple command or suggestion by pausing, stating the command in a different tone of voice, then resuming normal conversation.nn For example, when selling a car you might say, “This car gets 30 miles per gallon on the highway, which you’ll notice when you (pause) tak

I’m always amazed to hear people talk about master closers. It’s as if their skills are most significant at the END of the cycle. This seems to me to be rather misleading. Are we saying that it doesn’t matter how you handle the prior steps as long as you have some magic at the end? I believe that ‘closing’ is something that happens naturally once you have successfully navigated all of the prior steps in the sales process. Think about it. If you don’t prospect well, listen well, problem solve well, and create trust well, there’s probably no way you are going to close well.

There are certain times when customer oriented industries face a major constraint in building the economy. At that period of time, it becomes evitable that the call centers either reduce their manpower or steps back from the main operations. Call center outsourcing industries need to emphasize some great recoveries when such phase knocks their door. Either the contact center needs to utilize the existing manpower to deliver some better results using their strategic advantages

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.

The media drone is all around us; the economy stinks, it’s tough to make a buck...blah, blah, blah. I’m here to remind you that you must focus on opportunities rather than challenges in your home based franchise. You probably know most of what I am going to share with you, but maybe, for whatever reason, you are not using these ideas or just not emphasizing them in the marketing platform of your home based franchise. Open up your mind, start to think outside of the traditional marketing box and get to work!!

So many times salespeople and small business owners develop a sales process that is more about system than about connection. In my estimation there are many problems with this. We are experiencing a hyper-competitive economy right now. That is not likely to change any time soon. So what do we do? Rise to the occasion! When we view sales as relationship building it changes our approach. Really getting to know our clients and customers provides us with a leg up on the competition. When WE are the people helping our clients solve problems, we gain armor against invaders.

Many sales people go to sales seminars with hopes of removing the struggles that can come along within a sales position. The optimistic outlook of finally learning that one "magical phrase" or technique that will eliminate all objections and close every sale is a powerful lure to a hungry sales person. Unfortunately, many who attend sales motivation seminars often find themselves right back where they started just a few short weeks after the seminar has passed. Struggling to

It’s been one of those days; Ben has made several calls today with mixed results. One has really got him pondering what he is doing wrong. A customer decided to go with a competitor whose salesman has a questionable reputation. The competitive sales person promises a great deal, most of which he ...

Identify the Real Need of the ProspectnnAs a salesperson, you are in the business of gap analysis. You are a "problem detective." Your job, somewhat like a police inspector searching for suspects, is to find problems for which your product or service is the ideal solution. In a way, your product or service is a key. You make calls looking for locks that your key will open. In the prospecting phase, you insert the key and find that it fits. In the presenting phase, you twist t

If you are a sales manager or business owner, then you probably know and understand that fine line between being a leader and exercising authority, and trying to fit in as part of the team and wanting people to like you. Managers struggle with this all the time, and many would be leaders lose ...

In today’s business world it is not uncommon for many sales people to work from a home office. At first this may seem like a great opportunity, however, it does create some unique challenges. One of the biggest obstacles is the number of distractions that can take us away from our work and prevent us from achieving our objectives.nnWhen you work from a home office it is easy to get distracted from work, especially if it is work that you do not particularly enjoy like pr