Sales Training Articles

Manatee County in South West Florida has an annual program called Project Teach. The program objectives include: to illustrate the importance of first impressions, to explore the relationship between education and jobs, to provide a dialogue between students and adults in different careers. They invite 140 volunteers to spend an hour with all the 4th graders in the county. As the class begins, each student is given a 3 X 5 card. They are asked to write the answers to the following questions. How old do you think I am? How many children do I have? What kind of car do I drive?r

Choosing to bid on the right keywords can be key to your pay per click success. By choosing the proper keywords - words that your potential customers would use to search for your product - you can pre-qualify web traffic and skyrocket your conversion rate. But how do you choose the right keywords? Here are 3 powerful tips to uncovering profit-pulling keywords for your pay per click campaign.nn#1) Choose Relevant Keywords While this SEEMS obvious, you'd be surprised at how m

http://www.ktamarketing.comnnHow many times a day do you see them as you surf the Web? Pop-up and pop-under windows have become a widely used marketing tool. But do they work? Are they just a nuisance, or are they really the gold mine that all the “gurus” claim?nnAfter doing a good deal of research, I’ve discovered some pretty interesting facts. After implementing my own pop-up campaign, I’ve had some enlightening moments. Allow me to tell you what I’ve discovered,

Overcoming the Avoidance Motivators In the last article, the reason most goals do not work was uncovered. (Why We Can't Change) This article will give you specific steps to overcome those barriers and accomplish more in 2010! Interested? Read on… People motivation is complicated and complex, yet if we can focus on basic truths progress can be astounding. The simplified view is we either move toward "gain" in some form, or move away from or avoid "pain" in some way. The first step to making you goals for 2010 is to understand which moves you forward and which holds you back.

Want to increase the value of your sales meetings? Make it about THEM by including your sellers. When you include your sellers and make it about them, they will pay closer attention, participate at higher levels, see a higher perceived value and will be recharged to go out and sell more! Many sellers put up with sales meetings rather than participate in them. Why? Because they aren’t included. Salespeople have social needs. Most spend a lot of time on their own as they call

A slow economy is a difficult time for business and no salesperson welcomes it. As total business volume slumps, triggering apprehension of deeper recession and pessimisms and uncertainty can prevail. However, it is an inevitable part of the economic cycle and businesses should learn to cope with it and salespeople should develop a strategy to survive and thrive. They should pursue only the best possible sales opportunities despite the hardships. Weak and inefficient salespeo

Sales Prospecting with Twitter.com, is called a 'micro blog'. It is a blogging platform that allows posts to be a maximum of 140 characters. It has taken the online world by storm and is set to stay as a dominant online networking platform for years to come. But the main question is if you are a professional sales person, should you be using Twitter for your sales prospecting. If you have never looked at Twitter then you should do. It's a great place to do business. There is a misconception that many people have that Twitter is just about people selling to consumers.

If you've ever watched the opening of ABC's Wide World of Sports, then you've seen the winning runner break through the finish line, arms upraised in triumph, elated by the "thrill of victory." Of course, you've also seen the championship skier as he miscalculates and goes tumbling down the slopes into the "agony of defeat." Victory and defeat. Winning and losing. Good and bad. All similar concepts – right? The thing is, both these people are winners. Why?

Undeniable fact: Almost everyone tends to do business with people they know and like. That's why one of the most important facets of your marketing program should be developing and using your interpersonal communication skills. If you allow yourself to be shy or antisocial (and we all have those rare moments), then you're undermining your success and creating a severe competitive and financial disadvantage. The other extreme, of course, is coming on too strong. If you're alwa

Building a lasting relationship with your customers is beyond important, especially in the age of information. More than ever customers have access to information about your products, yet they still want to buy from people they trust. How important is trust to YOU when you buy? The more a customer trusts you, the more they’ll be willing to go to bat for you internally, refer you to other customers, and risk investing large amounts of money in your products and services.

A carpenter has his saw and hammer. A writer has his pen and ink. A doctor has her medical instruments and medicines. An accountant has her calculator. A mechanic has his wrenches. What of the salesperson? What are the available tools for salespeople? Salespersons exist in almost every ...

The passing of Michael Jackson seem to overshadow everything and several days later the buzz is still going. How can this event overshadow so many others? I caught an early morning news program covering both Jackson and Fawcett and their passing. The interesting thing I noted was the amount of coverage for Jackson versus Fawcett. While both were famous stars and both had provided a great deal to the entertainment business, it was a 5:1 ratio in favor of Jackson! While Farrah was ill and her death not unexpected, Jackson's was sudden and unexpected.

Why does selling appear to be so much easier for some salespeople? It seems that they have a knack of identifying which doors to open and then knowing just what to do or say to convince the prospect as to the value of their offering. They are often described as “lucky” or “always been in the ...

When it comes to closing a sale do you really know how to close? Do you freeze up afraid to close or don't know what to say? Do you know how and when to close a sale or even if the prospect is interested in your product? Well, read on and I'll share with you six ways to overcome these common ...

There are plenty of reasons why you would want to hire a sales consultant or trainer for your company. Perhaps you have a new product line coming out and want to enter the market with a big splash? Or your sales force has not been meeting their quota? Or you want to improve your sales team's cold calling techniques? Or the closing ratio of your salespeople could use some improvement? Whatever the reason, you must hire the right sales trainer. There are certain things you must

I attended a sales training course a number of years ago and the trainer was talking about closing techniques. I remember he said on several occasions ‘ask for the order and then keep quiet’ he had plastered all over the walls in the training room silence can be golden. I would love to say that I always took his advice and it always worked but that is not really the truth. I, like so many other sales people would ask for the order and as soon as it went silent I would open m

Quick - name a product or service that doesn't rely on persuasion in some shape or form, to move people to action and sell more goods? Stumped? I can't think of one either. Which is why I know you'll benefit from the simplentips I'm about to share with you. Persuasion, like any other skill, ...

Test your customer service knowledge and learn how to be a service ace by picking the correct answer to each of these 10 questions.nn 1. A complaining customer is: nA. Always rightnB. Almost rightnC. Often lyingnD. Always the customernn 2. Customers who complain: nA. Had unhappy childhoodsnB. Are genetically predisposed to be sourpussesnC. Have trouble in their primary relationshipsnD. Are doing you a service in identifying what isn’t working in your business or organizatio

Teach, Coach And Lead With Integrity Teach, Coach And Lead With Integrity By Louis Jorda There is no one-thing that makes a sales leader great. But, there is definitely one thing that can make them poor - an inability to coach and develop their employees. Tell a salesperson to go sell ...

Are you searching for new and innovative ways of sales lead generation? Are you lacking in sources of good quality leads? Are you tired and bored using the same methods for generating sales leads? If you answered No to these questions you're either satisfied with the income you're earning - or ...

The Power Of Networking In A Recessionr Brian Azar, What is a Network? A Network serves as a referral, introduction, and promotion system, with opportunities to support and help the individuals involved.

It's one of the best pieces of copywriting advice I've ever been given. "As often as possible, start your paragraphs with sentences that hook readers and drive them deeper into the copy." Why? Because - after the headline - the first sentence in any paragraph is what gets read most often. After that point, customers usually skip to the next section unless they feel compelled to keep reading. That means your job, as the copywriter, is to entice them into each segment, so they

Life would be grand if we could sprinkle a few seeds in the ground, fertilize, add water…and a great sales person would sprout. This is truly a pipedream, but one often pursued by small business owners and sales management executives in their quest to find great sales talent. Rather than grow their own, they attempt to steal the crops from their competitors. Why not, their competitor is much better at growing a sales organization than they are. They will grab some magic from their competitor's land and they too can enjoy great success.

Have you ever left work wondering why you just spent eight hours performing meaningless task, or doing others people work for crappy pay? Did I say eight hours? Everyone knows that most people are at work or commuting much longer than a mere eight hours. Having this feeling everyday certainly ...

Let me begin by stating that this article is not a discussion about the military or the pros and cons of war.n It is about learning some of the most powerful persuasion strategies in use today.n And the truth is, military recruiters are some of the best salespeople in the world.n They have to be. Military service is not the most benefit-rich product that someone could sell.n When you enlist, you agree to a four-year commitment. During this time, you give up your freedom. You

When young professionals envision sales positions, they might picture the car salesman at the local dealership or their own teenage stints working in retail. In reality, about 5% of the United States population works in the sales industry. The sales job possibilities are seemingly endless — and so are the opportunities for job seekers.

The world’s oldest profession involves selling. One might even argue about which came first – the selling or the sex? In fact, selling and sex are so closely related that succeeding at either one of them can be euphoric, addictive, and good fun. Some people might like to argue that selling is not better than sex. They believe it’s the other way round.

Retired CEO of General Electric, the great Jack Welch has six rules for success. Are you following these rules of success, or are you on a path to irrelevance? 1. Control your destiny, or someone else will. 2. Face reality as it is, not as it was or as you wish it were. 3. Be candid with everybody. 4. Don't manage, Lead. 5. Change before you have to. 6. If you don't have a competitive advantage, don't compete. So, let's look at the six rules for success within the context of the selling profession, and how to use these rules to measure your success.

The way You approach cold calling will have a big impact on the success You have. If you're constantly saying to yourself "They won't be in" "They will be in a meeting" "They will have just come back from lunch" "They won't want to talk to me" "They are probably happy with their existing supplier" "Their project won't be ready yet" "They probably already have what I am selling" "No one works on a Friday afte oon" "No one will be in at that time of the morning"

Voicemail is the scourge of many salespeople and yet the number 1 prospecting tool for some of the worlds most successful salespeople. Where does it sit in your sales prospecting armory? I really am surprised that even the most experienced sale people have never, ever taken the time to work out and develop strategies for using voice mail to make your sales life easier.

Most people love to buy stuff, but they don't like being sold. Many of my clients love what they do, but they really detest selling it. How can we reconcile these two points of view? What if you could learn to "sell" without actually selling? Then, you wouldn't have an unpleasant feeling inside, and your potential clients wouldn't avoid talking to you. The good news is: it's not only possible to sell without selling; it's preferable. Here are 7 enlightened ways to "sell" without selling. 1.

Conducting effective workshops is one of the constant challenges facing all trainers. We will try to look at the most effective ways to conduct workshops, ways that will make the workshops not only valuable for the attendees, but valuable and rewarding for trainers too. In order to conduct ...

I’ve listened and read much over the years about keeping your thoughts and statements positive. Thoughts like, “Why does this always happen to me?”, “What else am I suppose to do?”, and “I only have so many hours in a day “; these can be restraining and inhibit productivity toward your goals. ...

There is a great cold calling scripts debate in the sales community. One group argues scripts make callers sound canned. The other side says if you don’t know where you are going you are likely to get there and your script is the roadmap. The anti-scripts camp does not want to sound like the telemarketer who calls during dinner, garbles your name, identifies him or herself with a rush of words that makes you go, huh? The script-camp does not want to sound like a telemarkete

Happy New Year! We are only a few weeks into the New Year and already the gyms are less full than they were the first week of January and many have already cheated on their diets. Similarly, sales people are already missing their daily sales activity targets, so they are no closer to earning their annual income bonuses this year than they were last year. Why is it we all start the New Year off with such high hopes, only to let them fall by the way side a short time later? In a word, procrastination!r

As much as we hate to admit it, at one time or another, we’ve all been lied to. Sometimes the lie is exposed quickly and sometimes it takes awhile to surface. In sales, lying from a customer occurs more often than we are aware of. Did you realize that nearly every sales call starts off ...

Five great ways to send your sales skyrocketing in 2010 It’s a challenge that even the most accomplished sales professionals have to tackle regularly: how to attract more of the targeted customers who are best suited to help your business thrive. After all, it’s not enough to know who it is that you want to reach, or even to fine-tune your business habits to emulate the top sellers in organizations of all sizes. You also need to find ways to attract more of those ideal cu

Are you a sales introvert or a sales extrovert? In your sales role, which activities do you prefer? Where do you focus your attention? How do you recharge? Every salesperson tends toward one of two preferences: introversion and extroversion. There is the distinction of these preferences and one is not necessarily better than the other. Our short quiz evaluates your general tendencies introversion and extroversion: http://www.alenmajer.com/sales-quiz/ About Sales Introverts

Sales techniques and skills are not always something rnone is born with. Often people rnthink if they are not given the skills naturally then they will not be rnsuccessful in sales. .But it is rnnothing but a fallacy Plenty of successful salesman have taken training rncourses, read books written by successful sales professionals, and worked rnfor many years to become a smooth talented sales person. If it is your ambition to become a great salesperson, you must rnremain open t

Dealing with difficult customers is a never-ending challenge that we must constantly face in the business world. While there will always be difficult customers, and we can never completely avid them, there are some things that we can do to make our jobs easier. Let’s take a look at what goes ...

How To Stay Up, Even When You’re Down. This past weekend I was going through some old newsletters when I came across a letter that might help you to deal more effectively with the recession and the tough times you're facing. So - enjoy the updated version of my Mt. Everest Newsletter. Sixteen ...

One of the new marketing trends is “disruptive selling.” This is defined as any marketing strategy that is bold enough, unique enough or enough out of the ordinary to create buzz and, consequently, sales. It could be marketing that runs counter to the time of year when competitors are running ...

Inertia can be a powerful force. Often times in business, the decision not to act and to stick with the same practices is the easiest one to make. However, the ease of sticking with the same shouldn’t allow sales managers to accept the status quo. Maximizing ROI and finding best practices are not the sort of goals that a sales team can expect to reach without stepping out and aggressively pursuing them. In order to find the most efficient way to pursue leads and react to cust

A well run sales meeting can have an incredible impact on the confidence and development of your team. Conversely, badly run meetings will under-mine your leadership and retard the growth of your team. It is possible to influence your employees simply by how you conduct a sales meeting - this ...

One of the fastest ways to build rapport and trust is to prove, in concrete terms, that you are looking out for the client’s best interest. Zig Ziglar said that people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care about them. One tried and true strategy that I use ...

Every sales manager is searching for revenue from their salesforce, but the recipe to achieving the revenue target comes from the development of their unique sales metric management system. Thinking back to one of the great cult films of the 1980s…Caddyshack. There is a conversation betwee Ty Webb (Chevy Chase) and Judge Smails (Ted Knight) in the locker room after Ty has just finished a round of golf. Judge Smails asks Ty what he shot that day and Ty responds by telling the Judge that he doesn't keep score.

In leadership one principle stands above all: You need your people more than they need you. Another way of saying this is that you get paid for what your people do, not for what you do.

There are many elements to making the sale including a captivating opener, good communication and presentation skills, and strong closing tactics. Perhaps one of the most crucial factors in making the sale is your power to persuade. Persuasion should be apparent all of the elements mentioned ...

There are five buying decisions all prospects make before they purchase a product or service. Central in their decision making process is the question: "What will it do for me?" A salesperson should imagine this question emblazoned across the forehead of every prospect because it is this ...

Customer service plays a crucial role in expanding business. Happy customers are loyal customers. Satisfied customers are worth a billion dollar publicity campaign. Similarly, unsatisfied customers can tarnish the business reputation with their negative feedback. It is necessary for every organization to focus on delivering exceptional customer service. Here, are some easy tips that can help in enhancing the overall customer service experience. Smile: In a face-to-face custo