Sales Training Articles

I get a lot of ezine topic requests each week, and the majority of them are requests for different questioning techniques to use during the qualification stage. I'm glad to see these requests because it means people understand the importance of identifying and then spending time with buyers. I've written many articles over the years that address these kinds of questions, and if you've missed any of them I encourage you to visit my blog here.

Deciding that you want to utilize the number one auction site on the World Wide Web, to market your goods and services to, can be a risky as well as a scary proposition. You're going to have to do your homework to see if what you have to offer falls into the list of "Hot Items" to sell. Without some research your success will be hypothetical at best. Without realizing some profits, the recurring fees just mount up as you watch your advertising budget fly out the window. If yo

Your mission as a sales person should be to find companies that have immediate wants and needs. This means that something happened or is happening to them - a move, a merger, new investors, etc. You have to look for any event that might create the opportunity for you, or better said you are ...

Do you often dream of what life could be like if you were financially free? Do you want to some day own a luxury vehicle? A new home? A boat? Land? Would you like to quit your day job and earn more in one week than you ever could in one month of work? If you answered yes to one or more of these ...

Here are several easy and practical phone selling techniques you can use to increase your sales. First - do not underestimate the value and the role your telephone plays in your selling success. There are two options when it comes to recording your voicemail message. You can change your ...

Sales Prospecting by Positioning Your Business Where Customers Seek You Out "What business are you in?" It sounds a bit strange at first but it has massive implications to your business. Many businesses and salespeople lose sight of the real reason they are in business, that is to solve problems or help achieve goals. My company is not a sales training company, for example. I help people solve the problems of not attracting enough clients, and not utilising the ones they have to maximum impact and profitability.

So, it's been another round of price squeezing. Very painful! They want it cheaper and your company has tasked you with protecting margin. To make matters worse, the prospect called you one of the worst things possible¡K a vendor! At this point, you have probably decided that sales really isn't ...

Proudfoot Consulting reports that salespeople only spend 11% of their time actively selling! Just imagine what would happen to your sales if you were to increase that to 12% or even 15%. There are several reasons you actually spend so little time selling: administrative tasks, travel time, responding to existing clients, etc. However, the biggest reason you spend so little time selling is you lack people to sell to. n n That isn’t to say you don’t make large time

Karon Thackston © 2005nhttp://www.marketingwords.com nnSay the word "emotion" to a man, and he'll immediately jump out of his seat and run from the room! Utter the word "emotion" to a woman, and she begins to conjure up thoughts of romantic, long talks centered around feelings. However, speak the word "emotion" to a copywriter and s/he should see dollar signs. Why? Because a good command of subtle emotion is the key to copy that works.nnThe Difference Between Subtle and Obvi

When you look at the calendar at this time of the year, you start to realize that the selling year is almost over. In fact, when you take out the holidays, there are only about 45 selling days left in the year. That is not a lot of time left for your team to qualify for their annual sales incentive contest, and not a lot of time for you to secure your annual bonus! Are your sales representatives on track? Are you?

Some experts believe that the first few years of life are the most formative. Others suggest that the early teens are the most influential. Personally, I’m not so sure; there seems to be some good logic in both views. However, regardless of whether my personality was crafted as an infant or a ...

The sales meeting started off with a question. It was a trick question, really. Its genesis came from listening to a call from one of our bilingual reps. “What is the most-used language on the planet?” I asked the group. They confidently shouted their responses: “Spanish!” “Chinese!” “English!” Good guesses, but wrong. Strictly speaking.

Have you ever had a project where you succeeded? Sure you have. So have I. Mine include starting a business, growing my business, staying fit, having a family, and buying a house. n Have you ever had a project where you didn’t succeed? Yes, I have, too. Mine include not developing a solid ...

There is a major difference between visibility and conversion. The key to success for any event is the understanding of the factors driving conversion. You've told everyone that you are having a seminar, tele-seminar, webinar, etc. As a strategy to gain visibility, you invested in Google Ads ...

How is your sales prospecting success? One of the applications of the Internet that really excites me more than most for sales prospecting, is the ability to get direct contact numbers for almost anyone you want contact with. Historically, appointment setting training and material has largely focused on: Getting past the gatekeeperr Overcoming the gatekeeperr Tricking the gatekeeperr Bypassing the gatekeeperr And sometimes befriending the gatekeeper

The other day I was driving down a two-lane road and came up behind a garbage truck. It was owned by a national waste and recycling company. The truck looked like it was at the light and had its left blinker on. I sat there waiting, and waiting, and waiting. Then I saw the driver come strolling from the convenient store, get in the truck, pull up to the light, and turn right – not left. Needless to say, I wasn’t happy. What was he doing in the lane? Why didn’t he pull over to the side of the street, or into the parking lot? Why did he have his left signal on instead of his hazards?

Many sales reps send me emails asking the same thing, "How can I sell against my competition and win the deal?" They tell me it gets more and more difficult as there is always someone who has a similar product for less money, or who can offer their kind of service with more bells and whistles, etc. What can they do? Let's look at a few facts and then put together a sales strategy. To start with, if a prospect hasn't bought anything yet, it means they haven't found exactly what they're looking for, right?

This is one of the original Self Help books that I read and it certainly starts you on the road to learning how to manage people in all areas of your life. There’s a VERY successful real estate company near me that won’t even look at your resume unless you have attached to it, a two ...

Before I take you to the nitty-gritty of Pay per click and cost per click in 2019, let me refresh these terms in your memory by telling you what they mean. Cost per Click which is also called as CPC is a term used to describe the price you pay for each click in your pay per click marketing campaigns. On the other hand pay per click, also known by its other names PPC and cost per click, is an online advertising model that drives traffic to websites using ads. PPC model works w

When you look at your marketing to-do list, do many of the items on it look all too familiar? Have entries like "call Donna Sanchez" and "follow up with Floyd Corp." been copied from a previous week? Putting off unappealing tasks may be human nature, but for an entrepreneur, procrastination can be deadly. Delays in contacting a prospect can lose the business to the competition. Failing to get the word out about an upcoming event may forfeit dozens of opportunities. Wasted marketing time can never be recovered.

We all have heard that as small business owners, we are all sales people. This is no doubt a fact when owning and operating a small business. As with any operational function, there should be some type of process or step by step way of doing it. Following a process, with repetition and practice, has been proven to contribute to a positive outcome. Yes, you guessed it! There is a process to selling - known as the sales cycle. nnSome businesses sell products, some sell services

If your not using this powerful selling technique, you're making sales more difficult and losing a lot of sales you shouldn't. Do you find you're constantly telling prospects how great you are and they're thinking, that's what all the salespeople say? Wouldn't it be better to have someone else ...

90% of what it takes to be a good sales person is your mindset. Yes, I know this is a strong statement. Even if you have the skills and all the moves, you won’t be successful if you have a terrible attitude – no one will want to buy from you! The sales person who wants it the most is the one who is most often victorious. Sure, we can teach you a step-by-step program to make sure you’re prepared, know the right questions to ask, close faster and recognize additional sales opportunities – but training won’t help you if you have a “who cares” attitude.

All leads are not made the same. Anyone working in sales knows that the value of each individual lead can vary wildly depending on a number of different factors from the time of day to dozens of different pieces of demographic data. In the past, sales managers have been forced to effectively throw darts at a map in trying to get their sales staff to call the leads with the best chance of conversion. Fortunately, Leads360 has developed a new Lead Prioritization Engine that has

Everybody has been taught to focus on closing. There are thousands of books written on the subject. Trying to close someone without getting to know who they are is a recipe for disaster. This scenario has affected so many sales people. They have studied and applied all the techniques on closing a sale. They have been taught that if you are not closing then you are not selling. Guess what? This may be the reason you are not very successful at selling. Closing is the last and

by Karon Thackston © 2005nhttp://www.copywritingcourse.com nnIf you've been in the copywriting realm for very long at all, you've heard the phrase "features vs. benefits." It's a fundamental copywriting principle and driving force behind much of what we, as copywriters, create. But there's also another aspect to this equation. nnWhat happens after customers buy your product or service? Once they've used what you have to offer, what will be different in their lives? What will

As some of you know, I'm the highly introverted (INFP) who is also a Sales and Marketing director for a company that sells both nationally and internationally. So, this tells us that I really, really, really dislike sales prospecting -- at least in the stereotypical 'pick up the phone and cold call' 'sales hunter' way. I'm always looking for ways to find prospects in unorthodox ways. One of these is spelled out in my article Cold Calling for Introverts where I detail a mean

by Karon Thackston © 2005nhttp://www.copywritingcourse.com nnThree seconds and 40 characters. That's all you usually have to work with when trying to get and hold the attention of someone reading email. And, with user behavior changing so much in response to overwhelming amounts of spam, the attention spans of email readers are getting shorter. Needless to say, it's vital to make the most of your introduction via the email subject line.nnEmail marketing powerhouse DoubleClic

Selling is tough! There's no doubt about it. Customers demand more at the same time their loyalty is plummeting. Cutthroat competitors seem willing to practically give things away just to get the business. Even setting up meetings with new prospects is a major ordeal. Busy decision makers don't ...

Take action in your sales Wouldn’t we all love a bit more action! If you are working in sales, sales requires movement, sales requires action. You need to get commitment and get action from your prospective clients and act yourself too. You need to do this in a planned time frame. Recently on a sales training course I asked the participants whether they had anything in common with Barrack Obama or Bill Gates. They all replied with a no. The truth is that they do and so do yo

Sales prospecting using blogging is a fantastic way to generate new business. In this article, which is part of a series released here, you will discover some advanced ways for salespeople to use blogging for sales prospecting. This is rather an advanced way of thinking about blogs but is surprisingly easy to do. In the next sectio I will show you how to do research to identify the actual phrases that people are searching for in your Industry. Once you have set up a hosting account and have a good blog theme, there is no rule to say you have to only have one blog.

Presenting to a group can potentially be a daunting experience even for the most confident of sellers. It is easy for these nerves to contribute to basic mistakes so a little preparation and a few simple guidelines are key to success. Preparatio You will have a chance to prepare, and this is ...

Do you find that there are just not enough hours in a day? Are you working long hours, making call after call, but you still don’t sell enough to even come close to reaching quota? If you answered yes to these questions, you may be one of the many sales representatives who mistakenly believe that being busy is the same as being effective. You can be successful in sales and not have to work 24 hours a day. It may be an old cliché, but you just need to learn to work smarter, not harder.

Are you tired of sales being hit or miss? nnDo you want CONSISTANT sales? nnDo you want to know how to get the sale...and make it EASY? nnThis comes right out of the book "Power Persuasion - Using Hypnotic Influence To Win In Life, Love and Business." nnWhen it comes to sales/persuasion/negotiations the best NLP MetaProgram I can recommend to first learn is the convincer strategy.nnWait, what's a MetaProgram you ask.?nA MetaProgram is a way that people sort information. Peopl

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.

I’m sure by now that you have established your sales targets for next year. If you haven’t I suggest that you get cracking and do it now. Time is slipping past! If you have set your targets, congratulations! Here are 10 things you can do to achieve those goals. 1. Invest time prospecting for NEW business every week. Most salespeople rely on existing clients to generate their sales. Allot a specific amount of time to look for new business opportunities whether it’s withi

Watching the celebrity edition of the Apprentice on television proved to be far more than solely an entertaining experience. Knowing in advance that Gene Simmons, the brains behind the KISS phenomenon and the self-proclaimed god of women, would take episodal charge over the female celebrity ...

If you have an element of sales prospecting and new lead generation involved in your sales position or your business then you have so many options open to you. There is no excuse for not being able identify a constant stream of new sales prospects. There is also no excuse for approaching people 'cold' and not doing some preparatory research before making contact. You have everything you need at your finger tips so please use them.

Many business executives focus their search for sales management candidates from within their industry. They are restricting their ability to find the right person for the role. One of the most critical decisions a company will make is the hiring of the right sales manager. However, many ...

At the start of every year, we tend to look forward and set both personal and professional goals for the year. Take a moment and think back. Did you reach the goals you set for yourself last year? If not, it’s probably because you did not develop a plan of action to achieve them. When you are in a performance-based career like sales, goal setting is vital to your success. Vital yes, but without a plan of action on how to achieve your objectives, the annual ritual of goal setting is just an exercise in futility. So what are your goals?

The main reason for buyer resistance and selling stalls boils down to one simple fact: the reasons for not buying are bigger to the prospect than the reason to buy.nnIf you sell an intangible product or service, it may be even tougher to close down a sale because your product or service is not something people can see, touch, or feel. So the reasons for your prospects to buy have to be vivid, logical, and emotional. There has to be a reason for them to buy NOW, or they’ll p

You should really try to look at cold calling in a different light because it really can make a big difference to your personal and business success. I know what you're thinking, How can this be so important? There is a common misconception that cold calling is an unskilled job, a job that is best left to newcomers to the industry. I agree that it is a job that many people would not even consider but that can mainly be put down to fear.

Many of my posts have talked about becoming a trusted advisor and the skills you need to develop this status with your prospects and customers. Some people never reach their passion of becoming a trusted advisor that adds value because the level of their fear has prevented them from taking action. Whether it was asking someone out on a date, requesting a raise, switching jobs, or pursuing your creative passion, fear can totally paralyze a person. Most of the time, these fears

Sales presentations are a part and parcel of businesses. Even if you don’t make a presentation in the beginning, you will have to do it once you are stable. In order to compel customers into buying your offerings, you have to ensure that the sales presentation is compelling as well as interesting while being informative. Many people go wrong with these presentations mainly because they forget their basics. They overdo things in their worry and excitement. This leads to their

Ever had a client or prospect never get back to you? Because you're in sales, then I know it's happened to you (or is happening with several of your clients or prospects right now!). If you ever find yourself in a place where you've qualified a prospect, sent information to them on your product or service, and then find that they just won't return your calls or emails, then I've got a guaranteed email that will get you a response.

People ask me if I believe in the Law of Attraction. I tell them that not only do I believe in it, but I use it every day to attract the kind of life I want. In fact, using the Law of Attraction is as important a part of what I do as is picking up the phone and speaking with clients, conducting training programs, creating products, etc.