Colleen’s Blog

Could your sales team be suffering from a dangerous virus? Like it or not, we’re now hearing more coughing and sneezing than normal, and commercials are filled with daytime and nighttime medication advertisements to protect you and your family from the flu. But, the virus I want to address this week has nothing to do with the flu. This virus can't be cured with a few sick days. It lasts longer than the flu and it has the potential to erode your entire sales team (and your sales) if you let it linger.

Is it possible to sell without uttering a single word? It might be easier than you think. In sales, you must be in tune with appropriate nonverbal communication. Salespeople often lose sales based on their inability to master their nonverbal communication. And, if first impressions are everything, you may even be able to increase your chances of closing a deal just by putting extra effort into your appearance and keeping common courtesy in mind. Here are five simple ways to improve your sales etiquette and build trust...all without needing to say a single word. 1) Dress Appropriately Always dress at least one notch above how your client will be dressed. If you are unsure about their corporate culture for attire, it's never a bad thing to wear a suit. If you find out during your first meeting that a suit is frowned upon, or unnecessary, you can dress differently for the next meeting. Nonetheless, wearing a suit does show that you respect the prospect enough to clean up and dress up. 

Are you doing enough to build your current relationships? When you close a sale with a new client, you create a new relationship that needs to be nurtured. All too often, salespeople make a sale and then move to the next prospect. When a salesperson continues this trend long term, their client retention is going to fail...it’s inevitable! I hope you’re considering ways to increase your sales in 2015. But, as you know, client retention is just as important as client acquisition. Here are a few tips to help you maintain and build your current relationships in the New Year:

“This year is going to be MY year.” Almost without fail, each year we all hear phrases like this leading into January. It’s a good thing. It shows that most people have a genuine interest in being successful. Unfortunately, interest alone is not enough to follow through with creating real success. You must develop an unwavering commitment to your success and follow through by taking serious action. Over the years, I have worked with and observed many successful salespeople. By successful, I mean they are pulling in at least $500k or more in personal income each year. Find one of these successful salespeople - better yet, find five of them. Take note of the things that they all have in common with each other. Yes, there will be some differences in their style, methods and philosophies. After all, they’re different people! But, if you can pinpoint their similarities, you can absorb those traits and emulate their daily activities to bring you success as well. Keep in mind that the people you model should be people whose results you admire in business, and outside of business. As we all know, a healthy income means very little if you’re always stressed and unable to enjoy personal time. <-- Click To Tweet To help out your cause, here are a few similarities that I have found exist in the successful salespeople that I have observed: