Colleen’s Blog

If you’re anything like the motivated salespeople I have worked with in the past, you may at some point feel as though you are not doing enough to separate yourself from the pack. You may look at your colleagues and competitors and see little to no difference between your approaches to secure more sales. If this is something you’re feeling, don’t get discouraged! This feeling is a good thing. By feeling motivated to do something more or different than everyone else, you are already separating yourself from other people. This feeling is the beginning of creating a certain uniqueness about yourself which your prospects, clients, colleagues and competitors will surely notice! In fact, professional relationships on almost every level will advance; not to mention more leads are created and more long term and profitable relationships are formed. However, wanting to do more is only the first step. Stepping outside of your comfort zone and doing more is where the real magic starts to happen.

Summer is quickly approaching (some may claim that it has already arrived!). And, with the weather becoming increasingly pleasant, I can’t help but wonder how many professionals are simply going to sit back over the next few months and kick up their feet, both figuratively AND literally. You know as well as I that life is all about enjoying it. We work hard as sales professionals so that we can live a comfortable life. However, far too many sales professionals enter these summer months with an extremely nonchalant attitude. They decide because “no one else is working” that they too should stop making calls and meeting customers. Don’t fall into this trap. People are still working during the summer and quotas are still being met.

An Engage Selling client has a sales rep who is a good performer but also causes a lot of trouble. She is very difficult to manage and causes chaos in the office daily. Today she announced to the owner of the business that she was having an intimate relationship with their biggest customer simply to protect her job. She sensed that the owner is tired of her antics and is thinking about firing her.

Often at Engage, we discuss effective communication strategies to use with prospects and clients. After all, in order to be an effective salesperson, learning to communicate effectively is a necessary prerequisite. There’s truly no way around it. However, it’s equally important for you to understand the “client repelling behaviours” which will land you in hot water with your sales results. Both new and experienced salespeople often don’t even realize when they are displaying poor business etiquette to prospects and clients. Don’t get stuck in the same category as these sales reps! In today’s era of mobile and smartphone technology, you are encouraged to take advantage of the many different avenues of communication to get in touch with clients. Texting, Skyping, faxing, emailing, and calling are all acceptable forms of communication when trying to reach your prospects. It’s what you do during the communication process that really matters.

You never know what you’ll find when going through old emails. While doing some inbox “spring cleaning,” I came across this cold email I received awhile ago. Let’s dissect it and see what lessons we can learn! “Dear Colleen, "ABC Company" is working with more than 1000 companies - including Xerox, Kaiser Permanente, VeriSign, and Goodyear - to help them deliver more effective and consistent communications and training to their internal and external audiences and dramatically reduce costs. The following is a brief example of “ABC Company’s” presentation that speaks to our value: View the “ABC Company” message for Engage Selling. Thank you for taking the time to review this. Please let me know if you are interested in learning more about the solutions we have created for our customers, and I'd be happy to forward a testimonial.”