Colleen’s Blog

Before you do any finalizing of your territory plans, do you have a concrete and thorough understanding of the market you're looking to enter? By having a proper understanding of the target market, you are able to make your decisions based on solid facts and not just what you believe the facts to be. I know this may come off as a basic or elementary sales lesson, but time and time again I see sales leaders basing their territory plans on assumptions or what they'd like to see happen in the marketplace, as opposed to what's truly happening. I have a tale of warning that I'd like to share with you.

just wanted to let you know. I was at the art of Sales conference yesterday in Toronto. It was ……OK..

Here are my top 10 thoughts for the month.

Would you like to speak to more decision makers and close more deals in 2014? You can do so simply by rethinking how you attempt to connect with the decision makers. Most salespeople will generally only reach out via telephone or email, and will give up if they hear nothing back, this is a grave mistake! <-- Click To Tweet In our own studies, we find that the majority of sales deals are lost simply because the salesperson gives up far earlier than they should. Many salespeople decide that they are being proactive by following up once or twice, but the truth is, follow-ups should be part of the standard procedure when reaching out to clients. It is a mistake to believe that you are going above and beyond just because you have called the prospect to follow up. Consider using a mix of the following modes of communication to optimize your chances of hearing back from the client and winning the sale:

Have you downloaded my whitepaper The Inside Track: 6 proven disciplines to lead your sales organization to winning results yet? If not, it’s as easy as going to my Facebook page to download it! Without a doubt, you’re doing everything you can to get a step ahead of your competition and make 2014 your best year yet. It’s also the beginning of a new year so you’re probably as busy as you’ve ever been. I know how important (and hard) it is for you to find a resource you can quickly go through, at no-cost, which is also easy to understand. That’s why we created this free, concise guide. It summarizes the best lessons for sales leaders so you can quickly read through it and implement the principles immediately. This whitepaper teaches you how to:

Want to know how to really motivate your team to perform at their best? I hear this phrase all too often "Motivate my team? I pay them!" Believe it or not, some sales managers believe that motivating their sales team is not a necessary practice. It's no coincidence that these sales managers are often leading extremely dysfunctional sales teams. It's an understatement to say that incorporating this type of philosophy is a huge mistake. On the other side of the coin, many sales managers base every reward on cash incentives, bonuses, trips and prizes. While this may seem appealing to some, making all recognition monetary is another big mistake that many sales leaders make. We've been tricked to believe that these forms of recognition alone motivate members of our team to perform at their best. Don't get sucked into this erroneous belief system!