Colleen’s Blog

In every sales territory and in every organization, there's a hidden danger—one that has the potential to be lethal if left unchecked. It emerges only when "the unexpected" occurs. That's usually something big and potentially destabilizing. It could take the form of a sudden severe weather event, a change in management, a shift in organizational priorities in your client's company, or even a downturn in one or more sectors of the economy.

There's a truth about price objections that you need to be familiar with.

I want to share with you a concerning trend involving your prospects’ trust and what you can do to fix it.  We are indeed seeing issues involving trust from buyers right now. Who can blame them? It's an incredibly volatile marketplace and it's going to continue this way for some time. However, it’s important for us to recognize that buyers currently lack trust not necessarily because they lack trust in you, but because they lack trust in themselves.

Building trust with clients should be at the forefront of every organization's thinking and planning.

How much attention are you paying to the way your sales team is engaging with their buyers? Why, you ask? Well, there's a big difference between the way mediocre or poor performers interact with their buyers compared to how top performers do. Average salespeople view and regard their prospects as one of two things: 1. superior to them or 2. inferior to them. Let me explain.

“Buyers have changed and loyalty’s dead now. Customers don’t care about the relationship anymore!”  I’ve been hearing that whine a lot from sellers. Most recently, it was from a client of mine, saying: “I’ve been supplying my long-time customer with free donuts and baseball hats every month for the last 20 years and now they’ve suddenly moved to the competition!”

Helicoptering behaviour: it isn't just limited to parenting. It's a real problem in the workplace today. And it's especially damaging in sales organizations.

It's a common scenario, and it kills proposals.

As you may know, I like to keep up on the state of the current buyer: what's going through their minds, how are they behaving, and how are they rewarding or not rewarding sellers like us?

Working with so many different clients across a variety of industries really opens your eyes to new ideas, strategies, and insights. I'm always open to embracing fresh new thinking!