Colleen’s Blog

Recently on my LinkedIn page, we've been having an interesting discussion on compensation plans. Over the course of my career as a consultant, I've met two or three sales leaders who like to have compensation plans that "keep their salespeople guessing" because they think it "keeps them on their toes."

We're finding that buyers are limiting contact with sellers to manage their time. In fact, Jill Konrath put it best when she said, "buyers are busy and long-term planning is sometimes only a few weeks."

Do you ever feel as though you're not doing quite enough for your clients? You've delivered everything that you promised to deliver, and the client seems to be happy with the services and products you have provided them. Still, you just can't shake this feeling that not enough is being offered to them by you and your team.

Ten years ago, I was working with clients where we were focused on their business as a speciality item. One of the biggest banks in the world was one of my clients at the time and they were losing business to niche specialists.

Are you blind to the major turnoffs you may be exhibiting to your clients and prospects? Look, your clients will tell you if they think your service is no longer of value to them or if they received poor customer service from one of your reps.

Last month, I was working with a client who told me that a core group of their targeted market was interested in speed because whoever gets there the fastest will win the business, regardless of price.

I just got back from rolling out a program in a part of the world that I've never worked in before. So, when a seller said, "Colleen, our market is different", I wanted to listen to make sure I understood where they were coming from.

Why are you good? Seriously. Have you asked yourself this question before? Let's face it. Salespeople often come with healthy egos, to put it lightly.

Could trying something new grow your sales? 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!