Colleen’s Blog

Sales leaders ask me all the time about how to make their sales team take accountability, or hold them accountable, for the set goals. I have to remind them that it's very hard for anyone to want to be accountable for someone else's goals.

I recently got back from a vacation in Japan and from that experience, I started to think about why I love going there in the first place. What draws me there? What sales lessons can we learn?

This common error costs more sales than most sales leaders are willing to admit. Here's the thing, you could possess the most talented sales team in the world, equipped with sales reps who know how to ask the right questions, overcome objections, negotiate effectively and it will still do you no good if these reps don't ask for the sale. Why then, are so many sales leaders being nonchalant about the fear of asking for the sale? This doesn't have to be a matter of intimidation!

I've always been a fan of coaching sales reps on a given day. I love it when you have a consistent date and time where you coach your entire team one-on-one. However, managers often come up to me and say, "Colleen, it's exhausting." While it can be exhausting, it can also be exhilarating.

We can discuss sales strategies, ideas, tips and methods to no end. However, at times even the best salesperson struggles to achieve results not because of a weak strategy, but because of little to no focus on their productivity. Let’s cut to the chase. The best way to get your team to achieve true productivity in their work day is to get them to cut off all inbound access. Now, before your jaw drops too low, let me clarify...

I’m touring Japan for a couple weeks (or should I say eating my way through Japan), and I’ve noticed that the best meals are also the simplest. From the freshest fish, perfectly cooked rice, handmade noodles, a locally, just-picked vegetable, the best meals have a singular focus on each plate highlighting a single ingredient with no ornate sauces, or fussy preparations. In thinking back to my past travels, Mykonos was the same way. The meals we remember the most were simply prepared and focused on the highest quality, local ingredients. Occam’s Razor tells us that most often the simplest solution is the best. And, while this is the case for food, it is also the case for revenue generation. A confused buyer never buys, and a confused seller never sells.

I get called in a lot to help companies grow their sales and whenever a company is not growing the way they want or not hitting their sales targets, I take a look at the pipeline because I know it is the #1 reason why people aren't growing their sales.

How many of you have been asked to do less work than you did last year? No one has ever been asked that. Even my clients in shrinking markets are asked to do more sales. This is what's expected from salespeople.