Colleen’s Blog

Are you truly catering to your customers? It’s one thing to provide a great product or service, but unfortunately, that’s where the experience stops for many people. Sales is all about truly understanding your clients’ needs and issues. Their experience with you should not end immediately after their signature is on paper. The way I see it, all customers want the same 13 things from you. That’s right. Regardless of the industry you’re in, or the product you sell, customers all essentially buy and remain loyal for the same core reasons. <-- Click To Tweet Stay true to all of them and you will develop a loyal and profitable customer base who will refer you to everyone they know!

I spent the week with two teams of top performing sales professionals this week. Although I suspect that some of them will fall out of that position before too long. Here are my observations:

In an endless ocean of sellers that are often selling similar products and services, making your business or organization stand out is of the utmost importance. Being seen as a thought leader is, in today's world, one of the best ways to not only differentiate yourself from everyone else, but to have buyers chasing after you instead of the other way around.

You cannot grow your business with a particular client if you're relying on a singular point of information. Growth comes from not only the quality of contacts, but also your quantity of contacts in a particular organization. If members of your sales team are not diversifying their contacts within an organization, it's time that you ask them to start doing so. The truth is, your team needs to be increasing their engagement or "infiltration" with their clients if you have any hopes of growing your business within your existing customer base. What's the best way to begin practicing this? Start building an organizational chart. When a member of your sales team meets with a buyer, either in person or on call, get them to ask this one simple question:

It’s been an exciting week addressing Sales Leaders from across North America. Here is what I have learned:  1. Money is not the best tool to ensure your team hits quota, accountability is. 2. If your company is consistently not hitting their sales goals, it’s the sales leaders fault. 3. Both preventative and contingent coaching are required for the best sales results.