Colleen’s Blog

If you're a loyal reader of this blog, you're probably aware I don't believe that sales need to slow down just because a market does. Are you noticing your team is consistently producing disappointing results and selling less than perhaps your competition? Let me fill you in on an approach which might make all the difference in your sales team's success.

Picture this...you call into your bank for support. Upon dialing the number, you're prompted by a machine to enter in your card number and other details. After this, you're transferred to a rep who then asks you for those exact credentials again. That rep, who can't properly answer your inquiry, transfers you over again to another rep who asks you to verify yourself one more time. It's frustrating just to think about it, right?

This is an interview supporting the book launch of Millennials Matter. Q: Thanks for joining us today, Danita. Give us a quick overview what you’re seeing and hearing about the importance of millennial salespeople in our companies.

One of the biggest mistakes you can make is trying to sell to everyone that comes into your pipeline. I know, it’s intuitive as a salesperson to sell as much as possible, but effective salespeople know how to pick and choose which prospects to sell to. They know the good from the bad. The reality is, not every prospect is an ideal candidate for your product or service. The sooner you learn this important lesson, the sooner you can focus on the prospects that are ideal candidates for you to work with.

Is your business experiencing wild swings in revenue? This may surprise you, but putting too much emphasis on closing business is actually counterproductive to increasing your revenues. What?! Let me explain.

Firing people is never pleasant. Regardless of your personal relationship with an individual, in a business environment, if a seller is doing more damage than good, it's time to think about their role on your team.

This year has been the year of international travel for me. As I write this I'm on my last overseas trip for the year, kicking off a new project in France. As a sales expert, I watch interactions everywhere, and it's fascinating to see how different cultures interact personally and professionally. Here are some interesting observations:

There has been much debate on my LinkedIn article regarding cold calling. I've discussed it in-depth this year especially, as in 2017 and beyond there are simply more effective prospecting methods available today.

This week, I had the pleasure of addressing 400 top Financial Services professionals at a national sales conference in Las Vegas. In fact, the image embedded to this blog post is the "backstage" view I had before the audience starting piling into the room. Here are the top 10 points from my keynote, they're the strategies that work today: