Colleen’s Blog

One of the things that I’ve noticed that really holds salespeople back is their inability to ask for the sale. Well, I shouldn’t say "inability" because everybody is able to ask for the sale, many of us are just not willing to. We fear rejection. You can be a great prospector and a great negotiator and you can handle all the objections, ask all the right questions but if you never ask for the sale, then you’re never going to get the sale.

I made many observations at Dreamforce 2016. One of the major points I noted about Dreamforce is that they have built an entire community around customer success and Salesforce.com.

Haven't I said this before? Today I attended the Salesforce for Sales keynote. Thanks to the Sales Cloud team, Tim Clarke specifically for the great VIP Seating. I have to admit, I sometimes fall into that grizzled, jaded, old sales vet mode, and think, "come on! Do we really need all this new fanged technology to sell?" The answer is no. Unless, of course, you want to sell more in less time with greater ease and with more profit. In that case, the answer is absolutely yes! Teams need to be equipped with mobile technology, and a fully functioning CRM. <--- Click to Tweet I would also encourage you to consider the following technologies that are proven to increase conversion rates:

It was a gorgeous day in San Francisco today and another busy day at Dreamforce! I spent the day with Adobe in the Adobe Sign Signature Lounge shooting video and talking to people about the future of sales.  You can check out my Facebook live interview with Joe from Adobe here. The message about community obviously resonated with people as it's had over 1.5k views today. We started our conversation about creating customer experiences. I believe that customers and employees want to experience a community. Dreamforce is an example of a customer experience community that we should all strive to emulate. Dreamforce is a community where:

Interesting observational research moment today during my session at Dreamforce. In a room full of 400 sales professionals, I made the case that there is no more B2B or B2C and that all selling was B2All. I stated that "the way I buy shoes, is the same way I buy $1 million dollar telecom equipment for my business." There was a visceral reaction. People in the audience older than me, (let's call them 50+) shook their heads in disagreement. People in the audience younger than me smiled and nodded enthusiastically. After the session ended I had the same responses as I spoke to people.

I'm live at the largest tech show in the world this week. That can only mean it's Dreamforce! With 160,000 registered attendees all working in or in support of sales, Dreamforce is not only the largest tech gathering but the largest sales support gathering in the world. The main themes this year are Be Your Best and Be a Trailblazer. Here is what that means to me:

The very best habit I ever developed as a sales rep was this single habit:

This month I spent a day working with a group of world-class data visualization architects. Who even knew there was such a profession! Nor that the best in the world were based in Toronto. Ironically, being Canadian, I have very little business in our nation’s business capital so it was doubly nice to be working with such a smart group so close to home. The learning environment you choose for your events can either be attractive and inspiring, or depressing and repellant. An attractive environment puts everyone at ease, sparks conversation, and creativity. It’s simply more difficult to be closed minded and cranky in a gorgeous environment. Today’s meeting space at the Royal Canadian Yacht Club on Toronto Island was one of the top spaces I have worked in. Lots of natural light, a view of the lake, high-class furnishings, a building steeped in tradition, well-dressed attendees, and of course, away from their offices. The environment definitely made a difference in the culture of the workshop. While we can’t always have meetings at locations such as the RCYC, we can create the best environments for our attendees to learn and communicate. I notice that the best workshop environments (gauged from participant engagement and implementation) include:

I have been spending a lot of time in workshops so far this year and the number one thing sales reps ask me is how you move beyond the pricing objection and here is what I’m discovering.

I'm not ready to stop sharing the Wells Fargo fiasco and what it means for us as professional sellers. Today, we are hearing about sales targets. The average American has 3 accounts at their bank. Wells Fargo decided to set 8 accounts per person as their target. Why 8?