Colleen’s Blog

Do you turn your computer on each morning only to find a mountain of unread emails that need your attention? Email overload is an epidemic in the workplace. Most salespeople that we poll tell us that they spend up to 40% of their day just managing email correspondence between clients and internal partners. If this sounds about right for you as well, imagine the number of sales you're missing out on! It's time to realign your mindset. Email does not close business for you. You close sales based on your personal relationships. Stop working so hard behind your computer and go meet customers in person, or pick up the phone and call them. In order to increase productivity (and sales) you must learn to manage your email inbox. <-- Click To Tweet Here are 5 tips for staying on top of your emails:

Want to know the easiest way to lose control of the sales process? Time and time again, I’ve seen salespeople hold off on presenting their price to a prospective client until the final written proposal. They don’t bring up pricing in person or before a written proposal is sent because they’re afraid to scare away their potential client. Ironically, by following this methodology, they end up scaring away the prospect anyway. If you avoid discussing pricing options until the very last moment, you make it too easy for the prospect to ignore you. They may love everything about you and what you have to offer, but if the amount they see in writing is not something they’re comfortable with, chances are they will simply avoid discussion rather than initiating it. In their mind, it’s much easier to ignore you than to reach out to you for a chance at a better price. Remember, your buyers fear rejection too! When this scenario unfolds, you lose complete control over the sales process and you make it very difficult for yourself to recover from it.

You've heard the saying variety is the spice of life before. So, just like many other things in life, keep the word variety in mind when it comes to your sales if you want see greater results. If you’re only using one or two pipeline streams to create more success with your prospecting, you are likely either currently experiencing or will experience less than impressive sales results. Why? Because the goal of efficient salespeople is to fill their sales funnels with the right prospects using multiple pipeline streams. In today’s market, your buyers have access to information anywhere, anytime and on any form of media they desire. In fact, they are often gathering information about you in places you would rather they avoid, especially if you have little to no presence in those spaces. Therefore, you must be ubiquitous! It’s critical that you retain control of all pieces of information about you and your business by embracing all forms of prospecting tools and media. You need to continue using the traditional and direct prospecting tools that you’re used to but you must also begin using indirect tools such as social media and publishing to your advantage. By doing so, you also expand your presence in the market.

Your health and wellness are important factors to consider if you want to increase your sales. As you know, it’s tough to focus and get things done when you’re stressed or working on a lack of sleep! You might think nobody else notices your sleep deprivation and stress, but I promise your team can tell when their leader is feeling off! Due to this, it’s so important to focus on you just as much as you focus on your sales team and your business. When you’re staying in noisy hotel rooms, working late or pulling all-nighters, you must make an active effort to stay grounded and ensure that you’re not neglecting yourself for the sake of your team and your business! Remember, a sales team is only as good as their leader!