Colleen’s Blog

Wow - we’re now in the final week of November. It’s hard to believe that we'll be entering the final month of the year very shortly. Time flies, doesn’t it?! I’m sure you’re already thinking ahead to 2015. But, before you pull out the planning boards and strategy documents, don’t forget to first analyze your successes and drawbacks in 2014. Ask yourself key questions, answer them, and use those answers as building blocks for planning 2015. <-- Click To Tweet I want you to succeed and I want 2015 to be your best year ever. Here are several questions you may want to ask yourself to make that happen:

Are your client and prospect conversations often turning into a form of verbal combat? All too often salespeople get so wrapped up in being right that they completely forget to acknowledge their clients' feelings and opinions. Demonstrating acknowledgement is a key step in continuing a conversation instead of jumping straight into an argument! <-- Click To Tweet When you acknowledge your client’s opinion (even if it differs from your own) you demonstrate empathy to the way your buyer feels. This automatically puts them in a better, more relaxed state of mind because you’re showing your client that you understand their concerns and you’re willing to find a solution. You also show that you’re less concerned about being right and more concerned about being fair.

In sales, our focus is often set on making the next sale. But, our current client base should never be neglected for the sake of closing another deal  Always nurture and build relationships within your current customer base. You want to keep them happy because not only does it feel good to deliver quality to your clients, but they will also be more likely to refer you to others, which helps drive more sales for your business. As I see it, all customers want the same 13 things from you. Accomplish them all and you will develop a loyal profitable customer who will refer you to everyone they know:

It’s a simple fact...there are some customers that you must fire if you want to remain profitable. To be fair - some of these customers are sold products and services that are not beneficial for them. It can be easy to get carried away with the thrill of making a sale, but to avoid these situations, it’s important to only sell your services to customers who can truly benefit from using them. Other problem customers could have been the right type of clients at the beginning of the relationship, but due to personality changes and/or changes in corporate policies, are no longer as profitable as they used to be. Stop working with these two client types:

Believe it or not, the answer to more sales could be as simple as picking up a pen. That’s right, you may simply need to write a letter to a prospect or a decision maker in order to get a response. What I've been noticing about the top sellers and sales teams is that they are not afraid to approach prospects with old fashioned direct mail...that means actually shipping something via the post office!

Do you want to be successful? Alright - that was obviously a rhetorical question. Since I know you want to be successful, it’s imperative that you surround yourself with success. You’re probably familiar with the following quote: “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” If you want to be a successful salesperson, you must do your best to learn from and work with successful salespeople. If you’re learning tips and strategies from poor salespeople, you’re not going to achieve great results. If you don’t currently work with any sellers who are creating positive results, branch out and meet successful salespeople via networking events, conferences and trade shows. The idea is to surround yourself and learn from successful (not mediocre) people. It doesn’t stop at your immediate network. Here are a few steps you can take to create a success mindset so you can create a prosperous sales career:

It goes without saying, but the more interesting you are, the more clients and prospects will want to engage with you. To be clear, being interesting doesn’t simply mean having the best stories on a Monday morning after a busy weekend. But, you don’t have to start jumping out of airplanes or start setting world records to be interesting. Being interesting is about connecting with interesting people, having interesting ideas and most importantly...being interested in others. If we aren’t showing interest in others, we are eliminating a great opportunity for people to find us interesting because interest is reciprocal.  The more interested you are in others, the more interesting you are to others. The more interesting you are to others, the more they will buy from you and stay loyal. <-- Click To Tweet

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! Due to this, it’s so important to focus on you just as much as you focus on your sales 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 career. Remember, your career doesn't exist without you!

Believe it or not, you can easily alienate, disengage and confuse your prospects within the first few seconds of a sales call. How you open a conversation with a prospect can truly make or break your chances for success with them. Unfortunately, most salespeople start sales calls in ways that repel prospects and clients. It doesn’t matter if it’s during the opening, qualification or closing process, if you’re asking bad questions you will end up with bad results.