Colleen’s Blog

We were taught at a very early age to never make assumptions. However, I still encounter salespeople who make assumptions all the time. I want to, in particular, highlight two tales of woe from clients who I discovered were making damaging assumptions.

Recently, I interviewed my good friend, Richard Citrin, author of Strategy-Driven Leadership and The Resilience Advantage. We talked about how resiliency—what he describes as the ability to “bounce forward”—is a hardwired resource in all of us. But you must summon it to make it work!

In today's selling environment, we're using video more than ever before. And in some markets, video is the only way we can engage in face-to-face interaction with our customers. While I'm not going to delve into the specific platform or camera you should be utilizing, I do want to provide you with tips that are going to help you as a salesperson create more engagement with your customers.

I know these are challenging times for all of us individually and for our businesses. And now, in particular, is the time to absolutely micro-manage your metrics. You need to be on top of your business metrics like never before.

I had numerous conversations with sellers over the past weeks who were worried about being laid off, fired, the business shutting down, or the consolidation of departments. In particular, they asked me what they could do to keep their job.

Over the next four weeks, we will be sharing special content that’s specific to the COVID-19 crisis. In particular, we will be exploring strategies that you can implement as sellers and sales leaders in order to: 1. Position yourself well for recovery 2. Take advantage of what you can during this crisis. 

If you have been listening to me or following my work for any length of time, you know that I consistently implore and demand that you start asking for the sale more. In fact, we know that this is why so many deals and opportunities do not get closed. 

A client once reported to me that the work we did with them last year is creating 35% more revenue to the company than it did in previous years. Now that's an exceptional result, but rather than just giving myself a pat on the back, I just hired him to sit down and dissect what we did for them so that I could let you know how to get the same results. I realized it was three basic things.

I have been coaching salespeople on negotiation strategies for over 20 years. And I’ve found sellers consistently make one mistake: they jump too quickly to lower their price even if they're getting something in return.

Today's global pandemic is an extraordinary public health crisis. As we get past the immediate challenge of doing what's necessary and wise to stay well and safe, the next big question is: "What must I do to keep going professionally?" Answer that by looking at the best practices of top sales leaders. The wisdom there is timeless. It applies to every tough situation—including this one.