Colleen’s Blog

There was an expression that I heard years ago from Alan Weiss, where he said, "Generalize and thrive."

This is a great way to frustrate your prospects. Have you ever been excited to call a brand and inquire about their services, only to have a horrible experience?

Today, I have a challenge for you. I want you to throw out all notions that all micromanaging is bad because in fact, micromanaging your sales team can be a good thing.

Want to make your offer impossible to refuse? Here's how to quadruple your value.

Today, I want to talk to you about a problem that I see many people in our industry make and that is believing that giving your customers more choice is the best thing you can do for them.

Are you present enough with your clients? A couple of years ago, I had just boarded a flight and noticed an attendant in the aisle helping another passenger find their seat. Behind her, a woman entered the plane, yelled "Excuse me!" and barged pass the flight attendant and then mumbled "well you do want to board, don't you?"

Recently, I was speaking at a large conference that was focusing on sustainability and building technologies in the green space. After my presentation, someone came up to me and said, "Colleen, we need to stop focusing on the gloom and doom. We need to start telling people how great our solutions are."

I've been thinking a lot about the state of sales, especially its state in the future. Here are some of my predictions and musings.

I've been working with a business owner who's been struggling with the concept of accountability because she just doesn't want to fire people for not hitting their goals or penalize them for not doing the things she wants them to do.

It goes without saying, but sales can be one of the most stressful professions out there, period. Your sales team is constantly feeling the pressure of hitting targets, keeping clients happy, ensuring the delivery of what was promised, and the list goes on. There can, as a result, be a natural tendency for sales professionals to "oversell" in an attempt to close more deals and hit their targets.