Colleen’s Blog

As salespeople, we spend many hours investing in our own knowledge. Workshops, conferences, coaching, books...the list goes on! The best sellers are always looking for new ways to increase their knowledge and expose themselves to new information. This is such an essential key for massive success in sales, but it won’t do you any good if you lack perhaps the most important ingredient in business, which is honesty. To be fair - the majority of salespeople aren’t “dishonest” people. But, it’s safe to say that many salespeople extend or bend the truth to either belittle the competition or make up for weaknesses in their own product or service. Don’t be one of the many!

Voicemail - your best friend and your most frustrating adversary. On one hand, it allows you to ignore phone calls that you don’t want to answer and also allows important contacts to leave a message even if you aren’t available. On the other hand, your prospects have the same power. They can just as easily ignore your phone calls or hear your message and choose not to call you back. Don’t worry - I’m going to outline two important things to keep in mind when connecting with a new prospect. If you embrace these ideas, you’ll be left with a tool that you can leverage...not one you have to battle.

Out of all the sales rules, there is one in particular that should never be broken. Being loyal to this one single rule can mean the difference between sales success and sales disaster. What is the number one sales rule? Drum roll please! The number one sales rule to follow is to never end your day without taking at least one proactive step to put prospective business in the top of your sales funnel. That means making one call, asking for one referral, sending a letter, an email, or going to a networking event. It doesn't matter what the activity is, it's just important that you are acting proactively and putting yourself in front of probable prospects.

How can you ensure that you’re hiring the right people to join your sales team? Many sales leaders have been asking me how to hire new sales reps and build a profitable team. I often suggest taking a step back before conducting interviews and hiring a new team member. There are a few things you need to do before you proceed with interviews in order to ensure that you hire the right person and create the best team possible.

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:

If you're taking time out of your day to read this blog, one thing is for sure, you are not meant for mediocrity. You are investing time into learning and increasing your knowledge, which is more than many salespeople can say for themselves. But, if you want to be a top performing salesperson, you may be interested in the following statistic: In North America, 10% of people will be top sales producers. We're defining "top salespeople" as those who are able to hit at least 110% of their quota every year. You should also know that there are top sellers who hitting as much as 200% and even 300% of their quota each year. That being said, about 20% of sales people are either too new to sales to measure, or they are so bad that they're on the way out.

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.