Colleen’s Blog

Creating and maintaining a high-growth, high-profit business in your marketplace—one where sellers, leaders, and customers all thrive—is essential. That’s why, for many years, I’ve advocated putting value-based selling at the centre of your work.

I recently referred a friend to my insurance provider. Disappointingly, when she called the insurance provider, the receptionist provided wrong information and told my friend that no agents were available to further assist her because everyone was working from home.

After months of global pandemic responses, including economic shutdowns, everyone has been thrown off balance. The hurt will be here for a while, and as I’ve pointed out in a recent article, resiliency is what you must summon now—not later—to position yourself for the coming recovery.

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.

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. 

Over the last 12 to 16 months, I have been working with clients to help them implement a new sales methodology. And I'm telling you we have come up with a magic formula for implementation accountability and producing great results. This entails a bi-weekly 30-minute sales meeting that’s focused on one narrow skill area that you want your salespeople to accomplish and master.

My very favorite question in all of selling is simply, "Why?" Why do I like it so much? There are a number of reasons. 

As we’re rounding out any month, quarter, or year—depending on how your fiscal year is created—I always like salespeople to think about accelerating their sales in the next period. The easiest way to start this process is by looking at your current sales velocity. 

As we approach the last few weeks of the year, salespeople often find themselves either coasting into the new year because they have accomplished their sales goals, or they find themselves pushing hard because they have struggled to reach their sales targets.

I was working with a group of sales managers at a workshop a few weeks ago and one of them introduced this strategy. It was a very simple strategy of implementing an account plan when you didn’t have a sophisticated account planning process.