Colleen’s Blog

Sales leaders spend a great deal of time talking to managers on how to be effective coaches. However, it’s important for salespeople to realize that they need to be coachable as well.

Years ago, I was at a large gathering of CEOs: all sharp thinkers who want to see their companies grow. While I'd been invited to address their forum to talk about the sales process, what many of them really wanted to ask me about afterwards was where they fit in that process. Specifically: do CEOs need to get involved in selling, and if so, when?

“Follow every step of this bulletproof routine every day and you’re sure to become a high performer in sales.” That, my friend, is terrible advice. And yet that kind of guidance keeps getting spread around as though it’s the plain truth—when, in fact, it’s just…well…bull-sourced fertilizer!

I recently watched a presentation that underscored the best practices of top performers. In particular, one topic they highlighted was morning routines and how top performers had a strict morning routine. For example, they wake up at 4am, work out, have their coffee, make their calls, and check their emails. 

No one in sales has an unobstructed 360-degree view of their relationship with their customers. Nobody. Not even top performers.

I've been emphasizing to a number of clients the importance of creating an “early warning system.” It’s a system that helps you identify and prevent client departures. And one of the biggest warning signs or triggers we have discovered is engagement. Specifically, a reduction in engagement or a dramatic change in engagement style.

The days of the "ideal buyer" have gone the way of the dinosaurs. So has the routine sales pitch.

As the post-pandemic landscape continues to reveal itself in today’s marketplace, price increases are a defining characteristic…and a pain point for many of us. In some markets, these increases are incremental bump-ups. But in others, the spikes are meteoric, due in large part to ongoing complications in the global supply chain.

There isn't a buzzword out there today that's more dated than the notion of you being in "partnership" with your client. The fact that it's still used so irritatingly often in business today should give you serious pause.

I was working with a group of high performing salespeople years ago—well before the pandemic. And one of them was whining and complaining to me about how he was losing all of his business to the competition. The competition was crushing him on price and all of his customers were price-sensitive. Everything was coming down to pennies on the dollar, resulting in him losing business.