Colleen’s Blog

You only have a few seconds to make a positive first impression on someone. Let’s face it - within moments of meeting another person we have often already determined whether or not we want to work with them. Here are, what I believe to be, extremely simple steps to creating trust upon meeting someone new: 1) You must look and act like someone who is ready to do business. ← Click to Tweet 2) Then, it’s important to behave in such a way that generates positive feelings in the other person. Doing so will get that person to like you. 3) Once they like you, your continued behaviors will determine whether or not they will trust you. When they trust you, they will often do business with you. Sounds easy, right? Apparently not.

It's common for people think  "garbage in, garbage out." However, in sales the opposite is true; garbage in, garbage stays! In other words, if you keep making tragic mistakes in managing your team and your territories you will produce a garbage year. So, while it's common at the start off the year to create your annual "to do list" or goal list, you must also create a "not to do list" of  specific "garbage activities" that are hurting your sales. Here are the top 16 "garbage activities" for your 2016 "not to do list." STOP….

How discoverable are you to new clients and prospects? In this day and age, you need multiple avenues to expand your outreach. It’s no longer good enough to simply pick up the phone or send emails. You require a fusion of different approaches that are executed consistently to create growth in your business. <-- Click To Tweet How many of the following is your sales team regularly engaging in?

Supermodel Linda Evangelista famously said that she would “not roll out of bed in the morning for less than ten thousand dollars.” It was a smart business move on her part. Ten thousand dollars was her minimum profit per shoot. Your Sales Radar must also have a minimum profit, a minimum profit per client. This is the number, expressed in either revenue or margin, that you will not work for less than (or as the Queen might say, “the number for less than which you will not work”). Clients above this minimum can either stay as service accounts or be reclassified as growth accounts. Clients below it must be fired.

Are you considering raising your prices in 2016? Many salespeople look at raising prices with a grain of salt, a double-edged sword if you will. <-- Click To Tweet On one hand, raising prices means more earnings and greater profits. On the other hand, it could upset or scare away your current client base. Price increases are definitely worth approaching strategically. It’s true, there’s a definite and obvious upside of charging more for your products and services. But, if you lose your current clients in the process, is it doing any good? The good news is there is a way to raise your prices while still minimizing its impact on your current client base. In fact, there are three steps you can take to increase your chances of gaining all the benefits of a price increase without having to deal with the downside.

It bothers me. No, it drives me crazy. What, you ask? Picture this, a sales organization delivers great service and great results. In fact, their client base is absolutely thrilled with the entire process of working with this particular organization. Yet, the organization does nothing to leverage this success. Their prospects don't know about it, perhaps individuals within this organization don't even know about the great work they've done in the past!

Wow. We are officially in 2016. You're hearing me talk a lot about activities and tips for starting 2016 on the right foot. This is a deliberate attempt to help you focus on getting ahead and making the upcoming year your most successful to date. If you're reading this blog and taking the time to increase your knowledge, I know you can do it. Speaking of focus, what are you focused on in your day-to-day tasks and routines?

“This year is going to be MY year.” Almost without fail, each year we all hear phrases like this leading into January. It’s a good thing. It shows that most people have a genuine interest in being successful. Unfortunately, interest alone is not enough to follow through with creating real success. You must develop an unwavering commitment to your success and follow through by taking serious action. Over the years, I have worked with and observed many successful salespeople. By successful, I mean they are pulling in at least $500,000 or more in personal income each year. Find one of these successful salespeople - better yet, find five of them. Take note of the things that they all have in common with each other. Yes, there will be some differences in their styles, methods and philosophies. After all, they’re different people! But, if you can pinpoint their similarities, you can absorb those traits, understand their daily activities and help your entire sales team implement similar routines to bring them success as well. To help out your cause, here are a few similarities that I have found exist in the successful salespeople that I have observed:

Do you turn your computer on each morning only to find a mountain of unread emails that need your attention? Email overload is an epidemic in the workplace. Most salespeople that we poll tell us that they spend up to 40% of their day just managing email correspondence between clients and internal partners. If this sounds about right for you as well, let me put things into perspective. If you continue this trend throughout 2016 and work 5 days a week, you will spend 104 days next year in your email inbox. If you manage a sales team of 10 people, that is almost 3 years of collective time in 2016 between your sales team that will be spent in an email inbox and not actually selling. If you manage a sales team of 100 people, well...you can do the math. It's time to re-align your mindset. Email does not close business for you. You close sales based on your personal relationships. Stop working so hard behind your computer and go meet customers in person, or pick up the phone and call them. In order to increase productivity (and sales) you must learn to manage your email inbox. <-- Click To Tweet Here are 5 tips for staying on top of your emails: