Colleen’s Blog

You've heard the saying variety is the spice of life before. So, just like many other things in life, keep the word variety in mind when it comes to your sales if you want see greater results. If you’re only using one or two pipeline streams to create more success with your prospecting, you are likely either currently experiencing or will experience less than impressive sales results. Why? Because the goal of efficient salespeople is to fill their sales funnels with the right prospects using multiple pipeline streams. In today’s market, your buyers have access to information anywhere, anytime and on any form of media they desire. In fact, they are often gathering information about you in places you would rather they avoid, especially if you have little to no presence in those spaces. Therefore, you must be ubiquitous! It’s critical that you retain control of all pieces of information about you and your business by embracing all forms of prospecting tools and media. You need to continue using the traditional and direct prospecting tools that you’re used to but you must also begin using indirect tools such as social media and publishing to your advantage. By doing so, you also expand your presence in the market.

Did you just do a double take? Stop trying to close sales...isn't that counter-productive to our sales success? You heard me right. Salespeople should not be attempting to “close” sales with clients. It’s all in the definition. Closing is something you do to a person. While it may just be a term, the language is completely one-sided. It implies that you are going entirely for the win regardless of what’s right for the customer. Salespeople who approach prospects with this kind of self benefiting mentality are almost never successful in their long term endeavors. Depending on their abilities and experience, they may in fact convince the prospect to do business with them, but long term, mutually beneficial relationships are rarely ever fostered. This breed of selling creates the "pushy" and "aggressive" stigma that clouds our entire industry. It puts everyone, including well-wishing, value focused salespeople at a clear disadvantage with prospects. You want to instill a win-win mindset in your team. Your business hasn't truly won unless your clients are gaining incredible value by working with you. Sales closing techniques that have amusing terms or names are often methods that you should not be using. For example:

Your health and wellness are important factors to consider if you want to increase your sales. As you know, it’s tough to focus and get things done when you’re stressed or working on a lack of sleep! You might think nobody else notices your sleep deprivation and stress, but I promise your team can tell when their leader is feeling off! Due to this, it’s so important to focus on you just as much as you focus on your sales team and your business. When you’re staying in noisy hotel rooms, working late or pulling all-nighters, you must make an active effort to stay grounded and ensure that you’re not neglecting yourself for the sake of your team and your business! Remember, a sales team is only as good as their leader!

Do you want to be successful? Alright - that was obviously a rhetorical question. Since I know you want to be triumphant with your sales, it’s imperative that you surround yourself with success. You’re probably familiar with the following quote: “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” If you want to manage a successful sales team, you must do your best to learn from and work with successful sales leaders. If you’re learning tips and strategies from poor salespeople, you’re not going to be able to relay effective information to your team. If you don’t currently work with any sellers who are creating positive results, branch out and meet high achieving salespeople via networking events, conferences and trade shows. The idea is to surround yourself and learn from achievers. It doesn’t stop at your immediate network. Here are a few steps you can take to create a success mindset so you can create a prosperous sales career. On top of following these steps yourself, I highly recommend you ask your sales team to do the same: