Colleen’s Blog

,I know there are a lot of small businesses and startup businesses that pay attention to my site. Often, they come to me and they say, “Colleen, should I build out my sales team? It seems kind of expensive and cumbersome."

Are your sales reps really operating at full capacity? That is, are they making the most of the time they’re provided each day to produce results?  Chances are, they’re not.  In this age of “multi-tasking,” it’s very common for professionals in virtually every industry to spend time in labor-intensive activities that don’t actually produce results. Sales professionals are especially likely to fall into this trap. 

Mike Tyson once said, you know, everybody has a set plan they're going to use until they step in the ring and they get punched in the face. It may be a strange reference when talking about sales but it's more applicable than you think. We get punched in the face proverbially of course with every sale call we make, meaning a question comes in from left field that we weren’t prepared for, the prospect or the customer says something that we weren’t prepared for and being unprepared is a terrible mistake to make in sales.

You’ve probably had to deal with professional criticism at some point (or often) in your sales career. In such a fast-paced, high-pressure profession that is continuously focused on results, we are often subject to our fair share of criticism from colleagues, managers, clients, and prospects. If you want to be successful in sales, you must train yourself to take criticism and use it to your advantage. ← Click To Tweet It’s easy to get wrapped up in your faults when others are pointing them out to you. But, there are steps you can take to efficiently move past the negativity and actually create success through the criticism that you receive.

I’ve noticed something about sales managers, companies and even salespeople. They tend to overcomplicate the selling process. Could members of your sales team be falling victim to this trap? There are only four things that you need to do in every single sales process, so keep it simple.

I’ve been giving a lot of thought to what makes a successful salesperson and I realize that one of the key components of all the top performers that I talk to is resilience. They are absolutely committed to keep going even in the face of adversity.

One of the things that I’ve noticed that really holds salespeople back is their inability to ask for the sale. Well, I shouldn’t say "inability" because everybody is able to ask for the sale, many of us are just not willing to. We fear rejection. You can be a great prospector and a great negotiator and you can handle all the objections, ask all the right questions but if you never ask for the sale, then you’re never going to get the sale.

What are you doing to shorten the time between when you get someone to say yes and when the order actually comes in?

Haven't I said this before? Today I attended the Salesforce for Sales keynote. Thanks to the Sales Cloud team, Tim Clarke specifically for the great VIP Seating. I have to admit, I sometimes fall into that grizzled, jaded, old sales vet mode, and think, "come on! Do we really need all this new fanged technology to sell?" The answer is no. Unless, of course, you want to sell more in less time with greater ease and with more profit. In that case, the answer is absolutely yes! Teams need to be equipped with mobile technology, and a fully functioning CRM. <--- Click to Tweet I would also encourage you to consider the following technologies that are proven to increase conversion rates:

Interesting observational research moment today during my session at Dreamforce. In a room full of 400 sales professionals, I made the case that there is no more B2B or B2C and that all selling was B2All. I stated that "the way I buy shoes, is the same way I buy $1 million dollar telecom equipment for my business." There was a visceral reaction. People in the audience older than me, (let's call them 50+) shook their heads in disagreement. People in the audience younger than me smiled and nodded enthusiastically. After the session ended I had the same responses as I spoke to people.