Colleen’s Blog

Voicemail - your best friend and your most frustrating adversary. On one hand, it allows you to ignore phone calls that you don’t want to answer and also allows important contacts to leave a message even if you aren’t available. On the other hand, your prospects have the same power. They can just as easily ignore your phone calls or hear your message and choose not to call you back. Don’t worry - I’m going to outline two important things to keep in mind when connecting with a new prospect. If you embrace these ideas, you’ll be left with a tool that you can leverage...not one you have to battle.

Out of all the sales rules, there is one in particular that should never be broken. Being loyal to this one single rule can mean the difference between sales success and sales disaster. What is the number one sales rule? Drum roll please! The number one sales rule to follow is to never end your day without taking at least one proactive step to put prospective business in the top of your sales funnel. That means making one call, asking for one referral, sending a letter, an email, or going to a networking event. It doesn't matter what the activity is, it's just important that you are acting proactively and putting yourself in front of probable prospects.

Alright - before you get the wrong impression, Engage Selling’s blog is, and always will be, committed to driving more sales to your business. Despite the title of this blog post, we haven’t turned into a nutrition blog overnight! Don't worry! But, the title still stands. You and your business may need to go on a very specific diet if you want to give your prospecting efforts any chance of succeeding. I’m talking about going on a technology diet.

If you're taking time out of your day to read this blog, one thing is for sure, you are not meant for mediocrity. You are investing time into learning and increasing your knowledge, which is more than many salespeople can say for themselves. But, if you want to be a top performing salesperson, you may be interested in the following statistic: In North America, 10% of people will be top sales producers. We're defining "top salespeople" as those who are able to hit at least 110% of their quota every year. You should also know that there are top sellers who hitting as much as 200% and even 300% of their quota each year. That being said, about 20% of sales people are either too new to sales to measure, or they are so bad that they're on the way out.

In sales, our focus is often set on making the next sale. But, our current client base should never be neglected for the sake of closing another deal  Always nurture and build relationships within your current customer base. You want to keep them happy because not only does it feel good to deliver quality to your clients, but they will also be more likely to refer you to others, which helps drive more sales for your business. As I see it, all customers want the same 13 things from you. Accomplish them all and you will develop a loyal profitable customer who will refer you to everyone they know:

It’s a simple fact...there are some customers that you must fire if you want to remain profitable. To be fair - some of these customers are sold products and services that are not beneficial for them. It can be easy to get carried away with the thrill of making a sale, but to avoid these situations, it’s important to only sell your services to customers who can truly benefit from using them. Other problem customers could have been the right type of clients at the beginning of the relationship, but due to personality changes and/or changes in corporate policies, are no longer as profitable as they used to be. Stop working with these two client types:

You may be surprised to learn that many salespeople and business professionals spend less than one hour a month prospecting for new business. One thing you must always keep in mind is that there is no sales problem that good prospecting skills can’t solve. Unless you’re rude or have a bad attitude (in which case you shouldn’t be in sales!), nurturing your pipeline consistently will lead you to sales success. I frequently coach sales reps who know exactly what to say, when to say it, and have terrific, well-priced products and services...but they still don’t sell. Why? Because they have no prospects waiting in their sales funnel! Simply put, if you have no prospects, you can’t make sales. <-- Click To Tweet To ensure that you are creating a steady stream of new business opportunities, here are a few tips that can help your prospecting and pipeline building efforts:

What are you currently doing to separate yourself from other salespeople? I don’t recommend locking yourself in a room and working through your days without any interaction with your colleagues, but I do recommend taking steps to truly differentiate yourself and stand out from the pack. If you want to be the best, you must do things that mediocre salespeople are not willing to do. It often takes more effort, but what you will gain from going the extra mile is invaluable. When you show up to work and do exactly what everyone else is doing, you will achieve the same results that they are achieving. When you make the extra effort, you create extraordinary results and make more sales. It’s not just about your sales results. When you stand out from the crowd, you are more likely to move up in your company and receive more opportunities within your own business. Regardless of the industry you’re in, people always respect and admire hard working individuals. Here are a few steps you can take to separate yourself from other sales professionals: