Colleen’s Blog

Wow. In three weeks we are officially going to be in 2015. You're hearing me talk a lot about year end activities and tips for starting 2015 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?

As salespeople, we spend many hours investing in our own knowledge. Workshops, conferences, coaching, books...the list goes on! The best sellers are always looking for new ways to increase their knowledge and expose themselves to new information. This is such an essential key for massive success in sales, but it won’t do you any good if you lack perhaps the most important ingredient in business, which is honesty. To be fair - the majority of salespeople aren’t “dishonest” people. But, it’s safe to say that many salespeople extend or bend the truth to either belittle the competition or make up for weaknesses in their own product or service. Don’t be one of the many!

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.

How can you ensure that you’re hiring the right people to join your sales team? Many sales leaders have been asking me how to hire new sales reps and build a profitable team. I often suggest taking a step back before conducting interviews and hiring a new team member. There are a few things you need to do before you proceed with interviews in order to ensure that you hire the right person and create the best team possible.

Wow - we’re now in the final week of November. It’s hard to believe that we'll be entering the final month of the year very shortly. Time flies, doesn’t it?! I’m sure you’re already thinking ahead to 2015. But, before you pull out the planning boards and strategy documents, don’t forget to first analyze your successes and drawbacks in 2014. Ask yourself key questions, answer them, and use those answers as building blocks for planning 2015. <-- Click To Tweet I want you to succeed and I want 2015 to be your best year ever. Here are several questions you may want to ask yourself to make that happen:

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.