At the beginning of every sales call your prospect is making two critical buying decisions. The first decision is about the salesperson. Behavioral research states that initial impressions are created within the first 20 seconds of meeting someone. So it is critical to differentiate oneself and one’s offering in the initial phase of a meeting.…
Most salespeople understand the concept of the sales funnel. It works just like an ordinary funnel that you might use to transfer liquid from one container to another. We all know that if you stop pouring the liquid into the top of the funnel, fluid stops coming out the bottom. We also know that if…
“Our people are the key to our success?” How so very often we have heard executives mouth these words. But then, how very often we have also heard their people mutter words such as, “Oh yeah, well, if we really are the key, how come they don’t… ” Of course, it is true. In this…
The Eastern Ontario dairy farm on which I grew up had numerous oak trees. I have fond memories of collecting autumn oak leaves colored red and orange-brown or fallen acorns for science projects during my school years. Itdeeproots always amazed me that such a massive plant could grow from a small acorn when planted in…
Let’s be honest…this time of the year can be very stressful. Shopping, decorating, addressing greeting cards, hosting and attending parties, mailing gifts, studying for school finals, housing out of town family members and winding down your business for 2009 are all stressful activities. The fact that we’re expected to do them all simultaneously forces me…
It is mid afternoon. You are sitting at your desk trying to pull together this important proposal for your boss. It is due the day after tomorrow. As you wrestle with how to incorporate a complex spreadsheet from the finance department, you wonder when your quality analyst will bring in those last two key pieces…
We all know that people buy from people they know and people they like. We also know that people send business to people they know and people they like. Having a strong network of people who can help you and who you can help is a valuable asset that many salespeople neglect to develop. One…
We’ve all lived this before. Sally, the manager, asks her employee Gary to prepare a market analysis report for next week. Gary moans and says he doesn’t think he can do it by then . . . too much work and, besides, why not give it to Sherry who has a marketing background. The manager…
by Ronald Heifetz, Alexander Grashow, & Marty Linsky Harvard Business Press, 2009 ISBN #978-1-4421-0576-4 Reviewed by Ian Cook Dealing with change and problem solving–these tasks are at the core of what leader/managers do. But there are two distinctly different types of challenges that precipitate change and bring on problems for managers. The authors of this…
In an era of managing costs in order to grow revenue, it’s not surprising that talent management software and other programs are so popular. These tools attempt to make all areas of human resources, from employee assessments to controlling labor hours, more efficient and productive. A problem arises when top management realizes that these quality-management…
It isn’t unusual that by the time salespeople get as far along in the sales process to learn how decisions are made, who are the players who make those decision and what is the timing of the decision, that they are so excited to have made it this far that they quickly skim over it…
So, you want to be a success? And you want those who work for you to succeed? Then you might as well know the (bad ?) news. Successful, effective people are courageous people! Aristotle said courage is the primary human virtue. And the ultimate courage is to accept what philosopher Peter Koestenbaum calls life’s “dirty…
I have written before about the “First Five Percent.” That’s my approach to strategic change management that says the quality of the first five percent determines what happens in the rest of the process. I was in Los Angeles last week, working with a large association, on a strategic plan for their organization. It was…
That’s it! If it’s that simple, why aren’t more people successful in sales? Once again, the answer is relatively simple: They either don’t fully understand or know how to apply the basic fundamentals. So, just what are these mystical basic fundamentals of selling that seem to elude so many people? Well, before we explore some…
by Kevin Cashman Berrett-Koehler, 2008 ISBN #978-1-57675-599-0 Reviewed by Ian Cook At the point our body and our senses (eyes, ears, touch, etc.) meet the world lies a crossroads. At this very point we experience a constant, two-way flow from the… Outside in–situations, actions and events in their environment Inside out–how we feel, interpret, process…
The most significant change in the selling landscape in the last 10 years has been the way prospects buy; sadly, not the way salespeople sell. It is just as important to understand and master the prospect’s buying process as it is for salespeople to master a systematic sales process.
A sales call shouldn’t be something that happens by accident; it should be a planned event. When sales calls aren’t planned, they often result in wasted time and effort, resulting in a no sale. No matter how hard you try, you can’t make a sale on every call but, as a minimum, you should be…
by Rob Goffee & Gareth Jones Harvard Business School Press, 2006 ISBN #1-57851-971-3 Reviewed by Ian Cook People want to be led by a person, the authors contend, not by someone with a fancy job title or a manager who has amassed a vast chunk of organizational turf. Employees will choose to follow only a…
by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, David Maxfield, Ron McMillan & Gareth Jones McGraw-Hill, 2008 ISBN #978-0-07-148499-2 Reviewed by Ian Cook If you are like me, and like most of the managers we all know, you have a default strategy for influencing people around you. You TELL them what they should do! You SHARE your wisdom…
Engaged employees demonstrate three characteristics: commitment, involvement and enthusiasm. Employees become engaged when their employers meet their basic needs, create meaningful opportunities to contribute, foster a sense of belonging, and provide chances to learn and grow.* Employee training is likely to be a key factor in the implementation of any organizational strategy aimed at improving…