Posts from — January 2010

One of the biggest mistakes 80% of salespeople make when qualifying is to overlook or not react to obvious Red Flags prospects give during the initial call.

In their haste or desperation to “generate a lead” or to “fill their pipeline,” most sales reps hope that the possible objection they just heard will miraculously go away once the prospect sees their information or product or service, etc.

But you all know from experience — it never does. In fact, the law for calling back leads is that:

“Leads Never Get Better.”  Read more...

Success in sales does not go to the one who has the lowest price.

Nor does success in sales go to the one who has the best customers.

And, success in sales does not go the one who has the most intelligence.

Who really achieves success in sales? The people who practice integrity with every person with whom they come in contact. There is no substitute – no alternative – to consistent integrity.  Read more...

Before moving your top sales person into sales management, there are some key considerations.

Early Greek mythology tells tales of sailors lured by Sirens. Their sweet music mesmerized the sailors and led them to believe that the illusion was reality. Ultimately, those sailors who blindly followed the tunes crashed their ships on the rocks and their boats sank.

Sirens lure business executives and small business owners too. The song that the Sirens sing has one line… “Promote my top sales person, put six people underneath them, and generate six times the sales.” And, like the sailors, many business executives and their companies have been led into harm’s way.  Read more...

Let’s face it – we’re all busy. This is especially true if you are cold calling and are lucky enough to actually get a decision maker on the phone. Just like you, they’ll be in the middle of at least three things and be on their way to or from a meeting.

Because of this, one of the most frequent objections they use these days to brush you off the phone is the, “I’m too busy/don’t have the time objection.”  Read more...