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Garth's World
It’s 2010. Make a Decision Already!
Image by Getty Images via DaylifePeople that have never been in sales (particularly finance guys and lawyers, for some reason) always simplify the entire sales process down to the final stages of deal negotiation. They glorify your job as one......
Image via WikipediaMonday I celebrated the legacy of the great Martin Luther King Jr.by going to an afternoon movie (hey, at least I admitted it) called “Up in the Air.” I chose that film for two reasons: A) I read......
Getting a Leg Up at your Sales Kickoff
Image via Wikipedia Guess who's back? Back again Shady's back Tell a friend - “Just Lose it” by Eminem Just Lose It - Eminem Happy New Year, everyone! I thought I would buck the trend of all the other “business”......
Twas the summer of ‘03, and sales numbers were lean, The economy was slow and competition was mean. Marketing was asked to create leads from thin air, Salespeople were pulling out tufts of our hair. The Internet provided company listings......
I have to admit that I am facing a bit of a writer’s block this week. Normally a topic just pops into my head, usually spurred by a conversation, and by the time I sit down to write the cake......
Since we launched the company, Fowler has been dreaming about a Jigsaw member conference. I always know when he’s about to start talking about it. Right after his first beer (of the two it takes to get him giddy) on......
Art Sobczak's Telesales Blog
Attitude Tip from a Green Beret: “It’s only pain if you acknowledge it.”
I have tremendous respect, admiration, and gratitude for our military personnel, both present, and veterans. "60 Minutes" did a great piece on the Green Berets last Sunday, and if you have interest you can watch it at the CBS site. In that piece, one of the ...
During the past 27+ years I’ve worked with companies selling lots of products and services, some very conventional such as software, office supplies, subscriptions of all types, and more. And then there are those products and services that you might not typically think about as being your typical sold-by-phone items:...
Thomson Reuters National Sales Meeting Training
I’ve had the great opportunity to work with several divisions of Thomson Reuters over the past 10 years. It’s a company that really "gets it" regarding how to manage and execute inside sales at the highest level. Last Friday I presented all day for reps from their Creative Solutions, PPC,...
Analyze the Sales You Won to Find More
While working on my new book, " Smart Calling -Eliminate the Fear, Failure, and Rejection from Cold Calling," (out in March 2010) I had the opportunity to interview some very fascinating people who have lots to offer for us salespeople. Craig Elias was a top sales rep for telecommunications company World-Com....
What to Do With an Immediate Brush Off
At a training seminar I was asked what to do with a prospect who blows you off the phone even before you can get your opening statement out of your mouth. Should you just call back right away and act like you were disconnected, he asked. Well, you could, but really, is...
Dumb Questions: Not Doing Anything With the Answers
First, the response to the free motivational quotes ebook has been enormous! That’s great, happy to provide the value. FREE is an interesting concept, and I do suggest you pick up Chris Andersen’s book. "Free: The Future of Radical Price," to see how the economics of giving things away works...
The Microfit Small Business Blog
3 Tips for the Entrepreneur / Workhorse
When we have dinner parties or the neighbor makes small talk, the topic of what I do for a living always comes up. I mean, it’s par for the course when you’re getting to know some one. Most times you can equate what a person does to what their daily...
When I think back to this time in 2008, I remember this vivid moment, filled with emotion. I was driving on 280 in Birmingham, Alabama and I remember what I was feeling at that exact moment about the economy. I’d left Apple the previous year to start my life as...
Ready for a New Website? 3 Things to Keep in Mind!
Are you looking to develop or re-develop a website / blog for your company? If so, I have three things I thought would be helpful to share that I usually only share with people who I can be painfully honest with. Usually these types of people are friends or family, sometimes...
DIY A/B Split Testing Using PHP and MYSQL
I was recently working on a landing page for a client that prompted visitors to fill out a quick survey. The page looked pretty nice and invited visitors to click a button that launched the survey inside of a modal box. That seemed good enough, but the next day, I...
Marketing “Experts” Need A Whaaambulance!
Over the past month or so I’ve been apart of conversations, social media events, read blogs and/or viewed tweets that are complaining about the flood of “experts” using social media. In the small pond that is social media, there seems to be this anger shown towards the new comers to the...
5 Ways Social Media Changed The Sales Game (#5)
And to finish of our series on social media and how it has changed the sales landscape, we’ll cover the idea of Closed Loop Marketing. #5 Closed Loop Marketing If you’ve ever worked in corporate America; either in sales or in marketing, you know each has a long standing distain for the other. The...
Jill Konrath - Selling to Big Companies
FREE Telesummit for Overcoming Sales Sabotage: February 8-12th
Many sellers struggle with self-sabotaging behaviors that literally keep them from achieving their goals. It's hard to believe that we would do this to ourselves, but many of us do. So let me ask you this .... Are you uncomfortable in your role as a "salesperson"? Do you hate to...
BOLD Prediction #2: Sellers Need to be Better Marketers
Hey Sellers! It's time for a wake-up call. You're dealing with crazy-busy buyers who don't act like they're supposed to anymore. That means you need to do things differently. Today I interview Chad Levitt, the New Sales Economy blogger and a practicing salesperson. I think you'll be real interested in...
BOLD Prediction: GREEN is the New GR$$N
In my recent In 2010, I Predict Salespeople Will ... post, 24 sales experts shared their #1 prediction for the upcoming year. But only one sent me a "I can't believe no one has mentioned this yet" email and that was Mary Clare Hunt. Her focus? Green value, sustainable attributes...
Getting Up Close and Personal with Corporate Bigwigs
I recently spoke with Sharon Gillenwater, Founder of Boardroom Insiders, a company that creates executive profiles, relationship maps and custom research to help you develop an engagement strategy that'll get you in the door. (Click here to see a sample profile.) The key to getting their attention she says, is...
Growing Your Business in the "New Normal"
If you don't want to become a sales dinosaur, check out today's article by Rick Pulito, VP of Sales at BI Worldwide. Someone (I don’t know who) once said, “Success is not spontaneous combustion... you have to set yourself on fire.” Wow. What an intense visual, and so apt for...
Predictions for Sales Leaders in 2010
Once again, Nancy Bleeke from Sales Pro Insiders, wanted my #1 prediction on what the New Year will bring - but this time for sales leaders. My #1 Prediction for Sales Leaders is ... In 2010, sales leaders will finally realize that investing in Sales 2.0 is essential to increase...
Mentor Blog
Feel Like Groundhog’s Day Is Everyday?
Feel Like Groundhog’s Day Is Everyday? The one holiday that seems to always catch me by surprise is Groundhog’s Day. Each year I am reminded by warmly dressed television reporters in early February about this whimsical, annual event. As I was watching the news this past week, I saw that once...
Is Your Time Is Up? You may have heard that most sales people who struggle just lack commitment. You may have wondered what that statement really means. Specifically, for me it means to be committed to bringing the transaction to a conclusion after you have made a presentation of your solutions. This...
How many times have you heard your prospect tell you that they have a “rule” or “policy” when they purchase? You know something like, “We have a rule, we never make a purchase on the first visit from a sales person.” Sometimes the rules that buyers have are dysfunctional and...
The Speed Of Business Are you ready to adopt the philosophy of “Do It Now?” You may already be performing a “Do It Now’ service in your company but just not charging for it. This program can make the difference between being profitable of not if you use the correct strategy...
Negative Talk Sets Low Expectations
Is it any wonder that since John has “normalized” poor expectations, Larry’s account will be reaching the 90 days overdue status very soon? The self-fulfilling prophecy of low expectations can be more damaging than any other real or imagined stumbling block to operating a profitable business. Expectations Create Results...
Is Gratitude Part Of Your Sales System?
Simple Thank You Is Not So Easy Without a doubt, life today flies by at record speed and many of us get overwhelmed around the year-end holidays. I wonder if many people in sales business have thought much about the people who are at the center of whatever success they have achieved? I...
SymVolli
Do you like getting wet, feeling cold? I expect the answer is NO. So you rely on the weather forecast to help you decide what to wear and whether to take an umbrella. In the main you know that the weather forecast is going to be reliable...
Don't shoot me I'm only the sales person
Following on from Hugh Stafford-Smith’s article about People and Talent, I believe that the sales person is a very visible target and therefore in the absence of other information he is the first person to come under the microscope when things are not going according to the sales plan. I have...
Business Intelligence With SymVolli 7.5 - Accessibility To Information
In the last newsletter we sent out to our subscribers we alluded to a number of announcements on some of the new elements and features that will be shipping with SymVolli 7.5 which will be released in January 2010. In the first announcement of our newest version of SymVolli...
Going4Growth Partners With Nomis Limited and SymVolli
As we are tackling the business critical issue of sales performance improvement we need to develop our business partner channel based on people who have the expertise in this field and who are comfortable in dealing with senior management. Graham Whittle is a professional that has the experience both in...
In a world of change, it may be forgiven for thinking that public sector and large corporate industry giants are organisations that frequently need catching up with the ever moving world that we live in. As agents of creating new and effective organisations, Cameron Consulting are at the forefront of...
GUEST ARTICLE: Are you missing Business Critical data that could bring you the greatest return?
It is with great pleasure that I introduce this guest post from one of our associates Hugh Stafford-Smith a leading management consultant for SABA Consulting based in Guildford. In this post Hugh talks about business critical data which heavily ties in with what we believe in developing our sales performance...
Sale News
Zephyr Real Estate Announces Retirement of Long-Time Sales Manager/Partner, Ilse Cordoni
Cordoni began managing for the company's Noe Valley office in 1990 and was instrumental in building both the Noe Valley and SOMA offices....
Wine Sales Advisor - Private Customers
Keen on wine? Love talking about it? Thinking of a career in wine sales? Wine Sales Advisor - Outbound OTE 24.5K + plus benefits - post probation What we do: We are looking to recruit new members to join a creative & dynamic team selling a wide range of exclusive...
February 4, 2010: Off the back of a record breaking December, Mazda Australia has started 2010 with its second best January on record....
Digitally Savvy Mark Girls Become the New Avon Ladies
In 2003, Avon Products Inc. spun off its youth-focused beauty line Mark into a Web 1.0 world....
Six Industry-Leading SaaS Companies Selected to Establish Sales 2.0 Alliance
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. -- -- Six companies that provide best-in-class Sales 2.0 solutions have been chosen by Selling Power magazine Publisher and Founder, Gerhard Gschwandtner to establish the Sales 2.0 Alliance....
Provincial Trailer Rentals has hired Mark Diamantopoulos as VP of sales development....
Sales and Sales Management Blog
A Couple of Blog Milestones and Some Other Stuff
A Positive Milestone: 1,000 comments As every blogger knows, it’s tough to get people to interact with you on your blog. I took me a couple of years to finally get to the point where comments became somewhat frequent. I’m pleased to say that this morning the blog registered its 1,000th...
Guest Article: “Turn Selling Around,” by Ram Charan
Turn Selling Around by Ram Charan The heart of the new approach to selling is an intense focus on the prosperity of your customers. This is a radical departure from what most salespeople and selling organizations do. The entire psychological orientation is shifted 180 degrees. No longer do you measure your...
Networking That Really Works: A FREE Prospecting Webinar on Feb 18
Are you spending time at the chamber networking event or the morning leads exchange group and finding you’re just wasting precious time and energy for no return at all? Unless you’re an auto mechanic, a personal banker, sell cars, or are a dentist, the chamber event and the leads exchange group...
Book Review: Selling Change: 101+ Secrets for Growing Sales by Leading Change by Brett Clay
Change is a natural part of all life and, consequently, a natural part of our sales lives. Nothing is static; not our products, not our prospects, not our clients, and certainly not our competitors. Change is the only constant. But surprisingly enough, change as a central theme of selling has...
Want Referrals? Find Them, Then Have Your Client Give Them to You
Most of us who sell would love to get a number of quality referrals from each of our clients. The reality for most of us is we seldom get referrals, and when we do, they’re usually no better than if we’d picked a name or company at random from the...
Keep Your Client in the Loop After You Get the Referral
Congratulations, you’ve just received several referrals from one of your clients. Great job! But hold on, you’re work has just started. No, I’m not talking about contacting and selling the referred prospect, I’m talking about keeping your client in the loop. One of the primary reasons clients are hesitant to give...
Sales Training Motivational Speaker | Gavin Ingham
Sales Training Tips From Readers…
Although some of my readers respond on the blog, many don’t, choosing to email me instead so I thought I would share with you a few inspirational… and not so inspirational tales, stories and whoops moments from some of my readers… In this first story, Sue shares with us how she...
Just under a year ago, I bought a new car. Many of you may remember this as I mentioned a BMW dealer who showed a total lack of interest in my questions and enquiries. He effectively made my decision for me to buy from a different manufacturer. Anyway, I was...
Failure for us is not an option
I’ve been getting a few interesting letters recently and I loved this one from Julian Athawes of Halomec in answer to my blog post last week (What would you achieve if you knew you couldn’t fail?) talking about how important attitude is for the success of a company… Hi Gavin, I must...
What would you achieve if you knew you couldn’t fail?
I was meeting with a good friend of mine, Andy Smith (NLP and EI trainer), the other day and, over a tasty Chinese buffet lunch, we were talking about “things that truly make a difference”. Interestingly, and despite all of the training courses that we had both been on, we...
A sales training tip for estate agents… and everyone else!
I have a hobby, it’s called “door-kicking”. It’s a little like “tyre-kicking” but it doesn’t involve cars, it involves houses. When I’m not following my twin passions of motivational speaking and sales training, I love looking around houses… show-houses, old houses, new houses, penthouse flats, country cottages, farms… anything really....
Join me at the first Recruitment Juice Live event
I am pleased to be speaking at the first Recruitment Juice live event. If you’re in recruitment and you want to be more successful then grab this rare opportunity to see Roy Ripper and myself in January 2010 in London. Here’s the Press Release… ISSUED 12 NOVEMBER 2009 RECRUITMENT JUICE LTD PROUD...
Rich Presence
The following is part of a series in which I describe the more compelling aspects of Fonality's PBXtra and trixbox Pro IP telephony systems. If you are researching phone systems for your business, contact me at the information to the right, and I will be happy to get you...
How I Use Twitter for Business
Twitter is probably one of the most misunderstood social media tools out there. Most people, especially those who aren't using Twitter, don't seem to get it. "I don't need to tell people what I'm doing" or "I don't care what you had for lunch" seem to be common refrains from...
Reintroducing Myself in My New Role at Fonality
I am pleased to announce that as of August 1, 2009, I have accepted a new position as Channel Development Manager at Fonality. Fonality makes a voice over IP (VoIP) phone system that delivers the highest overall value on the market to small to medium sized businesses. I...
If you don't sell with SalesView, it's your fault
I have been reading about the SalesView product from InsideView for a few months now. They have been nice enough to host me (among thousands others) on various free webinars about Sales 2.0. I sat through recorded as well as live demos, read white papers, and even talked...
Use FriendFeed to manage your social media activity
Social media can be overwhelming. You want to promote your business (in a socially acceptable manner) on all of the sites, and you also want to read content from customers and key thought leaders in your industry, but logging into each site to promote and read could take hours per...
Unified Communications opens doors with customers and prospects
A long time ago...way back in the early 1990s...the only way that customers and prospects communicated with a business was by phone, mail (you know...envelopes, stamps...remember those?), and occasionally fax. Less than 20 years later, it seems that the communication options are almost limitless: phone, mail, fax, email,...
Quick Sales Tips
How to Build a Picture With Your Customer
Figure out how to help a customer understand how he/she can use the product you're selling by painting a picture of why they need the product....
QST Adds Online Business School Degree Listings
Hello All! There are going to be some interesting changes coming to Quick Sales Tips over the next couple months. First off, A COMPLETE REDESIGN!!!!! This is well needed and long overdue, the site was put up years ago and hasn’t been changed for a while. The sales blog is going...
Sales Managers Quick Tip: Motivating your Sales Staff
Motivating and managing key employees can prove to be one of the most difficult tasks required of business owners and managers, and the ultimate success of a company can rely on the ability to understand the most common mistake that sales staff make. It is important to realize that most...
Top Business Social Media Websites for Busy Sales Professionals
Okay… I know that this topic has been done before. That being said I thought I might bring a different perspective to the mix. As you may or may not know, I own a SEO Company called WebTalent SEO. I often use social media websites to connect with prospects and...
Suggestions For Overcoming Sales Comfort Zones
Learn how to find your sales comfort zone especially when cold calling or selling over the phone. Learn from the Pros and turn your sales calls into your friend, not your enemy....
We need writers from our sales blog
Quick Sales Tips gets thousands of readers each month looking for information on sales training or wanting to reads sales blog posts. If you are a talented sales executive and would be interesting in becoming a guest author on the site please contact me at Oliverfeakins@hotmail.com. We would require at...
Get International Clients
Welcome to the October 4, 2009 edition of Get International Clients. In this video, Francis Fukuyama urges U.S. to work with Middle East, focus on Asia. Fukuyama is former specialist on the Middle East and Europe for the U.S. Department of State, Fukuyama called “hard power” — using traditional military might...
Welcome to the September 20, 2009 edition of get international clients. Jonathan Wells presents 11 High Powered Personal Achievement Principles posted at Advanced Life Skills saying “11 easy to follow personal achievement principles that everyone should follow.” Smarter Wallet presents Find Business Success In A Bad Economy: Managing A Failing Business posted...
Welcome to the September 13, 2009 edition of Get International Clients. Ronna Porter @Ronna presents How effective are the corporate newsrooms of Bavarian (German) companies? posted at Internet Branding Strategy saying “a well-presented and thought-through study into the effectiveness of the corporate newsrooms of Bavarian companies. The authors of the...
Welcome to the September 6, 2009 edition of Get International Clients. Matthew Ringer presents 9 Powerful SEO Tips for your Small Business Website posted at smallbizbee saying “SEO, or search engine optimization, is the practice of getting search engines to show your website when someone uses them. It can provide a...
Welcome to the August 30, 2009 edition of Get International Clients. Karen E. Klein presents Attract International Clients to Your Web Site posted at Business Week Small Business saying “Develop content for your Web site with an international clientele in mind. For instance, be sensitive to cultural nuance, use universal images...
Welcome to the August 16, 2009 edition of Get International Clients. Dragos Roua @dragosroua presents Solving The Wrong Problem posted at The choice of a personal path saying “One of my oldest memories as a child is cleaning the house. I remember clearly how I started to use a broom –...
Construction Sales Blog
The Competitive Advantage Newsletter: Construction Expectations for 2010
From this month's Competitive Advantage newsletter: Construction Expectations for 2010 The latest forecast from the CPA shows that expectations have changed since they published their last forecast in October 2009. Then they were expecting a fall in construction output in 2009 of 15%, this has now been revised to a 12%...
The Competitive Advantage Newsletter: Construction Recession Over?
From this month's Competitive Advantage newsletter: No doubt you read the news that the Office of National Statistics have published quarter 3 construction output statistics showing a 2% increase on the previous quarter indicating that the construction recession ended last June. Receiving less publicity was a release 6 days later...
The Competitive Advantage Newsletter: Keep Yourself Informed
From this month's Competitive Advantage newsletter: I will be delivering an afternoon seminar Marketing Building Products into a Sustainable Market on 24th November at the Building Centre in London. It's good value at only £95 and reviews the drivers for sustainability, the key decision makers and proposes a strategy to maximise...
The Competitive Advantage Newsletter: Help Communicating with Specifiers
From this month's Competitive Advantage newsletter: Please talk to me Mr Specifier In the last few weeks I've spoken at a couple of events focused on marketing to specifiers and it has reinforced how very hard it is to communicate with this important group of customers. At "Marketing to Architects" we...
The Competitive Advantage Newsletter: Grasping the Opportunity
From this month's Competitive Advantage newsletter: Some signs of hope have come through during the month, with a report that the commercial real estate market has bottomed out and the CIPS survey stating the rate of decline is slowing. There have also been further releases of funding into the public...
The Competitive Advantage Newsletter: Start Planning for the Autumn
From this month's Competitive Advantage newsletter: Development Events Here are a series of full day, half day and evening events which can ensure you and your colleagues are up to date with latest industry developments. Construction industry overview http://www.cadvantage.co.uk/Overview.htmCompetitive Advantage in collaboration with the Building Centre9th September 2009 Full day at The...
Sales Loudmouth
Okay, we could bang on these sellers for not doing everything possible to understand my needs, offer solutions and get a deal done. But, I am more interested in this observation. . ....
The day was a little warmer and sunnier than March usually offered. My team had advanced to the Elite 8 and I had just closed a sweet deal with the local electronics store. I was pretty pleased with myself. ......
Understanding is About Clarification
I didn't hear Dick coming. Normally, he was whistling or greeting people as he walked through the sales bullpen. But, with my hands holding up my face and my eyes closed, I was oblivious....
Dick looked around the room to make sure that his audience was still tuned in. As usual, I was on the edge of my seat....
I noticed that she was using the yellow icing knife in the green icing and was now unwittingly making a blue gingerbread man. I glanced at the cookies in front of her and saw a Santa with one eye, an elf with what looked like a bloody knife wound...
The Elements of Effective Sales Meetings
"My sales meetings just aren't as good as the ones you used to run when I was an Account Manager," I explained to Dick over the phone. "Would you have some time after work to give me some ideas about making them more effective?"...
Jonathan Farrington's Blog
No Budget – Unless Of Course …
The JF Guest Author Spot Linda Richardson Many of the customers we are talking to may be like your customers. Their budgets have either been cut or all but vanished. They also have something else in common: their goal to increase revenue and save money in the short-term. You already know how important...
Many of my colleagues and friends do not enjoy negotiating – in fact they absolutely hate it. Me, I love the cut and thrust, and look forward to that stage of the buying cycle. Here are some thoughts. A skilled negotiator will create high levels of rapport and be sensitive and...
Some Interesting Facts About Referral Based Selling….
Which may surprise you: • 40% of sales people are failing in their sales careers. • 45% of all sales people earn the average income for their industry. • A typical sales person devotes only 10-20% of their time to actual selling because a large proportion of their available time is devoted to...
Planning To Win, Or Planning To Fail?
I expect you have heard the expression, “People who fail to plan, are planning to fail” and nowhere is this more true than when it comes to planning sales activity. Selling is both an art and a science. To put it another way, a sales person’s skills determine their level of artistry...
Closing Is Not The End Of The Sales Process …
Despite what many inexperienced salespeople think, the first sale isn’t the end of the sales process but the beginning of the next sales cycle. What you do after you’ve made the first sale determines whether you get the next one or any referrals. New customers have a tendency to evolve through...
The Most Valuable Resource We Have Is ….
The most valuable resource we have is time and sales people more than anyone know how challenging it can be to cram everything that needs to be done into their available time. According to Stephen Covey, author of ‘First Things First’ we should focus on our high priority tasks, those that...
Selling to Consumers | Sales Training Blog by Skip Anderson
News about Martin Lindstrom on the Today Show, The Sales 2.0 Pro Bowl Team, The Conference Boards Senior Sales Executive Conference in Chicago, the Top 10 Sales......
The One Thing Better Than Selling with Enthusiasm
Enthusiasm transfers emotion from the salesperson to the prospect, right? Enthusiasm is contagious, yes? Enthusiasm breeds more enthusiasm, correct? Enthusiasm sells, doesn't it? Or does it......
When Sales Performance Incentives Don't Work
I have often been an advocate of increasing incentive pay and lowing base pay for salespeople in the B2C space. But increasing the portion of income that can be derived from commission won't work for all types of sellers....
That Buying Fog: 4 Ways to Fight It
Much of the time, consumers are in a fog - a buying fog. The buying fog is fueled by a lack of personal clarity about what they really want or desire, by their dislike or fear of salespeople (whether it be strong or mild), and by their lack of: time,...
Sorry, We're Going to Go With Your Competitor
Every salesperson hates to hear those words. But we're told we have to learn how to handle this type of rejection because it's part of sales. But if the rejection can be avoided, we can avoid having to handle it....
Skip Anderson Interviews Shane Gibson, Co-Author of "Sociable!"
Shane Gibson and Steven Jagger have written a brand new social media book titled "Sociable! How Social Media is Turning Sales and Marketing Upside Down." I recommend the book to B2C companies and individuals who are trying to figure out if or how social media plays a role in everyday...