For many people, it doesn’t get more daunting than to give a presentation. As a professional salesperson though, you don’t have a choice – presenting is part of your life. You need to get really good at it if you want your income to increase. The best way to overcome anxiety is to have complete …
Selling products and services can be a tough job, especially when most buyers are either too busy to focus on the solution they may need and want or, in most cases, are not aware your solution or company exists, and therefore are not looking for anything to begin with. That’s where salespeople can shine. Being …
In the past, I have written that there is no crying in sales. When you lose, you need to get back on the horse and keep going. This is excellent advice, but you also cannot give up on that prospect that just rejected you. There is a chance that your product is a “one and …
Most of the stress in forecasting comes from a lack of realism on the status of the business by either the individual salesperson, the manager, or both. This is unfortunate and unnecessary. Having managers push for business to close that isn’t ready to close creates forecasts that are bad (this is a case of a …
I have had the privilege of working with some of the best salespeople in the world. At the very top of that list of excellent salespeople would be Dean Wiener. Dean recently put out a post on LinkedIn giving advice to other salespeople as to the importance of his personal brand. With his permission, I …
Many organizations structure and plan their SKOs as isolated events – rather than springboards for the entire fiscal year – and neglect to prepare their sales team, pre-SKO, or follow up afterward. For example, 84% of organizations don’t conduct sales rep training in advance of their SKO for context, and 71% don’t deliver post-work or follow-up training to reinforce what was learned. A surprising 42% of participants said they wished their company would integrate their SKO’s theme and messaging into the rest of the year.
What makes a customer actually trust you? It is much more than your technical knowledge and capabilities, as those are the basic table stakes that customers expect of any salesperson with. For a salesperson, it is a combination of honoring your commitments, speaking the truth, and acting in the best interests of the customer – even if that may occasionally conflict with the best interests of your own company.
Zig Ziglar frequently told his audiences and students to stop selling and start helping. This is great advice. This is one of the critical steps of becoming a Trapper as opposed to one of the traditional salespeople: a Farmer, a Hunter, or a Gatherer. I spend a lot of time in my book talking about …