Have you ever looked at your calendar with the feeling that you don’t know what to do and where you stand? If your boss asks you how much you’ll sell this month, do you just make up a number? Do you have the impression that your sales happen accidentally? Do you feel that you devote too much time to some clients, and that not much comes out of it? If you answered yes to these questions, don’t worry...

Asking clients about their needs is pointless. Why? Trying to address needs will take you down a slippery slope. On one hand, they are an important part of the sales process, on the other, clients aren't naïve. They won't let themselves be persuaded that they need something if they don't. And, to make it harder, they really don’t think about their needs. Often, they don’t even know what they need.

To be in with a chance of making a sale, you need to follow up on leads. If you don’t, then you lose the connection, and the lead goes cold. Yes, I know you know that. But are you doing it? Enough?

Experienced sales professionals know that it’s generally easier and faster to sell to current customers who know your company’s brand than to new customers who do not. ‘You’re 60-70% likely to sell to an existing customer, compared to the 5-20% likelihood of selling to a new prospect,’ reported Hubspot.¹

Closing transactions, for example by signing a contract, is just the icing on the cake. If the previous stages of the sales conversation were good, then finalization is a natural consequence. If you don’t finalize transactions, the problem often comes from one of the previous stages, so closing sales, despite being the shortest stage of the entire process, requires many different skills.

Every salesperson knows the true meaning of saying ‘time is money’. This is because salespeople do not get paid in terms of the numbers of hours they put in. They are paid to produce results. And this means that every minute salespeople spend not engaging in high-gain selling activities represents lost opportunities and, what follows, lost revenue.

Yes, I realise it sounds cheesy. But you CAN hear when someone is smiling on the phone. In fact, you can hear what type of smile it is, too, apparently.

When face with choosing a mobile data plan, cable television package, or even yogurt in a supermarket, we’re often stunned by the number of options available. Although psychological research confirms that too many options often leads us to totally abandon the purchase, it must be clearly stated that the choice should belong to the customer. Even if it’s a Henry Ford style choice - that is, that the...

In our book, "The Collaborative Sale"1, my colleague Keith Eades and I explored how buyers’ expectations of salespeople have changed over the last few years. Our research shows that buyers have more access to information than ever before. As a result, they feel fully empowered to control their buying process, with significantly less interaction with salespeople, especially in the early stages of a...

Your credibility among clients is a key factor determining your ability to persuade, which your sales depend on. If it is not high enough, it’ll be far harder for you to get new orders. How can you strengthen your credibility in the eyes of the client, so that it translates not only into short-term sales, but also long-term benefits for your relationship and your image?

There’s nothing quite like signing a new contract with a client. Your enthusiasm drops, however, when the client buys something but doesn’t pay on time. Some salespeople try at all costs to recover the amount due, often without effect. Others, for fear of losing both the client and their reputation, take no action.

Working on the phone might not be much fun, but it’s even harder to manage a group of telemarketers. Typically, team leaders have no prior management experience, and their first 90 days are rather ‘make or break’. So, what do you need and what can you do to stay in the saddle and build a committed and effective telesales team?

Salespersons have a lot of data to manage. And today more than ever, when the experience we give our customers is our differentiator, it’s hugely important not to reduce one’s customers and prospects down to just raw data.