Category Archives: Sales Enablement
Sales Skill Development vs. Sales Process Improvement – Which Is Right For Your Business?
If there is one question sales leaders want the answer to it is: What’s the fastest way to improve sales performance? While the answer is unique to each sales organization and their situation, two areas tend to bubble to the top often: For some sales organizations, the fastest way to improve sales performance is by […]
Sales Success: A Guide for New Reps
Congratulations on your new role as a salesperson! Before you jump into the deep end, it’s essential to understand what it takes to be successful in this role. This guide will provide you with strategies and tips to maximize your success in your first month as a salesperson and beyond. As a salesperson, your primary […]
The Science of Learning Sales
The rookie sales rep just lost a big deal to the competition. The sales manager spends three hours of one-on-one sales coaching, covering what went wrong and what to do differently. After this latest crash course on selling, the manager sends the sales rep back into the field. However, the next opportunity is lost due […]
5 Tips to Craft Winning Sales Presentations
From product details to solution recommendations, sales reps present a lot. As a sales training company, we study, teach, and coach best practices for presentations. Typically, these involve one seller with one or two buyers. However, today, with so much uncertainty, budgets are tight, decision makers are plentiful, and competition is stiff. This complicates presentations […]
Tips for Building Material Sellers
“You don’t understand what it’s like to sell building material supplies in this market,” a sales rep recently grumbled. I replied that his company is a smaller supplier in the market. “The best customers are doing business with your competitors. And when you do price a project, they turn around and shop your quote to […]
How Biases Can Affect Sales Outcomes
A sales rep recently complained, “We had the better solution and price, and we still lost the sale.” These missed opportunities leave sales reps wondering if the prospect was even listening during the presentation. When prospects don’t listen it’s not their ears that are closed, but their subconscious mind. Unconscious bias is something everyone has. […]
Is Coaching Salespeople Different Than Managing Them?
In sales, the terms “manager” and “coach” are common titles. Indeed, the two are often used interchangeably. Afterall, for each, their primary objective is supporting sales teams to boost performance and achieve success. In actual practice, however, sales managers and coaches may or may not be the same person. Also, they often focus on different […]
The Future of Enterprise Sales
We all know there’s been a shift from salesperson-driven selling to buyer-driven purchasing. In many cases, enterprise buyers are 60 percent through the purchase process before they speak to a salesperson. The obvious implications are that buyers are better informed, so salespeople must also be. The not-so-obvious implications require a deeper dive. This article explores […]
Sales Lessons From a Neighborhood Lemonade Stand
Recently, I learned a few valuable lessons about selling from a neighbor’s lemonade stand. As a sales trainer, getting schooled in sales by three eight-year-old girls was not on my schedule, but these lemonade stand entrepreneurs reminded me why I love sales. This article explores these timeless sales principles that even kids understand are important. […]