The overwhelming chaos that is our new normal in sales is paralyzing many salespeople from doing the business development they need to do. In these times, we have to go back to basics and think about how we can use our time management skills with our storytelling to get our message out there. The filters we all have in our minds about how we approach customers in the “old world” are obsolete - we need to think about the “new world” we are in right now.
Read MoreDo you understand how your solution fits your customer’s product lifecycle? Salespeople must recognize that the landscape is truly shifting under our feet. Neil Rackham from Spin Selling discusses the polarizing landscape that will take the low-end transactional business and move it downstream to inexperienced sales reps or through the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to process these orders.
Does this mean that sales professionals will no longer be needed? The answer depends on whether you can transform yourself to meet the needs of the current buying process and build strong relationships with your customers. According to Rackham, we must become consultative with our prospects and customers; while most of us seem to understand this, many still struggle with how to actually make it happen.
Read MoreThe traditional sales model from which we have recognized up to 80% of our business is moving to the transactional sale and the higher end business is going to demand a consultative sales approach. This approach is going to shed light on the skills – or lack thereof – of today’s sales professionals. So it’s time to ask yourself: Do you have the skills to connect with executives in order to gain access to their team?
Read MoreDo we really have a deal? Or do we have a suspect or a lead? When we start out pursuing a deal, we are advised to get the basic information and to understand if there is a real opportunity with this prospect by gathering the BANT Basics.
Read MoreThe title of this post leads you to believe that we are going to talk about time to close a deal or to make a deal. In this case I want you to think about time as a precious commodity that is fleeting and beats us every year: your finite amount of time to make quota. As the year begins with kickoff and planning, Q1 is over before we know it and Q2 is upon us. We quickly need to make up for the Q1 shortfall, which means we must double down on prospecting and get appointments that lead to follow-on investment by the customer.
Read MoreDuring many of the sales training sessions we deliver, sales teams are always screaming for a way to understand not only how to build pipeline, but how to bring clarity to the deals that are already there.
Read MoreRecently, we were meeting with a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and a Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) to discuss training for their team in the science and art of prospecting. To kick things off, I asked the CRO about the current prospecting process and the plan to hold the sales people accountable. His answer?
“They aggressively sit at their desks waiting for the phone to ring.”
While we found the answer amusing, his response underlined the reality that their sales people had become order takers and not sales professionals.
Read MoreIn a previous blog post we discussed the book The Customer Service Revolution by John R. DiJulius and how companies and individuals have a tendency to approach clients with preconceived notions. We have this negative belief that our customers are always trying to put one over on us. It’s the 2% of customers trying to pull a fast one who prompt us to put up our defenses and drive us to believe every customer wants to screw us. But the reality is that most customers want us to be successful and profitable, in turn passing on fair pricing on our products and services. In this way, everyone benefits.
Read MoreIs your prospecting plan to actively wait for the phone to ring? In the past few months, I have been asked by a few sales managers to provide them with "the recipe for effective prospecting" to assist their teams. The first question I asked in response was...
Read MoreGravitocity Announces Strategic Partnership with Sales Gauge
Sales technology and sales training companies join forces to create complete sales prospecting solution
Burlingame, CA. – July xx, 2016: Gravitocity, Inc., a pioneer in sales outreach and prospecting technology, today announced a strategic partnership with Sales Gauge, a leading sales training and sales elearning company. Together, the two will enable salespeople to improve sales velocity by identifying and reaching new sources of senior-level prospects and closing business with them faster.
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