There is no more difficult career transition than that which occurs when a salesperson becomes a new sales manager. Overnight, the salesperson has gone from being in control of his or her own destiny, to having his/her performance completely defined by the performance of others. This is a stressful time for new sales managers. Senior leadership […]
“The Perfect Close Workbook” by James Muir provides a deep dive into one of the most important selling skills: how to conclude each meeting with an agreed-upon next-step that your buyer is strongly bought in to.
When I started my career in sales I was taught to ask for the maximum level of customer action commitment […]
Strategic sales managers take time to think critically about the crucial role and responsibility they have for improving their team. Trouble is, most sales managers don’t set aside time to think. They are so crazy-busy fighting daily “fires” that it’s easy to skimp on the strategic thinking front.
Harvard guru Michael Porter defines “strategy” as doing […]
This article provides five sales coaching tips that are easy to implement for achieving the sales growth you need in 2019.
Have you ever been frustrated by a thickheaded sales rep whom you’ve coached over and over again but they simply don’t get the message? Or by a sales rep who simply refuses to acknowledge that their behavior is a problem? Here are seven tips for how to confront an under-performing salesperson.
Timely: Act as soon as […]
Successful sales managers recognize that while they likely have the best sales skills of anyone on their team, the key question is not how good a salesperson they are. Instead, the crucial question is how effective that sales manager is at coaching salespeople to learn what the manager already knows about selling. Here are 5 […]
A book review of "Sales Differentiation"
Every experienced sales manager knows how costly it is to make a bad hiring decision because that bad hire takes a lot of your time and attention and then doesn’t contribute anything. Here are six “must-have” techniques that successful sales managers can use when hiring salespeople.
Ask for a “Memo of Understanding” from the Candidate
A VP […]
Sales coaching can get over-complicated. Here are four easy sales coaching tips, any one of which can help you become a more successful sales manager.
I have a challenge for you. The next time you’re talking with your salespeople, ask them to describe the steps of your company’s sales process. Chances are, most of them will have an answer.
Then ask, “What are the steps of a customer’s buying process?” If your company is like many others, the odds are good […]