Most sales managers I know have a love/hate relationship with the prima donnas on their sales teams. They love the star player’s passion and hard work. They hate the self-centered behaviors that demoralize or discourage the rest of the team. This puts the sales manager in a quandary. If they come down too hard, the … Read full article
Creating a more customer-focused sales force is largely a matter of creating more customer-focused sales managers and sales management processes. It won’t happen unless you reshape how to train, guide, and evaluate your salespeople. The change in perspective has two benefits: First, it gets your salespeople to focus on what they want the customer to … Read full article
Salespeople are under tremendous pressure these days to sell more and sell faster. Many sales managers harp on salespeople to close more deals, and push the customer along faster and faster. But what matters isn’t what we are doing in our sales process. It’s what the customer is doing in their buying process. Ironically, that … Read full article
What do you do with a prospect who says, “Show me what you’ve got” the moment you walk in the door? This is a very direct prospect who may have already spent considerable time analyzing his or her own needs, either alone or with your competitor. There are two ways to handle this situation. First, … Read full article
What’s the secret to writing proposals and presentations that will stand out from your competitors? Provide clear descriptions of the prospect’s problems, challenges, or opportunities you’ve seen (using the customer’s language) and link your differentiating capabilities to the specific needs of that prospect. Do not simply provide generic statements of benefits.
Most salespeople include in their approach sales call a “benefit statement”. This is two or three generic customer benefits that attempt to create interest so the prospect agrees to an initial appointment. But the vast majority of prospects you call are either in the Change or Discontent steps when you call them. They may or … Read full article
Next Wednesday, Feb 23rd at 1:30 EST (10:30 PST) I will be on Online Marketing with RSS Ray’s radio show! The show is live on wsRadio.com
Are your peak performers as committed to your company today as they were 18 months ago when the job market was much more difficult? Recent research found that today’s peak performers are twice as likely to have plans to quit and move on than they were in 2008. So, take time to check in with … Read full article
In a complex sale, the vast majority of the sale takes place when you’re not there, when individuals on the buying team communicate with each other. Therefore, you want the people on a Complex Buying Team to be selling you to each other. And that requires that you learn how to identify and deal with … Read full article
Since 1989, TopLine Leadership has provided custom sales training and sales management development programs. We serve clients from diverse sectors. Our sales training clients want a new approach to consultative selling,that of selling based on how their customers buy. Our clients want their salespeople to sell in a way that’s much different than how their … Read full article