If you’re like most sales managers, you’ve either just completed a round of quarterly reviews or have some just around the corner. Here are three questions you should ask each of your salespeople during your next one-on-one: 1. What are you getting from me that you like and find helpful? 2. What are you getting … Read full article
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
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
Losing your most profitable sales relationships is a concern for every professional. To protect this relationship, you must help your customers identify realistic and observable indicators of your solution’s value. If you don’t, you’re linking your personal success with dozens of factors that are totally out of your control. The way I like to help … Read full article
Your role as a sales manager is NOT to do all the selling. Your role is to develop an elite, high performance sales team. Coach your sales people to continually get better at helping their customers buy. To do that, you need to focus more on developmental coaching throughout the sales process, not just at … Read full article
How do you manage a Prima Donna? One thing to think about is how the Prima Donna got that way to begin with. Often we sales managers create Prima Donnas by leaving them alone over many months, taking a “hands-off” style (which is a nicer way of saying a lack of management) rather than continued … Read full article
Successful salespeople have a common focus. Customers! If you don’t satisfy your customers, your competition will. As a Teacher in sales, you help your customer implement your solution in such a way that ensures maximum value. When you commit yourself to exceeding your customer expectations, you place service above self and contribute to the success … Read full article
Remember the words of John F. Kennedy, who said, “Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate.” Your goal in selling and negotiating is always to achieve agreements that meet the present and future needs of your customer, your company, and yourself. When your customer makes a commitment to … Read full article
Any time you feel pressure, start asking questions. We’ve developed an effective sequence of questions (below) that can help you explore the thinking behind any demands your customer makes. These questions will also help you gather new information that can put you in a better position to address the customer’s needs. Plus, asking questions of … Read full article