Having a good lead generation system in any sales organization is critical. Prospects can be found in a multitude of ways; however how your organization chooses to plan with those leads is another. Your pipeline and targets require that you keep a close eye on how those leads are managed....
Uncovering new opportunities and potential new business is an essential task of any sales team, however, it is probably one of the most unpopular activities. The main reason for this is that professional salespeople, just like the rest of us, fear rejection. The reality is though, if we have confidence...
Do you just skim the cream, or do you really sell, uncovering and developing opportunities? Some sales reps place "Anything on your desk?" calls. This is skimming the cream. It's practicing the "Being in the right place, at the right time" method of selling. This doesn't require much skill, Just...
Finding new customers is never a simple feat. With a recession upon us, the task becomes downright nasty. There's an easier way to boost sales and profits in bad times or good. How? By convincing current clients to send more business your way. And nothing shouts "Stick with us" better...
What's the fastest and easiest way to increase your sales? Without a doubt, it's triggering events. What are triggering events? They're changes within an organization or in their business environment that have cascading effects throughout the company. Because of these changes, existing decisions need to be revisited and new priorities...
Most transactional sales people work in high volume but low price environments, where they can close numerous transactions each day or week. Traditionally, they don't excel at building long-term relationships with their customers, and if the customer isn't looking to buy right now, the transactional sales person quickly moves on....
There are a number of factors that weave together to make margin shrinkage an issue for everyone. In many areas, competition has increased dramatically. As new competitors vie for your business, they naturally lower prices to buy their way into your accounts. In many industries, products cost less today than...
Never accept any proposal immediately, no matter how good it sounds. Never negotiate with yourself. You'll furnish the other side with ammunition they might never have gotten themselves. Don't raise a bid or lower an offer without first getting a response. Never cut a deal with someone who has to...
Silence is the secret tool of power negotiators. Knowing when to listen, not talk. Using facial expressions, not your voice, to make a point. This paper gives five tips on how perfecting the art of silence can make you a better negotiator. One can control the negotiation process by simply...
A little less high tech, though possibly even more complex, poker offers practice in some very valuable negotiating skills. Top-notch poker players "Read" their opponents carefully. They observe subtle body language and other cues to pick up information that they will use to move closer to their ultimate goal: winning....
Believe. You, yourself, must believe in the value of what you are selling to advertisers. If you think your rates are expensive, you will never be able to negotiate from strength. If you see your site or service as a cost rather than as a valuable market to be reached,...
Everyone negotiates. Negotiations are an integral part of our jobs, our lives, and our relationships. We even negotiate with ourselves when we work out the relative value of things. Few people understand the negotiation process and the effect attitude, people skills and dealing with conflict have in a win-win negotiation....
As sales professionals, we realize that we are typically negotiating something, with someone, every day. Whether it is with clients or prospects, or internally with our managers and co-workers - successful negotiations require thought, planning and skill. As sales professionals, we need to balance the needs of our customers and...
Some people breeze through negotiations while others struggle and stress about it! It's likely those who find it effortless pay more attention to the non-verbal messages and can adjust their behavior and strategy accordingly. Often it's the "Unsaid" things that give us the most information. If you look at facial...
However, what most salespeople forget is where the manager is in these negotiations. Salespeople many times believe that they have a deal here, but they don't. The technique you must educate your salespeople on is how to handle the customer that stands up. The key is that whenever a customer...
Power Negotiators know that this Reluctant Seller technique squeezes the negotiating range before the negotiating even starts. If you've done a good job of building the other person's desire to own the boat, he will have formed a negotiating range in his mind. Remember that when people do this kind...
When you're negotiating with people who have studied negotiating, and are proud of their ability to negotiate, you can get ridiculously close to agreement, and the entire negotiation will still fall apart on you. When it does, it's probably not the price or terms of the agreement that caused the...
The more thought you invest in planning and setting priorities before you begin, the more important things you will do and the faster you will get them done once you get started. The more important and valuable the task is to you, the more you will be motivated to overcome...
When you run out of time and the consequences for non-completion of a key task or project can be really serious, you always seem to find the time to get it done, often at the very last minute. You start early, you stay late and you drive yourself to complete...
Routines can be good. They help us improve our productivity. They allow us to multi-task. They make us feel comfortable, safe, and secure. They reduce stress. Plus, when we have developed a great routine, we can often generate more business. However, the drawback is that they can be difficult to...