Introduction: According to CEOInsights.com, over 48% of inside sales companies surveyed reported that they missed their monthly revenues goals more times in a 12-month cycle than they reached them. Other sales indicators like time on the phone, closing ratios, percentage to monthly goal, etc, pipeline accuracy inevitably suffered as well as sales teams struggled to […]
Use This Magic Button on Your Phone
I was in Staples the other day and saw their promotion using a little red button that says, “Easy” on it. You know the one? They have commercials on it and essentially whenever a business person needs any help around the office, all they have to do is hit this button and BAM! their need […]
The Right Way and the Wrong Way to Open Your Call
[This is an excerpt from my completely revised and updated for 2014 eBook, “The Complete Book of Phone Scripts.”] Because you only have a few precious seconds to make a connection and establish interest, you’d better have a good opening prepared in advance. Besides being very busy, your prospects get a lot of sales calls […]
How to Overcome the “I want to think about it” Objection
Out of all the possible objections you get when selling your product or service, the nebulous, “I want to think about it” is probably one of the hardest ones to overcome. The prospect isn’t saying no, exactly, but he isn’t giving us an objection that we can overcome either. So what do you do? If […]
When an Objection isn’t an Objection
When is an objection NOT an objection? When it comes at the beginning of your presentation. The blow offs you get at this stage are merely initial resistance, and the last thing you want to do is try to overcome them. Instead, you must acknowledge you heard them and direct your prospect to get your […]
The magic of “Oh?”
Have you ever been at a complete loss of words after a client or prospect has said something so outrageous that at first you find it hard to believe they may have said it? Or have you ever gotten a question or a statement during your close that you just haven’t known how to answer? […]
The One Key to Setting Appointments by Phone
If you set appointments by phone, then you know how hard it can be. Getting past gatekeepers, identifying decision makers, overcoming brush offs, overcoming objections, it can get pretty discouraging, can’t it? What if I told you that the hardest thing about setting appointments is often something that you yourself create? That would be even […]
The 4 Secrets of Leadership
Can you name the one or two best sales managers, or business owners you ever worked for? If so, how did they make you feel? What qualities or traits did they have in common, or which ones do you most try to emulate in your own company? I work with a lot of business owners […]
I Agree With Jeffrey Gitomer About These Two Things
Now, let me just say for the record that I agree with a lot more than just these two things that Jeffrey says, but these are things I’ve known for many, many years. I hope they resonate with you, too. So here’s the scene: Large corporate sales convention in the company’s training center, over 250 […]
The Three “Real”’ Secrets of Hiring Top Sales Reps
Ask any manager, V.P. or business owner what one of the biggest challenges they face in making their revenue numbers and they’ll tell you it’s in identifying, hiring and retaining good sales reps. If you are familiar with my management philosophy, then you’ve heard me talk about the 80/20 rule in sales, and all you […]