Sales

A pre-employment aptitude assessment will help identify the best prospects for inside and outside sales positions. That is just the first step in building a winning sales team. In order to focus all that raw talent and capture significant market share, you need a clear and effective sales process for them to follow. With a … Key Ingredients for a Successful Sales Process – 10 Steps

“In business, you don’t get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate.” – Chester L. Karrass Negotiation is part of closing every deal. It’s a cousin to handling objections and has its own specific tactics for success. In this post I will cover four great ones you can use no matter your negotiation style. … Four Power Negotiating Tactics for Salespeople

When hiring sales talent, recruiters are increasingly looking for salespeople who can build their personal brands and do some marketing on their own. For the individual salesperson, this generally means blogging, videos, LinkedIn and other social media. One challenge is the Internet is absolutely flooded with content, which makes even the best-written post or smartly-produced … Creating content is not enough: how to amplify to increase your sales reach

There is a great article in Rough Notes, a trade magazine for the insurance industry, author Roger Sitkins talks about the “Sales Iceberg.” He describes this as: “…an analogy between icebergs and success in sales. The sale itself is what people notice because it’s above the waterline…conversely, few people consider the behaviors and strategies that … The Hidden Factors of Sales Success: What Lies Beneath Greatness

Every salesperson is tasked with presenting their solutions to potential buyers. Sometimes this involves just one buyer, but in the B2B and government sales world this usually means multiple people such as a group of executives or a buying committee. This can cause problems for salespeople uncomfortable with public speaking. Some salespeople become overwhelmingly anxious … Scared to give a speech? How Corporate Keynote Speakers Prepare for Success

Pre-employment testing such as the APQ sales aptitude assessment, DISC, PI, CI, etc. are used by many companies as a screening and development tool. Despite widespread availability, there are still plenty of firms yet to adopt them as part of their hiring process. For the most part, the reasons for this are lack of awareness … 5 myths about pre-employment testing you shouldn’t believe

Are you investing in sales seminars for your salespeople, but neglecting your team leads and managers? If so, you are not alone in this deficiency. According to a survey done by Sales Xceleration, 96 percent of sales managers want sales leadership training, and only 1 in 5 companies budget for it. Rather than select those … Sales seminars for sales leaders: worth the investment?

An employment aptitude test can help you hire those most likely to succeed for any given sales role you are trying to fill. By choosing those who possess the personality traits and natural talent for an outside sales hunter or inside farmer, the battle is half-way won already. Once onboarded, however, even the most gifted … How to motivate salespeople (extrinsic and intrinsic factors)

In Brian Tracy’s best-selling book The Psychology of Selling: Increase Your Sales Faster and Easier Than You Ever Thought Possible, he posits “The only real creators of wealth in our society are businesses” and “salespeople are the most vital people in any business.” Salespeople make the world go ‘round, from mom and pop shops to … The Psychology of Sales: 4 Tips to Become a More Effective Seller

A few months ago, Netflix began streaming a show featuring Marie Kondo, author of The Lifechanging Art of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing. In the book and on her show, Kondo shares her methodology (KonMari) for organizing and cleaning a home — and her work has become somewhat of a phenomenon. … What sales leaders can learn from Marie Kondo