Here's a central irony of sales coaching: Most of the time, your reps already know what they need to do to succeed. It's rare that they are completely oblivious on what path to take or what decisions to make. But they aren’t actually doing what they know they should be doing. And that’s because they have an area (or areas) of weakness that keep them from moving forward. This isn't a sales challenge, this is a human challenge. Everyone has specific areas where they struggle that become their Achilles heel. Your job as a coach is to put a laser focus on that area over and over to help them move forward and grow. Don't … [Read more...]
How to Coach Salespeople to Succeed in the World of Social Selling
How do you coach a salesperson to improve their sales results using digital tools like LinkedIn? It seems like an easy question. All you need to do is present it at a sales meeting, maybe send a few articles you found, and that should be it. Right? Unfortunately, lurking underneath the seeming simplicity of digital selling are a number of complications that differentiate these new sales activities from business as usual. If you try the training and coaching approaches that worked in the past, you'll soon find yourself stuck in the mud. So let's look at some ways you can leverage sales coaching to drive online selling skills in … [Read more...]
How to Get Better at Being Coached (Every Salesperson Should Read This)
Sales coaching is a hot topic lately. There are articles, webinars, and podcasts all over the place that talk about how to be a better coach. But it seems that we've forgotten the other half of the equation: the person being coached! Sure, there are a lot of sales coaches out there, but there are a lot more salespeople and team members being coached. Let's talk about how you can be a better coachee. What Does It Mean to be Coachable? Leaders and managers often talk about the value of a coachable salesperson. From their perspective, there are a few reasons why they are looking for coachable people: Sales leaders are … [Read more...]
Why Your Prospects Are Ghosting You (And 3 Ways to Stop It)
You had a great conversation with your prospect. Maybe even a few conversations. Emails flew back and forth. You had done your research, figured out their challenges, and developed solid solutions. You had shown the ROI that would come when they bought from you. It was going great. Or so you thought. Because one day they just weren't there anymore. Emails didn't get returned, phone calls always went to voicemail, and your letters were sent back marked "return to sender." (OK, maybe not that last one.) But you had to accept the fact: You had been ghosted. The Pain of Getting Ghosted The term ghosting comes from the … [Read more...]
The Hidden Influence That “Price Anchors” Have on Your Prospects
Is $200,000 a lot for a house? The answer depends a lot on where you were living when you first looked into buying a house. Your opinion of what a house should cost will be shaped differently depending on the first prices you saw. So if you lived in San Diego, California you would have a much different perspective than if you were in Lincoln, Nebraska. Not only would this affect your conscious price comparisons, but it would even effect your subconscious approach to pricing houses. That initial shopping foray created an anchor in your mind. And it's been shown that those initial anchors have a way of hanging on as we make future … [Read more...]
3 Questions That Will Make You a Better Sales Coach
These days you can find a coach to help you with everything from your golf swing to your marriage to your life. That's because we've realized that we get better faster when there is a detached and knowledgeable observer helping us along. That certainly applies to sales skills. If you are a sales manager, director, or VP, it's important to realize that sales coaching is key to getting better results. This is especially crucial if you are tasked with getting bigger numbers from a sales team that's not going to get any bigger, Unfortunately, though, many sales leaders are horrible at coaching. But with just a simple shift in approach, … [Read more...]
How a Sales Script Will Make You A Better Sales Sherpa
"If you want to be a successful Sales Sherpa™, you have to be comfortable using sales scripts." That statement might sound counter-intuitive considering the modern sales environment is increasingly complex, information-saturated, and every-changing. But that complexity in fact drives the value of sales scripts. You shouldn't be "winging it" constantly. Scripting parts of your sales process allows you to engage more meaningfully with your prospects and customers. Instead of spending your time trying to figure out what to say, you'll spend it focusing on the person you're talking to. Why Sales Professionals Resist Scripts When … [Read more...]
- 1
- 2
- 3
- …
- 9
- Next Page »