When people think of "mindfulness" their minds are often filled with images of monks calmly meditating in a lotus position next to a flowing stream. They rarely connect mindfulness with salespeople prospecting on the phone or delivering a sales presentation. But I'm going to suggest that salespeople can get a lot out of mindfulness tools. It can help them improve both their personal satisfaction and professional success. It can help them focus. And yes, it can help them sell more. Let's look at why mindfulness can be a powerful path for salespeople and how they can start walking it. The Mindfulness Trend in Business Mindfulness … [Read more...]
The Simple Social Media Mistake that Kills a Salesperson’s Credibility
I come from the sales world. I grew up professionally around salespeople. My friends are salespeople. At the core I'm a sales guy and proud of it. So salespeople, listen to me when I tell you this. Most of you are killing your credibility on social media instead of building it. And trust is a key ingredient in becoming a Sales Sherpa™ for your network. Don't Brag About Your Wins on Social One of the biggest mistakes that sales professionals make on social is being all about "me, me, me". If you only talked about yourself (your successes, your opinions, your needs) in the offline world, you wouldn't be very effective in creating … [Read more...]
3 Simple Ways to Motivate Lazy Salespeople (Including Yourself)
I was having a conversation with a sales manager about how to train and develop his salespeople. After mapping out an effective curriculum, he paused and asked, “This is great for the motivated ones, but what about the people that are just lazy?” It’s an interesting question. But in the end, I think it’s the wrong one. I have yet to meet a person who is genuinely lazy: someone who has laziness as an inherent part of their personality. I have, however, met many, many individuals who exhibit lazy behaviors. Laziness is a symptom, not a disease. I’ve found there are three reasons why someone will act lazily: 1. Fear of the … [Read more...]
Daniel Pink – To Sell is Human
I read To Sell is Human when it first came out, and it was such a fantastic book...that I never had a chance to write down my thoughts. Oops. I recently went through it again, and was struck by how much still resonates. Dan Pink does a great job of unpacking the negative stereotypes that have been built around the idea of "sales", and why they might not be that relevant anymore. At the same time he points out something that I started realizing when I started as a salesperson as a 20-year-old kid: We're all in sales. Not matter what your job title, we are continuously attempting to persuade and influence the people around us. Big … [Read more...]
3 Easy Body Language Adjustments For Better Business Meetings
With more and more of our time spent online, there are hundreds of articles that will help you develop the perfect online presence. You can learn how to create an optimized social media profile, a blog post with the perfect headline, and a website that will make you look like the pre-eminent expert in your field. For most of us, though, our digital activity eventually funnels us back into the "real-world". No matter how fancy your CRM or iPhone app, most deals get done face-to-face. It's hard to shake someone's hand to seal the deal when you aren't sitting across from them! It doesn't matter how stunning your online presence is in the … [Read more...]
The Sales Truth I Learned Managing a Band
When I was a younger (and hopefully cooler) man, I played in a band called The Jesters. I started the band with my friend Jim, and we split the duties - he would work on the music and I would get us gigs. Here's what I learned that would help me sell in every other part of my career: Bar and club owners didn't care about our music - they cared about getting people in the door who would drink beer and eat food. Focus On Their Needs Being a great band was important to us. We spent a lot of time practicing and writing songs. We worked on our stage show to make sure that our fan base would grow and people would come out and see us. But for … [Read more...]
3 Keys to Creating a Great Sales Contest
I've coached a lot of sales managers and leaders on how to drive business with their teams. One of the most common tools they reach for is the sales contest. They tend to think that a good sales contest is the panacea for all their issues - that the only thing keeping their people from having explosive results is a mix of excitement and fear... [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVQPY4LlbJ4] Most sales contests, however, fail to create meaningful change. They usually end up rewarding top performers (who would have produced great results anyways) and demotivating those on the team who could really use the help. Too often they end … [Read more...]