Jonathan Farrington's Blog

On Tuesday October 20th – 1:00 pm Eastern, I am presenting my first solo Top Sales Experts Masterclass of 2009, and you can be there, with my compliments.

“So You Want To Be A Top 5% Player In The Game Of Sales?”

Recent exhaustive surveys suggest that only 5% of professional salespeople reach and remain at the highest level, which we call Level 3. A further 15% attain Level 2 status, but the majority, i.e. a massive 80% remain at Level 1 in terms of potential achievement.

Level One salespeople sell products and depend on having the right technical solution for the customer’s specification. This is probably you?

Level Two salespeople sell solutions, which changes their image from sales rep to business consultant and positions them as a potential strategic resource.

Most salesmen and women manage to advance from Level 1 to Level 2 fairly easily but unfortunately; many find breaking through that final glass ceiling extremely difficult i.e. moving from competitive sales professionals to collaborative sales consultants. Or is this you?

Level Three salespeople are able to first identify and then capitalise upon the political component within the buying process. They develop and sustain strong commercial relationships at all levels within their accounts and these relationships endure because they are based on mutual respect and trust. Their clients feel secure, so secure, that they would be fearful of changing supplier.

Level Three salespeople rarely, if ever, lose an order that they really want because they are always in control of the sales cycle. They have identified that in marketplaces where product uniqueness and technical expertise are no longer enough, it is they themselves, that make the difference i.e. their superior skills. This could be you!

What we can say for certain, is that successful selling has become an exclusive club of highly skilled professionals where, for example, product knowledge, time management skills, objection handling and closing skills are the cost of membership, not leadership.

Attendees will also receive a FREE copy of my most recent EBook “The Changing Face of Professional Selling” (Value $19.95) and the chance to take a FREE ASP Profile (Value $175)

Please accept my invitation to claim your FREE place (Value $59.50) for this significant event and register here – http://bit.ly/4wW1fc

It is almost launched! Here is a message from Leslie Buterin:

“Who Else Wants to Save Thousands of Dollars, Increase Sales Exponentially, and Have Peace of Mind in the Midst of Budget Cuts and Increased Sales Quotas?”

“Don’t Miss Out – the Doors Close Soon!”

February 10, 2009

Dear Sales Colleague,

The doors open at noon, that’s 12:00 PST today – for a limited time – on an offer that will save you thousands of dollars, increase your sales exponentially, and give you peace of mind in the midst of budget cuts and increased sales quotas.

You know what is disrupting your peace of mind – the sales environment is tough, really tough – more difficult than it has ever been in your lifetime. You have been hit upside the head with the facts of trickle down economics and know:

 Budget cuts mean you are lucky to order paperclips … let alone receive much-needed outside sales training…even though you need/want creative answers to pressing sales questions.

 You’re a self-starter … but quite frankly you’re wondering “where on earth to start?” … is there a starting place or should your watch-words be “sink or swim?”

 The only tool Sales Leaders have left to support sellers is their voice … and that is used to bang sales pros over the head with the words “do more” … “that’s not enough” … “we must meet or exceed quota” …where’s the “joy of selling” in all of that?

 The internet has literally millions of sales sites; the library has tens of thousands of books … but who has the time to spend getting acquainted with either place…especially when your time is most profitably spent selling?

 Sure you have a handful of experts you like to follow on the web – but, “What are you missing?” … of even more importance “What questions should you ask that at this point you don’t even know to ask?” Said another way, “what don’t you know that you don’t know?”

 With all of the “noise” in the marketplace …. how can you keep your prospects from thinking of your products and services as a commodity? … and keep your upbeat attitude – upbeat in the face of so much rejection?

Bottom line: How on earth can you find, gain, and maintain your competitive edge?

So in the midst of downward spiralling economies; ensuing budget cuts; and increased sales quotas what’s someone like you – a sales pro – a sales leader –what are you to do?

Join us. Become a TSE member. Allow us at TSE to serve you.

First of all, what is TSE?

TSE stands for Top Sales Experts, a collective of just 60 top sales experts.

“Just 60? ” you’re thinking. “Sounds like a lot to me.”

Yes! JUST 60 to address the needs of 14 million sales professionals in North America alone, and we serve sales pros and sales leaders all around the world. … so, as I was saying.

As a small, yet powerful group of sales experts, we are expanding our reach to be better able to stay in touch with and to support the best people on the planet – sales people and sales leaders.

When we put our heads together, it was immediately obvious that the best way to accomplish this was to leverage the Internet to help us serve you.

So now, for the first time ever, the doors are open and you are able to subscribe to the TSE Sales Membership Site, where you will have the ability to save thousands of dollars, get the tools, counsel and answers that you need to double; triple; even quadruple your sales – literally.

We at TSE HQ are working long hours behind the scenes to aggregate the best of what we have to offer– and are doing our part for your membership to TSE The Sales Site to pay for itself many times over. You’ll be astounded at what all the group has come up with.

You will have access to tips, tools, and techniques, perfected by 60 Top Sales Experts; access to each expert, and access to your colleagues – other subscribers – sales professionals and sales leaders from all around the globe.

Here’s what you’ll receive as a Founding Member:

 TSE “Ask the Experts” … a safe place to submit sales-related questions that plague you…and to receive real, practical, easy-to-implement solutions from 60 of the world’s Top Experts.

Keep in mind it costs companies upwards of $15,000 + to get us on an airplane, to travel and consult/speak for a half day on site…on the other hand you have unrestricted access to us, because you will be an honored member of TSE Sales Membership Site! (A value of at least $300/hr yours FREE with your membership)

 TSE Forums with sales professionals and sales leaders around the world from a multitude of industries … there aren’t enough hours in a day for you to meet and build relationships with this many colleagues … now as close as one click of a mouse. (You’d spend $100 in cell phone expenses alone IF you could find these people yours FREE with your membership)

 TSE Webinars – hundreds of topics addressed by dozens of top sales experts, delivered to you via downloadable Webinars. (When these are opened to the public, they will pay $59.50 per session – but you access them all for FREE with your membership)

 TSE Roundtables On February 24th, we are going to do something completely different.  Four of the world’s top sales gurus will gather together to present timely, relevant, and specific advice, all in one 90-minute online-show.
 
Each TSE Roundtable addresses issues being faced by sales professionals everywhere. As we face up to the severest economic downturn ever, we plan to run one Roundtable every month. (Your colleagues may join us for a cost of $69.50 per roundtable, yet this is another exclusive, FREE privilege with your membership).

 TSE “Article Vault” … where the best thoughts of each expert are catalogued by subject…so you have access to valuable information and solutions having to do with specific topics, at the click of a mouse …a sales library at your finger tips, saving you oodles of time and money! (at least a 30-minute time saving FREE

 TSE “Library of How to Guides” … important online guides that address every conceivable aspect of selling, including (but not limited to!) … nuances of negotiation … subtleties of sales presentations … powerful closing tips and much more than I have room to list here. (If made open to the public, visitors will pay $19 each but FREE to TSE members)

 TSE “Interactive Assessments” … online interactive tools that you can take online. These are set up to score your results behind the scenes and to provide your results instantly … allowing you to quickly identify your strengths and capitalize on them immediately! (a steal at $25 each yet another exclusive FREE service to TSE members)

 “TSE Daily Audio”… every day, Monday through Friday, check your Inbox daily for your special link to 10-15 minutes of expert sales instruction provided in MP3 format … use it for repeated listening throughout the day … turn your drive time, train time, workouts at the gym, into your private mini-sales-university! ($99 per month to those on the outside yours FREE when you decide to join us)

 TSE “E-book Corner” … a huge selection of ebooks written by experts as they drill-down on topics.(These sell for $19 per ebook except to members who get them FREE)

 TSE “Quarterly TSE Ebook” … a remarkable, well-organized, rich-in-content ebook where we experts each contribute one new article – fresh material that you see before anyone else. (An impressive ebook that sets a new standard - $99 value but for members of TSE these volumes are FREE)

 TSE “Podcasts” Within this section, we will be offering you a wide selection of Podcasts that have been recorded by the Top Sales Experts team ($29 value, but once again yours for FREE when you join TSE)

AND Special “ Members Only” 25% DISCOUNTS ON:

 Annual Hardback of Quarterly ebooks
 TSE Store
 TSE Sales Team Assessments

But wait, there’s even more (I always wanted to say that) …

 When you enroll you also get … a big, big bundle of free gifts … that’s more than $2,000 of free gifts from the TSE experts for you!

 You can have access to all of this within seconds of subscribing to TSE Sales Membership site for just $25. 

So why are we offering considerably more than $689 of services (closer to thousands of dollars over the course of a year) and more than $2,000 of free gifts and the opportunity to enroll AND renew for the same low rate of $25?

Simple. We want to build THE most significant online, worldwide sales community on the Internet. We want subscribers – lots and lots of subscribers – and in return we want to support you in every way we know how.

Pshew! No doubt you are assured that this IS without question “a no-brainer!”

How about it? The doors on the offer close soon, so while it’s on your mind – join us – become a TSE Member now…and let’s get this party started!

You will find a link here, which will only become live at 12 Noon PST – that’s 3pm Eastern and 8pm GMT

Best,

Leslie Buterin
CEO, The Sales Corporation
“Your Greatest Advantage in the Marketplace”

Todays News: Pshew indeed – no way I can top that – more than enough news for one day.

Tomorrow: As I have been repeatedly saying recently – this is now the time, more than ever before, to build concrete walls around our most important customers/clients, but how exactly do we do that? Tomorrow, I have the next FREE eBook for you: “Key Account Management – A New Approach”

I am often asked what motivates me to religiously post every day to this blog; or regularly write and submit new articles to a small, select number of article communities: The answer is always the same - ”recognition”

Not unaturally, it gives me immense pleasure to receive recognition for my writing, so having spent much of December promoting the work of others via: “The Sales Book Awards“, “The JF Awards” and of course, “Top Sales Article Of The Year” I hope you will indulge me for a few moments, whilst I share some personal successes from 2008, which have provided me with what I seek most – recognition.

On New Year’s Eve word came through from Social Media Today, who own The Customer Collective 

The Customer Collective’s Most Read Bloggers of 2008
  Jonathan Farrington – 14866 Views
  Jonathan Salem Baskin – 9736 Views
  Andy Beal – 9434 Views
  Charles Green – 9299 Views
  Paul McCord – 9063 Views
  Dave Stein – 8616 Views
  Augie Ray – 7804 Views
  Mike Volpe – 7777 Views
  Ardath Albee – 7295 Views
  Jill Konrath – 6388 Views

Also on New Year’s Eve, I received a message from Eyes On Sales listing their most popular articles of 2008:

-The Twelve Golden Principles Of Selling By Jonathan Farrington

-Never, EVER, Start a Call With “I Just Called to See How Things are Going” By Wendy Weiss

-How Can You Sell When You’re Not The Lowest Price? By Dave Kahle

-The Secret to Sales Success – Even When Times are Tough By Jill Konrath

And of course, those messages followed Salesopedia’s announcement of their most read articles in 2008

Salesopedia Lists 2008′s Most Popular Articles  

Check out these “Reader’s Choice” award-winning articles, selected based on the hit counts of all 1250+ published on this site in the past year.

The 10 Commandments of Networking, Ivan Misner
Fearless Sales Prospecting for a Soft Economy in Recession, Scott Metcalfe
The Most Important Element in the Entire Sales Cycle, Jonathan Farrington
The Art of the Question – 8 Key Rules, Rick Johnson
Enticing Voicemail Messages, Jill Konrath

Over at Best Management Articles ”Successful Consultative Sales Professionals Fulfil Three Basic Roles” became the most read article ever Although I was knocked off top spot on BuildYourOwnBusiness after two years.

At Ezine Articles  I have published 168 articles, which have been read 133,683 times and been re-published 2614 times – which I find pretty amazing, particularly when you consider that I haven’t written a new full article for more than eighteen months. I do have a very large repository – and you thought that was just a rumour

But you know what? All of that pales in comparison to the buzz I get from checking our site stats – sad but true!

Yesterday I completed the year-end reports for all of our sites and there are some pretty astounding numbers:

Unique visitors to this blog increased from 154.585 in 2007 to 501.048 in 2008 (+308%)

Top 10 Sales Articles increased from 91.296 in 2007 to 180.539 in 2008 (+98%) – not bad for a site with just one post per week – I mean, once you have seen who has been nominated, you are not going to come back, unless you get hit with a bout of amnesia.

We don’t have comparison figures for Top Sales Experts and The JF Consultancy because obviously, they are both too young, but I can tell you that TSE is probably going to hit 500k visitors in 2009 and JFC will be around 200k. And then of course, we will have The Global Sales Council – but more of that soon.

Now I know that these numbers do not compare with article community sites, because they are not article community sites – where visitors might pop back several times every day, so we are very proud and feel totally vindicated for the long hours invested in SEO, site renewal and for continually striving to improve the content.

But you know the most important ingredient? – It is you, so please continue to support us in 2009 and in return, we will endeavour to provide you with precisely what you want and need.

That really is it until Monday! - JF

So the votes have been cast, the panel has made it’s judgement, and the most successful contest so far, has reached it’s conclusion.

I am delighted to announce that The Top Sales Article Of 2008 is:

Use the News: How to Create New Opportunities Fast by: Jill Konrath

Exceptionally, this year we have three runners-up and they are:

The 10 Commandments of Networking by: Ivan Misner

Why Decision Makers Hate Cold Calls by: Paul McCord

While You Have Their Attention, Opt-In by: Keith Rosen

My personal congratulations to  Jill, and of course all of the finalists. To make it into the top twelve from the five hundred which were nominated throughout 2008 is an amazing achievement in itself – we also need to remember that those five hundred nominations were selected from literally tens of thousands of articles submitted during the year.

I also need to again thank the panel of sales experts who have volunteered their services week in and week out, to ensure that only the very best work is chosen – you can meet them all here

It has been immense fun to be involved with this initiative, which just gets better and better, and I sincerely hope that you have been hooked too and will want to return to the site – top10salesarticles.com - to see how the 2009 contest is progessing.

I’ll be back on Monday, when normal service resumes, until then -

PRE-PRESS RELEASE – December 24th 2008

Announcing as of January 5, 2009 we welcome Leslie Buterin, as CEO of the Sales Corporation. Buterin’s company, Top Dog International (TDI), focuses on reaching high-level decision-makers and is a commercial complement to the Sales Corporation. As such, TDI moves under our umbrella on the same date. Buterin will continue to provide direction for ColdCallingNetNews.com, a member of the Forbes Business & Finance Blog Network. Chairman of The Sales Corporation, Jonathan Farrington says, “We have worked closely with Leslie for the better part of a year. Her strong business sense, abilities as a communicator, and her internet marketing savvy will strengthen our presence and position us to better serve our global markets.” 
 
Upon accepting the position, Buterin says, “I am both honored and humbled to serve in this capacity. Our combined knowledge and experience removes the mystery from the sales process. From cold calling right on through to closing the sale we offer clarity and position clients for outstanding results. There is no question that world economies need the products and services sales professionals have to offer. The Sales Corporation will make certain these important professionals and their leaders have the most effective tools available to drive business revenues upward. While others cry out – the sky is falling — our excitement about the future continues to grow and spill over to our clients.”

 In addition, to further demonstrate our commitment to the Top Sales Experts initiative I am pleased to share that Maureen Blandford, MindTime® group, is joining our team in the role of Strategist. She’ll be working closely with me to position Top Sales Experts to its maximum advantage in the marketplace.

A Marketer by trade, Maureen is a zealous proponent of the value that we Sales Gurus provide to our target audiences. She lobbies her own clients to prioritize Sales Training ahead of Marketing initiatives. Maureen says, “I’m thrilled to be a part of the TSE organization. What most B2Bs don’t understand is that they can do pretty well without marketing, if they have exemplary sales professionals. But if they continue to dump a large percentage of their budgets into expensive marketing tactics, to the detriment of sales training – well, unfortunately we see the results of that methodology every day. I’m happy to help drive more focus to the sales gurus.”

Maureen is already working on the positioning strategy for the new TSE organization. And we’ll be sharing that with you after the first of the year.

For those of you who don’t already know Maureen: She’s native Chicagoan, working out of Dayton, OH, swimming upstream against the powerful Madison Avenue Branding current. Her world is B2B.

Regarding her first book, Branding Doesn’t Work in B2B, Blandford says, “I’m doggedly determined to help B2Bs with a direct sales force understand that in B2B it’s people, and how they perform in the sales and delivery processes that have the greatest impact on current and future customers. Not Branding.”

These are indeed exciting times and I believe that we are extremely fortunate to have “captured” these two richly talented individuals. Expect more announcements during Q1

JF

Today’s News: That’s just about it for 2008 – although I will be posting on the 31st, when I announce the “Top Sales Article of 2008″ - it’s getting really exciting over there and the lead is frequently changing hands, so do keep yourself updated.

It’s just left for me to wish you a wonderful festive break, and to thank you for your continued support – I really appreciate it.

OK, so let’s just remind ourselves of the categories and the nominees:

Miscellaneous Article Communities – sites who do not specialise, but rather accept articles on a wide range of subjects.

Business Article Communities – sites who promote business specific articles.

Sales Article Communities – sites that specialise in promoting sales and marketing articles and services.

In addition this year I have added a brand new category, which I have called “Blog Grabbers“ These are sites who syndicate and promote blog posts, and this year I have worked with three very good ones, so they deserve their own “JF Gong”

What I do need to repeat is that mine, as ever, will be a very personal and subjective view based on my experiences through 2008. Here we go:

Miscellaneous Article Communities:

EzineArticles.com

Buzzle.com

IdeaMarketers.com

And the winner is……. for the third year running, Ezine Articles - it would be almost impossible for me to fault the sheer size, not to mention the excellent presentation and service that Chris Knight and his team provide. 137,191 authors cannot all be wrong and it just demonstrates the enormity of the site…..way to go Chris.

Business Article Communities

BuildYourOwnBusiness.com

TheSideroad.com

BestManagementArticles.com

And the winner is….. Build Your Own Business - This was a tough one to call, as I know for a fact that all three of these sites are run on a part-time basis, which must be terribly difficult. Each of them have their own fan-base and each of them have contributed immensely to Top 10 Sales Articles this year.

However, I decided to give it to David Bain, as much for his support over the past three years as anything else. He is a true friend, who never fails to be there when we have a “push” on. Well done that man… have a wee dram on me tonight!

Sales Article Communities

EyesOnSales.com

Salesopedia.com

SalesGravy.com

And the winner is….. Salesopedia - yes I know that SalesGravy enjoys the highest number of visitors, and that EyesOnSales is now owned by Landslide Technologies, but when I visit Salesopedia I know where everything is, there is no clutter and load times don’t force me to go make a coffee whilst I am waiting.

I think Leah Rust is doing a superb job at EOS, and I love the new site design, but it is not quite there yet.

Jeb has added lots of new sections this year and continues to be very successful with his “Jobs Board” but I guess I also feel that Clayton goes that extra yard when it comes to providing reciprocal support: We generate incremental traffic for our “partners” via Top 10 Sales Articles every week, and so asking them to promote the Top Sales Article Of The Year Award, for example should not be beyond them. 

So great stuff Clayton, two years running and fully deserved!

Finally: Blog Grabbers

TheCustomerCollective.com

Blogowogo.com

Blog.Smartdraw.com

And the winner is… The Customer Collective - I like very much what Linda Geller has created over at Blogowogo, and Blog.Smartdraw is very new and innovative, but there was only ever going to be one winner here.

Robin Frey-Carey and Jerry Bowles have done a superb job in creating something very original: I would suggest that it is a very intellectual and forward thinking location, which attracts a very high calibre of bloggers – so not sure how I manage to feature. However, I can say that it has been an immense honor to be involved with such a high-class project. A couple of martinis tonight guys, shaken but not stirred? On me of course! Great stuff, well done.

So there you have it – I am also highly commending four further superb sites who do not quite fit into an official category, but who provide an excellent service.

First Sales HQ, a Monster company, which is now edited by the immensely talented Kit Richert PhD – aka Dr Kit, and an absolute dream to work with. Obviously this is a Monster site which focuses on sales jobs, but they are expanding their vision and I am keen that we stay close to them.

Secondly, Insightory.com is growing in reputation, and the CEO is Avneet Jolly – what a great name that is, particularly at this time of year. I am over there and so is Jill, Paul and a few more of the gang, so do check them out.

Then there is alltop.com which is an absolutely brilliant location to find all the top blogs in the world. It really is an honor to be included there – you will find literally thousands of blogs on every topic.

And I could not conclude without mentioning the “Top Sales Blogs In The World” location – where else can you find us all in one place! 

I just need to say a big thank you to all of the nominees – you are doing a fantastic job, and we really appreciate you – if you wish to celebrate your success, the Elves have created some widgets for you:

http://www.jonathanfarrington.com/widgets/JF_Awards.php

That’s it for another year – now I need to go buy some Christmas presents, but I’ll be here tomorrow for a final post of the year, before I take a day off.

PS: Salesopedia have just published the five most read articles of 2008 – just click on the banner below.

Well here we are, my list of nominees for The 2008 JF Awards and this, amazingly, is the third year that I have, with my tongue firmly in my cheek, been handing out these awards to my favourite article community sites.

It is my chance to give something back – to support the supporters; recognise the online “jock-straps”; acknowledge the outstanding contribution these people make to our industry……… you get the drift.

I have again invested time in really assessing the sites to which I contribute and others, which I have considered doing so.

You will note that I have divided the awards into the usual three categories that are pertinent to me personally i.e.

Miscellaneous Article Communities – sites who do not specialise, but rather accept articles on a wide range of subjects.

Business Article Communities – sites who promote business specific articles.

Sales Article Communities – sites that specialise in promoting sales and marketing articles and services.

However this year, I am adding a brand new category, which I am going to call “Blog Grabbers” – I know, eye-watering!

These are sites who syndicate and promote blog posts, and this year I have worked with three very good ones so they deserve their own “JF gong”

I am not going to elaborate on my reasons for my choices yet, I will reserve my commentary for December 23rd, when I announce the winners (5pm GMT - Noon EST) – just to keep you guessing, and give me more time to write it. 

What I do need to say is that mine, as ever, will be a very personal and subjective view based on my experiences through 2008. Here we go:

Miscellaneous Article Communities:

EzineArticles.com

Buzzle.com

IdeaMarketers.com 

Business Article Communities

BuildYourOwnBusiness.com

TheSideroad.com

BestManagementArticles.com

Sales Article Communities

EyesOnSales.com

Salesopedia.com

SalesGravy.com

Finally: Blog Grabbers

TheCustomerCollective.com

Blogowogo.com

Blog.Smartdraw.com

So there you have it – I will also be highly commending two further superb sites, who do not quite fit into an official category, but who provide an excellent service and we plan to work much more closely with them in 2009.

Please do tune in on the 23rd – 12 noon Eastern/5pm GMT to discover the winners – it’s very tongue in cheek, but be assured, it will be my tongue in my cheek – “sycophant” (a self-seeking, servile flatterer; fawning parasite) has never been a word used to describe me, and I hope it never will be. “Grumpy old man” I can live with – occasionally - but make sure I am in a good mood

Today’s News:

One of the newest recruits onto the Top Sales Experts team – a really nice guy – Barry Siskind, is in conversation with Clayton Shold over at Salesopedia. Barry is arguably the leading expert in the world when it comes to Trade Shows

“Barry starts with an update on the tradeshow market and describes the cyclical nature of the various industry sectors. No surprise he is bullish on trade shows going into 2009, perhaps not for the reasons you might suspect. Hear why he believes smaller local shows provide a great opportunity for companies and independent producers.  Before you make the decision to participate, hear what Barry suggests is critical to consider on the strategic front before mapping out the tactical elements.” Just click on the banner, to listen in.

Tomorrow: My plan was to provide you with an updated version of “The Twelve Golden Principles Of Selling” but I am still working on that, so in response to the numerous requests, I’ll be giving you some advice on winning more business.

So, the polls have opened amidst a flurry of activity and unsurprisingly, excitement levels are extremely high; This initiative, which was created initially in a light-hearted moment, has now grown into the most prestigious event for authors of sales related advice, and the weekly and monthly results are eagerly anticipated by literally thousands.

This though, is the BIG one, and it carries significant kudos for the winner. You only have to look at the calibre of the finalists this year: They include some of the best known gurus in the sales and marketing arena; Zig Ziglar, Jill Konrath, Keith Rosen, Paul McCord, Ivan Misner, Kevin Eikenberry, Mike Brooks and many more. It’s going to be a tough fight, that’s for sure.

The poll closes at 6pm Eastern/11pm GMT on November 30th and the result will be announced at Noon Eastern/5pm GMT on New Year’s Eve – so at least one person is probably going to be celebrating a little bit harder!

The public poll represents 50% of the marks awarded and the other 50% is contributed by the expert panel, our team of unsung heroes, who give up their time every week, to ensure that our high standards are maintained – let me introduce them:

The Adjudication Panel (In alphabetical order)

 Terri Dunevant brings over 25 years of diverse experience to the training and speaking industry. Her unique insight in people skills comes from her multi-faceted background, from cheerleading as one of the original Seattle Seahawks “SeaGals”, to sweeping awards as a Senior Advertising Consultant, to currently training nationally for Fortune 500 companies. www.wincourage.com

 Kevin Dwyer is a pragmatic change management advisor and founder of Change Factory based in Melbourne, Australia. The Change Factory view of what is generally missing in sales development can be summed up by the phrase “Training is not enough” Kevin’s interest in sales is in developing the reinforcing loops of corporate goal, strategy, marketing and sales tactics, KPIs, recruitment, career and competence development, coaching and counselling that influences more customers to move through their buying process with the selling organisation. www.changefactory.com

 Nigel Edelshain is CEO of Sales 2.0 Companies use Sales 2.0′s telesales and consulting services to take their sales to the next level, typically boosting results 3 – 10 times. The company applies the latest Sales 2.0 tools and techniques in its telesales operation and shares resulting breakthroughs in sales methodology with clients through its consulting practice. www.sales2.com

  Cindy King is a Cross Cultural & International Sales Specialist. She runs an international internet marketing company, King Business Tools based in France, where she helps mid-sized companies expand internationally by providing affordable international content marketing solutions. http://getinternationalclients.com/ 
 
 Craig Klein is a seasoned sales executive. He founded SalesNexus in 2002 built on the premise that businesses win when their sales staffs implement best practices through efficient contact management. Klein saw a real need in the marketplace for a contact management solution that was easy for sales reps to use, yet didn’t require expensive hardware, software, or IT support staff, The SalesNexus hosted CRM service offers a reliable, secure, and user-friendly product that businesses around the globe have come to rely on for their CRM needs. www.salesnexus.com 
 
 Steve Martinez is the author of Sales Impactivator a sales e-publication for success oriented individuals. As the President of Selling Magic, his company teaches business professionals how to automate the selling process, preventing sales people and business owners from experiencing the hard lessons in selling. Steve has consulted with businesses around the country sharing his 25 years of sales and marketing experience to eliminate sales failure. Steve uses his experience as a National Sales Manager and National Account Executive to share the real-world lessons in sales. www.sellingmagic.com 
 
  Lee B. Salz, President of Sales Architects, is a sales management guru who specializes in helping companies hire the right sales people, on-board them, and focus their sales behaviors. In Lee’s widely-acclaimed book “Soar Despite Your Dodo Sales Manager” (WBusiness Books, 2007), he presents his sales architecture® methodology to the world and “The Sales Marriage” (Sales Gravy Press), Lee’s second book, is due to be released in February 2009. He is also the brains behind Business Expert Webinars www.SalesArchitecture.com.

 Bill Sayers speaks, coaches, leads education sessions and provides management consulting services to a variety of companies. For the past five years Bill has run his own sales consulting practice. He has recently completed the writing of his new book – “Funnels and Forecasts – The Great Game of Sales”. He has been a professor at George Brown College teaching Personal Selling Skills to the Sports and Event Marketing Graduate Program, and is on the faculty of Canadian Professional Sales Association and Canadian Management Centre. www.TheSayersGroup.com 
 
 Dr. Greg Stebbins is an internationally recognized authority on Sales Psychology with an emphasis in individual and organization transformation. He is the President of PeopleSavvy and a master at improving the greatest asset of any business—its people. With more than 30 years of business experience, he applies a wealth of knowledge, street smarts, and high impact ideas to the challenges his clients have. He is also the author of the best selling and widely acclaimed book, PeopleSavvy for Sales Professionals. www.peoplesavvy.com

There is one glaring ommission from the weekly cast, but as I said to Jill Konrath last night, I think it right and appropriate that I stand down from voting on this one. I have friends who are in the pot, and that would have affected my judgement, no matter how hard I convinced myself that it wouldn’t. If you enjoy someone’s work, you will be biased.

So, the gladiators have entered the arena, let battle commence.

If you haven’t voted yet, you really should – just click on the “Vote Here” banner at the top.

Today’s News: I think that’s more than enough news for one day, other than to tell you that I will be announcing two new senior appointments within the Sales Corporation next week – more soon.

Tomorrow: I’ll be announcing the nominees for this year’s JF Awards, so be sure to join me

Next Tuesday – December 16th, you will discover who the twelve finalists are, who will be battling it out for the “Top Sales Article Of The Year” award. However, today, I need to remind you that next Wednesday, we announce the winners of the 2008 Sales Book Awards – you can almost feel the excitement mounting.

How did we conceive this great idea? Here’s a transcript of the press release we issued at the time:

In Search of the Best Sales Books on the Planet

The Sales Book Awards recognize books, authors, and publishers whose work advances sales as a profession.

During one of their regular conversations, two avid readers, writers, and globally recognized sales experts lamented that sales books were often overlooked by book award programs and shunned by many in the publishing industry. 

Jeb Blount, CEO of the sales portal, powerhouse, SalesGravy.com and Jonathan Farrington, Chairman of The Sales Corporation based in London and Paris and CEO of the international sensation, TopTenSalesArticles.com, who share a life-long passion for sales, decided it was time for a book award program just for sales and sales related books, ebooks, and audio books.

Farrington, who has indentified and cataloged the world’s top sales experts on his website TopSalesExperts.com said, “Our ultimate goal is to develop and foster a wide coalition of thought leaders, educators, publishers, authors, and corporations who share our mission to recognize authors and publishers who create outstanding works which contribute to the profession of sales.”

“Advancing sales as a profession is our core mission,” said Blount. “All proceeds from corporate sponsorships and entry fees will be used to create scholarships for deserving students enrolled in University level, sales degree programs.” 

Here are the finalists:

Landslide Sales Book of the Year Finalists:

Reality Sales (Bill Guertin/ Andrew Corbus)

Coaching Salespeople Into Sales Champions -Keith Rosen

Selling Against The Goal -Kendra Lee

Perfect Selling -Linda Richardson

 Soar - Lee Salz

Salesopedia - Clayton Shold

The Real Secrets of the Top 20% -Mike Brooks

Selling To Big Companies - Jill Konrath

Presentations That Change Minds- Josh Gordon

Sales Coaching -Linda Richardson

All Star Sales Book-Billy Cox

The Sales Manager’s Mentor -Jeff Lehman

It is certainly a very strong line-up and I am really looking forward to the announcement.

Tomorrow: It’s JF Uncut and I will finally share with the story of how I really did nearly “fry tonight”

It takes something special to divert me from my w/e schedule, but with only forty – yes, 40 places available, this announcement would not wait until Monday.

Here are the details:

Selling to large corporations today is tough, tough, tough.

As more and more companies are selling to fewer and fewer large, corporate accounts, sales teams at companies of all sizes struggle to consistently hit ever-increasing targets quarter-after-quarter. It’s the question that keeps every sales leader up at night: How can you accelerate your deal flow? How can you close more revenue, faster?

In today’s hyper-competitive, ‘always on but never available’ selling environment, sales reps and sales managers face equally hard challenges.

Sales reps have to deal with prospects who don’t answer phones, all calls are routed to voice mail and no one ever calls back. Even when sales reps do manage to get prospects engaged, the likelihood that the deal would close is anybody’s guess.

Yet, both sales executives and their managers’ careers depend on forecasting and delivering results accurately.

There is light at the end of the tunnel!

Please join us for an evening with leading experts on the critical strategies and proven tools your teams can use right away to:

Crack into corporate accounts
Shorten sales cycles and
Differentiate themselves from competitors
These strategies may go against conventional wisdom, but that’s why they work.

Moderated by Nigel Edelshain, CEO Sales 2.0, the conversation participants include Jill Konrath, sales expert and renowned author of Selling to Big Companies, and Razi Imam, CEO of Landslide Technologies, an award-winning company recognized for offering an innovative sales management system that goes beyond just technology.

Together with Nigel, they will discuss the key elements of building effective sales teams – from the new selling skills to the new Sales 2.0 technologies that help salespeople win corporate accounts consistently.

Register now for this timely session – seats are limited.

AGENDA
6.00PM – 6:45PM   Networking and Hors d’oeuvres
6:45PM – 7:45PM   Presentation and Interactive Discussion
7:45PM – 8:00PM   Wrap-up & Networking
 

It’s only $20 for members and $35 for non-members, PLUS the first twenty registrants will receive a signed copy of Jill Konrath’s “Selling To Big Companies” – yep, the book that was last week named by Fortune magazine as one of the top eight sales books ever written!

Why don’t they hold these great events in Paris?

JF