Nancy D. Solomon

Sometimes life provides us with character-defining opportunities that remain with us forever. If we’re lucky, that is. These events, which occur in both our professional and our personal lives, are significant not for their particulars, but for what they say about who we are and who we are not. It is who we become as a result of these experiences-not the experiences themselves that is most important. This is because these “choice points” articulate our values, clarify our character, and define our integrity.

I had one such experience many years ago when I first relocated to Seattle. It’s an experience that has stayed with me because it was so profound and because, to this day, I am still both humbled and humiliated by it. I had had business cards printed, and there was an error. I called the owner of the print shop and she agreed to reprint them right away. But I never returned to the printer. My finances were very tight and I’d decided it was “better” to distribute the “bad” ones rather than pay the several hundred dollars I owed her for the new version.

My tainted integrity nagged at me for more than a year before I finally phoned the woman to apologize. I never got that far. Oh, she remembered me all right. So clearly, in fact, that during our brief conversation she recounted the entire ordeal and then concluded by telling me (with not a trace of anger, I might add): “Now I’m going to hang up because I’m not going to do business with you again.” Click.

I remember putting the phone back in the cradle and staring at it, mouth agape, for quite some time. The sting of her words was minor compared to the swell of respect and admiration I felt for this woman who so succinctly, so effortlessly, demonstrated who she was and how she stood in her business. She had no reason to prove herself. She had no need for a well-polished mission statement, a finely crafted public relations summary, or a perfectly rehearsed elevator speech. Her actions neatly defined her. When she hung up, we both knew who she was.

Author and educator Benjamin Shield once said, “We vote with our actions.” I would add that it is ultimately our intentions behind those actions, not the actions themselves, that announce to the world whether we are courageous or cowardly, whether we are leaders or merely the boss, and whether we will make a positive impact or simply take up space.

If we’re going to “do the right thing” in business, we need to ask ourselves exactly and precisely why we’re doing what we’re doing—what our intended outcome is. Is it to win, to look good, or maybe to decimate the competition? Or is it to redefine excellence, showcase exceptional skills, or create positive change? Are we trying to prove who we are, or demonstrate it? The former will result in ego-minded banter while the latter will produce camaraderie, pride, and outstanding performance. Doing the right thing requires that we permanently disengage the “autopilot” in our businesses while recommitting to the core values of our decision-making processes.

The ethics scandals that have peppered the papers for the past few years have pitted the “little guy” against the “big, bad corporations.” It’s easy for us to forget that those corporations are made up of individuals just like you and me. Had I not shared my business card story, then I’d be able to tell you that I’d never do anything like commit insider trading, manipulate my accounting books, or lie to my employees. Of course now you won’t believe me. If I could avoid paying a debt, you ask, then what else am I capable of?

Truth be told, it is likely that we are all just one little circumstance away from doing anything. With money dangling before us (or a promotion, or a big break, or adulation), it’s easy to forget who we are, to discreetly shift the line between right and wrong, and to make some shortsighted decision because the sheer pleasure (joy, greed, ego) of it looks too delicious to pass up. The question is, “Is it the right thing?”

A few weeks ago one of my coaching clients, a senior executive with one of the country’s premier retailers, told me that her company, following an enormously profitable year, decided to distribute raises and bonuses to almost all of its employees. The only people in her group not to receive additional cash were the receptionists— perhaps the people who needed it most. The reason? Under a technicality the company didn’t have to give them the funds. My client loudly protested this travesty for two reasons: a) it was the wrong thing to do, and b) the bonuses would amount to a whopping total of $6,000-a mere 0.0024% of the company’s $250 million budget. But why risk the wrath of her colleagues? Why jeopardize the celebratory climate of the executive offices? Because it’s the only thing this leader could do and be able to look at herself in the mirror the next day. Because it was the right thing to do and she knew it. And so do you.

What does doing the right thing have to do with doing business, you ask? “Everything,” I answer. Doing the right thing defies-no, ignores-the status quo. Unless you have a seriously deteriorated character, you know when you’re doing things just because you can vs. because they’re the right thing to do.

So what does it take to do the right thing? It takes courage—the ability to do something different, something outrageous, and something that’s outstanding. It takes self-trust—the ability to hear and respond to your executive intuition—to lead from the inside out because, to date, your gut reaction has never led you down the wrong path. It takes chutzpah—the ability to jump and earn your stripes on the way down. It takes character – the thing you know you have because you have never, even once, questioned whether or not you do.

So, the choices have been made, the decisions decided, the outcome awaited. Now, how do we know if we’ve done the right thing? It’s simple. It feels good. We’re proud of ourselves. Our heads are held a bit higher, our shoulders a bit straighter, and our step a bit lighter. When we’ve done the right thing, we offer others explanations, not excuses, for the decisions we’ve made. When we’ve done the right thing, we don’t get defensive and look for someone else to blame. When we’ve done the right thing, our minds are free of embarrassment, humiliation, shame, and regret. When we’ve done the right thing, we don’t have to ask ourselves if we’ve done the right thing. We just know it.

By the way, if you know the printer who taught me that lesson in Business Ethics 101, please tell her how grateful I remain and that I said thank you. Whatever price I paid wasn’t enough.

“How do we know if we’ve done the right thing? It’s simple. It feels good.”

As a nationally recognized human potential expert Ms. Solomon provides training, keynotes, coaching and consulting for executives and their organizations seeking to improve their personal and professional standards of success. For more information, visit www.nancydsolomon.com

Be sure to look out for Nancy’s new book - “Impact – What Every Woman Needs To Know To Go From Invisible To Invincible” – in the stores from September.

Today’s News:

Over at Salesopedia Clayton Shold is in conversation with TSE Sponsor, Craig Klein of SalesNexus

“Craig Klein spent 10 years selling multi-million dollar, multi-year contracts to energy companies such as ExxonMobil, Shell and Chevron. Trained as an engineer, he combined his sales expertise and entrepreneurial spirit to form his own company.  Craig is the author of an eBook entitled “Double Your Sales in 2009.” A bold statement to be sure but he adds a subtitle which is even more eye catching; “Supercharge your sales engine in five steps that won’t cost you a dime.” This podcast walks you through the sales process changes required to double your sales. At the end of the podcast Craig will tell you how to get a copy of the eBook for free. SalesNexus.com , a leading online contact management system for small business sales teams.”

Just click on the banner below to listen in

Tomorrow: A lot of business people I know are riding out this financial catastrophe pretty well, and one of the main reasons is that they are working and using their networks. So tomorrow, some tips on how to network well - here is a taster:

“To some, networking means simply meeting or calling someone new for what might be a one-off discussion or event. In this limited sense, networking is only a trading relationship in which two parties seek to discover whether they have anything of mutual interest to talk about. They either make some sort of exchange or quickly move on. This makes networking a highly ‘transactional’ subject, much like buying and selling or negotiating with someone.

My view is very different because I believe that networking has a much wider definition. In fact it can be a major social and life skill to be used in both a business/organisational and personal setting.”

Great sales execution will not do a thing for your top line if you don’t have a continuous flow of qualified leads. There is little question that one of the biggest challenges for sales leaders is dealing with an inconsistent flow of leads coming into the front of their funnels.

There are a multitude of approaches, solutions and tools which, if employed correctly, can make a real difference in your company’s ability to generate quality leads. Some areas to consider:

* A dedicated in-house or outsourced telemarketing function

* Monthly e-newsletters to a nurtured list of opt-in subscribers

* Event marketing, such as breakfasts, seminars, webinars, etc.

* Media relations work resulting in press placements (raising your company’s credibility and perhaps generating inbound inquiries)

* Partner programs

* Customer referral programs

* Trade shows

* Sources of leads for outbound calling, e.g. a purchased database

* Targeted direct marketing (e- or snail-mail)

* Advertising and other branding mechanisms

* Web marketing, including SEO of maximum exposure, affiliate programs, downloadable value, e.g. white papers

* Tools and processes to assist with qualification and monitoring when prospects are buying

* Active participation and contribution to industry events and publications

* Cold-calling by sales reps

With all this in mind, the biggest contributor is not technology, tools, or people. It’s a strategic, funded, measured and comprehensive approach to lead (and demand) generation. If you or your marketing team doesn’t have a documented, up-to-date and realistic plan, you are not going to execute well in this area and you’ll leave your sales people high and dry.

One of our clients depends only on trade shows for leads. The reason is that they feel they must attend the key industry shows and doing that, in their words, leaves them with no funds left for any other type of outbound marketing.

Another client has a small inside telemarketing team. The team isn’t effective for a number of reasons. The people making the calls aren’t motivated, partially because sales people often don’t follow up on leads, and since there is no formal feedback mechanism, no improvement is ever made. Also, there is no integrated marketing support to enhance their efforts, such as website landing pages, where the telesales team might direct potentially interested parties.

The bottom line here is one of business philosophy. Lead generation is a critical component to sales effectiveness. It is not something you do when you have a few bucks or when you’re getting panicky because your pipeline appears to be anemic. It must be managed and funded strategically.

Dave Stein is the founder and CEO of ES Research, an organization that provides on-line, membership-based analyses of, and recommendations about, the sales training and sales performance and consulting marketplace and the companies that serve it.

NB: Don’t forget that you can join Dave, Jill Konrath, Linda Richardson, Nigel Edelshain and myself for THE most significant online sales event of the year so far – just click on the banner below for full details.

Today’s News: I don’t do an awful lot of self-promotion on here, but reading the feedback from Kendra Lee of KLA Group - fellow Top Sales Expert and trusted business partner - I realised that I have not mentioned ASP Profile for so long.

So let’s change that today, because I really cannot understand how any sales leader can engage with a training company, without first profiling their team and understanding the specific requirements – here is what I think:

“How good is your sales team when benchmarked against the best in their industry? Do you really know?

Until now, sales leaders have not had access to an effective and purely objective sales team audit tool; As a consequence millions, if not hundreds of millions of pounds world-wide, are wasted every year on irrelevant, unnecessary, or inappropriate sales skills development.

Furthermore, at the front-end – i.e. the recruitment stage – decisions are often made with the aid of generalised psychometric testing at best, or totally subjectively at worst. Poor decisions can cost a company thousands, even hundreds of thousands of pounds in salaries, expenses and, of course, underachieved revenue – unfortunately it can take months to discover an error.

ASP Profile is the most accurate and sophisticated sales competence assessment tool available and represents the culmination of fourteen years ongoing research and experimentation. It has involved consultation with hundreds of individuals, including: captains of industry, psychologists, professional buyers and front line salesmen and women from every industry sector. The end result is that we are now able to recognise the three levels of selling that exists – four in fact, if you include sales management – and as a consequence, we have produced a model at each level that accurately profiles the characteristics and working styles of the very best performers. It assesses existing strengths, limitations, and ongoing development requirements in three specific areas: – Attitude, Skills, and Process.

ASP Profile is totally interactive and reports are generated the same day, enabling you to make rapid decisions.

To discuss your personal requirements please e-mail: aspprofile@jonathanfarrington.com“

Or simply click on this banner to educate yourself –

Tomorrow: Yesterday, I discussed the five main drivers for success and you will have gathered that I passionately believe in first class customer care: With that in mind, my gift to you this week, is a FREE ebook called – “Isn’t Time You Focussed On The customer Imperative?”  Here is a snippet:

“You know about Pareto’s Law – I discuss it often enough – yes that one, the one that says 80% of the business comes from 20% of the customers? Well, it (almost) applies in this case. More than 80% of front line staff haven’t yet totally bought into the idea of effective customer relations. The other 20% have discovered a very enriching way of achieving a satisfactory outcome from interactions with customers. In other words, most of the time, they succeed! And when they succeed, the customers actually thank them!”

This can’t be about you – can it? Find out tomorrow!

Paul Cherry
When I started out in sales, I worked for a manager I’ll call “Larry.” One of my goals at the time was to find a mentor, to learn from someone with experience in the industry. I thought I’d found that mentor in Larry, until I learned his goal was to retire in three years. Nothing wrong with that, except that Larry focused all his time and energy on his impending retirement in a nice house on a golf course, not on his job.

When I asked for advice on approaching clients, he shrugged. “I really don’t have the answers, Paul. You figure it out.” At that moment, I knew I had to find another job. Much as I liked Larry, our opposing goals made it impossible for us to work together. Mentally, he’d already clocked out of the working world, so there was no way he could motivate me.

When it comes to inspiring your employees, ask yourself, “What motivates me?” How passionate are you when it comes to achieving your goals? Such passion is infectious: your employees are sure to catch it. Discover your motivation by identifying your own professional and personal goals while helping your employees achieve theirs. If you and your employees aren’t on the same page where goals are concerned, you might soon find you’re not even in the same book.

What’s the definition of a goal?

You might think it’s silly to even try to define a goal, and that’s okay. I thought I knew the definition of a goal until I spoke with motivational coach Michael Wickett. Mike told me that only 2% of the population has goals. With that, a debate began.

I told Mike, “When I ask salespeople at my seminars, ‘Who here has goals?’, they all raise their hands.”

He shook his head. “No, Paul, they don’t have goals. They have dreams.” That puzzled me. “What’s the difference?”

“Dreams are in your head. Goals are written down,” Mike explained. “In order for something to be a goal, you need to write it down.”

Mike was right. Many people have dreams about how their lives will end up, but few people take the time to sit down and form detailed plans to make those dreams a reality. For instance, how many people do you know who want to lose weight? The older we get, the more we think about getting healthier, and losing weight is a giant step in that direction for many of us. Now consider how many people have made losing weight one of their life goals. Sure, plenty of us want to lose weight, but how many of us really put that dream into action in the form of a solid goal with specific steps?

How to turn your dream into a goal

1. A goal must be written down.

The process of writing down our goals forces us to transform our vague desires into concrete objectives.

2. A goal must be specific.

Specific goals help us focus our energy and make the most of how we spend our time. Rather than saying, “I want to make my life better,” set specific goals such as, “I want to purchase a condominium on the beach,” or “I want to have two kids.”

3. A goal must be measurable.

If our goals aren’t measurable, how will we know when we’ve reached them? Examples of measurable goals include “I want to lose 15 pounds,” or “I want to sell $2 million worth of products.”

4. A goal must have a time frame.

We must put our goals in terms of time, otherwise we might put them off indefinitely. The time frame for one of your goals could be anywhere from one week to twenty years or more. The important thing is to have a deadline—and stick to it!

Here are examples of personal and professional goals that meet all four requirements:

* My goal is to lose 15 pounds in the next six months.”

* “I have a goal to produce $2 million in the next fiscal year through sales of my new product.”

* “My goal is to own a three-bedroom vacation home at the beach by the summer of 2010.”

* “I have a goal to open up 15 new franchise locations of my business in the next five years.”

* Now that you know the difference between goals and dreams, do a personal inventory.

What are your goals? You need a picture of where you want yourself and others to go. At work, this will help maximize your efforts and determine what you need from your employees.

Questions to help you deliniate your goals

* “What’s my vision of the future?”

* “Where do I picture myself three years from today?”

* “How will others perceive me in the future? My boss, my peers, my family?”

* “What has to happen in the next two years for me to be happy with my progress?”

* “What visual image do I have for my team? What visual image do I have for my company?”

* “How do I want to be perceived by my customers? My employees?”

* “How would my boss define me in one sentence?”

* “What excites me most about my job? What do I want to do more of/less of/stop doing altogether, so I can achieve what’s important to me? To my team? To my company?”

* “Which mountain do I want to climb?”

* “What’s my definition of success?”

* “What benchmarks do I need to achieve in order to feel successful?”

* “What actions do I need to perform on a daily/weekly/monthly basis to achieve my goals?”

* “What areas of my job should I focus on in order to have the most impact on my staff?”

* “Where do I need to prioritize to insure my success? My team’s success?”

If your employees’ goals aren’t aligned with yours, you’ll find yourselves working at cross-purposes. Think about your own personal and professional goals, then write them down and turn your written words into actions. Once you know what you want, you’ll be better prepared to help your employees figure out what they want, putting all of you on the same page and the fast track to your happy ending of choice.

Paul Cherry is the Founder of Performance Based Results, an international sales and leadership training organization. He has over 20 years of experience in performance improvement strategies. To date he has helped over 1,200 organizations in every major industry from newly formed start-up companies to leading Fortune 500 corporations.

He is also a and you can read more about him here

Today’s News:Over at Salesopedia today, Clayton Shold is in conversation with Keith Rosen: “Who Stole Your Sales Mojo?” and you can catch the entire interview by simply clicking on the banner below as usual.

Tomorrow: All professional salespeople have to make a presentation at some point in their careers and the very best are what I call “Seekers” Join me to discover the characteristics of “Seekers”

The JF Guest Author Spot

Tom Canning – Connectize Inc.

Sales 2.0 Conference shakes it up in San Francisco

The Sales 2.0 Conference is now two weeks old. Thousands of tweets were twittered, and hundreds of sales bloggers have blogged. I’m still driving by the Intercontinental Hotel hoping that someone still might be there. Is there anyone I can speak Sales 2.0 with?

Living in San Francisco has its advantages. I get to go to events like Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0, and Sales 2.0, and almost every week, something NEW 2.0 starts at about 5:30 pm and costs fifteen bucks. This conference was different. It seriously triggered my sales DNA and got me excited. It was like a high school reunion yet I was re-connecting with a thriving sales ecosystem of sales people, vendors and customers. But like any reunion – things had definitely changed!

So what is Sales 2.0 and why is it imperative to understand what it is?

• Sales 2.0 is real-time

• Sales 2.0 is an evolution

• Natural selection suggests great Sales 2.0 professionals will emerge

• Genetic drift suggests there will also be Sales 2.0 superstars

Sales 2.0 is real-time

Everyone was thinking, talking, tweeting, and toasting to what they hoped and believed the new age of Sales 2.0 would bring. There was real time collaboration between participants and the sharing of best practices and experiences. Twitter voting of presenters and the tweet feeds of key information helped share the deep kept secrets of the conference and offered real time transparency to those not in attendance. This event and everyone’s participation was happening in real time.

I enjoyed a lot of great conversations outside the presentation room. Like hanging out at a customer’s water cooler – you can learn a lot through conversation. My highlight was dinner and a real time conversation with Nigel Edelshain and Jill Konrath, two of the top Sales 2.0 visionaries. It was the perfect way to end the day.

Sales 2.0 is an evolution

Was the conference full of wild and primitive Sales 1.0 savages all hoping to be part of the first genetic shift to this new elite race? No, evolution doesn’t work like that. Sales 2.0 will be a gentle process. It will require the alignment of sales, marketing (really the whole company) and the CUSTOMER. We can’t over evolve and model the sales process and leave the poor customer in pre-historic times. Maybe next year we will see a Customer 2.0 track.

Everyone left with Sales 2.0 speak-ability. Alignment of this new language to the pace of the customer is key. There is no one-size-fits-all or master framework to follow for Sales 2.0.  And nor will there ever be.

Sales 2.0 needs to be simple, both in definition and in ability to action. As we evolve the sales organization – there should be small steps and recognition of the changes and associated successes. Not everyone or every industry can or should evolve at the same rate.

Natural selection suggests great Sales 2.0 professionals will emerge

We have to get used to sharing, collaborating and aligning our interests with our customers. New sales people will be born into this new way of thinking. Most existing sale people will successfully make this transformation and emerge. But others, like the dinosaurs, will get trapped in the tar sands and perish. Survival of the fittest will naturally occur across existing sales organizations.

The conference crowd was a mix of young and old, but surprising more weighted to the older side. Many great sales leaders are older, and come pre-packaged with Sales 1.0 processes and methodologies. It’s this group that will need to make a more dramatic transformation. The new and younger sales generations are generally already on Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter and others. Social media is part of their sales and social world. And they’ve done so very openly and naturally. Has the process of natural selection already started?

Genetic drift suggests there will also be Sales 2.0 superstars

This genetic drift concept is interesting – since you might be thinking this conference produced 450+ Sales 2.0 robots. Fortunately, our ability to absorb, interpret and action new information varies by person, location and industry. This represents an opportunity.

How will superstars emerge? My opinion is that true Sales 2.0 superstars will leverage these new processes and applications and successfully align these capabilities with their customer’s buying patterns. Superstars will add their own unique personality and reasoning in the application of Sales 2.0 – something a robot can’t do just yet.

Conclusion

The evolution has started as evidenced by this conference. It is now the time to decide if you will perish or emerge as a Sales 2.0 superstar. Your customer is waiting.

Tom Canning is CEO and founder of Connectize Inc.  Connectize is a real time social collaboration application for sales professionals who need sales intelligence and who want to promote and monetize their knowledge. Visit Connectize at http://www.connectize.com. You can follow Tom on Twitter @tomcanning.

More on Sales 2.0 just click on the banner below:

Today’s News: It is of course St.Patrick’s Day, and I wanted to wish all my friends, colleagues and Top Sales Experts based in the Emerald Isle, and in many other parts of the world, a wonderful day.

Here is a small surprise from the TSE HQ Team, to make you smile – just click here

Tomorrow: I ask: “Are You In Control – Really In Control?” and give you yet another FREE ebook, so be sure to join me.

Cheryl Clausen

Every sales person, entrepreneur, or business owner wants to become a top producer. You want to sell more than 90% of the others. You want to enjoy the financial security and confidence that level of success brings.

Even though you want it you don’t do the things that make those top producers such an enormous success. Sometimes you don’t do these things because you think you are when you aren’t. Sometimes you don’t do these things because they seem too hard. Sometimes you don’t do these things because you’re afraid to take a risk.

That leaves you with a choice. You can either do the things the top producers do and get greater results than you are now OR you can decide to continue doing what you’re doing now. Only you can make that choice.

For those who choose to do what it takes to become a top producer there are some things you must commit to. Those things are:

• Right actions
• Consistent right actions
• Fearless investment in yourself

Let’s take a look at each of these key commitments for your sales success.

Most sales people are all about action. In fact, the busier you are the more convinced you are that all that action will stir up some sales. The facts prove otherwise.

The fact is you’re far better off only focusing on the right actions than you are running around doing anything and everything you can think of trying to sell something to someone. Now you might ask, “What are the right actions?” The right actions are the actions that produce the greatest results with the least amount of work.

Top producers always know what those right actions are because they track their actions and they know the results those actions produce. Other sales people try the flavor of the month approach. That’s where you get a great idea try it a few times get your ego kicked in the behind and slink off never to try that again.

On the one hand when something doesn’t work you certainly shouldn’t continue doing what doesn’t work. On the other hand when something doesn’t work you have to understand why it didn’t work then make an improvement to that approach… try it again and track the results from the new approach versus the old approach. Then and only then can you know whether you’re making progress or not.

Top producers don’t try something once and quit. They also don’t keep doing something that doesn’t work over and over again. When something doesn’t work they approach it as a problem to solve. They solve the problem then they consistently take that action. That consistent action produces consistent results.

A top producer doesn’t pause one second when it comes to deciding on an investment in themselves. Those top producers read books, attend seminars, go to training sessions, and work with coaches. They don’t view those things as expenses they view them as investments because they soak up what they’re learning like a sponge. They immediately implement what they learn so they get an immediate return on their investment.

Other sales people simply won’t invest in themselves because they think they can’t afford it. They think everyone owes them all of their knowledge, experience, and skills for free. If that’s how you feel you can save yourself a lot of frustration. Either decide to change your attitude about investing in yourself or forget about sales because you simply won’t achieve a satisfactory level of sales success trying to reinvent the wheel by yourself.

Would you like to discover how to increase your sales without rejection? http://increasesalescoach.com/yes.html

Cheryl A. Clausen has been recognized by her peers for her outstanding coaching proficiency and she is a Certified Business Coach. In addition to coaching others to success, Cheryl is an active public speaker, speaking for local area associations.

She writes: a column “Coaching Excellence” in the Heartland Messenger; a free monthly ezine “Short Notes” and is a preferred author for many ezines.

Visit Cheryl’s website: http://increasesalescoach.com/yes.html

You can now order your copy of Cheryl’s excellent new book – “The Race To Success” – just simply click on the banner below.

Finally, Cheryl is a  and you can read more about her here 

Oh, and be sure to catch Maureen Blandford with my very good friend from “down under” Kevin Dwyer on the TSE Dailies today – just click on the banner below.

Tomorrow: It’s a big treat day: I have a brand new FREE ebook for you – “The Trouble With Sales Training” and I will also be announcing the launch of the TSE Roundtable series, which kicks off on April 14th, with a really “big hitting” panel.

Paul McCord

I’ve spoken to many sales leaders in the past weeks that complain that their companies have cut their budgets to the bone.  Actually, in many cases the cuts aren’t to the bone, the cuts are well into the bone and the company is now sucking out the marrow.

The dilemma these managers face is how to allocate their tiny budgets yet maintain and possibly even grow sales.

-Do they sacrifice training?

-Maybe they should forgo providing any marketing assistance to their sales team?

-Possibly they eliminate any and all incentives and contests?

-Cut out the doughnuts and kolaches at the weekly sales meeting and divert those paltry dollars towards something more substantial?

It isn’t unusual to see dollars allocated to human resources, especially dollars used to build and support the sales team, eliminated first. It’s easier to cut training and marketing, to slash incentives and clerical support, to trim customer support and travel budgets than it is to cut those new computers that are ‘absolutely necessary’ or to forego a few senior management perks that are, after all, guaranteed in their employment contracts.  When its time to suffer, often sales is one of the first departments to see the knife-and its usually a butcher knife, not a finely sharpened scalpel.

These times call for creativity, persistence, and utilizing every resource at your disposal.  If you are willing to do a bit of research, you can meet your sales teams needs no matter how small your budget.  The resources are available-for free.  They may take some time to find.  They may not be a perfect match.  They may require more of your time than you’d ideally like.  They may require your team members to apply themselves a little more.  But you don’t have to just throw up your hands in frustration and determine it’s a lost year.

Here are a few suggestions:

1.  Work your team through a book or CD set. You can purchase a copy of a book for each of your team members for anywhere from $12 to $20.  Then set out a training schedule to work the team as a group through the book.  An even cheaper method is to purchase the audio version of the book or a CD training set by the book’s author based on the book.  For very little money your team can get some of the best training in the world without the cost of bringing in a trainer.

For example, many teams have worked their way through my book, Creating a Million Dollar a Year Sales Income: Sales Success Through Client Referrals, learning the most effective, disciplined process for generating a large number of high quality referrals.  Many have chosen to purchase a copy of the book for each team member, which allows each member to read an assigned portion of the book prior to the training session.  Others have chosen to purchase and download the audio version of the book, saving a great deal of money.  The downside is with only one copy it makes it difficult for team members to listen to the assigned section prior to the training session.  Still others have acquired my 4 hour CD set to use as the basis for their training.

There are thousands of great sales books, many of which are in audio version or have CD’s that expand on the book, that you can use as the basis for training.

2.  Free Tele-seminars. A great many trainers and consultants offer free tele-seminars, covering every aspect of sales and personal marketing.  Unfortunately, many are nothing but come-ons to sell books, CD’s, and other products, but some are of real value in and of themselves.  Yes, it takes time to find seminars that have real value, but the search can be well worth the time.

3.  Articles and Whitepapers. The Internet and industry publications are filled with great articles on specific sales and personal marketing issues, techniques, and strategies.  Using a series of articles as the basis for training is not only a viable alternative, but gives you the opportunity to hit a large number of issues quickly.  At the end of this article I’ve included the web address for several high quality sources where you can find hundreds of quality articles from some of the top trainers and consultants from around the world.  Many of these trainers have books and CD’s-and some have free tele-seminars-to help you find other materials for training your team.

Few trainers or consultants will be offended by using their material as a basis for training your team.  I get many emails and phone calls from sales leaders asking for my permission to use my materials to train their teams.  I’m always flattered and honored-and would never think of saying ‘no’ because I want them to hire me instead.

4.  Create a team library. Having virtually no dollars shouldn’t mean you couldn’t have resources for your sales team.  I have a friend who has built a great library for his sales team for under $80.  His team’s library currently consists of over 100 books and about 30 CD’s.  His secret?  He did a bit of begging and a lot of shopping at used bookstores.  But he has managed to put together a heck of resource for his salespeople.  His task now is to get his team members to put the resources to work.

5.  Utilize the talent in your company. Do you have salespeople or managers in your company who have mastered aspects of selling or marketing?  Use ‘em.  Put them to use training the rest of your team.  In today’s economy you can’t afford to overlook the talent you have at hand-and if you’re like most sales leaders, you’ve got some great talent you can call upon.

I have a client who has a salesperson who worked previously as a copywriter-and she was a pretty good one at that.  What a great talent to have on hand.  Another friend of mine has a salesperson that worked as a graphic designer and is wiz at creating fliers, brochures, and web pages.

Budgets get cut and they get enlarged.  But no matter what your budget, there really isn’t an excuse for not providing your team with the training and personal marketing resources they need.  It isn’t a matter of money, it’s a matter of taking the time to find and utilize the resources.

Here are those resources I promised you:

Top Sales Experts

Eyes On Sales

Salesopedia

Sales HQ

Top 10 Sales Articles

Ezine Articles

They should keep you going for a while!

Paul McCord, president of McCord and Associates, a Houston,Texas based sales training, coaching and consulting company, is an internationally recognized authority on prospecting, referral selling, and personal marketing. His best-selling book on referral generation,Creating a Million Dollar a Year Sales Income: Sales Success through Client Referrals (John Wiley and Sons, 2007), is quickly becoming recognized as the authoritative work on referral selling. His next book, SuperStar Selling: 12 Keys to Becoming a Sales SuperStar will be released in February, 2008.

Right now, almost every company needs help finding new business opportunities – Paul can give you that help – He may be reached at pmccord@mccordandassociates.com  This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or through his sales training website at www.powerreferralselling.com

Paul is also a senior  and you can read more about him here

Today’s News: Over at Salesopedia, Clayton Shold is in conversation with Sharon Drew Morgen:

“Sharon Drew Morgen was one of the pioneers in looking at sales from the buyer’s decision making process. She suggests understanding the buyers purchasing criteria is as important if not more important that matching features and benefits. This thought provoking podcast includes a great quote from Sharon Drew, “The time it takes the buyers to come up with their own answers is the length of the sales cycle.”

Just click on the banner to listen in.

Meanwhile, guess who is in the “hot-seat” over at TSE Dailies? Yep, you are not wrong. Again, just click on the banner to hear the entire five minute interview.

Tomorrow: Join me if you want to find out how to become more efficient, make more sales and turn your limited selling time into real cash.

Tim Wackel

Imagine for a minute that you feel yourself starting to become ill. As usual, your calendar is swamped with appointments so you try to tough it out hoping you’ll get better. After a few days, you feel so miserable it’s almost impossible to function. You finally decide to pick up the phone and make an appointment with your family physician.

You arrive at the doctor’s office anxiously looking for relief. The physician walks briskly into the exam room and exchanges some quick pleasantries. He rambles something about seeing these symptoms before and tells you to take two pills and call him in the morning.

Do you feel the doctor really took the time to understand your situation? Are you motivated to follow his advice? I’m guessing there’s a good chance you’ll start looking for a new physician and probably won’t be referring anyone else to this practice.

Question: What does this lousy doctor have to do with selling more in today’s economy?

Answer: Almost everything.

Rule #1: Prescription before diagnosis is malpractice!

Ever watch a sales rep jump to conclusions and start offering ideas prematurely? It happens almost every day and you know it’s not pretty. Even the best qualified prospect will start to disengage and begin formulating their escape plan.

Many reps rationalize this behavior by believing there isn’t enough time to truly engage with potential clients. Their focus is on activity, not accomplishment. These reps are convinced that they can survive this economy by making more appointments, increasing their number of demos, giving more presentations and ramping up their number of proposals. A classic case of confusing wing flapping for flight!

Recently I wrote an article that outlined specific ideas on how to create more sales success in these turbulent times. I used the introduction of the article to put a “tongue in cheek” spin on how the soft economy had convinced me to just give up and quit. The entire article was less than two pages (this is about a 3 minute investment if you’re a slow reader). One simple paragraph (four sentences to be exact) of doom and gloom I used to set the stage for the rest of the commentary.

Within hours I received unsolicited advice from sales professionals all across the country. Each one weighed in with specific ideas that were obviously formed after reading the first four sentences or maybe just the headline. Although I appreciated the advice, it was completely off the mark. It felt like my doctor has just told me to take two pills and call him in the morning.

So what’s the prescription for driving more sales in today’s market?

Knowledge – it’s the common ingredient found in results, relationships and referrals. The more you demonstrate knowledge, the more prospects will take time to listen. And the best way to establish expertise is not by pitching features; it’s by asking questions. Questions that can differentiate the value you bring to every call.

Many selling professionals fall into the common trap of asking questions that are self serving. “What does your purchasing process look like?” is a mind numbing, self serving question that doesn’t create new insights. Your customer hears these types of questions every day and they bring zero value to the dialogue.

Instead ask questions that get customers to stop and think. Ask questions they haven’t been asked before. Ask questions that get the customer to pause and say, “That’s a really good question.”  Here are some simple examples to help jump start your thinking:

-”There’s a lot of information that I could share with you, but I’d like to know what your specific goals for this conversation are. What are the most important things you feel we should focus on to make this meeting a valuable use of your time?”

-”At the end of the day, what’s going to be the biggest differences between the one representative that will win your business and the 9 others that don’t?”

-”What, if anything, is going to prevent you from taking the next step with me?”

Creating high impact questions takes extra time. But it’s worth every minute. Start investing more time doing research and preparation, less time running from sales call to sales call. I know this contradicts traditional wisdom, but this isn’t a traditional selling environment.

Don’t pick up the phone or walk into the lobby until you’re absolutely ready to engage in a meaningful dialogue. You’re not going to get a second chance in a slowing economy, so make sure every one counts!

Speaking of Sales is about finding, winning and keeping customers for life. If that’s part of your job, then you won’t want to miss the next issue.

Tim Wackel is founder and president of a training and consulting firm based in University Park, Texas and is an active member of the American Society for Training and Development. He holds a professional membership in the National Speakers Association. More about Tim Wackel

Tim is also a and you can check out his profile here

Today’s News:

Big changes over at Top Sales Experts today: You will find that we are moving more of the excellent resources into the public domain: Here is the latest position.

TSE Resource Center

Here, everyone has access to tips, tools, and techniques, perfected by 60 Top Sales Experts;

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!

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.

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!

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.

TSE Blogs … Simply the “Best Sales Blogs In The World” – in one location for you.
We also have a TSE Shop, stacked full of superb sales related products and of course our very own Jobs Board.

Pretty amazing? Certainly, but you can have even more if you become a TSE Member.

Here’s what you’ll receive:

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 “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. ($19.95 to non-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!

Plus you will receive 25% discount on:

TSE Webinars -  hundreds of topics addressed by dozens of top sales experts, delivered to you via downloadable Webinars. $59.50 per session – but with your membership you get 25% off EVERY webinar you attend)

TSE Roundtables During March, 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 as a member, you will receive that 25% discount on every single session.

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 $49.50 per year!! Join us today – sign up here

Tomorrow:”A New Type Of Salesperson For A New Type Of Customer”

Leslie Buterin

Sales people are an unusually intelligent group of professionals. High achievers by nature. You know what drives us nuts? Being on a hot trail of pursuit of a prospect only to be stopped cold by of all things a telephone.

How is it that a lump of plastic, wires, and chips can strike our hearts with terror?

Our minds search for a rational explanation of this seemingly irrational fear that drives us bonkers. We start to wonder, is our hatred of cold calling really procrastination or lack of organization in disguise?

Fact is if you keep experiencing rejection you will learn to hate cold calling. You will procrastinate and do anything and everything to avoid the phones altogether.

If you experience a fear of cold calling, this will encourage you. All great cold callers at one time or another hated, despised, and/or literally could not stomach cold calling. So, if this is where you are today, know you are in good company.

Fear of, hatred of, and loathing of cold calling pretty much boils down to this:  Sales professional who are oh-so-comfortable when talking to prospects face-to-face are surprised and confounded when they hit the phones and experience rejection.

When you move from face-time to phone-time you are operating without visual cues and left to rely on words alone. You simply need to learn the questions to ask and the words to say that will help you “see” what you are hearing on the phone. As soon as you learn the words to say to conduct a cold call that results in scheduling a face-to-face sales call with you prospect, you will equally skilled in both arenas.

The great news is that as a sales professional you are gifted with an ability to use words. You will be relieved and astounded to realize you are as accomplished on the phones as you are when selling in person.

Leslie is also a  and you can read more about her here

Today’s News: It’s Thursday, which means it is time to tune in to another excellent Salesopedia podcast.

This week, Clayton Shold is interviewing C.J.Hayden. “C.J. Hayden suggests people need to give their head a shake if you are trying to sell to people who you think they need your product or service. Do they know they need your product or service?  CJ makes it sound almost too simple, but the basics she shares are great reminders of what those in sales need to be doing to be successful.”  Just click on the banner below to listen in.

Tomorrow: To finish the week, I am giving you “The Sales Manager’s Acid Test” so be sure to join me.

Nigel Edeleshein

Do you really want to get that meeting?

For most companies the biggest bottleneck in the sales process these days is getting into that executive meeting. But how often do we really earn the right to get that meeting?

As a sales person in a “Sales 2.0 world” there are many, many tools and techniques available to us to increase our chances of getting a meeting. From my observation most sales people and sales organizations do not use 10% of these. And some sales people just cold-call with no research and no customization of their pitch – dumb (and largely unforgivable if you know what resources are out there).

Here are some tools available to us that can be used to increase the likelihood of getting a meeting:

* Hoovers, OneSource etc: get the basic information on the company: company description, senior executives, revenue, profit and annual report. You know the drill (I hope!)

* Jigsaw, Spoke: dive a little deeper on contacts. Find middle managers responsible for the area(s) you sell to

* LinkedIn: invest some time building your network in LinkedIn and you can get referrals to executives in the area you want or close enough to help you with coaching on the account. Even if you aren’t closely linked to your prospects you can find some great bio information here

* InsideView, Google News: use something — whether it’s a sophisticated Sales 2.0 tool like InsideView or a free service liked Google News to watch for “trigger events”. Don’t you want to be there when a new CMO starts at your target account? How about when your prospect launches a new product?

These are just some of the tools out there that you can use now. Use the information from these tools to customize your pitch to executives. Show them you have done your homework.

Earn the right to get in!

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

He is also a  and you can read more about him here

Today’s News: Excellent blog post from my friend and fellow  Dave Brock – “What If We Stopped Using The Economy As An Excuse?” - here is an extract: “Yesterday, I was speaking to a colleague. He had a though provoking observation. One of the companies he is working with has adopted an interesting policy. They refuse to let their sales people use the economy as an excuse—their sales are up 10%.” Continue reading

Tomorrow: Decisions, Decisions, Decisions!

Niall Devitt

Studies show that women buy or influence 80% of all consumer goods. According to a David Powers Homes study they make 80% of all $180 to $500K price range and they are likely to play a significant role in other big ticket purchases such as cars etc. In fact just because they aren’t directly involved in a particular purchase doesn’t mean they aren’t strongly behind the buying decision.

Be Aware

While there are of course many similarities in how men and women reach purchasing decisions, there are also important differences. From a man’s point of view, the key is to be able to understand what these are and to be aware of them when selling to a women. The following are some easy to follow guidelines for men who sell to women

Traditional Sales Approaches don’t Work

Many companies and individuals are copping on to the fact that traditional sales approaches don’t work with women buyers, in fact woman are much more lightly than men to tune out if they feel they are been SOLD to.

Take Time to Understand Her Needs

Women put significantly more value in the salesperson really taking the time to understand their needs. The ability to demonstrate that you care about her needs and what she has to say will help develop a strong relationship and increase the outcome of her buying.

Appearance and Body Language

One aspect where men and women buyers differ is in their ability to read unconscious communication, women are naturally better at it. A woman will be more lightly to evaluate your appearance and dress, will listen more intently to the emotions you convey and will read much more into your body language.

Let her know you are Listening

Women also listen differently, men often maintain a blank facial expression when women are telling their stories. To her this can translate as not listening at all. It’s important when selling to a woman to be a very active listener, convey expression in your face, maintain good eye contact, ask checking questions to confirm you understand what she means, take notes etc., it’s the little stuff that matters most to a woman.

Don’t Interrupt

Interrupting one another’s conversations can be a pretty routine thing for men. However when communicating with women, they are much more likely to get annoyed when you interrupt. Women will also define interruption differently to men. Just because she’s not talking for a moment doesn’t necessarily mean she’s ready for you to jump in. She may just be taking a second to collect her thoughts before resuming.

She’s a Multi-tasker

Overall, a woman is a much more emotionally involved buyer; she is likely to consider and weigh up more factors but because she is able to multi task can do this in lot less time so ensure you keep up.

She Senses

She has heightened senses of touch, taste and smell and will often involve these and other senses in her buying decisions of certain products. She may talk you through her buying decision putting into words how she sees and feels your product may work for her.

A Natural Marketer

A huge plus from selling to women is that they are three times more likely than men to share personal experience with friends, if you ask any woman where she came across her gym, hairdresser or beauty salon, she is much more likely to tell that it was recommended by one of her female friends.

With many times more connections between the left and the right hemispheres of the female brain, women tap naturally into that area that is responsible for bonding, they are natural word of mouth spreaders.

Niall Devitt is the founder of Beyond the Boardroom (www.btbtraining.com), a leading Irish business development consultancy specialising in providing highly tailored solutions in the areas of sales training and recruitment. Having previously recruited and managed high performance sales teams in the IT and Financial Services industries, Niall understood that there was a need for a results driven sales training solution in Ireland.

He is also a  read more here

Today’s News: Over at Salesopedia two good chums, both are also a   and they are celebrating a centenary of excellent podcasts.

“Salesopedia celebrates our 100th podcast with Jill Konrath who was also our 1st podcast guest on February 18, 2007. Jill Konrath is a sales expert and author of “Selling to Big Companies”. She is also the founder of Sales Shebang, a frequent speaker at national sales meetings and association events, a B2B consultant, and trainer.

Jill Konrath hates closing! She has some strong views on closing techniques and why you shouldn’t use them!  Hear how she became one of the top sales reps at Xerox when she “didn’t know how to close.” Her advice is to “never close.” Take a listen to what Jill suggests you should be doing.”

To listen in, just simply click on this banner.

Tomorrow: What is THE most important element of the entire sales cycle? Join me tomorrow to find out.