Creating ROI That Sells
The key to selling in this tough economy is the ability to create the appropriate ROI (return on investment) that will motivate a customer to say yes to your proposal. When times are tough, a higher ROI is expected and demanded by your customers. With tighter budgets, customers are demanding more in return for their investments. Many sales people fall short by providing an ROI that is not strong enough to convert a customer's "no" into a "yes". What No...
How a VP of Sales Exceeds Expectations Year After Year With One Easy Question
Fifteen years ago I was sitting on a plane next to my client, Bud Howard, who was then the Vice President of Sales for Hertz Equipment Rental Corp (division of Hertz). We were in the middle of a three city tour which he hired me to keynote his national sales meetings. It was one of those moments where we were just exhausted, sitting quietly and getting our second wind when Bud leaned over to me and asked a question that...
Little Things Can Produce the Biggest Results
Two days ago I received an e-mail that floored me. It was from a manager at a local Cheesecake Factory who remembered my visit to her restaurant in 2005. Here is a quote from her e-mail--- Back in '05 I met you at the Cheesecake Factory where I worked. I was a manager there and I approached your table to see how your experience was going. We had a brief conversation and as I was being called away to assist an...
Beliefs of a Successful Sales Professional
Today I had breakfast with a CEO in between positions. He recently resigned from a company he helped turned around and take to the next level. Looking for a different opportunity, he decided it was time to move on. What struck me during our conversation were the beliefs that drive his actions professionally. As a leader, you can see this person not only talks the talk, but also walks the talk. Here are some of his beliefs which will positively...
Sales Is The Only Way Out of this Recession
Companies and individuals have done the cost cutting. Jobs have been eliminated. Dealerships have been closed. Costs have been slashed. All this has done is help people weather the economic slump. Getting out of the slump is a different story. The only way out is by selling something. (more…)
ARE YOU INTERVIEWING A POTENTIAL SUPERSTAR?
Beyond the challenge of establishing an applicant's values and interaction style - topics we've examined in previous articles -- there remains, for hiring managers, the key issue of whether or not a given candidate has the skills to sell as a true superstar, what I call a Titan. If there is a skills mismatch -- if the person you're interviewing lacks the essential abilities to sell as a top performer -- then you've got to decide whether or not the...
HOW SALESPEOPLE SELL: A HIRING MANAGER'S GUIDE
In our first article on hiring, we looked at the sales candidate's value system and will to succeed. Now it's time to gain an appreciation of how he or she is likely to go about selling. There are many models used for classifying behavior in this area; the model we will be referring to here is known as the DISC model, which was initially developed by Dr. Carl Jung and Dr. William Marston. The DISC profiles we use in our...
HOW TO HIRE SUPERIOR SALES PEOPLE
Hiring salespeople who are motivated and energetic to begin with is essential. You shouldn't rely on others to breathe life into a hire -- the hire must be "alive" from the get-go! Many organizations miss the boat when it comes to recruiting salespeople. Too many hiring officials either do not know what they want, know what they want and are not sure how to find it, or have a decision-making structure that is actually counterproductive to the key stated goals...
Get Better or Get Out of the Game
"There is only one boss: the customer! And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down simply by spending his money elsewhere." Sam Walton Customers don't care what your mission statement says. They care about how you treat them. To be successful as a salesperson in today's environment, great customer service must be your first priority. (more…)