What is your top concern in managing a sales team?

Brent Mellow (Helping businesses improve their results with salesforce.com and the Force.com cloud platform.) asked the following question on LinkedIn:
What is your top concern in managing a sales team?
Here is my response:
Hi Brent,
My top concern in managing a sales team is always getting the team to  effectively maximize their selling time.
By spending more time in front of [...]

How to get others to sell your products and services for you

Imagine if you could have others promote you to their customers, who just happen to be your target market.
Well you can if you if you ask  these simple questions when setting up a cross promotion.
P.T. Barnum (who according to Joe Vitale http://www.mrfire.com  (from The Secret http://thesecret.tv/ fame) in his book “There’s a Customer Born Every Minute” http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0814479537/ref=sim_books/103-6167366-1778230, said that P.T. [...]

How to Stand out from the Crowd – Part 2

In my last post http://relmes.wordpress.com/2009/09/09/how-to-stand-out-from-the-crowd/ I was talking about an amazingly simple way to differentiate yourself from your competition.
Here it is:
Do what you say you are going to do when you said you were going to do it!!!
Sounds like an easy concept to grasp. But it is not often practiced.
Think of it this way, when someone [...]

The 7+ Habits of Highly Effective Husbands – Habit #10: Think T.I.M.S. before buying her a gift

Although giving your wife a gift is a great way to show your love, especially if it’s in her favourite currency, if you’re not careful it can still blow up in your face.
Like the time when we were dating I gave my wife April a beautiful red lace rose, not knowing that when you took [...]

The Key Component in Relationships

The key component when you are working with people, either in a leadership position, business or personal relationship is trust.
Distrust breads resistance.
Trust breads willingness.
Think of the best relationships you have and I would bet that they are solid because the level of trust between you is high.
Then think of those relationships that frustrate you. My [...]

How to make effective personal decisions

“How would the person I’d like to be, do what I am about to do?”
This is a great question to ask yourself when you are trying to decide which path to take. Figure out the answer to this question and you will know which path to take.

How to make decisions with the best decision making tools

“So which option is better A or B?”
Your customers may not vocalize this, but they are thinking it.
When customers are hesitating to make a decision, you need to understand that there are many factors that they are thinking of.
“Should I choose A or B?” “Should I buy now or wait?” “Should I buy here [...]

The Secret to Sales Success: It’s not about you!!!

He rolled his eyes and thought, “Here we go again.” And as the salesperson droned on and on about his company’s history and about how great his products are.
Here is a tip for all salespeople (and we are all salespeople, selling something) that will dramatically increase your chances of making the sale.
“It’s not about you.”
Your [...]

How to stand out from your competition? Become an Expert!

Customers don’t want to be sold anything. But they love to be helped by experts.
By positioning yourself as an expert in your industry, you can enter that promise land where instead of approaching your prospects, they will approach you. Already pre-qualified with:

a need
and the thought in their head that you are uniquely qualified to satisfy [...]

How to create Powerful Introductions

I asked him, “So what do you do?” and he replied, “I sell insurance.”
How boring!! In a previous post (you can check it out here http://relmes.wordpress.com/2008/03/06/how-to-become-more-effective-at-networking-events-part-9/ ) I wrote about how to develop your audio-business card and why doing so in a way that differentiates you from your competition can positively impact how you are perceived.
Remember, [...]