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Sales Culture Blog
Sales is not an “If”
Dear ToddCohen.com Sales Community,Sales is precise. We have talked in the past that what we do is an art and a science. It is a skill and it takes time to hone it to perfection. Sales is not about the "if". Let me explain. I have been listening to different sales people lately and I seem be hearing a great deal of:"If only the economy was better, I could have......" "If the product was better I could..... "If the CEO would only take my call...." "If I could just get in front of so and so......... "If .....and so on.I think you get the point! Sales is not about the "if". It is about the "I can" and "I will". Sales Professionals ...
Why Sales People Fall Short!
Dear ToddCohen.com Sales Community,In response to you requests, here is my list of the "Top Reasons why Sales Reps don't close the deal"1. Failure to ASK for the Order. (ASK! You have earned the right.) 2. Failure to create and leverage a Virtual Team (a.k.a. your own Sales Culture) 3. Taking a "NO" as a NO instead of needing to "KNOW" more. 4. Poor negotiation skills-failure to find a "win-win". 5. A mismatch between your offering and the clients pain points. 6. Making it about price and not about value. 7. Not getting all the "cards on the table". 8. Missing the BIG Picture and the client feeling under served9. Not reviewing the contract early enough. 10. Rushing the deal and not building rapport. 11. Lack of confidence in yourself ...
Your Call to Action!
ToddCohen.com Sales Community,Welcome back from the holiday and welcome to the New Year. I trust you all had a restful and happy holiday. 2009 is here and we are jointly accountable for a fast and aggressive start. Later this morning you will most likely see my January Newsletter and in it I speak about a “Call to Action” for the new year.I have a question for you now: what is your “Call to Action” for your sales teams?Quite literally this is the week that we need to set the tone and direction for the entire year. How your team sees you behave this very week is how they will see the year. If you hit the week ready to roll and act they will do ...
Are you in Control?
Dear ToddCohen.com Sales Community,I was having an interesting conversation with an (overwhelmed) client recently. He was struggling with how to balance the many demands on his schedule and feeling anxious and stressed out. No kidding! We are getting busier and being asked to do more with the same or less resources. This is the way things are now and there ain't a whole lot I can do to change that. However, during this conversation, I asked this sales professional one question " are you in control?". For about 45 seconds I had silence on the other end of the phone ( remember, the first one to speak loses the deal). Then the response was.."no".When I probed what he meant by ...
Can You Delegate?
ToddCohen.com Sales Community,Delegation is a skill and one that we all need to be very good at if we are to be great sales leaders and build sales culture. We all know that our business is well...busy and one of the many things we can learn to do better is to delegate and empower people. Effective delegation is a skill that I have observed great sales professionals do well to it is a strength that separates good from great.
What Motivates your Sales People?
Todd Cohen.com Sales Community,As a sales leader we have firmly established your most important role is to develop, coach and mentor your sales team. Right? Right. You will succeed by having well trained and developed sales professionals who deliver revenue. Now, the question I want you to think about is this - do you know what motivates your people? Have you taken the time and really thought about each of your sales people and what is each individuals motivation to be at your company and be successful? Is it money? Is it challenge or the opportunity to work for a solid company? Is it for future advancement? Do you know what actually gets your people up each and every day, brings them to work and motivates them to be successful? If you do not know, then I want to suggest to you that you are accountable to know that. This ...
Momentum is KING
ToddCohen.com Sales Community: Q3 is Here......yes, it has snuck up on us and now we have to keep the momentum strong. It is now more important then ever that we each hold ourselves accountable for keeping up the momentum. If we are to leverage what we have started and finish the year at or above plan we need to keep the momentum strong. Great sales leaders leverage the positive and at the same time ratchet things up.Momentum is KING. How can we keep up the momentum?Increase you field travel where possible and cost effective. You will accelerate more deals by being in the field as much as possible. This is excellent coaching time-in real time. Prioritize your field travel to ...
“Can I Be Honest With You?”
Dear ToddCohen.com Sales Community-It time for "Todd's List of Annoying Sales Talk"....or something like that. I actually just invented this today after hearing a speech where the presenter answered every question the same way by starting with "I want to be frank with you" or " I want to be honest here". Seriously folks how many times have we as sales professionals started to answer a question posed to us by a client with something that sounds like " "Let me be honest" or " Can I tell you the truth?" ..We all do it and we are all guilty of using these awful starters when in fact we are not being dishonest or disingenuous at all. The issue with using these type of phrases is that they cast a doubt in the clients mid that you are actually ...
Sales Culture and Service!
Hello ToddCohen.com Sales Community!Here is a thought for the day.....have you though about the fact that great sales cultures are built on delivering great service? OK, maybe this is not your first and last though of the day, but as sales professionals and part of the overall sales community we must be the ones who are experts at delivering exceptional service to our clients. This is really not a negotiable point.
I believe passionately that there is a strong correlation between the concept of delivering great service (which is selling, albeit subtle) to creating a positive brand image in the mind of the client and this will of course directly affect the revenue line. So, to that end ask
...Almost There
Dear ToddCohen.com Sales Community,Its amazing ( well at least to me)! On June 4th we will celebrate our first full year of building the ToddCohen.com Sales Community! How does a year go by so fast?....Well, to that end, several new things are about to happen. First, you will be seeing the new and upgraded ToddCohen.com website. We have made many upgrades to the technology and added great new features. I have just finished recording video and more podcasts. Many great people writing timely articles for us to learn from as a community.On the heels of the new ToddCohen.com, my new corporate website, SalesLeaderLLC. com will be launched as well. ...
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