Can you see revenue? Can you see profits? Seriously – regardless of what job you do – you must be able to be able to specifically and absolutely trace what you do to the client saying “yes” and signing a deal. This is the true essence of building a Sales Culture and creating amazing virtual teams.
Recently, I was teaching one of my Sales Culture workshops and a student asked me “What is the worst thing a sales professional can do”? The answer in my mind was an easy one and did not require much contemplation on my part. The worst thing a sales professional can do is act entitled. It’s that simple. In fact, I believe that a basic requirement to achieve the status of great sales professional is to rise above all feelings of entitlement.
If you have a great RPi, your network and your virtual team grows and grows. Another way to think of this is: Your relationships are “platform neutral.”
Todd Cohen, principal of SalesLeader LLC and an accomplished and sought-after public speaker, has been named Sales Executive in Residence at the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Institute (IEI) of the Fox School of Business, Temple University, through the 2011 academic year.
How strong are your business relationships? Do your business relationships extend beyond the sales transactions you complete every day? If you changed careers would you ever hear from those people in your database again? The real question is this: Do you have RP – Relationship Portability?
I see examples of effective virtual teams and sales cultures everywhere I go. I see a lot of examples, but still not enough to think that the sales culture practices are commonplace and clearly understood by sales organizations. When the sales professionals thoroughly understand what they have to do and know how to engage people, the organizational managers say, “Yes, go to work and be on the team.” No distractions on competing priorities are presented by different levels of functional bosses.
Richard is a consulting psychologist and is highly regarded in his field – and after our conversation, I am again reminded why. We were talking about networking and how that is truly the lifeblood of how business moves. Richard asked me if I knew “the 5 most important words of networking”? The answer is simple. Get out your pen and get ready…
