Essential Do’s and Don’ts of Selling

February 1, 2012 By Leave a Comment

To Sell Or Not To Sell?

Forbes put together a great slideshow pointing some of the best and worst practices of sales. Selling is an art and a science at the same time. It takes precision as well as creativity to truly be successful and almost anything can throw you off track. This list covers almost the entire spectrum so I decided to share some of my favorites with all of you.

1. Never have poor telephone or in-person etiquette

2. Never project, jump to conclusions or mind read

3. Never claim to know the answer to something when you don’t

Find more sales tips on Forbes

What sales rules do you live by? Share in the comment box below or on Facebook and Twitter.

Filed Under: Running a Business, Sales, Sales Tips, Success Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Why Can’t Marketing And Sales Just Get Along?

January 24, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Is your sales team plotting ways to take out your marketing team?

Don’t worry, it’s a classic battle and you might be surprised to hear that your sales people are probably on the right track. That being said, it’s your job to make sure they are getting along. The fate of your business depends on it. Here are a few instigators of this time old battle. Once you identify them, you can solve the problem and prevent any further friction between the two departments.

1. Marketitus Superioritus – Marketers tend to feel and act superior to the sales team. This usually comes down to education. Most marketers have gone through business school and most sales people haven’t. What the marketers don’t know is that you don’t learn how to successfully sell in school, you learn through experience. An easy fix for this problem is to make sure every marketer you hire has experience in sales.

2. Marketers Tend To Deem The Sales Force Unnecessary – They’ve learned that “great marketing” should sell the product for you. What they don’t know is that even “perfect marketing” doesn’t always push the customer to make the final purchasing decision. The quick fix is to let the marketers know that they are there to support the sales team, not replace it.

3. “Selling Can’t Be That Hard” – On the contrary, selling is one of the most valuable skills a person can have in business and one of the hardest to gain. Keep in mind, customers can easily ignore your marketing efforts but it’s incredibly difficult to ignore direct sales.  Fix the problem by challenging your marketers to make some sales calls.

Find more problems and solutions for making you marketing and sales team work together here.

How do you get your marketing and sales teams to work together? Share in the comment box below or on Facebook and Twitter.

 

 

 

Filed Under: Business, How to be a better leader, How To Keep Your Employees, Management, Managing, Sales, Sales vs Marketing Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Know Thy Business To Make More Sales

July 25, 2011 By Leave a Comment

If there were an official set of commandments for any salesperson to follow, “Know thy business,” would be towards the top of the list.  Unfortunately there are thousands of salespeople out there who really don’t have a clue who their business is, or what it really has to offer.  There is a difference between knowing what you are selling and understanding it. Here are a few things to consider before trying to sell anything.

What does your product/service mean to the customer? – Not just what it does, but what does it mean to them?  It may mean that their new TV gives them a reason to host more get-togethers with their friends, or the new steam mop will save some time and effort once soccer season starts.  Figure out more than how your customer can use your product or service.

What other problems can your product/service solve for the customer? – Think big picture here.  There is always the obvious use and problem that is solved but you have to be able to see past that.  Try to think in terms of the butterfly effect.  One little convenience right now might set off a chain of events that will make something a lot easier further down the road.

What exactly is the customer getting? – Don’t ever over promise your sale.  Make sure you are specific and that the customer understands what they are getting out of the deal.  You can create a brand advocate and lover by delivering more than you promise or you can make an enemy by delivering less.  The thing is, most of your customers will listen to another customer before they listen to you.  This puts a lot of responsibility on your sales people, so train them well.

What sales tips do you have?  Share them with us here or on Facebook and Twitter.

Filed Under: Sales Tagged With: , , , , ,
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