Mistake: Maintaining the status quo in your workplace. Solution: Complacency is like an electric, blinking neon sign of danger. When managing your team, don’t just think, “Is this working?” You need to think, “How can this work even better?”
All too often, salespeople focus on the wrong elements in their attempt to increase sales. They turn their attention to the features, benefits, and value-added aspects of their product or service in an attempt to differentiate it from that of the competition and ultimately convince prospects to buy.
Eventually, almost every interview turns into a question-and-answer session. You ask a question. The candidate answers as you check a mental tick-box (good answer? bad answer?). You quickly go to the next question and the next question and the next question, because you only have so much time and there's a lot of ground to cover because you want to evaluate the candidate thoroughly. The more questions you ask, the more you will learn about the candidate...or not.
What does a company need to be successful? Many people would say investors and a solid business plan, but in addition to these important factors, a company needs effective managers. These capable leaders act as the backbone for a company, guiding members of the team to become better salespeople. Great leaders make tough decisions to ensure the company achieves targeted goals and takes advantage of opportunities that arise. In addition to quick decision-making, effective managers need to identify and act against potential problems before they become company-wide issues.
One of the questions we get a lot from our President’s Club Members at Sandler Training Seattle is “When is the best time to ask for a referral?” The short answer is – Always. Why? Because the best way to grow sales and stop having to make cold calls is to build your referral tree.
One of the main reasons salespeople hate to cold call is because they fear interrupting people at work. After all, no one likes being interrupted at work or home by a telemarketer. Let’s face it. From the prospect’s perspective, the person on the other end of the line has just interrupted his day. He doesn’t know who this person is or what the call is about.
Anthony was really on a roll with his presentation to the committee. As he spoke, he looked around the table and decided, based on facial expressions, statements, and body language, that nine of the ten members liked what they were hearing.
