How to Create a Sales Strategy You Can Stick With

Sales strategies are like New Year's resolutions: Everyone makes them. Everyone tries to follow them. But eventually, they're forgotten. There are two reasons for this: unrealistic expectations and a failure to adapt to change. Luckily, both of these can be avoided. Start with the Sales Team Most organizations have three plans for how sales should work: what the company thinks is happening, what the sales manager thinks should be done, and what the salespeople actually do. Viewing things from the top…

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What You Can Learn About Sales Hustle From an 8-Year-Old

Eight-year-olds think they know everything. Trust me — I’ve got one. They think they understand how life works and they don’t want help from anyone. Now, as the adult, I can easily look at a situation and see the problems. But, if I ask my daughter, “Hey, can I help you with that?” or “Why don’t you try this instead?” the answer is a quick and determined, “NO!” See, kids like to figure things out on their own — and so…

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Increase Sales By Mining Your Existing Inbound Calls

Wireless retailers get LOTS of incoming calls. What if you could use those calls to make more sales? It’s not just about great phone skills, it’s about looking back through calls that didn’t convert and seeing if there’s potential for a future sale. Mining for Gold Think of it like gold mining. See, gold can be tough to find — only one out of every billion atoms of rock in the world is gold. But rather than sifting through every rock in the…

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Why Home Restoration Businesses Are Wasting Their Time Without Sales Lead Management Software

Restoration companies need to be in the right place at the right time. When the flood comes, the fire consumes, or a pipe bursts, your company wants to be on speed dial. Sales lead management software is the best way to keep in touch with other professionals. But how do you get your restoration company on their short list? In home restoration, you depend on referrals. Sure, you go through regular advertising channels, but professional referrals make you stand out.…

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Craft Beer Distribution: How to Get Your Beer into More Restaurants

A guy walks into a bar — not just any bar, a brewery. This place makes great beer — but no one knows about it yet. So the guy asks the owner, “Have you thought about getting your beer into more restaurants and bars?” “Are you a distributor?” “No, but I know a way you can do it yourself.” “Well,” the owner replies, “I have an agreement with my distributor not to sell my product directly. Otherwise, they're not going to…

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Tell the Story, Make the Sale: Sales Conversation Starters to Improve Your Pitch

How much does a polar bear weigh? Answer: Enough to break the ice. Okay, maybe it’s the cheesiest pickup line ever, but it accomplishes an important task: it opens the door to conversation. The best sales conversation starters do the same. They tell a short story to open conversation — a story about what problem you can solve for other people and how it might help your prospect, too. Make Your Story About the Solution Successful companies don’t exist because people…

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What Parking My Car Taught Me About Sales Success

A few months ago, I was doing a three-part training for New York Life agents. In these types of training, you get to know each other during multiple sessions as you observe and interact. Well, apparently one guy had noticed how I parked from the conference room window. So, as I walked into the third session, he asked, “Why do you always back into your parking spot?” Little did he know, he was tapping into a life philosophy. It all started a…

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Sales Funnel Management: Close More Deals by Eliminating the Noise

If you’re looking to move your prospects from possibility to purchase, it’s time to reexamine your sales funnel management. At the top of this metaphorical funnel are any people who could potentially buy. Then, as they move closer to being a client, they move down the funnel. But how does this funnel really help the sales process? It works toward two advantages. 1. Planning Your Sales Steps Figuring out where people are in this process helps you manage your sales…

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Focus on the Sales Activities That Matter

Salespeople will do what they like to do, not what they need to do. If it’s uncomfortable to make cold calls, they’ll find a way to justify doing something else — like sending an email or writing up a proposal. But when you’re focusing on sales activities, you need to dedicate time to the activities that matter — even if you don’t like them. Real, Severe Commitment There’s a difference in scheduling time and severely committing to something. I’m working…

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3 Ways to Increase Sales Without Hiring a New Salesperson

Improving your sales team comes at a cost. But what if you could pay for it in time you’re spending elsewhere rather than the actual price of hiring a new salesperson? An increase in sales productivity doesn’t have to mean hiring another person — sometimes it just means using the team you have more efficiently. So what do productive sales teams do? Collectively, they increase their market share. You want your business to gain as much of the market share…

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