Matthew G. Sikich II is The Official SelfGrowth.com Guide to "Sales Training". You can find complete information on Matthew G. Sikich II and his products by visiting The 5 Buying Habits.
Approaching a senior level executive, doctor or high government official is very nerve racking and usually holds sales people back from approaching the ultimate decision makers. That’s because we’re anticipating an unpleasant outcome or projecting a negative experience. The antidote is ... Views: 2872
Direct Sales is a potent and lucrative business model. With no inventory cost, no shipping cost, no rent or lease, it has the lowest start up and overhead of any other business out there. This equals huge profit margins and income potential.
So why, when the business model is so efficient, is ... Views: 2866
The numerous changes we see all around us every day and the roller-coaster economy, has presented us with a few new and interesting challenges. Everything continues to change, and will most certainly keep changing into the future. The markets are no longer the same, peoples buying habits and ... Views: 2861
In 1981 Jan Carlzon took over as chairman of one of Europe's
most poorly rated airlines, Scandinavian Airline Systems
(SAS). That year the company reported an $8 million loss,
after having lost $20 million the previous year. Carlzon
quickly implemented many changes; the most important of ... Views: 2849
Win-Over C-Level Decision Makers with Effective Communications
Learn to Find and Push the Execs’ Hot Buttons/ Engaging Executive Conversations
Capturing the attention of a top level person is extremely difficult. Holding it is even tougher. However, top level people do like to talk about ... Views: 2844
How can you get the most out of learning whiteboard selling skills in online? Create a total training immersion approach. Find out 10 best bets to boost conversations, ignite sales discussions and improve results--without leaving your home.
For years, sales professionals have relied on ... Views: 2840
Perhaps you've been there yourself. You are listening to a speaker drone on with facts and figures… and figures and facts. At that moment your eyes are rolling towards the back of your head. As I always say - audiences will forgive a lot of things from you -- but they will never forgive a ... Views: 2840
Victor Borge, the late, great, Danish comedian once said, "Laughter is the shortest distance between two people."
Well, it can also be the longest yard in trying to make an audience laugh, as I tell you what happened to me when I once performed on a cruise ship.
Remember: when it comes to ... Views: 2838
An Elevator Pitch is a technique that you can use in sales meetings, prospecting, and telesales and appointment making calls. The sales technique makes your first contact with a buyer more effective and will help you close more sales.
An elevator sales pitch will help you introduce yourself ... Views: 2827
Sales training courses for senior managers can train, educate and motivate senior sales managers to get their sales force to surpass the sales goals of the company. Advanced sales training for senior sales managers can turn a great senior sales manager into an excellent sales team leader. ... Views: 2814
Many people utilize teleseminars to market their products and services as well as sell on the backend. By far, teleseminars are one of the greatest tools available to accomplish both. Unfortunately, many people set about to launch a teleseminar without a solid plan in place. One of the first ... Views: 2794
Determining the final decision maker and other high level influencers is one of the most difficult tasks for a sales person. Subordinates and info gatherers claim to be the final decision maker which confuses sales people. Others guard that information for fear the sales person will try to ... Views: 2793
It is 4 times easier to get business from an existing account where you’ve maintained high level relationships, rather than getting business from a new account. It’s 2 times easier to get business from an account that you’ve lost, for whatever reason than a new one. Why, because you have ... Views: 2792
Money making scams, unethical selling techniques and mind games, are still used by some large and small business sales teams. These short term gain techniques are really bad business practice and can bring down not just a business but a whole market place.
I’ve listed below some of the common ... Views: 2764
Introverts can be wonderful salespeople. Our style is very different from the extrovert but equal or more effective.
Begin by valuing your listening skills highly. Introverts really listen. This is the shadow side of communication so if you think about it, being a good listener makes you a ... Views: 2755
Tip number 1: Get serious! Make a decision to go all the way to the top of your field. Make a decision today to join the top 10%. There is no one and nothing that can hold you back from being the best except yourself. Remember, it takes just as long to be great as to be mediocre. The time is ... Views: 2731
There is a major difference between being a sales manager and a top-notch seller, as there is a great deal of responsibility that goes along with being a manager. For starters, a manager must provide sales force motivation for the staff, as his or her career is dependent on how hard these other ... Views: 2729
Your first mistake as an online entrepreneur would be to arrive at this article with get-rich-quick mentality. Although there truly ARE a few genuinely written discussions on the topic of how to make millions, this particular writing has a completely different purpose.
With fundamental focus ... Views: 2699
Listening is the key to establishing relationships and selling. If you learn what your prospects want, and/or forgot to mention, and/or don’t know about, and what they mean by the words they used to describe what they want, you’ll have a complete description of what it will take to win these ... Views: 2658
Persuasion power can help you get more of the things you want faster than anything else you do. It can mean the difference between success and failure. It can guarantee your progress and enable you to use all of your other skills and abilities at the very highest level. Your persuasion power ... Views: 2641
If you live in fear of forgetting prospects' names, sometimes within mere seconds of being introduced to them, you're not alone. Surveys show that 83% of the population worries about their inability to recall people's names. Ironically, while most of us hate having our names forgotten or ... Views: 2640
Let’s face it: the greatest accomplishment for a member of the sales community is closing a deal with a skeptic. Many who are proficient at this art agree that it is far more gratifying to convince someone who initially felt your product was not necessary that it indeed is, than to complete what ... Views: 2632
Have you ever spent an hour or more preparing and giving an eloquent demonstration to a prospect, only to learn, that they couldn't use the features, couldn't afford it, or are not authorized to make the final decision? You may be a great closer, but it doesn't matter how many closes you know, ... Views: 2629
People block you from their bosses and others for a whole host of reasons. For example they feel they will lose their power over you; they don’t like what you have and know that if you get past them their boss might buy what you have and they will be stuck with you; admins are told not to let ... Views: 2623
The most important activity when deciding to pursue a short sale deal is to determine whether or not the homeowners situation would qualify for a short sale approval. If this task is not done, you could be working on a “dog” deal that has no chance of closing, therefore wasting your precious ... Views: 2620
A well-prepared question delivered on time will help you close sales. A dumb question (yes I actually said that) will cost you an important opportunity every time.
I see this all the time. The sales rep gets a great opportunity. He wants me to see just how well he can present. Then he opens ... Views: 2609
Wouldn’t it be nice to tell donors what to say when they talk about your nonprofit? The Rule of Threes won’t let you control what people say, but it will give you an edge. Use it, and you will be giving them “mini-scripts” that will come to mind when they talk to their friends, colleagues and ... Views: 2606
How to Increase Your Sales Using Emotional Language
Warning:
In order to make the point of how emotions are used to persuade I have two outcomes in mind. The first is to demonstrate subtle emotional elicitation. The second is to encourage you to invest in learning more about persuasion and ... Views: 2598
Never believe purchasing, delegated subordinates, or committees make final decisions. All they do is recommend their decision to their bosses. I frequently hear there’s a committee or some manager or functional person has been assigned the responsibility for the selection. The sad news is ... Views: 2565
Sales objections can be the obstacle stopping you achieving sales career success. So imagine what you could achieve if you understood why we get them, and how to handle sales objections successfully.
I’m not going to tell you what to say when a potential buyer hits you with an objection. ... Views: 2553
CEOs and upper level people don’t refuse to meet with people because of their level or position. They reject them because there is no credibility. Titles indicate credibility, and that’s why it may seem easier for a senior executive to get a meeting with another senior manager. However, title ... Views: 2544
Competition on the Sales Floor
One of the simplest elements of capitalism is that competition breeds excellence, and this is as true on a sales team as it is anywhere else. An appropriately competitive atmosphere among your sales people can be the key to getting the most out of your staff. ... Views: 2507
How to NOT Oversell
Karen Cortell Reisman, M.S.
In the movie, Jerry Maguire, Tom Cruise reaches an epiphany which he has to share with Renee’ Zellweger. After his LONG spiel, Renee’ interrupts him saying, “Shut up. Just shut up.....You had me at hello. You had me at hello.”
Do you know ... Views: 2504
Developing better selling skills is not necessarily the path to more sales. In fact, often it is not the most direct route to greater revenues or profits. Yet so many small business owners turn to this as a panacea for low sales figures. Let me tell you a story so I can illustrate my point. I ... Views: 2489
For many salespeople, prospecting is the most difficult activity they do. They dread the thought of picking up the phone to make a living. Long-term success in sales is built through solid prospecting. In order to be successful and profitable, sales people need to apply these seven secrets of ... Views: 2486
Cold call prospecting may not be one of the best ways to generate leads or to make appointments with prospects, however, it beats sitting around the office waiting for the phone to ring and it can help you learn some valuable sales skills.
When I started in sales as a real estate agent in 1982, ... Views: 2472
Think of the companies that have bought from you. There are powerful people in those companies beyond your primary contacts, who have benefited from what they bought from you. These are people you can ask for referrals and critical information on upcoming projects or cross-sells.
There are ... Views: 2465
Credibility is the essence for getting to people; for having people believe you and; for drawing people into buying your products, your services, your ideas, your concepts, and you.
So how does one get credibility? Well you’ve been developing it all your life. You’ve just never taken the ... Views: 2464
When coaching your salespeople through the sales process, there are certain questions that you need to consistently ask them. They really need to have a guideline for their qualifying process. Reinforcing the importance of qualifying the buyer and how to do it over time will help them to ask ... Views: 2459
My sons are lovely human beings. They're helpful, funny, big-hearted, and cute. They are also extraordinarily challenging, each in his own way. Which is why I continuously seek out resources and information to help me deal with them, and to attempt to stay sane in the process.
Last week I went ... Views: 2454
Confidence wanes and self-doubt sets-in when your negative little voices nag at you. Those little voices stem from parental lectures and social interactions which are now programmed into you psyche. These programs are what your inner parent draws from to tells your inner child how to react. ... Views: 2451
An upsell is one of the greatest weapons in a marketer's arsenal, but what is a perfect one?
Essentially, an upsell involves recommending another product to the customer to add to their shopping cart before they reach your order form. You may have noticed that McDonalds upsell all the time in ... Views: 2446
Selling to C-Level and C-Suite Executives will go much faster and easier if you follow this simple nugget. C-Level and C-Suite Executives really value solutions that protect or enhance their careers. What make them look good? What helps them with their jobs? What solves their problems? What ... Views: 2439
Have you ever been in an . . . . intimate relationship? Yes, INTIMATE!
Let me ask you this, “HOW do you know?”
I know, stupid question and what’s this got to do with sales? Well, nothing really. Unless you’re a mover and shaker. Then you understand the psychology of seductive sales. Or ... Views: 2436
You hear the decision has been delegate and you believe it is no longer necessary to get to higher levels of influence. It’s common for senior managers to delegate or set-up committees to determine project scope and select vendors. However, senior managers never delegate or give-away final ... Views: 2431
Closed-ended questions allow you to get definite answers and move toward closing the sale.
Start Sentences With Verbs
Closed-ended questions allow you to get definite answers and move toward closing the sale. Closed ended questions start with verbs, such as "Are," "Will," "Is," "Have," "Did," ... Views: 2427
If your prospect will need to purchase your service or product tomorrow and you call him today good things happen. The most important of which is his belief in your opinion of the importance of his issues (hard sentence, important point). You knew he would need you tomorrow and you called ... Views: 2420
Ten Steps to Persuasive Sales Presentations
By Diane DiResta
Selling is the life blood of any business and we are all in sales. Are your presentations as professional and persuasive as they could be? Follow these simple guidelines to make your sales presentations sparkle.
1. Start with a ... Views: 2415
The 10 Commandments of Selling
Every successful entrepreneur must achieve a level of sales competence. Short of spending valuable capital on hiring sales professionals, there is no alternative. Selling is to business as fertilizer is to agriculture.
Nothing happens in a company until ... Views: 2413