Coach Your Sales Team to Top Performance
My question to sales managers who buy into the premise that more coaching delivers better sales is “if you are not out there coaching your reps, then what are you doing?” Most first line
Welcome to the Sales Gravy blog, where salespeople and sales leaders get better every week. We publish new sales training articles and podcast episodes three times a week, covering prospecting, cold calling, objections, negotiation, and leadership, written by Jeb Blount and the Sales Gravy trainer team.
My question to sales managers who buy into the premise that more coaching delivers better sales is “if you are not out there coaching your reps, then what are you doing?” Most first line
Hiring the right people will solve most, if not all, of the new business production problems that you have today. If you have people today that are underperforming, you have to ask yourself this question:
Right now I’m involved with a company whereby I’m listening to and critiquing cold calls. These are qualifying calls. We’ve written the scripts for these reps, put in all the qualifying questions, and now
Here are four of the most common nervous habits that kill sales and what you can do to avoid them in your next selling situation. Have you ever had that out of body experience
Motivation comes from within. Inspiration can come from anywhere. Why not let the people we serve inspire us to be motivated? The Triggers of Success A friend sent this simple text this week: “Inspire
Pretending is not necessary. Your value is obvious from the first sentence of your email and your prospects will want to respond and talk with you. Use your real value proposition and a genuine
Pre-show marketing is an excellent way to connect with your prospects, clients, and partners before a trade show to remind them of your presence and encourage them to visit with you in the convention
Your job as a sales professional is to help your prospects understand their need and to feel the pain that can result from avoiding a solution. According to life insurance industry studies, 36% of
Business people remember sales people who go out of their way to ensure that they receive the best solution, even if it isn’t the sales person’s product or service. Earning a prospect’s trust is
Finding the best candidates is a process that requires a new twist on the ranking system. The most subtle interactions became the gateway to an inventory of eligible candidates of future employees. A Mead
As a small business owner don’t make the fatal mistake of failing to offer business etiquette courses to your employees or taking one yourself. The best business plan and marketing strategy plus all the
With so many people to see and so little time in the convention city, you will need to narrow your focus to achieve the results you desire. Following these tips will help you to
Can’t stomach cold calling? Steal Jeb Blount’s 13 proven alternatives to picking up the phone that build real pipeline and actually work.
When should you ask questions on a cold call? Questions come after you’ve earned the right, when you’re gathering information and qualifying, and they lead the conversation only when the prospect contacted you first.
To prospect for new clients, stop making random touches and run a consistent five-step system. Work this system every day and you gain control of your pipeline, along with the peace of mind that
Salespeople fail at cold calling for five common reasons. Fix them and the phone starts producing appointments again.
Email response rates are collapsing because decision maker inboxes are stuffed with automated, AI-written slop. This is exactly why the phone is more powerful today than it was ten years ago.
Quick Summary Cold calling anxiety is not a symptom of weakness. It’s human and natural to feel fear when you cold call. You are interrupting a stranger who was not expecting you, and everything
Fear of the phone is quietly draining sales pipelines, and the reps who win are the ones willing to stop hiding behind email and LinkedIn and simply make the call.
Salespeople seek a magic window that makes cold calling easy. When prospects answer happy, say yes without a fight, and book the meeting themselves. So, is there a best time to call?
Short Answer Yes, you can make cold calling fun, and it is worth doing, because the reps who enjoy the phone are the ones who stay on it. Fun is not a personality trait
If you want to be a consultative salesperson, a trusted advisor, and a Level 4 Value Creator, then you have to tell the truth. It’s your truthfulness, your candor, and your willingness to help
Every successful sales person has a list of habits that form the core of his or her work. While the particulars vary with each individual or product line, many are universal. The following tangible,
The most dangerous lie that salespeople tell themselves (and anybody else who will listen) is that they lost the opportunity with their dream client on price. Salespeople—like all other groups of people—lie to themselves.
Most sales people live a hurried life and time is of the essence. While we agree that in sales, time is money, there is a cost for polluting our bodies with so much junk food that
Pay attention and adapt your style to that of your prospect and customer. I work with great salespeople and the most successful know how to connect with a variety of buyers. Salespeople are taught
Making the choice to build a spiral pipeline for your sales starts with engaging three core activities in your organization. And continuing these three core activities every day. Don’t Settle for Living in a
Stop thinking your job is done when the contract is signed. Stay on the ground. Remain active even after the deal is closed. Redefine Closing the Sale It’s time to reframe how we think
Salespeople and sales managers are caught up in their own version of Ground Hog Day. They keep using the same approach, having the same conversations, which are leading to the same outcomes. Sales Ground
In order to strike a balance between no theme and full-on theme park, it’s important to understand how to choose a theme that’s right for your presentation and your audience. A group of flight
So what’s your team’s Sales EQ? Here are three emotional intelligence skills to look for in your next hire. You’ve met this person. They are brilliant. Their ideas are creative. Yet no one wants
For leaders, nothing is more important or critical than trust. If people do not trust you, they will not follow you.
On this podcast episode learn the keys to leading and coaching ultra-high performance from respected sales thought leaders, Jeb Blount and Alice Heiman.
On this podcast episode, Jeb Blount and sales leadership guru, Ken Thoreson, discuss how and why modern sales management has changed and where sales leaders need to place their focus to be successful.
The glaring gap in your hiring process is that you are hiring salespeople with no prior experience in lead generation. Are You Tired Of Hiring Bad Salespeople? You may have seen this movie before.
How can you enjoy sustainable and predictable revenues? Here are three ways that can make you the right kind of leader of the sales pack. It’s the second quarter of the year and revenues
Our interpersonal skills and our selling styles often influence buying decisions more than our products or services do. Sales training is great, but, we cannot expect sales training to sustain our success. Think about
People do not need to like you in order to follow your lead and work hard for you or with you as part of a team. Often, our best lessons are learned through stumbling
The cost of a bad hire extends beyond the physical hiring, from running the advertisement to interviewing. If this decision is made in error, other areas of the small business are affected as well. Many