Pit Crews and Sales Teams: Planning Improves the Odds of Winning
Keep in mind that pit crews don’t prepare during the race. There is a time for preparing and a time for selling. We don’t start prepping when we’re supposed to be out selling. Before
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.
Keep in mind that pit crews don’t prepare during the race. There is a time for preparing and a time for selling. We don’t start prepping when we’re supposed to be out selling. Before
Something is amiss! Today’s sales consultants are not sales experts; they are expert administrators of the prepackaged, template-based models they “tailor” or “customize” and superimpose onto a client’s business. They evaluate businesses from a
Follow these three proven secrets of top producers and your appointment rate will increase as well as your qualified appointment ratio! This article is too short to script all these things out for you,
Just as you wear one outfit to exercise, a different one to work, and another to enjoy a nightclub, you must consider what your team will be doing while on-site to choose the most
The bottom line is that a sale is a game of strategy in which “numbers” are only one part. And, apart from improvement in strategy, process, skills, and techniques, you won’t improve sales. The
Some people are more married to their grudge (it gives them a reason to live) than they are to resolving it. People are prickly, they take offense and lock onto it, and once they’ve
Sales is a dynamic occupation that engages a dynamic world. Salespeople depend on your support to help realize their efforts. In order to achieve reliable growth, your operation must be designed to evolve from
Social media has changed our lives in many ways, and it’s changed the way we make buying decisions as well. If you’re like most people today, you probably search several sites, read reviews, look
Shifting into auto-pilot mode can affect a sales person’s results and not in a good way. When you move in auto-pilot, you lose your effectiveness. You do yourself and your potential customers a disservice.
Every sales professional feels frustrated when they’re put on hold even after receiving all the buying signals, including agreement with your solutions, price and service. 3 Reasons Clients Procrastinate According to a recent study
Are you writing your next series of educational articles for publication? Designing new marketing materials for an upcoming trade show? Preparing a special presentation for VIP prospects? These are a few example circumstances where
The most successful sales people almost always have very clear objectives, plans on how to get there and an ability to push past the pain of work to achieve it. Something that proved to them
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 ask and they have found good examples, you have an opportunity to collect more stories and the new hire quickly learns what will be rewarded. If you ask and they have found
So, what separates the great channels from the “not-so-great”? Great channel organizations truly focus on what really matters. By doing so, these companies and their people are able to accelerate revenues, increase market share,
Your management team may have implemented a team selling model with great expectations for success. However, team selling doesn’t always live up to its potential. To Team Or Not To Team? Does this sound
Tips for Building a Successful Process for Onboarding New Salespeople To build and sustain a high-performing sales team you must begin with successfully onboarding new salespeople. Getting it right from the start will help
It’s often difficult to motivate sales reps to focus on developing expertise when they want to develop relationships, but the two can go hand in hand. Trust is Not Enough For many years, developing
In the context of selling, a blind spot is something you commonly do within your sales interactions that potentially threatens your success. And here comes the kicker… you’re not aware of it. I’m a
Sales is about relationships. Your sales team can boost your company’s image by blogging, contributing to trade publications, and presenting within your marketplace. Use the Sales Team to Uncover Success Stories Success stories are
The question you must ask yourself is: “Does this secrecy make good business sense in today’s marketplace?” How This Joke Hurts the Small Business Bottom Line Small business owners understand that profitability is critical
Many sales managers don’t like having the difficult conversations—who does? But as a leader, it is part of your role. You’re a top sales producer that has been rewarded with a promotion to sales