Telling the Hard Truth is the New Path to Successful Sales
Improving Your Leadership Skills As a leader in your company, there comes a time when you will have to convey a truth that isn’t easy to hear or say. Whether you’re telling a prospect
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.
Improving Your Leadership Skills As a leader in your company, there comes a time when you will have to convey a truth that isn’t easy to hear or say. Whether you’re telling a prospect
3 Tips For Selling to Your Prospect’s Brain You’ve heard many sayings when it comes to selling, such as customers buy emotionally and then back up their decision with logic. Or, how about, “you
Instead of getting older and losing strength, stamina and flexibility, you can actually reverse this and become “functionally younger” next year than you are right now. You can actually change the decline curve that
Just what actions ARE you taking right now to accomplish your goal? Do you have a sales coach or have you joined a mastermind group to support you and give you the tools you
Do you lie to yourself? You may not think so but I suggest that you probably do. Here’s what I mean… Sales Lie #1: “I could reach my quota if my company lowered their
When an attendee visits your booth but you realize he either doesn’t match your personal reasons for participating (so you don’t want to chat with him) or your focused area of expertise (so you
Achieving “unachievable” revenue goals If there’s a universal truth in sales, it’s that the start of a new year means everything starts over. Whether you had a terrific year or not, whether you create
Demonstrate your credibility by what you say and by how you conduct yourself. Have the courage to ask tough questions, and have fierce, honest discussions. Seven Steps to Building a Solid Client Relationship
A new year for your customers usually means a new budget cycle and now is the time to stimulate their interest and get ahead of the curve. You’re not discounting your products and services,
The lack of business etiquette skills runs the gamut from polite dining, professional dressing to such simple acts as saying “Thank you” to a customer or an employee. Very few people bother with expressing
You’ve heard Albert Einstein’s famous definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Here’s my corollary: Focus on new ideas and actions and expect better results. Sales
Unless you are replying to a message marked urgent, there is no need to send an instant response. Your e-mail is a representation of you personally and professionally. E-mail Errors That Can Cost You
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
A deeper understanding of naturally recurring patterns of thoughts and behaviors ensures that everyone on the team can maximize their strengths and work in collaboration with others to achieve both personal and professional goals.
You must realize that leading someone does not consist of getting them to do what you want, but putting value on what they want. I’ve been a leader in various organizations and of teams
On this podcast Jeb Blount, author of People Follow You, and Will Frattini, Sales Leader at Zoominfo, discuss the challenges of leading sales teams in rapidly changing environments.
Leaders must never forget that every action they take and word they speak is being analyzed by their people for meaning.
We live in a society that thrives on the 24 hour news cycle where there always seems to be an endless stream of stories about leaders gone bad. In the midst of this barrage,
On this Sales Gravy Quick Tip, Jeb Blount introduces you to the five levers of effective leaders. This is how you get people to follow you!
On this Sales Gravy Quick Tip, Jeb Blount explains why leadership is personal, and why leaders must engage their people at the human level.
On this episode Jeb Blount and Kevin Eikenberry give you best practices and actionable tactics for leading and managing remote employees.
Sales cultures scoring low in emotional intelligence are filled with old sales dogs that refuse to learn new tricks. They sit on the porch of denial, refusing to adapt new approaches to selling. How