steve_reeves

Would you send your best sales guy on every call if you could?  You know, the one who seems to have a special knack of asking the right questions, and understanding the answers. The one who’s sales forecast always turns out to be the most accurate. The one who knows when to hold the cards, and when to fold them, walking away from the deal. What would happen if you could do that? Sales Up. Margins Up. Customer Satisfaction Up. Cost of Sale Down. Days Sales Outstanding Down. This would rank... Read Full Story

At last sales professionals can have their very own sales coach – online . At all hours of day and night, anywhere in the world, they can check their sales plan against a database of best practice . The coach gives an immediate assessment of the degree of qualification for the deal, and a list of recommendations. This system is pure gold for all sales people, hardened veterans and beginners alike – because it works on pure facts. Facts distilled from more than 200 consulting projects into a... Read Full Story

Selling B2B products or services doesn’t involve any form of magic, black or any other colour. But it does require discipline and focus. There needs to be a process everybody understands, including the prospect. There needs to be attention to detail, with no stone unturned in the search for clarity. There must be teamwork – individuals don’t win B2B on their own. Whenever the selling team loses that discipline, attention to detail, and teamwork, the proposal is in trouble. The buying team... Read Full Story

This new sales manager received the coaching he needed in the brown envelopes he found in his desk, on the first morning.  His predecessor had kindly passed on the advice he’d himself received from the guy who was there before. Advice for New Sales Managers  is one of our Sales Stories from the Front Line, in this case published in our Successful Sales Management blog . Follow the link for the original article, but as a taster, here’s a precise: The brown envelopes suggested a course of... Read Full Story

This story about the salesman’s magic pen illustrates how the smallest detail, or idea, can make a big difference in any sale. It’s another in our Sales stories from the front line series – tales sales professionals tell in order to get their point across. Stories from the front line are counter intuitive and funny, or at least ironic. They entertain, and educate, but aren’t always true. This one is true, and it goes like this. John was intrigued. At this first meeting with Steve, he... Read Full Story

How do sales people sell to other sales guys? You might think they get very technical, preening themselves with demonstrations of their intellect. You might think they brag about past achievements and future opportunities. In each case you’d be right, but mostly they sell using  stories . Sometimes those stories are true and others they’re fiction. They’re always direct and simple. Mostly about wins, but also be about failures. And they are always counter intuitive , illustrating a point... Read Full Story

In every sale there’s more money to be made than the seller thinks . And yes, that means you and your deals. Here’s an interesting story which illustrates the point, but before we get into the tale, lets agree every sale is made at a point where buyer and seller agree to contract for a given scope, at an agreed price . And that’s where the opportunity to make more money is hiding. Sales people who focus only on price, and agree to give the customer whatever she wants, are missing a trick... Read Full Story

Are there times when you’d do better approaching sales from the other direction. Times when the prospect doesn’t seem to be listening, even though your value proposition should be exciting. Times when the customer won’t even think about something new. There’s an interesting story from way back which ranks at the top of sales manager war stories . It makes this point simply, without lecturing. And brings a smile to even the most depressed of sales people. Maybe its true, and maybe it... Read Full Story

Is there anything which makes the sales manager happy – apart from the usual sex drugs and rock and roll, that is? Sales Managers are mostly sharp tongued cynics with an attitude. They have to be. Few people get told the whole truth less often. They have to read between the lines and work with what they find there. The sales manager spends his, or her, life between the rock of the CEO’s quarterly numbers and the hard place of customer contracts. The job is a constant battle between the... Read Full Story

What do call a salesman you can trust (or saleswoman of course), if you can find one? Sales people are paid to persuade you to buy stuff you don’t want. They get a commission when they can, and fired when they can’t. Like journalists they tell you what you want to hear, and not what you don’t. When it turns out you bought a pig in poke, there’s no point in complaining. The law is on the sellers side – Caveat Emptor – Let the Buyer Beware . How could you trust somebody who’s interests are... Read Full Story