Recently I have written several articles about “Strategic Selling”- a term which seems to have been lost amongst more modern terms such as “Consultative Selling” or “Collaborative Selling” and “Relationship Selling” even “Sales 2.0″ The fact remains that whatever label we choose to hang on our preferred style of selling, there are now considerable implications for sales management.

It is my view that for companies to remain competitive now, their sales organization must be able to respond positively to changing economic tides.

As businesses strive to establish customer orientation, sales partnerships and a strategic approach to selling, they are demanding more and more from their salespeople, but ensuring that these new methods are widely practiced and smoothly implemented falls to sales management.

Building Productivity:

Sales productivity is a strategic issue. That’s why problems in this area stem from salespeople being unclear about their company’s priorities – i.e. what their message should be and what they should be selling.

The trend in industry - post economic meltdown - of removing layers of management between the sale force and the general manager presents a challenge to those sales managers who remain.

To begin with, the sales manager becomes an essential link between company strategy and what takes place in the customer’s office. He or she must not only grasp the corporate vision, but be able to communicate it to the sales force in terms of the real effects on sales practices.

Creating Direction:

Sales managers with an intimate feel for the selling process succeed, because their staff regard them as part of the sales team. But coaching the team is as important as playing in it. In other words, sales managers must be prepared to provide training, feedback and support to every individual within the team.

Once committed to the training process, they must routinely reinforce new ways of behaving in real sales situations. They must provide a clear sense of direction on a daily basis, not just at the monthly sales meeting / quarterly review / annual appraisal.

The very best sales managers engage in frequent coaching and feedback, even when their sales people work in remote locations. While encouraging salespeople to air their problems openly and discuss their concerns, sales managers must be able to offer clear and specific feedback for improving sales performance.

Rewarding Change:

The sales manager is charged with translating the company’s reward system into specific improvements in sales performance. Both salespeople and corporate managers count on the sales manager to recognize and reward outstanding achievement – formally and informally.

The process of promoting new attitudes about the customer and the role of the salesperson can be frustrating and slow. Reverting back to recent research there is compelling evidence to suggest that companies will see results sooner if they recognize and reward salespeople – “you get more of the behavior and results that you reward”

The trend in sales compensation appears to be away from commission to guaranteed salary; from compensation based on orders to compensation based on delivery and sign-off.

Interestingly, some of our clients base their ‘salesperson of the year’ award on the basis of customer satisfaction or customer retention, rather than sheer volume of orders or activity.

Summary — And Now the Good News

It is now a given fact, in any sales-related seminar or conference you may attend, that traditional sales methods are being relegated to the annals of history. The new, more discerning customers of today have seen to that. They now wield greater bargaining power, demand more value for money and have become more knowledgeable and professional when it comes to decision-making.

Suppliers are now faced with rising customer expectations and the need to become more flexible to the requirements of each individual client.

Yet, the key to differentiation lies within these expectations since more complex buying decisions lead customers to value closer links with their suppliers.

News: Who really are the sales and marketing experts, gurus, commentators, authors, and spokespeople that are genuinely influencing the way we think, sell and market our companies/products/solutions in 2013? We have been finding out.

Our aim is to update the list that we created in 2012, and over the past few weeks, a small team of professional researchers have been rigorously examining the credentials of one hundred and fifty possible “candidates” to arrive at the top fifty.

The criteria we used to benchmark each individual’s impact within the sales space was:

• Social media presence — Twitter/Facebook/Klout/Kred score/LinkedIn authority.
• Quality, regularity and popularity of written work — books, blog posts, articles, EBooks etc.
• Active engagement with recognized resource sites.
• And not least, a commitment to continually advance selling and marketing practices.

We will be announcing the results in the June edition of the Top Sales World magazine, so if you are not already subscribed, you can register for free HERE

Finally, it was my intention to have a guest post tomorrow but instead I am going to publish an article I have been working on for a couple of weeks called “LinkedIn Lurkers” and it highlights â€| well do join me to find out.

If you cannot make it, do have a great w/e – JF

Source: Jonathan Farrington’s Blog

Want to contribute to my next book? A few years ago, I published the book Everyone Communicates, Few Connect. If you were a blog reader back then, you’ll remember that we all worked together here on the blog to fine-tune the content for that book. Many of you submitted stories on communication, which were featured [...]

Originally posted at: John Maxwell on Leadership
Copyright 2009-2013. All rights reserved.

Follow JohnCMaxwell on Twitter.
Or visit John’s Facebook page.
A Minute with Maxwell. Sign up here. It’s free!

Source: John Maxwell on Leadership

http://www.rippln.by/get-started - Join Rippln & Start your Global Ripple! We live in unprecedented times. Never before has there been this
 much opportunity for the “average” 
person to become a SOCIAL-PRENEUR. It’s easier than ever for us to create a
 life changing income, all through our
 “social graph”. Rippln is at the cutting 
edge of this new

Source: Robert Kiyosaki Blog

Sometimes people feel that they are controlled by external circumstances.  But the fact is that your life is largely determined by your own personal choices and decisions in every area.  You are where you are and what you are because of yourself.  You have gotten yourself to where you are as the result of the choices and decisions that you have made in the past.  If you want to be somewhere else in the future, it is up to you to make new and better choices and decisions in the present.

Action–Defined

One of the most important discoveries in 20th century thought has been the central role of the actions that you take.  An action is defined as something with a consequence.  Using this definition, even an inaction can be considered to be an action, because inaction, or a failure to act on your part, has a consequence that can dramatically impact your life.

FREE REPORT: Step-by-step guide on Goal Setting, a $20 value.

For example, a person who fails to finish school, or fails to read regularly, or to listen to audio tapes and take additional training, is committing to what you might call an “inaction.”  But because it has devastating consequences on the future for that person, it can be considered an action as well.

The most important actions that you take in determining the quality of your life revolve around the virtues and values that you decide to embrace and live by.  They are as important to your life as breathing in and breathing out.  The fact is that everything that you do is largely determined by what you feel to be good and right and true about life and people-your values!

When you are living consistent with your values, you feel good about yourself.  When you are living inconsistent with your values, you feel badly about yourself.

Be Happy and Feel Good

Aristotle, perhaps the greatest of all the philosophers, broke new ground in thinking when he determined that all of human action is aimed at achieving the happiness of the individual.  He said that we are all the same in this one respect.  We all seek happiness, however we define it.  Everything you do is merely a step in the direction of achieving the ultimate happiness you seek. Aristotle did not stop there.  He went on to point out that only the good can be happy, and only the virtuous can be good.  Therefore, all happiness is determined by the ability of the individual to establish and live by values and virtues that are life enhancing.

From the earliest days of civilization, the purpose of an education was to instill values into the character of the young.  For the first 200 years of American historical development, it was understood that the purpose of the schools was to teach values and the purpose of the home was to teach religion.  Young people were instructed by reading the stories, poems and plays of men and women in previous time periods who most demonstrated and illustrated the values by which that person should live if a person wanted to have a happy life.

Aristotle went on to point out that, if you have been brought up without clear values, you can develop values by deciding upon the kind of person you want to be and then by acting as if you had the values that that person would have.

Sculpt Your Life and Your Future

The wonderful thing about being a human being is that you are free to shape and sculpt your own character.  You can make new choices and decisions at any time of life, especially with regard to your values, and begin acting as if you had those values already.

Perhaps the measure essence of happiness is your ability to achieve the three common goals of self-respect, self-esteem and personal pride that everyone wants.  It is only when you have these three in sufficient quantities that you feel really good about yourself.

Thank you for reading this article about changing your life and how you can be happy. Please share and comment below!

Source: Brian Tracy’s Blog

“The time to relax is when you don’t have time for it.”
Sydney J. Harris

Keeping the stress away from your life isn’t just about the big things and decisions.

It is also about the small things. About what you do and do not do from day to day.

Those small daily – helpful or unhelpful – habits add up very quickly over the weeks and can be the difference between being focused and feeling good about life or not being able to sleep or work properly and enjoy your life as much as you could.

In this article I’d like to share 10 small habits that have had a huge positive effect in my life and that protects me from both the stress out there in the world and the stress I can cause myself.

1. One thing at a time.

It is often tempting to multi-task to get things done quicker. But every time I feel that impulse I remind myself that in the past I have actually gotten better results, been able to focus more sharply and had less stress in my mind and body when I single-tasked.

And so I continue to do one thing at a time.

2. Just write it all down.

Trying to remember every idea, meeting and so on is not the best use of your mind.

And if your memory is anything like mine then you may lose many ideas if they are not captured pretty quickly. So just write all of your good or great ideas, insights and thoughts down to keep them safe and to unload your mind.

3. Don’t guess. Ask.

Trying to read minds usually don’t go so well at all. So instead, just communicate and ask.

By doing so you promote openness in your relationships in the long run and that will also help you to minimize unnecessary conflicts, misunderstandings, negativity and waste or time and energy.

4. Keep everything in its place.

If everything has its place then your home and workspace will have a more calming effect and it will be less stressful to find those important papers or your keys and wallet as you are heading out to catch the next bus.

5. Set clear daily time-limits for your work.

This has been so important for me to not get lost in the very stressful grey zone and to not think about my business and this blog after my workday is done.

Three limits that I have set are:

• Breaks every hour. I usually work for about 45 minutes and then take a 15 minute break when I step away from the work and do something completely different.
• Start and stop-times for work. I don’t work before 8 in the morning and I don’t work after 7 o clock in the evening.
• I don’t work weekends. I usually check emails once per weekend just to see so there is not something truly important I have to attend to. But other than that I stay away from work over the weekend and spend time with my family, friends, a good book or movie or I do some other fun activity.

6. Be 10 minutes early for meetings.

This is a very small habit but in my experience it can sure decrease the daily stress a whole lot.

For me it has transformed travel time during my day into relaxing breaks instead of passages of time and space that only up my levels of stress and other negative feelings.

7. Do email checking etc. as late in the day as possible.

I try to stay away from my inbox until the end of my workday. Doing my work this way helps me to have less distraction and to focus fully on creating new articles, newsletters and premium courses early in the day.

This may not be possible for everyone of course. But see if you can do one or two hours of uninterrupted work on your most important tasks in the morning before checking your email.

8. Pack before you go to bed.

You’ll be less stressed out in the morning and you are less likely to forget something.

9. Aim to keep it very simple instead of creating drama or mountains out of molehills.

Drama, conflicts or creating mountains out of molehills can fill life with things that seem important and sometimes exciting.

But those things will also suck up much of your time and energy and create stress and friction in your life.

A few things that help me to avoid extra drama, conflicts or creating mountains are to ask myself these 3 questions when I am in a negative situation:

• Am I making a mountain out of a molehill right now?
• Will this matter in 5 years or even 5 weeks?
• How can keep things extremely simple in this situation?

10. When overcome with stress, just breathe.

When stressed, lost in a problem or the past or future in your mind breathe a little more deeply than usual and make sure you breathe with your belly. Do this for about 1-2 minutes.

It will calm your body down and bring your mind back from future worries or past mistakes and into what is happening right here in the present moment again.

Image by Insomnia PHT (license).

Source: Practical Happiness & Awesomeness Advice That Works | The Positivity Blog

One of Tom’s favorite topics is the Women’s Market, so who better than Marti Barletta to be included in the best of the Cool Friends? Her first book was Marketing to Women, and we talked to her about it in 2004. Her second book was PrimeTime Women, a label she gave to women aged 50 to 70, who needed a better descriptor than “Mature Market.” That 2007 interview begins with a discussion of marketers’ problem getting their ads onto the screens that people are actually looking at. That discussion continues to this day.

Source: The Tom Peters Weblog

Let’s face it, no matter how unique your products and services and no matter how superb your sales track record, selling in today’s tumultuous times is still more challenging than ever. There can be no doubt about that:

• Prospective clients are increasingly cautious and hesitant about buying.
• Sales cycles are definitely getting longer and longer plus there are fewer buyers overall.
• Even existing, satisfied buyers are foregoing new purchases and making do with existing resources.

But rather than focus on the downside of a down economy, what if you consider the upside of the down economy â€|the upside of the down?

The upside is simple: Consider that your opportunities for larger and longer-term gain are magnified because of the down economy.

While everyone else is running around caught up in the depression, you have an opportunity to radically change your mind-set about selling and your approach to how it’s done.

If you are willing to commit to making this shift, there’s a better than even chance that you’ll exponentially multiply the lifetime monetary value of your best accounts as well as the difference that you can make.

We call this approach “Selling based on being valuable”

Unquestionably, fresh approaches and skills are required to successfully sell in this challenging environment. While sales strategies and techniques have their place and the quality of your products and services remains paramount, these factors alone won’t complete the sale for you.

Selling based on outcomes and value provided makes more sense than ever. By all means, sell based on the specific results, improvements, outcomes, and experiences that buyers get from using your products and services, but I challenge you to take this to another level – a deeper, more meaningful level: Become more valuable to your existing and potential buyers by becoming known and valued as a trusted resource of information, expertise, and guidance. Some of the solutions to their problems and challenges may lie outside the realm of what your own products and services can directly provide, yet you can still point customers in the right direction. While this approach may make common sense, it isn’t commonly practiced. Nor is it consistently practiced. Are you up for it?

So then, here are a few ideas on how to become more valuable in the minds, hearts, and eyes of your buyers. If you’ll commit to consistently practicing at least some of them, you’ll ultimately position yourself as a valued resource rather than as a commodity or, worse yet, someone who only cares about the short-term gain of the sale.

1) Commit to learning what they specifically want to accomplish in their business or job and why it’s so important to them. Inquire sincerely and really listen. And dig. Don’t just accept the first three or so answers; those are typically superficial. Ask genuine questions about what they’re up to. Learn about their initiatives and goals as well as their challenges and concerns about reaching them.

2) Create a success library. Do you have a readily accessible collection of articles, websites, audios, and other media that might be of interest to your customers? This may seem obvious for items that pertain directly to your products and/or services, but be sure to expand the breadth and depth of your value by including resources that are of value to your customers, but may not necessarily promote your products and services.

3) Provide educational and training programs. Doing so positions you as an expert in your field and, in general, people like to buy from perceived experts, especially those they know, like, and trust. These can be live, in-person events and/or virtual events, such as teleseminars and webinars. They may be free or for a fee. And, to add greater depth of expertise and value, you can bring in other experts from complementary fields.

4) Create a “success rolodex” and share it freely. You might not be the best solution provider in every case, but you probably know someone who is. Do you have a rolodex of proven, reliable collaborators, even those in the same field as you? While others in the same field may be viewed as competitors, they may better serve your customer’s immediate needs. If there is a spirit of generosity and best serving the needs of the customer, your competitors become true collaborators.

5) Develop a mindset of contribution. Readily share ideas on how your prospective and existing customers can more readily achieve their goals and initiatives. Weave these ideas into your sales conversations. Yes, there’s a risk of confusing your buyers or sending them too far off track from what you specifically have to offer through your products and services. But if you approach this from the right mindset and a spirit of genuine concern for helping, then you probably won’t need to worry about that.

In a sense, selling from this mindset no longer is selling. Selling becomes an elevated form of education and sharing of knowledge; it becomes a means of contributing to the welfare of others.

This mindset, attitude, and approach transform selling to the realm of educating, connecting, and supporting one another and sincerely helping others to achieve their goals.

It avoids selling for the short-term gain, only to lose the long-term value of a client

Making this a normal part of your selling approach is certain to position you as a leader and valued resource. Businesses will pledge their loyalty and send their referrals.

Ultimately, the economy will regain strength and resistance to buying will shift. Adopting this approach of “selling by contributing” will position you to:
• Attract more and better customers.
• Increase the average transaction size of each sale, and
• Enhance the likelihood that buyers will buy more often and from you.

If you want to sell more and sell easier, then first give. Give of yourself. Give of your expertise. Give of your extended circle of expertise.

Do this, and you’ll transform the process of selling to the gift of contributing value, creating a following that is certain to exponentially expand.

Connecting with your buyers this way is more fulfilling. That connection leads to trust and that naturally leads to a collaborative relationship. Ultimately, this level of relationship enhances your ability to contribute to the welfare of your buyers and their own clientele.

This is a sure-fire approach in any economy — up or down. You win. Your customers win. Their customers win. Isn’t that an outcome worth striving for?

News: We have not only announced all of the categories for this year’s Top Sales & Marketing Awards, we have also now opened the doors for nominations … what are you waiting for? 

Source: Jonathan Farrington’s Blog

A skilled negotiator will create high levels of rapport and be sensitive and empathetic to the people they are negotiating with, yet can still be hard on the issues. The ability to separate the people from the issues, and recognize that negotiations are often fraught with emotional intensity, can help sharpen the focus on the interests of the other party to better balance perceptions.

If the negotiation doesn’t appear to be going anywhere and your prospect is behaving like a bully, you might feel angry and frustrated. You may already have considered simply agreeing to their demands. In difficult negotiations, there are four vital behaviours that can increase your resourcefulness and consequently your opportunities for getting to “Win-Win.”

1. Manage your emotional state
Build rapport by matching the other person’s style, pace and approach until you have achieved a ‘connection’ Personalize the negotiation by using “I” rather than your organization’s name. This demonstrates your belief in your proposal and highlights your credibility.

In the face of feelings like anger, disappointment, frustration, confusion, and resentment, we often react without thinking. In such a situation mentally detach yourself and think about it before you respond. It helps to reframe attacks and tactical manoeuvres as feedback that the other person’s interests have not been fully acknowledged. Stay focused on your goal of reaching an agreement.

2. Look for quick mutual wins to build the belief “we can agree”
The more abstract your communication the more likely you are to reach agreement. Therefore, seek to gain agreement at an abstract level first and then get into the detail.

For example, if two people wanted what appears to be very different things, such as a) nuclear disarmament and b) more resources spent on defense, if you looked at finding out both sides highest intention, you may discover that ‘peace’ was the desired outcome for both people. Therefore, at this abstract level they have found agreement so the negotiation can continue by gradually getting more detailed.

Questions that chunk up your prospect into the bigger picture include:
– For what purpose?
– What’s your intention behind (negotiating point)?

Seek to address the easy/quickest areas of agreement first to reinforce the process of agreement is simple and straightforward. If you discover an area where agreement may not be reached quickly then agree to leave it until later. If some points become contentious it can help discussions if you both move your body, because the mind and body are connected, physical movement helps to create mental movement. That’s why a walk can work wonders during tough negotiations. Provide regular summaries of what you have both accomplished to install the belief that the negotiation is making progress.

Some sales people write out all the points to be negotiated on separate sheets of paper, then as each point is agreed they move the paper to a different place, so that the buyer can physically see the progress being made which serves to motivate the entire process.

3. Use active listening skills and ask questions to give you a greater understanding of the other person’s viewpoint
Giving good attention to people makes them more intelligent. Poor attention makes them stumble over their words and appear stupid. You are best positioned to change someone’s mind after you have listened to that person. People tend to close down and stick to their position until they feel heard. The goal of active listening is for you to hear and understand other people — their words, thoughts, and feelings, and to let them know you’ve heard and understood them.

Acknowledge their motivations, feelings, and point of view, even when you don’t agree with what they are saying. Your goal is to understand the message, not judge the validity of what they say.

4. Build trust by negotiating fairly
Demonstrations of power erode trust. If you are on the receiving end of this type of behaviour, describe your observations, and the consequences of continuing the current process. For example: “You know you’ve named what seems to me a low price, and so now I’ll name a higher price, and then we’ll each insist on our position until one of us gives in. I don’t find my best negotiations work like this.”

Then propose a different way to proceed, for example: “It would help me to understand the criteria of a fair offer if we could take a look at some of the relevant standards in this industry.” Before beginning the negotiation it can help to agree the ground rules and stick to them. Act with integrity and hold a healthy respect for the intentions of the individual you are negotiating with.

There is always a reason why a point of negotiation is important to the buyer and if we can appreciate more about their underlying reasons, this knowledge can be used and acted upon.

Strong negotiation skills are absolutely fundamental to becoming a successful sales professional, so my advice is do work hard to hone your skills.

News: Lots happening over at Top Sales World today: To begin with, we have announced last week’s Top Sales Article and also this week’s Top 10 Nominees.

In addition, there are excellent articles from Jeffrey Gitomer, who reflects on the life of Steve Jobs – “The Good Times.The Bad Times. The Changin’ Times” and Kevin Eikenberry – “Trace Adkins, Celebrity Apprentice and You” 

There is still time to sign-up for Linda Richardson’s Top Sales Academy presentation on Thursday (1:00 pm Eastern – 6:00 pm GMT) – “Transforming Sales Coaching into Sales Results” – it is FREE to register. Here is a brief overview …

“Everyone in business says that ‘It’s all about the numbers.” And research shows that quality coaching is the single most important activity that a sales manager can provide to drive the numbers. Sales coaching increases sales productivity. It makes your reps more independent and accountable. It gives you back hours in your day by teaching you how to question in a way that helps reps learn how to solve problems, develop strategies, leverage resources as needed but close their own deals.

Although more and more organizations recognize that sales productivity lives and dies with their front line sales managers and are providing sales coaching training, productivity numbers show that much of the coaching is not working. Why? Because effective sales coaching is not an event or even informal sessions but rather a part of a continuous learning process, mind-set and skill set embedded in the sales culture.”

I will be hosting, so do join us - REGISTER

Source: Jonathan Farrington’s Blog

Today and more and more in the future, all selling is social and the connection points to all your relationships will involve a component of online.

To thrive in the future you will need to learn to connect, network and foster relationships online.

Here are a few statistical wake-up calls:

Nearly half of all people report socializing online more than they do face-to-face.

You don’t have to LIKE the statistics, but you will have to deal with them.

Here is another, 61% of LinkedIn users use it as their primary professional networking site. Every single second of every day, one new user joins LinkedIn.

What does that mean to you?

CONTINUE READING

Source: Darren Hardy, Publisher of SUCCESS Magazine

Want to contribute to my next book? A few years ago, I published the book Everyone Communicates, Few Connect. If you were a blog reader back then, you’ll remember that we all worked together here on the blog to fine-tune the content for that book. Many of you submitted stories on communication, which were featured [...]

Originally posted at: John Maxwell on Leadership
Copyright 2009-2013. All rights reserved.

Follow JohnCMaxwell on Twitter.
Or visit John’s Facebook page.
A Minute with Maxwell. Sign up here. It’s free!

Source: John Maxwell on Leadership