Colleen’s Blog

An Engage Selling client has a sales rep who is a good performer but also causes a lot of trouble. She is very difficult to manage and causes chaos in the office daily. Today she announced to the owner of the business that she was having an intimate relationship with their biggest customer simply to protect her job. She sensed that the owner is tired of her antics and is thinking about firing her.

Often at Engage, we discuss effective communication strategies to use with prospects and clients. After all, in order to be an effective salesperson, learning to communicate effectively is a necessary prerequisite. There’s truly no way around it. However, it’s equally important for you to understand the “client repelling behaviours” which will land you in hot water with your sales results. Both new and experienced salespeople often don’t even realize when they are displaying poor business etiquette to prospects and clients. Don’t get stuck in the same category as these sales reps! In today’s era of mobile and smartphone technology, you are encouraged to take advantage of the many different avenues of communication to get in touch with clients. Texting, Skyping, faxing, emailing, and calling are all acceptable forms of communication when trying to reach your prospects. It’s what you do during the communication process that really matters.

You never know what you’ll find when going through old emails. While doing some inbox “spring cleaning,” I came across this cold email I received awhile ago. Let’s dissect it and see what lessons we can learn! “Dear Colleen, "ABC Company" is working with more than 1000 companies - including Xerox, Kaiser Permanente, VeriSign, and Goodyear - to help them deliver more effective and consistent communications and training to their internal and external audiences and dramatically reduce costs. The following is a brief example of “ABC Company’s” presentation that speaks to our value: View the “ABC Company” message for Engage Selling. Thank you for taking the time to review this. Please let me know if you are interested in learning more about the solutions we have created for our customers, and I'd be happy to forward a testimonial.”

Have you ever wondered what makes you and your business more interesting to your prospects and clients? It isn’t hourly updates on Facebook or a picture with a celebrity. In fact, what makes a business more interesting to prospects often eludes most business owners. In order to generate true interest from your clients, as well as create engagement and more business, you must first demonstrate interest in them as human beings. ← Click To Tweet Many salespeople often forget that clients are people. They aren’t walking wallets or talking POs. When you treat them as such, you will often lose the opportunity to create a valuable, long lasting relationship. Even the most distinguished decision maker would rather be spoken to as a person than a number. There are several actions you can take to demonstrate to your prospects and clients that you care about them: