Colleen’s Blog

Sitting in on sales coaching calls is one of the most thrilling aspects of my work. This is because I get to see in real-time what really informs the organization.

This week, I want to examine the power of video meetings. Now, I'm not saying that you're going to replace all of your in-person meetings, but a fraction of them need to be on video because of two important statistics that have come to my attention.

I have been coaching salespeople on negotiation strategies for over 20 years. And I’ve found sellers consistently make one mistake: they jump too quickly to lower their price even if they're getting something in return.

We're finding that buyers are limiting contact with sellers to manage their time. In fact, Jill Konrath put it best when she said, "buyers are busy and long-term planning is sometimes only a few weeks."

This month I spent a day working with a group of world-class data visualization architects. Who even knew there was such a profession! Nor that the best in the world were based in Toronto. Ironically, being Canadian, I have very little business in our nation’s business capital so it was doubly nice to be working with such a smart group so close to home. The learning environment you choose for your events can either be attractive and inspiring, or depressing and repellant. An attractive environment puts everyone at ease, sparks conversation, and creativity. It’s simply more difficult to be closed minded and cranky in a gorgeous environment. Today’s meeting space at the Royal Canadian Yacht Club on Toronto Island was one of the top spaces I have worked in. Lots of natural light, a view of the lake, high-class furnishings, a building steeped in tradition, well-dressed attendees, and of course, away from their offices. The environment definitely made a difference in the culture of the workshop. While we can’t always have meetings at locations such as the RCYC, we can create the best environments for our attendees to learn and communicate. I notice that the best workshop environments (gauged from participant engagement and implementation) include:

You offer a great service and haven't received any complaints. Yet, you still feel a void between yourself and your client. Emails and calls are short and to the point, and you may even feel anxious about your client ending the business relationship unexpectedly. You never really know where you stand with your client, professionally and personally. Have you felt like this before? Many salespeople and business owners have. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. What truly defines a great salesperson isn't what happens during the sales process, but what happens afterwards.

Sales people are a pain to manage and they are too expensive!

My big sales message from this trip so far is a personal one. Just when you think you don’t need to learn anything….think again!