Colleen’s Blog

A key distinction between top sellers and top sales leaders is that top sales leaders must be excellent team players, whereas top sellers do not. Leaders must be team players. Why? Because they must believe that the whole team:

Everything old becomes new again... Have you heard of that saying before? I bring it up because it's true, especially with an "old" lead generation practice which is turning into one of the hottest trends of 2018. That's right, live events...they're back! Let's talk about how you can use them to generate leads.

I've been inspired by the athletes at the recent Winter Olympic games in PyeongChang. Their grit, tenacity and their ability to perform under pressure are all takeaways for sellers.

It's frustrating. When you see a sales rep struggling month after month, and missing target after target, it's enough to make any sales leader uneasy. The problem is most leaders handle poor performers the wrong way. There's a tendency to have "tough conversations" or attempt to punish them into higher performance. Some leaders even give poor performers the "cold shoulder" and allow a rep's professional performance to seep into their personal behavior towards them. These are all things that are extremely counterproductive and more often than not, contribute to more negativity and even worse performance. Luckily, there are strategies you can put into place to help improve their results. 

If we're connected on LinkedIn, you've probably seen many of my posts surrounding this topic. Cold calling is dead.

Is your organization creating sales dysfunction without even knowing it? I was coaching a sales executive recently and discovered that the company sets goals based on a September 1st FY start, yet the sales teams goals are set on a calendar year. Think about the discontinuity for a second.

Want to dramatically increase your results? In this video, I share a secret that I really never talk about in public, but something I do with my clients frequently. Curious to what this secret is?

Referrals don't work. That's what a client of mine recently told me.

I have to be really blunt here. You're not going to make 2018 "your year" in sales if you're still holding on to clients that are doing nothing more than giving you frustration, headaches and simply won't be profitable this year.

Does your sales team know the difference between conversation and combat? Far too often, salespeople will get into verbal hostilities with their potential buyers. They hear a question or an objection and automatically go on the defensive! This is not a trait you want to see in one of your sales reps. You're simply not going to close a sale with a customer you're also arguing with. The last thing you want is for your sales rep to "win" the debate and have your customer sit back and shut up. This is a sign of apathy and it won't lead to anywhere positive for the sales rep or your organization. Want your sales team to be successful?