Colleen’s Blog

How often do you track your growth accounts? In order to be successful with your growth clients, you should be tracking them on a regular basis. More specifically, you should update yourself on their progress on a monthly basis. This may seem counterintuitive, especially because I recommend tracking key accounts on a quarterly basis. But, there are four big reasons that I suggest tracking your growth accounts more frequently.

You’ve probably achieved a degree of success by doing the right things from the comfort of your office. If you’re taking the right steps directly from your office, well done! The good news is, if you’re maximizing your efficiency during your work hours in the office, you can expect to achieve great sales results! The better news? You can actually achieve even greater success by periodically stepping outside the boundaries of your office. Most salespeople quite literally think inside the box. That is - they do 100% of their work and achieve 100% of their results directly from their office. However, the most successful salespeople have learned how to think and act outside the box. In other words, they know how to leverage opportunities outside of their office to create accelerated sales results. Here are two tips to help you get out of the office and create new opportunities for yourself:

It really has been a crazy few months here at Engage Selling. Working with so many different clients in such a short span really opens your eyes to new ideas, strategies and insights. I'm always open to embracing fresh new thinking! With that in mind, I want to share with you an important point which I believe is currently eluding many sales leaders and executives when it comes to building, growing and managing their sales team - and in turn, it's hurting their overall sales results. "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them." - Albert Einstein This quote is crucial to your continued success as a sales leader. When you're dealing with issues and problems with your sales results, are you trying anything new? Are you trying to find fresh perspectives, thinking and solutions to the issues, or are you using the same kind of approach which may have lead to the problems in the first place?

Want to know the easiest way to lose control of the sales process? Time and time again, I’ve seen salespeople hold off on presenting their price to a prospective client until the final written proposal. They don’t bring up pricing in person or before a written proposal is sent because they’re afraid to scare away their potential client. Ironically, by following this methodology, they end up scaring away the prospect anyway. If you avoid discussing pricing options until the very last moment, you make it too easy for the prospect to ignore you. They may love everything about you and what you have to offer, but if the amount they see in writing is not something they’re comfortable with, chances are they will simply avoid discussion rather than initiating it. In their mind, it’s much easier to ignore you than to reach out to you for a chance at a better price. Remember, your buyers fear rejection too! When this scenario unfolds, you lose complete control over the sales process and you make it very difficult for yourself to recover from it.

Your health and wellness are important factors to consider if you want to increase your sales. As you know, it’s tough to focus and get things done when you’re stressed or working on a lack of sleep! You might think nobody else notices your sleep deprivation and stress, but I promise your team can tell when their leader is feeling off! Due to this, it’s so important to focus on you just as much as you focus on your sales team and your business. When you’re staying in noisy hotel rooms, working late or pulling all-nighters, you must make an active effort to stay grounded and ensure that you’re not neglecting yourself for the sake of your team and your business! Remember, a sales team is only as good as their leader!