Colleen’s Blog

,So I work with a lot of companies who aren’t big enough to have both a sales team and a marketing team. And you know what? That’s okay because especially in today’s selling environment, the very best sales people are also really strong marketers.

,I know there are a lot of small businesses and startup businesses that pay attention to my site. Often, they come to me and they say, “Colleen, should I build out my sales team? It seems kind of expensive and cumbersome."

Far too often sales reps get into combat with their customers over questions and objections and you can get into combat if you want to win the sale, you have to stay in conversations. So how do we do that?

Mike Tyson once said, you know, everybody has a set plan they're going to use until they step in the ring and they get punched in the face. It may be a strange reference when talking about sales but it's more applicable than you think. We get punched in the face proverbially of course with every sale call we make, meaning a question comes in from left field that we weren’t prepared for, the prospect or the customer says something that we weren’t prepared for and being unprepared is a terrible mistake to make in sales.

I made many observations at Dreamforce 2016. One of the major points I noted about Dreamforce is that they have built an entire community around customer success and Salesforce.com.

Haven't I said this before? Today I attended the Salesforce for Sales keynote. Thanks to the Sales Cloud team, Tim Clarke specifically for the great VIP Seating. I have to admit, I sometimes fall into that grizzled, jaded, old sales vet mode, and think, "come on! Do we really need all this new fanged technology to sell?" The answer is no. Unless, of course, you want to sell more in less time with greater ease and with more profit. In that case, the answer is absolutely yes! Teams need to be equipped with mobile technology, and a fully functioning CRM. <--- Click to Tweet I would also encourage you to consider the following technologies that are proven to increase conversion rates:

The very best habit I ever developed as a sales rep was this single habit:

What's the easiest way to lose control of the sales process? I'm sure you've noticed, many 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 and trying to come to a solution. In their mind, it’s much easier to ignore you than to reach out to you for a chance at a better price. Your buyer fears 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.

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.