Colleen’s Blog

For the most part I have had nothing but extraordinary service while in the UK. These hotel and taxi practices are not difficult to replicate nor are they expensive to implement. They will encourage repeat business and increase profits from referrals. Why aren’t more service providers catering to customers in this way?

They're hitting and exceeding their targets with no signs of slowing down. Should you even bother to coach your top sales performers? I've been working with executives for the last few years on sales coaching practices. I've noticed that many executives are on the fence about whether or not to coach top performers. Let me clear the air. Your top performers should absolutely be coached, regardless of how impressive their numbers have been and how long they've been exceeding expectations for. Here's the truth, you have the best opportunity to move the bar forward with your revenue by coaching your top performers. So, don't fall into the trap! Executives who implement a "hands off" policy for their best performers are doing a major disservice. <-- Click To Tweet What's the best way to coach them?

A few decades ago, a career in sales was a much sought-after career by young graduates entering the workforce. College seniors would clamor to get on the interview list of on-campus recruiters representing blue-chip companies like IBM and Xerox who were hungry for top sales talent. Today, it’s much harder to sell young people on a career in sales. And yet it’s vital for successful organizations both large and small to overcome this barrier if they want to grow their sales force and their profits—not to mention their market appeal to this giant demographic group. In this two-part article, Talent Maximizer® Roberta Matuson of Matuson Consulting looks at why sales gets a bad rap from millennials, and sales strategist Colleen Francis of Engage Selling Solutions explores what you can do to reverse that trend.

Sales is an interesting game. You never know when the most (seemingly) minor slip up can cost you. <-- Click To Tweet Because of this, I want to highlight a few common, and not-so-common mistakes so that you can build awareness around them. Take time to read though each item on the list and consider the consequences of making such an error in your own business. The more real it feels to you, the more likely you are to take it seriously and avoid making it in the future. If you've already made a mistake highlighted in the list, relearn the lessons associated with it. A mistake is only a mistake if you don't learn from it.