Could you be headed for a revenue crash? Here are six…often missed warning signs.

Colleen Francis of Engage Selling delivers sales results. Sales strategies for an immediate and lasting impact to your results in any economy. Read this sales blog: Beyond Qualification: Sales Pipeline Last Steps.

Measuring your sales pipeline as percentage complete, as opposed to probability of close, will give you a more accurate number for your sales forecast and a more complete picture of your future sales.

Here is a new interview with me and Lattice Engines on the power of referrals and cross selling.

In rethinking the sales process this way, every step of the process represents a set of tasks or activities that have to be complete in order to move the deal through the pipeline. It’s no longer the probability of close—a subjective opinion from the sales rep—but the percentage complete in the sales cycle—an objective statistic based on facts.

Too often when looking at a sales team’s success, managers only look at the actual sales (the closing of the business). Of course, this is important—but the sale is a lagging indicator. If you have no sales closing today, it indicates that your team has not been performing well for months. By the time you’re at the point of no business, you’re already well into trouble. In fact, you are at the point of no return.

Sales people hear it all the time: “ABC. Always be closing.” But as a sales leader I’d recommend that you adopt a slightly different mantra for yourself: “ABR: Always be recruiting.”

I received this question during a webinar and was not able to get to it during the call. Here is the answer now. Colleen, any fresh perspectives on dealing with customer's paralysis by analysis? You bet I do!

Working hard to stay positive? Then you need to minimize the effect Life Suckers have on your life.

In order to help your team get past their fear and ego, I suggest focusing on referrals as a sales strategy. Have a referral blitz, a referral campaign or a referral contest. Motivate your team to get referrals through healthy competition, prizes and financial incentives, or just accolades for having the most referrals in the business. Make referrals an important piece of your sales plan and incentivize and reward your team to get them by ensuring that you're rewarding them accordingly.

There is a new normal in sales, and to be successful, we must know that exactly that is. The old way was cold calls and calling 25 people a day. Now, it is more important to have quality contacts, and 1:1 conversations. Relationships are key! Clients find us now more than they used to. So, businesses must ensure that they have a credible, professional presence.

It's the start of a new month. Your numbers are back at zero and you need to refocus on getting the job done. What does it take? The hardest of all human behaviors.

Rid yourself of sales trash. Are you selling the way you were five years ago? Chances are good your results aren’t what they once were. Find out what’s not working for you and kick that sales trash to the curb! Here are five common issues I’m seeing when coaching clients.

Despite what you may have been taught in the past, there IS such thing as a dumb or a stupid question in sales. I hear them all the time - both by the sales people that call me, AND while listening to the sales calls sent to me by clients. Occasionally in training workshops too. And it never ceases to amaze me that with all the great questions to chose from, why some sales people chose to alienate, disengage or confuse their prospects by setting the wrong tone with their questions

Last week I was on site rolling out our Retention and Growth Formula (TM) for a large sales convention. We brook the group into 8 teams and gave them an hour after the session to create their own VORTEX retention plan. Here are some of the best ideas form the presentations:

Do you still feel that cold calling is the best first contact with a new prospect?