In many cases, salespeople get a bad rap. And the number one reason most people state for not liking salespeople is that they push their agenda without listening to, acknowledging or meeting the needs and wants of the consumer. This disconnect is commonplace in many interactions between customers and service providers. In fact, these are prevalent complaints in many relationships.

According to Hubspot Research, only 3% of people consider sales reps to be trustworthy. If you want prospects to consider buying from you, first, you need to overcome that skepticism and win their trust. That’s where sales rapport comes in. Building sales rapport is an essential part of the outbound sales process. If prospects don’t believe you’re telling the truth about your product, they’ll never convert into buyers.

The soul-crushing experience of telling your sales manager that the deal you were so confident would close is now a no-decision is a bitter pill for sales reps to swallow. The opportunity that started off so positively and was looking like a win is now a ghost account that will not return calls or emails. As sales professionals, we rack our brains trying to figure out what we did wrong.

However, when the concept is introduced, it’s greeted with cold stares, heavy sighs and resistance. Whether the employees voice their concerns or keep them to themselves, they sound something like this: “I’m not a salesperson.” “I didn’t join this company to sell.” “I don’t want my customers to think I’m trying to sell them more.”

A survey by Bain and Google of 1,208 people at U.S. companies who are involved in buying software, cloud hosting, hardware, telecommunications, logistics, marketing, and industrial equipment revealed a set of misconceptions among sellers about how buyers behave. Sellers don’t realize that 90% of buyers choose a vendor that was on a short list at the beginning of the sales process; they focus too much on high-level decision-makers, underestimating the number of people inside the buying company who have influence; they rely too much on digital channels, neglecting physical selling; and they don’t realize how much the product demonstration factors into buyers’ decisions

Traditions die hard. How else do you explain the outdated sales tactics still in use by sales professionals? Traditions are great for Thanksgiving and July 4th. But the trouble with traditions as sales professionals is that they prevent us from learning and implementing the required new skills. Consciously or unconsciously, sales professionals defer to outdated tactics that hinder performance.

A company that can’t sell can’t survive. I think we’ve all realized that in a market economy, sales are self-evidently good, like oxygen. So, it is hardly surprising for many years we have sent salespeople to a multitude of training programs in an effort to teach them how to sell more stuff.

There’s a lot of advice on how to be better at cold calling, but the best cold call tips focus on the conversation over metrics. Cold contact tends to put prospective customers on edge; the key to booking more meetings is to approach each call to make a genuine connection. As the world’s leading experts on sales development, we’re sharing our favorite cold calling methods, on-call best practices, and must-haves for effective cold calling.

Big changes are happening with B2B buyers. They are acting like B2C buyers. They want an Amazon-like buying experience, and they aren’t afraid to walk away from a purchase if they don’t get it. Traditional B2B selling practices are no longer effective with today’s digital buyers. If companies in that space want to compete, their sales teams need to take a hard look at their systems and processes.

A study of more than 20,000 job listings for salespeople posted between 2019 and 2022 reveal many of the attributes that have always been crucial for success in this field, such as communication skills. But this study revealed five forward-looking qualities that are showing up more frequently. They are anticipating the customer’s future, collaborating inside and outside the company, leveraging digital and virtual channels, the ability to get power from data, and the capacity to adapt.

In today’s B2B market, it’s not enough to be the best salesperson in the room. Most buyers prefer to do their own research, comparing competitor options before they make a final decision. That’s where consultative selling can help you stand out. B2B buyers have an endless array of options to choose from, with new products and services launching every day

I've written several articles (same as always) about OMG (Objective Management Group) Tailored Fits/Proofs of Concept where I analyze the differences between a company's top producers and bottom producers to identify the findings/scores that differentiate their tops from their bottoms.

Companies can reap great benefits from digitalizing their sales organizations—that is, using technology, data, and analytics to improve the sales process. Done well, digitalization increases customer engagement, boosts the skills and performance of salespeople, and supports a more customer-focused business model. But digitalization initiatives are often plagued by slow progress, poor adoption, or low sustained impact. This article discusses why that happens and recommends five actions to increase the odds of success.

Ask people what they think sales enablement is, and you will get multiple, varying answers. They might say it’s anything your company does to help your sales team be effective. They might say it’s tools to help reps sell more. And others say it’s the process of helping sales teams. You can’t blame them for their general answers. Sales enablement is an all-encompassing term that involves many components.

Before 2020, B2B sales of complex solutions and services were conducted almost entirely in person. All that changed with the pandemic. Now, much of the process from lead identification to close is done virtually, requiring organizations and salespeople to hone new methods of connecting and communicating with potential buyers.

Compared with other business functions, sales has a tendency to be less adaptable. At many companies, sales process remain the same for long periods of time. Now, as digitization changes the way many customers buy, sales teams need to evolve continuously. Four practices can help with this shift: Anticipate where customers are going, redeploy resources to match customer behavior, shift emphasis from closing sales to helping customers realize value, and embracing agile decision-making.

In my newsletter several weeks ago, I hypothesized that we may experience a recession. It is our job as leaders and sales professionals to prepare for such an eventuality. You don’t want to be caught off guard and find yourself in the dangerous place of being reactive. Well, it looks like the likelihood of a recession is a lot higher.

It’s hard to think of a word that triggers more reactivity and drains more trust from conversation than “but.” Notice how often you hear it (and say it) when you’re negotiating or arguing. Notice how this one word changes the temperature and tone in the moment. To prevent the damage that “but” inflicts, the author offers three hacks: 1) Focus on what’s said before “but,” 2) Replace “but” with curiosity, and 3) Stop before the “but.” Each of these moves requires courage, patience, and practice — and the return on investment is impressive.

Salespeople make sales calls. It’s so simple as to be second nature and thus easy to overlook. But the best sellers know each sales call is an opportunity. After all, every closed deal starts with an initial call, but that puts the cart before the horse.

New research from ValueSelling and Training Industry, Inc. has uncovered a glaring gap between the most impactful sales behaviors needed to engage with buyers virtually, and what sales leaders measure today. Surprisingly, winning sales behaviors are rarely measured.