Companies often approach me to “ELAvate” the negotiating skills of their sales people. These are companies that have a sales team in place, done the basic selling skills training a few months or a year or two ago, but they still find their sales productivity lagging behind expectations. A cursory investigation by their sales managers leads them to the conclusion that their sales people are losing sales towards the end of the sales cycle and, therefore, sales negotiating skills are weak.

Survey after survey indicate that customers do not trust salespeople. I believe one big reason salespeople are not trusted is because they are more interested in selling their solution rather than aligning with the customer feelings and emotions about the problems they face. Salespeople who don’t show compassion can come across as pushing product or seem more interested in meeting their target or commission plan even when their good intent is to show the customer how their product can solve problems.

Many sales managers have approached me over the years to conduct negotiation skill training for their salespeople to be more successful in conducting negotiations with ever more knowledgeable, demanding customers. Based on my experience and on-line research, I have found these are the major reasons for salespeople failing to negotiate successfully

Over your career you may find you are in a sales slump or even experiencing sales burnout. I have been in a few short slumps over my long career in sales. They have been short because, I believe, of the “non sales” activities I engage in on a regular basis to keep me “sales healthy.” Sales burnout has many of its root causes in your thinking and attitude. As my favorite sales guru Jeffrey Gitomer says, “You become what you think about all day.”

Having survived 2 years of Covid, sales teams are coming out of “ZoomHibernation” to the face the challenges of selling in the post Covid marketplace. Proactive sales managers are engaging their teams to “Regroup, Recharge, Refocus” to this new market environment. Let’s review some activities you, the sales manager, can do for each of the “R’s” to drive and motivate sales team success.

In the post-Covid hybrid B2B sales world, I have found it more difficult to prospect and engage new prospects to meet and discuss problems and needs my company can solve. There are many reasons for this, but, let's focus on not the "why" but the "how" to leads, turn them into prospects that give you appointments. I though have been perplexed on how to use some of the more advanced "techno" tools to get a return on my time and investment.

At Maxwell Leadership, we believe that leadership is influence—nothing more, nothing less. If you don’t have a positive influence on your customers, your effectiveness as a salesperson and your development as a trusted salesperson will be diminished. Demonstrating integrity with your customers is a competitive advantage. Customers want to deal with salespeople they can trust.

I read this article by Monica Guzman and thought of how many times I have had hard, difficult conversations with customers who are indifferent or objecting to me or my solution. What interesting about these conversations is both the customer and the salesperson believe they are right in their perceptions.

Hiring B2B Salespeople is a substantial investment. Without a solid ramp up or orientation schedule, your sales organization can be wasting valuable time and money on sales reps that are slow to produce, or, even quit!

Many B2B salespeople say prospecting is tougher in this post Covid, hybrid marketplace. Recently Hubspot investigated the latest research on prospecting via cold calling by B2B salespeople. I have summarized the key points from Hubspot here and added a few other relevant insights on cold calling.

I read the “Daily Drucker” every day and apply Peter Drucker’s wisdom to my job as a salesperson and sales manager. You see, I am an entrepreneur who is a businessperson that sells. My self-perception is not as an “employee” or “salesperson” but a self-directed manager of my career for a life of success in sales. I read the Daily Drucker to help me navigate my career with purpose and achievement in the marketplace.

How well you inspire trust with your B2B customers can be your competitive advantage or kill the sale. Effectively building trust leads to healthy long term customer relationships that is a win for both you and your customer. With customers limiting their “exposure” to salespeople, quickly establishing trust is a must to move the sales process forward.

Read the HBR article by Brett Adamson on the changing landscape of B2B selling. It is a very good treatise based on data that Gartner and McKinsey have collected on how Covid is accelerating B2B selling and marketing changes in response to B2B customer changes in how they buy.

Surveys consistently show that salespeople are not trusted. A HubSpot survey found that only 3% of respondents trust salespeople. A Salesforce survey found 79% of B2B buyers say it’s absolutely critical or very important to interact with a salesperson who is a trusted advisor. Gartner tells us that B2B customers are only spending 17% of their buying time talking with salespeople. Your ability to “earn the right” to conduct an open sales–buying conversation translates into your ability to build trust with customers – quickly.

Technology and Covid have accelerated changes in the B2B marketplace. How you and your sales teams adapt to these changes will determine your success in 2022. Let’s review the 10 changes that are important

Digital and virtual processes have accelerated through Covid. I was caught a bit flat-footed to understand and learn how to employ this advanced digital world until Microsoft contacted me to be their facilitator for their “Fast Forward” series on sales productivity.

The move to digital selling is accelerating. Will your sales organization be left behind? Does your sales organization have a plan of action in place to remain competitive by employing digital selling platforms, tools and processes?

5 minute read

Time to “ELAvate” your sales team for record breaking revenue generating 2022. Here are my favorite planning and execution tools to drive and motivate your sales teams in 2022.

January 2022 will soon be upon us and many sales teams will start the year with increased sales targets founded on the vision of a positive post Covid world. I recently received two research papers from Korn Ferry and Allego on the state of sales enablement and sales team productivity. In this blog I will focus on six research insights that may affect your sales team success and actions that can increase your sales team competitiveness.