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Don’t Get Your Ask Kicked
High-Performance Sales Teams Make the First 7 Seconds Count
In the early 1990s, I remember being so excited when pay-per-view had on a Mike Tyson boxing match. It didn’t matter who it was, Iron Mike’s opponent was going to get their ass kicked, usually in the first round. The hype and excitement lasted for weeks, then it was over before it began. …
Know Your Why
High-Performing Sales Teams Always Know Their Prospects’ Needs
I’ve done all types of real-time phone coaching with a variety of inside sales teams. Getting the gatekeeper to put a decision maker on the line is easy. Listening to the decision maker chew you out for a useless interruption with no value is a lot harder. …
Research: Use With Caution!
Find Balance in Prospecting Research to Improve Your Team’s Sales Metrics
I know a sports executive who has been president of an NBA team and an NHL team. With all the heavy lifting this person has to do—running marketing, sales, business operations, building a new stadium—sometimes social media isn’t number one on their priority list. I know it took over nine months for that person to change their role on LinkedIn. …
The Myth about Legendary Closers
Trust Your High-Performing Sales Team To Close
Legendary closers are like Bigfoot, like leprechauns. They just don’t exist. But if you look at the classifieds under sales jobs, companies are always looking to hire skilled closers. Somehow, closing has become some kind of mythical skillset only a handful of enlightened beings have mastered. …
They Didn’t Put Him on the $100 Bill for Nothing
Increase Sales Metrics by Using the Balance Close
One of the best sales books you’ll ever read is Ben Franklin’s autobiography. He’s really the only American philosopher we had. And he’s one of our only inventors and philosophers. What made Ben Franklin such an expert in sales? The way he made decisions. For any business transaction, or when considering anything major that would require his time or money (or both), he’d make a t-chart and weigh his options from a pros versus cons standpoint. …
Land the Plane Already!
Increasing Sales Performance Means Asking the Question to Close
There was a famous sales study from the 1970s done by Mutual of Omaha that you may have heard about. The set-up was this: they went to their home market in Omaha and targeted some folks who would be good customers for them. They picked about 1,000 people and said they’d give them insurance premiums (up to $500,000) for a year, but potential customers had to meet with Mutual’s salespeople in order to get this offer. …
It’s as Easy as DDE
Be Proactive with Objections to Drive Sales Metrics
When we consider some of the toughest objections we deal with as salespeople, financial objections have to be on the top of the list. Budget and cost are difficult things to combat. I mean, either the money exists for your product or service, or it doesn’t, right? Well, not necessarily. Not if you use the DDE strategy from the Sales Playbook. …
Never Battle With the Buyer
Resolve Objections With Points of Agreement to Increase Sales Performance
If you look at any negotiation process, there’s a lot of wording out there about battling an objection. Now I’ve watched a lot of high-level negotiators in my life. But I’ve never seen high-level lawyers or high-performing salespeople battle. …
If You Don’t Buy In, Why Should Your Prospect?
Build a Strong Sales Team by Igniting Enthusiasm
Equally as important as what we present, how we present ties into credibility and believability of any high-performing sales team. Like it or not, business is like high school on steroids. Prospects are going to judge you on how you look, how you dress, how you present yourself, how you communicate, how you deal with people. The last thing people will judge you on is who you are as an individual. It’s a shame, but that’s just the way it is. …
Want More Sales? Sell Less
Increase Sales Metrics by Targeting Solutions
A buyer’s inherent objection that all high-performing salespeople deal with is doubt. I don’t mean doubt in the salesperson’s abilities or solution necessarily, though that certainly is a real factor. I’m talking about the buyer, the prospect, the patient, doubting whether or not they even have an issue that needs solving, a gap that needs filling. Be mindful, change is hard. At the end of the day, we as salespeople often sell change.
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Oh Yeah? Prove it!
Drive Sales Effectiveness by Using Evidence
Once a salesperson has diagnosed the buyer’s problem correctly, he or she needs to present the right prescription in such a way that it persuades the buyer to see value in the solution or opportunity. A high-performing sales team knows they need to gain the high ground in order to overcome doubt quickly and effectively. And what inherently overcomes doubt? Evidence.
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Dial in on the Diagnosis
Improve Sales Metrics by Confirming Your Prospect’s Needs
While you are browsing the new and used models on a car lot, you typically have your buying criteria in mind and the reason you’re buying a car. Maybe that reason is to get to work, or to taxi your family around town. You also have absolutes—a certain budget, plus a list of must-have features.
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Never Tell a Prospect Their Kid is Ugly
Drive Sales Effectiveness By Making Your Idea Their Idea
Have you ever been at a nice restaurant with people you wanted to impress, so you order a fine Napa Cabernet only to have the sommelier suggest an alternative bottle? There’s that moment of sheer panic when they select something way out of your price range, though it’s too awkward to address at the moment. A good salesperson would have read the situation and brought out a comparable bottle. A bad salesperson might take the opportunity to stick you with a $400 Merlot that has been sitting in the cellar for twenty years.
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Put Salt in Their Oats
Drive Sales Performance Metrics by Selling to a Gap
I recently started working out again, so I decided to seek out a gym. As I weighed Lifetime Fitness vs. the local rec center, the options were overwhelming. So, I sat down with the GM of Lifetime Fitness and he said, “Can I ask you a few questions before I give you the tour?”
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Unleash the Potential of Your Sales Team
Help your salespeople lead masterful sales conversations, build their pipelines, resolve rebuttals, increase win rates, negotiate the best agreements, and drive growth for strategic accounts with Tyson Group sales training and performance systems.