Tag Archives: sales training articles

Sales simulations – they’re better than ever!

Sales simulations are more versatile, more effective, and more affordable than ever. So companies are increasingly embracing them. What are some innovative companies doing? Read some examples. Continue reading

Posted in Sales Simulations, Sales Training, Sales Training Best Practices, Sales Training Design | Tagged , , , , ,

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Professional service sales – leveraging the power of the team

Team selling does not guarantee success. As a matter of fact, teams are frequently misused and ineffective. On the other hand, some organizations have cracked the code and consistently leverage the power of team selling.
This can be a particularly important competitive advantage in the professional service sale. For many companies, selling as a sales team simply means two people going on a call. In professional services, there are field-based engineering and technical support staff, or implementation managers that are on site and have unique perspectives about the customer.
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Posted in Sales Best Practices, Sales Leaders, Sales Management Coaching, Sales Training | Tagged , , , , , , ,

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Developing internal champions – it’s important and it isn’t easy

Selling goes on when you’re not there. That’s why top sales performers leverage internal champions to“tell their story” when they’re not there – because they’re not there most of the time.

Logical? Yes. So why doesn’t everyone leverage internal champions? First, it takes a lot of time to develop internal champions and not every sales rep concludes the investment is warranted. Second, some sales reps have had negative experiences with internal champions because the sales rep fell into the classic trap of spending time with people who are “willing” but are “not able” to tell their story. Continue reading

Posted in Sales Call Execution, Sales Strategy, Sales Training, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , ,

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Sales excellence – understanding the clutch player – An STC Classic

Best practices for sales managers working with clutch players – to achieve sales excellence. Continue reading

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Sales managers – stop assuming majority rules works best

It’s easy to manager a sales team when there’s consensus on where you’re going and how you’re going to get there. But what happens when there isn’t consensus? That’s when sales managers face some challenges. Randall Peterson, a professor at the London Business School, found that when dealing with small groups, majority rule doesn’t work – it simply makes for an unhappy minority. “They have nothing invested in success and often have something invested in failure,” Peterson says. “Particularly for a group under the size of 10 people, majority rule is a bad way of going about business.”

Since many sales managers deal with sales teams with around 10 sales reps, we were intrigued with Peterson’s recommendation – “qualified consensus” – where everyone has to at least agree they can tolerate the outcome; they can live with it Continue reading

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Selling value – the bar has been raised

Company knowledge and product expertise have been and are critical components of any sales rep’s success. Today, however, customers expect sales people to know more about each of those plus be knowledgeable about the customer’s industry, their competition, and how they can bring greater value. They expect the sales people to understand how their products can help deliver a better solution.
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Posted in Marketing-Sales Alignment, Marketing-Sales Chasm, Sales Best Practices, Selling Economic Value, Selling Value | Tagged , , , , , ,

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Medical device sales – the book of knowledge is expanding

For medical device reps updating their command of the Book of Knowledge is critical. Not to sound melodramatic but in some cases, like cardiology devices, life and death decisions can depend on it. Being up-to-speed is the key to providing value – to your customer’s and to their customer’s – whether patients, physicians, or administrators. The good news is although the Book of Knowledge is bigger – the resources for learning it are better than ever. Continue reading

Posted in Global Sales Training, Health Care Sales Training, Sales Best Practices, Sales Training | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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Sales success: getting the comfort–risk mix right

In today’s competitive markets staying in one’s comfort zone may avoid failure – unfortunately it may also prevent success. While it is true that too much of anything is probably not prudent. It is also true that achieving top performance involves some risk taking. So the challenge may be developing the where-with-all to take “smart risks.” Let’s take a look within a sales context at some of the considerations that might go into achieving that goal. Continue reading

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Can you sustain a competitive advantage by product alone?

It is unlikely in today’s markets you can sustain a competitive by product alone. Great support and services are required … and a superior sales team. Continue reading

Posted in New Product Launch, New Product Launch Training, Sales Training, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

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