Japan’s disaster may seem long ago to many of you. For those in the US, the hundreds of tornados and deaths in the last week have replaced the news of Japan.

But sales and marketing experts around the world are giving back to japan!  The give back begins the week of Monday, May 9 through Friday, the 13th.  During those five days you’ll have the opportunity to attend up to 35 incredible webinar sessions—7 every single day—presented by 35 of the top sales minds in the world. You pick your topics – for just a $5 donation for each topic – which is a donation to the RedCross!

Each session will be a quick, but highly targeted, 30 minutes of tips and information.

Who are some of these presenters?  Well, there’s Dave Kurlan, Jill Konrath , Kelley Robertson, Colleen Francis, Linda Richardson, Paul McCord, myself, and manyothers.  Topics covered will range from Sales 101 Isn’t Enough: Advanced Selling Capabilities For Outselling Your Competition to 7 Habits of Highly Effective (Social) Salespeople to Successfully Profiting from the New Buying Cycle to my session on Build a Successful Business on Referrals by Knowing Who Your Client Knows and, of course, many, many more.

You can see the whole list of sessions HERE

And here’s even better news—when you attend any given session you’ll be helping the Red Cross in their mission in Japan.

Jonathan Farrington, the host of the conference says,

Just four weeks after the Magnitude 9.0 Tohoku earthquake and a tsunami which delivered 46ft waves, we learn that the death toll is likely to top 25.000, and recovery is going to take not years, but possibly decades, maybe even a generation, at a cost of at least $250 billion.

This is our opportunity to show that the sales community – so often derided for being shallow and materialistic, amongst other things – actually has a very big heart.

We plan to charge just $5 registration fee per presentation, and we are limited to 1000 guests per session, so places will be allocated on a “first come – first served” basis.

Can I count on your support? Together we can make a worthwhile *contribution to the people of Japan.

That’s right, it only costs $5 to attend any one session and all proceeds will be donated to the Red Cross specifically for Japan.  At the end of each session you’ll be given an opportunity to donate an additional $1, $5, or $10 if you so wish.

Here is a tremendous opportunity to contribute to the efforts in Japan and get great training at the same time. 

What a great deal!!!

If you are a leader – who needs to engage and equip your sales team this year (and beyond) I encourage you to seriously consider attending my session Tuesday, May 10 at 12:45 Eastern time as I’ll sharing 3 Tips to Build the Skill and Will of Your Sales Team.  Here is the direct registration page for my session.

Don’t miss this fantastic opportunity to help yourself improve your sales while helping those who are in desperate need of help.

View the entire list of topics and presenters – seriously, you will find MANY that will be ‘just’ what YOU need.

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Filed Under: Marketing Tips, Sales Productivity, Sales Tips, Success Tips
Tags: maximize sales productivity, Sales, sales conference, sales expert, Sales Meeting, Sales Tips, sales tools, Sales training, skills

Today is a dreary, rainy day in Wisconsin. Its the type of day that it would be easy to take it easy. What about you? What are some reasons why today might be a good day for you to take it easy?

We can always find reasons to ‘not’ do things, can’t we?  

• Urgent customer situations
• The “not ready’ excuse – need more time to prepare
• Not feeling well
• Tomorrow will be more ideal
• Why bother? No one is buying anyway
• With oil prices so high, everyone is nervous about the economy again
• And many more

That’s why viewing this video made me remember that our biggest barrier to success might just be US!  Our own beliefs and self-imposed limits on what we can do, shouldn’t do, etc.

Whether you’ve seen the 6 minute movie before or not – its a great message on perserverance and belief!

Enjoy the movie and then strive to ‘Give it 10 more steps’ today. See where those extra steps will take you!

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Filed Under: Sales Tips
Tags: Leadership, maximize sales productivity, Sales, Sales Tips

I just finished reading the Sales Winner’s Handbook by Wendy Weiss, the Queen of Cold Calling.  Wow!  If you are in a position where making calls (who isn’t) is ciritcial to your success, the easy-to-use and implement scripts and strategies will skyrocket  your sales performance – just like Wendy claims!

You already know questions are critical in sales.  The wrong questions end the sales conversation before it even gets started.  Yet, the right questions help you smoothly gain agreement to do business together. 

Wendy Weiss  shares 144 killer questions to qualify your prospects, get the critical information you must know, justify price, and close the sale.  These questions along with her word-for-word scripts are a game changer.  Included in the book are scripts – yes, actual word-for-word scripts you can adapt to YOUR sales for:

1. Appointment setting
2. Working through objections
3. Leaving voice mails
4. Following up with Prospects
5. Closing and more

Personally I appreciated one of the last chapters – Words to Use and Words to Avoid.  Words to avoid?

• Just
• Hopefully

Think about how MINIMIZING those words are to ANY message you are sending. 

Jennifer Younge, Ross Culbert & Lavery, Inc. says…

“Wendy Changed My Life!”
“The small design company I work for in the Flat Iron district was really strapped.  This is my first job in sales.  We are 14 people and I am the only sales person.  When I arrived six months ago I realized my natural abilities were not going to be enough.  Thanks to Wendy I’ve arranged meetings with The Trump organization, The Bank of New York, Trammel Crow Company, Cushman & Wakefield, The CIT Group, AIG, The Depository Trust & Clearing, Snapple Beverages and dozens more.”  Wendy is the genius behind my success.

The book is under $50 (and there are many freebies that come with it) and the potential benefits to your sales are priceless.  To get your hands on this practical and easy to implement handbook – click here.

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Filed Under: Sales Productivity, Sales Tips, Success Tips
Tags: closing sales, maximize sales productivity, prospecting, Sales Objections, Sales Tips

Are you a gambler?  I am and I’m not.  I will gamble with risk and my efforts to grow business. But I don’t like to gamble with hard-earned money haphazardly.

Last weekend I spent 4 days with my five siblings in Las Vegas celebrating one sibling’s 50th birthday (not me yet). Of course there was a big focus on actually gambling while we were there.  Being the ‘thinker’ I am,  I assessed the potential for winning in the casinos (yes, I even did some on-line research prior to the trip), and I learned something about my risk tolerance … that I personally will risk more if I have some control over the outcome.

Just plugging cash into random machines seemed so passive – but a machine for playing poker where I actually took action or black jack seemed a better fi t for me.  For the ‘table’ games – I was much more comfortable with the games that I again had more control over and could make some decisions. Playing any of the games that relied on other player’s – craps, roulette, Texas Hold ‘Em, etc. seemed too risky.

In the end, I was down about $10 for the weekend which was worth it for the ‘fun’ I had. Others in my party were down a LOT more!  I watched as they randomly added money to their bets and risked more. I watched their cash deplete quickly. And one thing I knew for certain…I’m glad I am in the career I am.

You see, in sales, we do take risks every day – we do ‘gamble’ a bit at times – but we have more control over our  ‘winning’ or success than we do in casinos. How?  Because our actions and decisions matter.  When we take the following actions we increase our ‘odds’ of winning many times over.   

• Plan - assessing the odds and putting together a strategy or approach works more often than it doesn’t.
• Research - by learning about our industry, products/services, competitors and prospects allows us to ‘play our hand’ more successfully.
• Use resources effectively - people and tools – allows us to spread the risk and leverage our efforts.

If you want to increase your probability of success – be a smart gambler with your time and efforts. No sense in leaving your hard earned money ‘on the table’.

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Filed Under: Sales Productivity, Sales Tips, Success Tips
Tags: Sales, Sales Tips