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Filed Under: Sales Productivity, Sales Tips
Tags: maximize sales productivity, productivity, Sales, Sales Productivity, Sales Tips, sales tools

Many of us in the United States and Canada will enjoy a three-day holiday weekend. Culminating in Labor Day celebrations on Monday.

Labor Day was instituted in the U.S. to honor the ‘working man’ (I include working women) it has built into a focus on laborers with a strong union flavor. Yet, aren’t we all ‘working’ people? Personally I was in a union once and after being told to reduce my output and stop making others look bad, I realized very quickly that a high-achieving person was NOT going to be allowed to be successful in that environment. People in sales work WAY harder than the people I worked with back then.

So, I suggest that YOU should celebrate Labor Day by being labor-less!  Its a day to kick back, try to enjoy a little more summer before fall hits (the leaves have already started falling in Wisconsin). Turn off the email and technology that ties you to work.

My observations over the last few years are that MANY of you are working on weekends and nights. Trying to catch up or get ahead of the next week. Yet, what toll does that take?

I implore you to MAKE yourself labor-less this weekend too. Then let me know what you did…I’m always looking for ideas on how to NOT work on weekends.

Enjoy!

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Filed Under: Sales Productivity, Success Tips
Tags: productivity, sales success

Ready for additional reading selections? Below is Part 3 of the Summer Reading list.  From building a sustainable business to culture to shifting  your prospecting opportunities using trigger events.  Great selections.

For the entire list of 2011 Sales Reading suggestions click here for your own pdf.  Many of the authors have great FREEBIES on their websites as well.

Read through the list and select 3-4 that will help YOU (or your team) advance sales, grow your business, strengthen customer loyalty and earn everyone year end bonuses!

#CORPORATE CULTURE tweet,by S. Chris Edmonds, foreword by Ken Blanchard. This book of short & sweet aha’s will help you understand the impact of your team’s culture to drive sales success. Edmonds’ is Blanchard’s culture guru and shares the best practices of high performance, values-aligned teams in 140-character quotes. No matter if you run a team of 1000′s or of 2, you need this book.

EnergizeGrowth NOW: The Marketing Guide to a Wealthy Company, by Lisa Nirell. Growing a sustainable business doesn’t have to be draining. Yet in today’s crazy-busy B2B marketplace, it can be tempting to pursue risky business. By applying the contrarian wisdom you’ll find in Lisa Nirell’s newest book, you can combine strategic planning with smart marketing to spur intelligent, long-term growth. Energize Growth® NOW is a great resource to help you achieve that.

Full Steam Ahead: Unleash the Power of Vision in Your Work and Your Life, by Ken Blanchard and Jesse Lyn Stoner. Summer is an ideal time to reflect on whether the path you are on is likely to get you where you want to go. Full Steam Ahead! clearly and simply lays out the steps to get where you want to go, for your team and for yourself, in the format of an enjoyable story.

SHiFT! Harness the Trigger Events that TURN PROSPECTS INTO CUSTOMERS, by Craig Elias. When you get to highly motivated decision makers at EXACTLY the right time the sale almost happens by itself. By luck or sheer numbers you’ve had timing happen before, this book will show you how to make it happen again, and again, and again.

Get out your sunglasses and beach chair and open a great book! 

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

It’s the first full week of the year for many people.  And judging by the number of downloads of the Sales Pro Insider Timely Tips to Achieve Your Goals eBook last week, many of you are starting 2011 with goal setting!

CONGRATULATIONS!

Clarifying your goals is one action to achieve what YOU want or need this year.  I often write about goals – and goal setting is a component of every training seminar I facilitate – that is how important it is.  And if the common or more transparent reasons for goal setting are not enough for you, there is newer research on the health benefits!

The most common benefits of having written, specific goals are:

• Focus
• Saving time and energy
• Allowing you to achieve more

And the health benefits?  Dr. Boyle’s research found that people with a purpose and plan are 30% less likely to develop Alzheimers’! 

“It can be anything — from wanting to accomplish a goal in life, to achieving something in a volunteer organization, to as little as reading a series of books,” said Dr. Patricia Boyle.

“What this is saying is, if you find purpose in life, if you find your life is meaningful and if you have goal-directed behavior, you are likely to live longer,” she said.

I’ve long noticed a difference in people with purpose and for the analytics out there, now there is proof of the benefits!

Ready to make some time to define goals and outcomes for yourself? Click here to get your very own copy of  the Timely Tips to Achieve Your Goals eBook - in 45 minutes YOU can begin to plan your year and a healthier life!

——————–

p.s. I was in line at a checkout this morning, and the woman in front of me overpaid $1 in cash, when the clerk returned the dollar, the woman said, “Well, I guess I don’t get out enough anymore…I’m nearly 95 years old, you know.”  Here was a woman, on her own, making purchases, seemingly happy and in a great mood – wonder what her purpose of life has been!

Source: Patricia Boyle, Ph.D., neuropsychologist, Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center, and assistant professor, behavioral sciences, Rush University Medical Center

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Filed Under: Sales Tips, Success Tips
Tags: focus, goal setting, productivity, Sales Tips

How efficient are you? Do you ever wish there was MORE of you? Or more time in your day?  Well, that’s what tools are for. To help us maximize our time and add efficiency to our efforts.

This post is all about tools.  Why?  I was asked to judge a contest for Top Sales World this past week which put me deep into trying, researching and evaluating what tools are available.  What’s this mean to you? One place to stop and see all the helpful tools, information and resources that can help you and your team SELL MORE next year (or tomorrow).

Jonathan Farrington and team put together global sales experts to narrow down the HUGE list of sales resources to pick the best.As part of the judging panel for 2010 Top Sales Tool, I researched and tried the top 10 tools noted on the site.  I found many of them quite interesting…and more importantly valuable!  Now, I don’t want to give my top picks because the actual awards are tomorrow, December 16th – go here to register for the free webinar.  

What I offer you today are links to check out these 10 tools for yourself. There are tools for adding audio to emails, CRM efficiency, converting leads and more. 

• Active Conversion - convert your leads quicker and more effectively
• Time Trade - on-line appointment scheduling
• Revegy - Revenue optimization enablement software
• Gold Mail - add audio easily to emails – free version!
• Whiteboard Selling - whiteboard and solution WITH your prospects
• Politemail - Outlook email marketing and metrics monitoring
• Marketsync - prospecting tool connected to salesforce.com
• Proposable - web-based proposal generation
• EchoSign - sign documents easily and efficiently, while saving the planet
• SalesCallPlanner - preparation connected to your CRM – training along the way

And one really great FREE tool that is not in this list is the Quick121 Presenter. This will get its own post very soon – at Sales Pro Insider we have been using this tool for months and watching it evolve…more to come on this!

And if you like tools, Nancy Nardin’s site and blog at Smart Selling Tools is ALWAYS full of current and helpful tools – that are great value for the benefits!

Your skills and expertise in selling are valuable…and using great tool to be more efficient and effective is just smart.  Looking and trying these tools – many have free versions, should be on your To do list as you begin 2011.

Sales Managers – if you need an easy and quick tool to equip, engage  and energize your sales team – we have Sharpenz ready-to-go sales training kits for you. These kits provide all you need for a 30 minute sales BOOST of productivity and energy. You can download 2 free – and there is a year-end discount for the library as well. 

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Filed Under: Sales Productivity, Sales Tips, Success Tips
Tags: maximize sales productivity, productivity, Sales, sales expert, Sales Productivity, Sales Tips

Sometimes new tools become available that remind me that some of our sales activities could be so much more simple!And who doesn’t want to make capturing and nurturing leads more simple?

At the Sales SheBang event in August, a company,  ActiveConversion recently . Nancy Nardin, President at Smart Selling Tools recommended that we have ActiveConversion as one of our sponsors.

And I’m so glad she did – they have one of  THE best lead management tools out there for SMBs!  Their tools identifies who is visiting your website, scores  the activity during that visit, and then begins to automatically nurture those leads through email!  It allows small to medium sized companies to gain competitive advantages they hadn’t had access to before. 

It’s not only affordable but very user-friendly.  In fact, they even offer a free trial and satisfaction guarantee! Here is what I learned about ActiveConversion and why you should check out that free trial!

1. Their solution identifies anonymous visitors and sends those leads to the right person at the right time. It helps manage and nurture those leads and better qualifies them to shorten the sales cycle.
2. You don’t have to be an expert in knowing what works best in lead conversion, ActiveConversion will do that for you.
3. Once you see which companies have visited your website, you will become addicted to the information and never want to lose that data.
4. ActiveConversion helps companies’ double lead generation and manage sales leads throughout the entire sales cycle, not just as lead generaton.

To learn more about ActiveConversion, I encourage you to do two things, go on to their website  and sign up for a free trial account. If you need more help then do not hesitate to give them a call on their toll free number 1 877 872 2764 and request for a demo.  They really are helpful!

It really is a cool tool!

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Filed Under: Marketing Tips, Sales Productivity
Tags: productivity, prospecting

How are you as this week begins?  Fired up and ready to roll?  Still dragging because your weekend was packed? It doesn’t matter…as of right now YOU get to choose how your week ends.

Every beginning of the week we get to make a choice:  Will I  make it a productive day/week? Or will I wait and see how it goes?

You really do get to make the choice. Yes, there will be ‘things’ that get in the way and a lot of opportunity to make excuses …but if you have the mindset that YOU are in charge or your own destiny, YOU will have a better week.

So…its a ‘no excuse’ week challenge!  Today:

1. Decide what you want to accomplish THIS Week.   Write it down.
2. Write at least 5-7 major ACTIONS you will take to drive that accomplishment.
3. Identify the barriers that might slow you down – hold you up.  How can you reduce/eliminate these potential barriers?
4. Who else will support what you want to accomplish? Share your plan with them.
5. Identify how you will reward yourselfwhen this is accomplished.

Using 10-15 minutes of your time RIGHT NOW will ensure your outcome. 

One of the biggest potential barriers to this EASY plan?  Excuses!  So….make it a No Excuse week. If you notice you aren’t taking action on your plan – don’t make an excuse, DO it!  Barriers popped up?  Work through them with no excuses!  And if at the end of this week, you haven’t completed something  NO EXCUSES!  Take the action or plan for it on Monday.

Imagine if you had a NO EXCUSE philosophy every day, week, month?  How much more control would you have over your results and life?

p.s. Look at the photo in the post – if you decide to make excuses  you can use this to find some creative ones…

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

Ready for a powerful and productive work week?  Sometimes on Monday mornings it is hard to get out of  the weekend mode. Especially if the weather was wonderful and you spent the whole weekend outside.  Now it’s like ‘What? Oh yes, work.”

So, I’m taking the approach I took   the yard work  to ‘dig in’ to the work week.

1. First, the LIST. I took my first 20 minutes to review last week’s status and make my list for this week – not just a To Do list, I put an ‘outcome’ list together followed by the actions.
2. Cleared my work place – getting rid of stuff on my desk is freeing – and gives me a clean slate to start.
3. Tools - I had some tech issues last week – first outcome needed this week is that they are operational to support what I need to get done!
4. Action - I’m already done with two items and this blog post is my third!  It feels good to have progress so early and I’m going to keep moving along!

Whether you are seeing this message early in the day or not – it IS early in the week. Making the time to DIG IN now allows you to advance your success during the week and get OUT for some free time next weekend.

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

There’s a TV show on HGTV called What Not to Wear.  Stacy and Clinton host and work with someone nominated from friends/family for a makeover. 

It’s fascinating to watch the transformation over the four day process.  And there IS a process to the transformation:

1. Video footage taken by friends/family is shown to the person for them to become aware of what others see. 
2. A 360 degree mirror is used with the hosts assessing what works for them and what doesn’t. The mirror allows the guest to really see themselves from all angles. 
3. What’s helpful about watching the show is they not only show the ‘guest’ what NOT to do, they lay out simple ‘rules’ for them to apply with their clothing choices.
4. Finally the guest can choose to adopt the new rules and look as they shop and then head home for a welcome party where they show their new look to their friends and family.

As a business/sales coach I watch transformations happen much more slowly.  Though the process is the same to building or breaking a habit. 

• Awareness
• Assessment
• Application
• Adoption

These four steps are necessary to get to the end result – adopting a new habit or skill!  You might not have a skilled coach bringing you along the way – and the process can be uncomfortable – the key is to get through it and stick with it. 

So, what can you do with the 4 A’s? 

1. Awareness – observe successful salespeople. What are the actions and attitudes they have?  Make a list.
2. Assessment – open yourself to honest feedback from others. Manager, peers who see you in action, customers.  Ask them for feedback on what you do and what you should not continue to do.  (If you would like a short, free assessment to look assess – email me at nancy@salesproinsider.com – I’ll be happy to send you a 80 question assessment you can use as a baseline.)
3. Application- decide on WHAT you need to do – and do it!  Act on the feedback.
4. Adoption- this happens with time, repetition and reinforcement. Ongoing application of the right actions will lead you to consistently adopt them.

To truly adopt or break a habit takes between 21 and 35 days (depending on the study) – plan for 4-6 weeks of concentrated efforts.  The payoff?  In sales, 4-6 weeks of the right actions will bring more sales!

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Filed Under: Uncategorized
Tags: focus, maximize sales productivity, productivity, sales success, Sales Tips, skills

Two days left in April – and for some this is a ‘woeful’ time.  They have about 24 hours to ‘make numbers’.

I spoke with two different sales managers this morning – both scheduled meetings - that needed to reschedule because they are in ‘make the number’ mode. Really? Today is when they are worried? What about on April 15th or even April 1st?

It’s so timely to think about this after the last post of Cause and Effect. If you are really scrambling now, the cause might have been what did – or didn’t – do weeks or months ago!  It’s time to diagnose the cause of the state you are in.

1. What was your plan for the month? Did you have a clear plan with actionable items?
2. How diligent did you carry out the actions necessary?
3. What market changes happened? How did you adjust for them?
4. What resources did you use effectively during this time?
5. What barriers did you personally create?
6. What worked well for you this month?  What actions and contacts paid off?  How can you duplicate those?
7. What did you do to strengthen your knowledge, skill or belief in what you sell?
8. What successes did your customers realize as they used your product/service? How can you use that for next month?
9. On a scale of 1-4 (no middle ground here – you were above or below average) – how well did you carry out the activities needed for success?

Your answers to these questions will help you make sure next month end is a ‘wow’ instead of a ‘woe’.

Good luck!

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