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December 4, 2014
5 Ways to Stop Making Yourself Miserable in Your Sales Job
Stay in control and make things happen.
Sales work isn’t easy. As a sales coach, I’m sensitive to the inherent struggles of sellers. In an age of economic pressures and empowered buyers, your challenges are significant. It’s difficult and frustrating when you feel you don’t have complete control and the ability to change the circumstances.
There are, however, certain habits and choices you may be making that actually make your job even harder than it has to be. These are things you CAN control. Here are the...Continue reading
By Deb CalvertPosted in Sales & Business Development on December 4, 2014
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November 24, 2014
The Most Important and Most Overlooked Part of Your Job
Three Questions Senior Managers Should be Asking
Senior Managers prepare strategic plans, grow market share, increase profits, innovate, execute, acquire, consolidate and expand in order to build the business.
Shareholders reward senior managers who are successful business builders, as measured by quarterly and annual performance. C-Suite executives (and those who aspire to fill those seats) focus intensely on the bottom line and make decisions to improve short-term profitability.
Building the business all too often becomes an...Continue reading
By Deb CalvertPosted in Management on November 24, 2014
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October 10, 2014
3 Types of Questions You Should Avoid Asking in Sales
Quality questions can make the difference between stalling out and advancing the sale.
After conducting research with sellers and buyers for over 20 years, I’ve concluded that there are five kinds of questions sellers should avoid.
1. Avoid Asking “If I Could…” Questions
This is an obvious set-up. The seller asks a question to fabricate a conditional commitment. Then the seller proceeds to deliver on the condition he or she set up with an expectation the buyer will proceed.
When nearing a close or in response to a sales...Continue reading
By Deb CalvertPosted in Sales & Business Development on October 10, 2014
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October 1, 2014
Why Being Transparent Is So Important in Leadership Roles
Here’s a three-step formula for you to use in becoming more transparent.
Transparency has also been called “the currency of trust.”
As you know, trust is the foundation of any relationship. As transparency increases, trust increases. And the converse is also true.
Transparency starts with opening up the lines of communication and sharing. You offer and receive information and, as you do, mutual trust increases. As you are more transparent, trust grows and the strength of the relationship grows, too.
When a relationship...Continue reading
By Deb CalvertPosted in Leadership & Teambuilding on October 1, 2014
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September 3, 2014
Demonstrating Leadership during Tough Times
How to Inspire Others When the Odds Are Against You
Times are tough, and they’re only getting tougher. As the Center for Creative Leadership says, we live in a VUCA world, surrounded by Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity. It’s not easy to inspire others when there are so many variables working against us.
Nevertheless, this is what leaders are expected to do. When leaders fail to inspire during times of adversity, followers drift and the strength of unity is lost within an organization. Defeated leaders lose their...Continue reading
By Deb CalvertPosted in Management on September 3, 2014
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August 22, 2014
Selling Dilemma: I’m Trying, But I Can’t “Just Make Goal!”
Sales Management Vs. Micromanagement- Benefits of Activity Metrics
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been hearing a new drumbeat in the world of selling. Actually, it’s not a new sound. It’s a rhythm that was helping us all keep pace a decade ago but got replaced. It’s back because it is a classic beat, one that has always been appropriate and important.
The resurgence of a focus on activity metrics is one that all sellers may not view in a positive light. I’ve heard, then and now, that it feels like micromanagement when a sales...Continue reading
By Deb CalvertPosted in Sales & Business Development on August 22, 2014
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July 23, 2014
Selling in a VUCA World
How do sales professionals adapt to rapid change?
Ever feel like you have whiplash as a result of the jarring changes and conflicting directions you’re getting from your customers and your company?
You’re not alone.
The swift acceleration of change and the constant struggle to keep up with it (let alone get ahead of it!) causes everyone, at times, to feel like the silver ball inside a pinball machine. Your sales leaders and support departments are in reactive mode, zinging around at lightning speed as they accommodate and...Continue reading
By Deb CalvertPosted in Sales & Business Development on July 23, 2014
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July 7, 2014
Leading in a VUCA World
Management Challenges in the New Age
In the good old days (or so they tell me), senior managers could thoroughly research an issue and deliberate on the pros and cons before reaching a sound decision. Those decisions became precedents, clearly defining a path and eliminating the guesswork. The pace of change was measured, controlled by the leader’s preferences and the team’s capacity and capabilities.
Those days are gone forever. The Center for Creative Leadership has coined a new term – VUCA – to describe the...Continue reading
By Deb CalvertPosted in Management on July 7, 2014
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July 1, 2014
How Can a Leader Avoid Accidental Indignities?
Here are some starter questions to consider in your self-assessment:
Dignity means worthy of honor and respect, having merit. It stems from the Latin dignitas meaning “equivalent to.” Dignifying others means to confer honor or dignity or to ennoble them. It means showing respect for another’s worth and acknowledging each person as equivalent to every other person.
As leaders, we’d all agree that it’s important to dignify others.
But what others? And why? In what ways? And just what does it mean to dignify...Continue reading
By Deb CalvertPosted in Leadership & Teambuilding on July 1, 2014
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June 10, 2014
The Great Divide Between You & Your Customers
Take a look at your sales process & find where it gets stalled.
In sales, we are experiencing an embarrassment of riches and yet we are impoverished.
Just look around the offices of most sales organizations. You'll see computers, telephones with headsets and auto-dialers, mobile devices, CRM systems, and numerous apps and software programs that support selling activities in every conceivable way.
Needing to beef up a particular skill? Well, take your pick of the myriad of training programs, seminars, books, podcasts and other resources that are easily...Continue reading
By Deb CalvertPosted in Sales & Business Development on June 10, 2014
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