How many of you know the exact percentage of sales you close?

In order for any change to occur – whether it’s a decision to purchase a product, or an implementation to add new technology - whatever touches the ultimate solution must buy-in to the change.
Often our focus is on getting the end-result we think we want. We forget that without buy-in from the necessary  people and policies that maintain the status quo, we face the [...]

Sales folks like having control. You ‘understand the need’, ‘manage the relationship‘, ’follow the digital footprint’, send the ‘right’ data at the ‘right’ time.
But what, exactly, can you be in control of? You are in control of the details about your solution, and how it’s used in a particular setting, and the data you seek from prospects. You certainly have [...]

Selling Power predicts that by 2020 the number of salespeople will drop from 18M to 3M mostly due to online interactions and other sales support functions taking their place.
In the early 90s I wrote a column for TeleProfessional Magazine. My book Sales on the Line was doing well, and I was the voice of reason [...]

Because choosing a solution is the last thing a buyer does, the vendor isn’t an active partner at the point the most important decisions get made.  We  like to think that because we gather good data, deeply understand pain, and have a relevant solution, we’ll be considered an ‘active partner.’
SELLERS ENTER TOO EARLY
We fail to realize that we are [...]

Are your contact sheets giving you the sort of data that helps you discover – and close – the right leads? Are you depending on the data from your contact sheet/lead scoring to find your prospects?
I recently asked 15 colleagues to define what a good contact sheet should reveal. I got 15 different answers. So [...]