A Sales Compass – A Blog by B2B Sales Connections

Although there are many out there who promise they have found it, there really is no magic bullet for lead generation.  When you get right down to it, the best marketing automation tools are the ones that put you in the right place at the right time, that being when the prospect is most likely to buy. 

Studies have shown that 2 of 3 sales are made to prospects who have said “no” not once, but 5 times!  In fact, someone has to hear your company name at least 3 times before it even registers.  One very successful sales rep stated he must leave an average of seven to ten voice mails before his messages are returned. (more…)

Don’t automatically offer a discount when a customer asks for one.  Justify your value first.  Before you drop your price, ask the customer what they would like to remove from the package.  Psychology proves that people would rather pay more than lose something they see as valuable to them.

For more quick sales tips, download a copy of our eBook ”Quick Sales Tips – Practical advice, in bite sized pieces!” from the B2B Sales Connections Free Download Centre.  It is available for free for a limited time! 

Aim Higher!

Susan A. Enns, The B2B Sales Coach
B2B Sales Connections

www.b2bsalesconnections.com, www.linkedin.com/in/susanenns, or www.twitter.com/SusanEnns

Great question!  In fact, this subject has been debated among sales managers for years, and will continue to be for many years to come.  The reason is that there are as many ways to distribute B2B sales assignments as there are sales managers!

The best way to distribute your b2b sales assignments is situation specific.  It really depends on the products or services that your company sells, the geography that you cover, the type of customer base you have, and the job description of your sales representatives. (more…)

Happy New Year! It’s at this time of the year when many of us evaluate the past and look forward to a better future. To help you make 2012 everything you want it to be, we wanted to offer you some of our most popular sales tools for free from the B2B Sales Connections Free Download Centre. (more…)

This post comes to us from Paul Letendre, a sales executive with extensice experience in food service sales.

Half-Empty?

It’s part of the ballgame, we will get discouraged from time to time.  At this time of year, it is especially common.  There is a lot of business uncertainty as to what the New Year will bring.  When a sales rep gets discouraged, that’s a good sign.  Reps are supposed to get discouraged; the work is not supposed to be easy: if it were easy, then anyone could do it and it wouldn’t pay crap.  (more…)

Many sales managers often ask themselves what they should do with their non producing sales respresentatives.  Is it time to sever the employer – employee relationship and let them go?

To answer that question you first need to ask yourself if the non performing sales rep knows what needs to be done to be successful.  Does he really know how many calls it takes to make quota?  If not, have him download our Goal Setting and Action Planning Tool from the B2B Sales Connections Free Download Centre.

If the answer is yes, they know what to do, then the second question you need to ask is if they know how.  If they don’t know the proper way to make a sales call, show them.  That’s your job as sales manager!

However, if they do know how to sell, and you know that because you have witnessed their skills first hand, then ask yourself one last question.  Do they want to?  Simply put, are they willing to do what it takes to be a successful sales person at your company?  If you get to this last question and the answer is no, there is not much more you can do.

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“You never get a second chance to make a first impression.”  This cliché is never more important than when you are heading to a job interview. 

When you are invited to an interview you need to consider that your first impression is going to weight heavily on the person who is interviewing you. If you make a great first impression then you can bet the interviewer is going to use the meeting to try and justify why you should be working for their company. Likewise, of you make a poor first impression you should know that in the back of their mind they are looking for reasons why they shouldn’t hire you.

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Most often when someone decides to become their own boss they only consider the two most common ways of getting into business for themselves.

1. Start your own business

2. Buy a franchise business

Starting your own business burdens you with a 98% chance of failure within three years plus all the inevitable growing pains, expenses, financial hardships and long hours. The second option of buying an “off the shelf” franchise provides a better opportunity for success but most owners have to invest a huge amount of startup capital in the business and hope to not only recoup their initial investment quickly but also grow to a profitable size before the franchisor opens another location close by.

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