A Sales Compass – A Blog by B2B Sales Connections

When you look at the calendar at this time of the year, you start to realize that the selling year is almost over.  In fact, when you take out the holidays, there are only about 45 selling days left in the year.  That is not a lot of time left for your team to qualify for their annual sales incentive contest, and not a lot of time for you to secure your annual bonus!

Are your sales representatives on track?  Are you?   (more…)

Does your team really need to memorize your product’s technical specs?  It is far better for them to know how the spec relates to a customer benefit than the spec itself.  For example, stating that a machine operates at 60 cycles per minute is just useless trivia unless the customer has identified the need and will benefit from faster cycle speeds. 

As a general rule, if it’s listed on the back of a brochure, they don’t need to memorize it!

Aim Higher!

If you would like some ideas as to how to make your sales meetings more interesting and productive, register for our free webinar Sales Meeting Ideas at www.b2bsalesconnections.com/webinars.php.

For a copy of our free white paper “How To Recruit The Best Sales Professionals” visit our Download Centre at www.b2bsalesconnections.com/download_centre.php.

Susan A. Enns, B2B Sales Connections

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

Do you need ideas for discussion topics for your sales meetings?  Create a file folder labeled “Sales Meeting Ideas” and keep it handy.  As discussion topics pop up during the week, just place a reminder note into the file.  On the day before the meeting when you are preparing your agenda, review your file and choose a theme for your next meeting. 

For example, if a new order process procedure is resulting in a number of questions from the sales people, you could write a note for your file to remind you to arrange for someone from the Order Processing Department to speak at your meeting.  Or if you read a newsletter with a great sales tip, put it in your folder so that you share it with your team.

As a general rule of thumb, if you receive the same question from two different sales people in a short period of time, it is an excellent topic for a sales meeting.  It’s not that the others on your team don’t want to ask the same question, they just haven’t gotten around to it yet.  Answer a question individually, and you will have to answer it several times, but answer it in a sales meeting, and you answer it only once.

Aim Higher!

Need more sales meeting ideas?   Join our free webinar where we discuss quick and easy ways to make your sales meetings more interesting and productive.  For more details, visit www.b2bsalesconnections.com/webinars.php.

For some sales tips that you can use in your sales meetings, check out our free sales resources at www.b2bsalesconnections.com/sales_resource.php.

Susan A. Enns, B2B Sales Connections
www.b2bsalesconnections.com, www.linkedin.com/in/susanenns, or www.twitter.com/SusanEnns

When you point your finger at a sales rep telling them they are doing a bad job, there are three fingers pointing back at you.  A mistake or customer complaint is just as much our fault as managers as it is the sales representatives. If we are not giving the tools to do the job right and not training the employees how to use them, we have no one to blame but ourselves. We always have to remember to teach, not preach!

Aim Higher!

Susan A. Enns, B2B Sales Connections
www.b2bsalesconnections.com or www.linkedin.com/in/susanenns