Happy Holidays Everyone!

Year end is just around the corner so its time to slow down, reduce your activity level, sit back and cruise through the year end. YEAH RIGHT! If you want to make as much money as possible you should be more active than ever. In this episode Joe and Mike tell you why you should be focused on finding and closing deals and give you some ideas about what to look for to maximize your year.

Is your boss insane? Does your boss interfere with your ability to sell? Does he/she ask you to do things that don't make sense and seem like a waste of time? What do you do if your boss is a complete psycho? In this episode of the SalesRoundup Joe and Mike talk about what you can do if your boss is a psycho.

It's Murphy's Law! Sometimes someone from your own organization does something in a client meeting, presentation, a phone call or in writing that is very detrimental to your sales process. Your only hope for recovery is to do something that will clean up the mess. In this episode Joe and Mike talk about how to minimize bad sales meetings but, if they do happen, strategies you can use to recover.

Competitive selling is similar to a game of chess. if you don't have a strategy in mind and/or you don't anticipate your opponents moves your chances of winning are not very good. Do you know who your competitors are and what makes what they sell different from yours? More importantly do you know how to sell against them? Do you know how they sell against you? Do you know how to get this information? In this episode Joe and Mike talk about working with sources of competitive intelligence and offer advice on ways you can increase your competitive effectiveness so you can win more deals.

Did you ever wonder why so many people are apprehensive about talking to a sales person? Why is it that sales people have such a negative stereotype? Could it be our own fault? What is it that turns buyers off to sales people? In this episode Joe and Mike examine actual feedback from prospects who’ve had bad experiences with sales people, talk about what it was the sales person did wrong and offer suggestions so you can avoid these common mistakes.

Congratulations! You been selected to be the next sales manager. The only problem is the operation you'll be managing has been underperforming for a long time and you will sink or swim based on your ability to turn it around. In part 2 of the is 2 part series on territory turnaround Joe and Mike talk about how a sales manager might go about accessing what's wrong with an underperforming territory and give you a strategy and plan of attack for fixing it.

Taking over an underperforming territory can be a daunting challenge even for the most experienced of sales people. What would you do if you were given that task? In this episode Joe and Mike talk about how they would go about assessing a new territory and what steps they would take to make it profitable as soon as quickly as possible. 

As the saying goes “you can't shoot the dear from the lodge” meaning you can't close business sitting in your office. You need to get in front of potential clients to be successful in sales. But how do you get in front of them? How do you get in the door? In this episode Joe and Mike talk about how to leverage references and what to say to potential prospects to entice them to meet with you. To help you get invited in through that proverbial door. 

Did you ever sit down and count how many meetings you’ve participated in over the last year that turned out to be of no value to your selling efforts? How about meetings that seemed to go fantastic, where everyone in the room could “feel the love”, but at the end of the day you got nothing out of it? We refer to these meetings as “Barney Meetings” in reference to the big purple dinosaur that entertains kids and sings “I love you, you love me...” Although they may make you feel good Barney meetings are a complete waste of a sales person’s time. In this episode Joe and Mike talk about how to spot Barney meetings, how to avoid them and how, in some instances you can transform them into worthwhile meetings.

Do you sometimes feel that your own company is intentionally or unintentionally making it harder for you to sell? Does your company make you perform lots of tasks that have nothing to do with selling? Did you ever bust your hump to get a deal closed and when you submited it your company it became more difficult to process the order than it was to sell the deal to the prospect? If any of these happened or are happening to you then you're a victim of the sales prevention department. In this episode Joe and Mike talk about how to successfully navigate through the obstacles created by your own organization that prevent you from selling.

Nothing is certain but death, taxes and Sales Reorganizations! Each year companies go through an organizational revamping hoping to increase sales and profit. Senior managers are planning right now for next year's territory changes. So what should you do to minimize your impact? Mike and Joe talk about how you can survive the inevitable sales reorganization and reduce the impact to your territory.

Your performance this year is not materializing the way you planned. Your sales are down and you are no where near your quota. Just when you think things couldn’t get any worse your manager (or even better some corporate sales exec) needs to meet with you to do a performance or territory review. Talking about walking into the lions den! In this episode Joe and Mike talk about how to make it out of your performance review alive when things are not going all that well.

People buy from people they like. People buy more from people they like and have a good relationship with than from any other people. Successful sales people know that developing great relationships with clients leads to more sales. In this episode Joe and Mike talk about how to go about building the types of relationships that can lead to more sales success.

Let's face it some of the most compelling sales messages don't stick. How many times have you delivered a very compelling argument about why someone should buy your product or service only to find the message had fallen on deaf ears? How many times did you think given the facts the sale would be a "no brainer" for the buyer, but it wasn't? Why do some sales messages just seem to die? The most compelling reasons for someone to buy from you can be lost if the message isn't presented right. It's not about the content being presented it's about the context of the presention.

This series is based on the book "Made to Stick" by Chip and Dan Heath which is all about why some ideas survive and others die. Part two of this three part series on making your "sales message stick"! Joe and Mike discuss making your sales message emotional and how to use stories to make the message stick.

Let's face it some of the most compelling sales messages don't stick. How many times have you delivered a very compelling argument about why someone should buy your product or service only to find the message had fallen on deaf ears? How many times did you think given the facts the sale would be a "no brainer" for the buyer, but it wasn't? Why do some sales messages just seem to die? The most compelling reasons for someone to buy from you can be lost if the message isn't presented right. It's not about the content being presented it's about the context of the presention.

This series is based on the book "Made to Stick" by Chip and Dan Heath which is all about why some ideas survive and others die. Part two of this three part series on making your "sales message stick"! Joe and Mike discuss two techniques to effectively communicate your sales message; Concrete and Credible.

Let's face it some of the most compelling sales messages don't stick. How many times have you delivered a very compelling argument about why someone should buy your product or service only to find the message had fallen on deaf ears? How many times did you think given the facts the sale would be a "no brainer" for the buyer, but it wasn't? Why do some sales messages just seem to die? The most compelling reasons for someone to buy from you can be lost if the message isn't presented right. It's not about the content being presented it's about the context of the presention.

This series is based on the book "Made to Stick" by Chip and Dan Heath which is all about why some ideas survive and others die. Part one of this three part series on making your "sales message stick"! Joe and Mike discuss finding and presenting the core of your sales message and presenting it in an unexpected way that will get people's attention and zero them in on why they are really buying. 

Let's face it no matter how much finesse you think is involved in selling at the end of the day Sales is a science. That said why is it so hard to find educational institutions that offer a degree in Sales? There are more sales people than there are marketing people, finance people, or lawyers combined. So why do all those professions have accredited degree programs but not sales? In this episode Joe and Mike talk about getting a sales education and why educational institutions need to pay more attention to sales as a major.  

Leveraging your senior executives in a sales cycle

We are on vacation and you are with us.

Its Mike and Joe are taking some well deserved time off. We will be back with a regular schedule on August 4.

Sales Podcast and Sales Blog

How to make the most out of sales meetings
during the summer time lul in activity.

Its summer (at least in the USA) which means people are more relaxed, going on vacations and loosing any sense of urgency about doing business. If you're a sales person summer often has a negative effect on your ability to close sales. In this episode Joe and Mike offer up some ideas that might help you improve your sales performance over the summer..

Sales Podcast and Sales Blog

The advent of Web 2.0 presents a whole new opportunity to leverage technology to reach potential prospects and partners. But where do you start? In this episode Joe and Mike talk about different social networking tools, how they use them to drive awareness and how you can leverage them to find more opportunities.

Sales Podcast and Sales Blog

It's the end of the quarter for a majority of sales people which means it's reality check time on how close your actual sales were to what you forecasted. Forecasting is a difficult process fraught with errors but its important to your success to get it right. In this episode Joe and Mike talk about why the forecasting process often goes astray and what sales people and sales managers can do to improve their forecasting accuracy..

Sales Podcast and Sales Blog

Because of its direct impact on the bottom line hiring the right sales reps and sales managers is critical to the success of any company. However, there are few challenges as daunting as selecting people with the potential to be top performers. In this episode Joe and Mike discuss how to go about selecting top sales reps and sales managers including identifying the characteristics that are most important in determining their potential for success.

Sales Podcast and Sales Blog

WAre you tired of wasting your time following up on supposed sales leads that turn out to be nothing but a waste of time? Are you tired of Marketing complaining that those hard to get leads are never followed up on? How do you get your marketing department to qualify “leads” before sending them on to you? In this episode Joe and Mike talk about how to revamp your sales lead generation, qualification and follow up process to streamline the process, increase your sales and make more money.

Sales Podcast and Sales Blog

What do you measure to predict future sales performance? Is it the number of cold calls made? The number of face-to-face visits? The number of opportunities in the pipeline? Those gauges are important to monitor but how realistic is it to rely on them to forecast sales? Do those measurements actually help you figure out "the dollars in the door"?

In this episode Joe and Mike talk about the pitfalls of relying on traditional methods of predicting sales results and in some cases how measuring them can negatively impact your sales. They will also discuss what sales people and sales managers should be looking at and offer a method to determine if you are focusing on the types activity that will lead to "the dollars in the door".

Sales Podcast and Sales Blog

Part 3 of a three part series on Selling in a Tough Economic Times.

In tough economic times elite sales professionals follow a few basic behaviors to assure top performance. In this the final episode of the series "Selling in a Down Economy" Mike and Joe Interview Tim Wackel, founder and president of The Wackel Group, about the top three key sales strategies you should be deploying right now to ensure your success!

Sales Podcast and Sales Blog

Part 2 of a three part series on Selling in a Tough Economic Times.

There are a few basic behaviors that top salespeople should follow in tough economic times to sustain their performance. First, make your customer's goals your personal objectives. Demonstrate how your product or service will advance their ambitions. Only propose solutions that solve their business problems! Second, justify all proposals with payback beginning in the current fiscal year. In tough economic times every customer will be looking to save money. Third, and perhaps the most important, reduce their risk! This is especially acute in a down economy. No one wants to take on additional risk when times are tough.

This week Mike and Joe talk with Jeb Blount, author of PowerPrinciples and founder of SalesGravy.com about Understanding Your Customer's needs throughout this turbulent period. 

Sales Podcast and Sales Blog

Part 1 of a three part series on Selling in a Tough Economic Times In sales there are many things we can control. The economy is not one of them! Even the Federal Reserve Chairman is having a difficult time with the economy. We do however have total control over the one thing that will separate the top sales performers from the nonperformers and that is our attitude.

Attitude drives behavior and if you maintain a positive attitude you will outperform over 80% of your peers. Optimistic sales people will perform better than their negative peers by nearly 40%. You have control over your mind. This week Mike and Joe talk about Maintaining A Positive Attitude through this tough economic period. Additionally they have an with interview Rocky LaGrone, founder of The Training Group.

Sales Podcast and Sales Blog

Many of the most successful athletes, performers, and business professionals have coaches. But did you know many of the most successful sales professionals have coaches too?

A good sales coach can really help sales professionals hone their skills and MAKE MORE MONEY.

A personal sales coach can help you identify your strengths, overcome weaknesses and guide you to become the top professional in your industry. A good sales coach will become your mentor and partner. Together you set goals and design plans to meet your business objectives.

A sales coach will give you encouragement and feedback, celebrate your victories, and keep you focused to minimize your losses In this episode Joe and Mike talk about why Sales Coaching is important and how to select a good coach.

Sales Podcast and Sales Blog

It's May already and if your company has a calendar year end that means you are already 5 months into the sales year. When was the last time you looked at that sales plan you put together at the beginning of the year? In this episode Joe and Mike talk about why it's important to review your sales plan right now and offer some key strategies to help you update your sales business plan.

Sales Podcast and Sales Blog

Did you ever have to split a commission with someone in another territory who tried to lay claim to a deal you closed? Did you ever have someone try to take credit for a deal closed in your territory? What do you do? In this episode Joe and Mike talk about sales turf wars – what can happen, how they affect the organization and how to avoid them.

Sales Podcast and Sales Blog

Did you ever have to split a commission with someone in another territory who tried to lay claim to a deal you closed? Did you ever have someone try to take credit for a deal closed in your territory? What do you do? In this episode Joe and Mike talk about sales turf wars – what can happen, how they affect the organization and how to avoid them.

Sales Podcast and Sales Blog