Sales Excellence Blog

The most powerful yet grossly under-utilized tool in business and selling today is video; both live and on-demand. Given the current global outbreak of the novel coronavirus and the safety measures and travel restrictions companies are rapidly putting in place, this is changing. Quickly!

Ask any sales manager and they’ll probably tell you that they would love to be able to forecast sales revenue more accurately. Many managers struggle with getting a true understanding of which deals are likely to close and which ones are simply wishful thinking.

Many of the world’s best sales forces are the best because they have codified and developed a documented sales process. Having a map of the things we as salespeople have to do to make a sale provides a framework for sales planning and activity that reduces mistakes and shortens new hire ramp-up time.

Let’s discuss the roles involved in a complex buying process. When it takes multiple people to get involved, a deal becomes complex. It’s very important that we seek to understand who these people are and what the roles and responsibilities are of everyone who will be involved in our customer’s buying process.

This article, published in Selling Power, is based on a conversation with Bill Stinnett, founder and president of Sales Excellence and author of Think Like Your Customer (McGraw-Hill, 2004) and Selling Results! (McGraw Hill, 2007).

As an enthusiastic student of the sales profession for over 25 years, I have read several hundred books and untold numbers of articles on selling. One thing that I find frustrating is how often really BAD advice is passed along that actually hurts the reader more than it helps.

People often ask us, “What’s the most effective way to reach a C-level or VP-level executive to sell to them? What medium of communication should I use? Should I use email, voicemail, letter by FedEx?”

Unpredictable financial markets, a tightening global economy, and companies faltering or laying off employees at every turn . . . for those of us who’ve made selling our profession, these are trying times to be sure!

Why do some application software projects fail? Did you know that the business applications software market is a $70 billion industry? If you’re in the process of selecting or implementing an enterprise software solution for your company, you probably don’t need to be reminded of that.