Blog
During the last year, we at Teneo, have been on a mission to determine what makes sales people good and, what makes them Great!
We began interviewing buyers and conducted two webinars (Cracking the Code) to explore what it takes to secure meetings with busy decision makers. These individuals’ shared key insights that great sales people consistently execute compared to their “good” counterparts.
We then took it a step further and interviewed several sales leaders to find out what their teams were doing well and where they needed to improve. We revealed these insights earlier this year during our “From Good to Great” webinar.
From these interviews and webinars as well as our work in the field with sales reps, we have uncovered some of the characteristics that separate the great sales people from the good ones. Here are some of those insights.
| Good Sales Reps… |
Great Sales Reps… |
| Know their sales cycle & territory plan |
Know your customer’s buying cycle & goals |
| Prepare for their client meeting in car |
Research, industry info, trends to position as expert |
| Provides product solutions with benefits |
Provides business solutions to meets clients KPI with ROI |
| Delivers great service & responsive |
Strategic Partner who is pro-active, valuable resource |
| Find 3- 5 new customers each year |
Are disciplined with their time, pipeline and reason to meet |
| Ask more and good questions |
Ask great & tough questions about client business/future |
What does this mean?
Good sales people will continue to survive. However, it will become increasingly more difficult to achieve sales targets and goals, maintain market share and stand out from their competition.
If you are tasked with goal of achieving double-digit growth in 2015, you may have to step up your game and start making the transition from good to great.
For more detailed information, download our Sales Leaders Insightes Revealed ebook or listen to the “Sales Leaders Insights Revealed-Transforming Sales Teams from Good to Great” webinar to see what you can do to help your team make the leap from good to GREAT!
Lisa is driven by the mantra – Be Strategic. Be Pro-active. Be Brave. – and has been successfully training and coaching sales leaders and their teams to do the same for over 15 years. As the President of Teneo Results since 2003, she has trained thousands of sales professionals at more than 250 companies across North America. She transitions salespeople away from the standard “product & price” approach to having purposeful business conversations with their customers that drive results.
Blog
Last week I had the opportunity to visit several dairy farms with a sales rep (we’ll call him Bill) in the agricultural industry.
The rep was a dairy farmer himself and his knowledge was clearly evident as he met with the farmers, toured their properties, and looked at, and discussed, the cows.
During our final sales call of the day, Bill was talking to a customer with whom he wanted to secure more business. He only had a small share of this farmer’s business and he knew there was lots of potential.
Bill asked the farmer some good questions, listened to the responses and made some good suggestions. However, instead of using his knowledge to increase his value proposition, he quickly offered a significant discount to capture the business.
What really stood out to me was that the farmer never once questioned the price of the product.
After our sales call, I coached Bill and suggested that he ask a few more questions to gain additional insight into the farmer’s buying motives and that he wait for the other person to request a discount or price break instead of automatically offering one.
Price is a factor in every sale…I will never, ever deny that.
However, it is seldom the primary reason behind someone’s buying decision unless the price of your product is way out of line with the industry norm.
When you offer discounts without being asked, you set the expectations for future sales opportunities with that customer and limit your ability to sell your product at its full value. Not only does this erode your profit margins and commissions, it discounts the value, knowledge and expertise you bring to the table.
Before conceding to a discount think about the impact it will have on your business. Make the other person work for any and all concessions. Resist the impulse to offer quick discounts. And above all, don’t give away the farm in order to capture a sale!
Avoid 32 negotiating mistakes that cost you money. Download our latest eBook here.
By Kelley Robertson
Lisa is driven by the mantra – Be Strategic. Be Pro-active. Be Brave. – and has been successfully training and coaching sales leaders and their teams to do the same for over 15 years. As the President of Teneo Results since 2003, she has trained thousands of sales professionals at more than 250 companies across North America. She transitions salespeople away from the standard “product & price” approach to having purposeful business conversations with their customers that drive results.
Blog
If you have attended one of our sales training workshops or been a coaching client or even read this newsletter for a while you probably know that at Teneo we’re big believers in setting goals.
As we wrap up 2014 and head into another selling year, I’d like to offer a couple of reminders and suggestions that will help you achieve and exceed next year’s sales targets.
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Lisa is driven by the mantra – Be Strategic. Be Pro-active. Be Brave. – and has been successfully training and coaching sales leaders and their teams to do the same for over 15 years. As the President of Teneo Results since 2003, she has trained thousands of sales professionals at more than 250 companies across North America. She transitions salespeople away from the standard “product & price” approach to having purposeful business conversations with their customers that drive results.
Blog
Last week, we shared 6 strategies to connect with busy decision makers.
These insights were revealed during a recent webinar that included a panel of four senior executives from a range of industries.
Here are six more prospecting strategies to consider when selling to key prospects.
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Lisa is driven by the mantra – Be Strategic. Be Pro-active. Be Brave. – and has been successfully training and coaching sales leaders and their teams to do the same for over 15 years. As the President of Teneo Results since 2003, she has trained thousands of sales professionals at more than 250 companies across North America. She transitions salespeople away from the standard “product & price” approach to having purposeful business conversations with their customers that drive results.
Blog
Prospecting is still one of the biggest challenges sales professionals face especially when it means trying to connect with busy decision makers.
We recently conducted a webinar, “Cracking More of the Code – Decision Makers Reveal What it Takes to Get a 1st Meeting” and our panel of senior decision makers provided valuable insight on what it takes to stand out from the competition and secure meetings with them.
Here are 6 strategies they shared that will help you secure meetings with senior decision makers.
(more…)
Lisa is driven by the mantra – Be Strategic. Be Pro-active. Be Brave. – and has been successfully training and coaching sales leaders and their teams to do the same for over 15 years. As the President of Teneo Results since 2003, she has trained thousands of sales professionals at more than 250 companies across North America. She transitions salespeople away from the standard “product & price” approach to having purposeful business conversations with their customers that drive results.
