chrishauser.net

[chrishausernet]

How To Organize Your Sales Territory

How To Organize Your Sales Territory

The correct organization, management, and exploitation, of your territory (also called patch) is one of the key sales skills. It ranks right up there along with your soft skills, your relationship building, and your discovery or qualification. Territory management is as much an art as it is a science, and is best learned through practice. In order to guide this, you'll need a strategic context…

View On WordPress

[chrishausernet]

How To Write An Effective Prospecting Email

How To Write An Effective Prospecting Email

As a salesperson email is probably your most important communications channel (after the phone, of course). You will spend much of your day there, and will rely on it as your chief asynchronous medium. You probably send countless prospecting emails per month. However, you’ve probably also noticed the response rate is fairly low.

Writing sales emails well is a skill which takes time to master. I…

View On WordPress

[chrishausernet]

Throw Away Your Call Script And Build A Framework

Throw Away Your Call Script And Build A Framework

Scripts are a staple in sales; everyone has one, and many treat theirs as the secret to their success. In reality, however, scripts are only useful if prospects stick to them; as you know, they rarely do. Scripts are great for learning the basics and looking at sample conversations, but they're less than optimal for real-world use. Instead of scripts, you might want to consider building a…

View On WordPress

[chrishausernet]

The Key To Overcoming Objections

The Key To Overcoming Objections

Objection handling is one of the key skills every salesperson must possess, and as a result, much has been written about it. There are many methods, methodologies, frameworks, and scripts out there which all purport to be the best way to handle objections, and much money has been made selling them. Many of them (less so the scripts, more so the frameworks and methodologies) are quite useful, and…

View On WordPress

[chrishausernet]

3 Best Ways To Lose A Prospect's Interest

3 Best Ways To Lose A Prospect’s Interest

Lots of articles tell you how to gain a prospect's interest. Many will include tricks and tips, and many are just plain wrong. There are many ways to gain the interest of a prospect, not least of which is simply because your product is interesting. There are also some sure-fire ways to lose that interest, and they usually have to do with you. Here are the three best ways to lose a prospect's…

View On WordPress

[chrishausernet]

3 Approaches for Effective Sales Positioning

3 Approaches for Effective Sales Positioning

Positioning is where salespeople often fall flat; they are able to discover needs and qualify those, and then choose to stick only to a feature and function list when attempting to differentiate their product from all the others on the market. Here are three approaches that aim to change that and get you positioning like a pro. Feel free to print out the illustration and stick it on your cubicle,…

View On WordPress

[chrishausernet]

How To Avoid Taking Rejection Personally In Sales

How To Avoid Taking Rejection Personally In Sales

The most common thing you hear in sales is "no." Sure, it can be sugar-coated and turned into a more palatable, more polite message. However, at the end of the day, it's all the same thing: rejection. Salespeople, whatever field they're active in, must all be equipped to handle rejection regularly and in all its forms. The greatest lack in sales training is often the avoidance of any discussion…

View On WordPress

[chrishausernet]

How To Deal With Multiple Decision Makers

How To Deal With Multiple Decision Makers

It is often said too many chefs ruin the stew, and this certainly holds true in sales. Large organizations grow bureaucracy like trees grow branches, and these often come with additional stakeholders which must be placated, overcome, persuaded, or otherwise mollified. They are often invested in the final decision, as they are affected by it in some way.

(more…)

View On WordPress

[chrishausernet]

8 Keys To Establishing Rapport

8 Keys To Establishing Rapport

Establishing rapport is always seen as some kind of dark art by sales beginners and professionals alike. In reality it’s fairly easy to do. Here’s a nice illustration showing you 8 keys to establishing rapport. Feel free to print it out and stick it on your cubicle, wall, or wherever else you like.

(more…)

View On WordPress

[chrishausernet]

The Best Way To Handle An RFP In Sales

The Best Way To Handle An RFP In Sales

RFPs, or Requests For Proposal, are a salesperson's nightmare; they're a tool designed to take salespeople out of the equation. Their use indicates that the prospect's buying decision is being driven purely by accounting or finance. RFPs take a significant amount of time and effort to complete, and the return on investment usually doesn't materialize. At least, that's how it was until now. Let me…

View On WordPress

[chrishausernet]

The Top 3 Strategies For Large Accounts

The Top 3 Strategies For Large Accounts

Entering a large account is a little like a campaign: individual battles may be won or lost, but the ultimate goal is the big deal. Here’s an illustration of the top 3 strategies you can use to ensure you win. Feel free to print it out and stick it on your cubicle, wall, or wherever else you like

(more…)

View On WordPress

[chrishausernet]

How To Organize Your Week For The Best Sales Results

How To Organize Your Week For The Best Sales Results

In sales it's very easy to get caught up in the day. You have your calls to do, inbound calls, requests to manage, prospects and clients to visit, and meetings to attend. Before you know it, Friday rolls around, and you realize you'll need to push quite a bit to the next week. You tend to lose sight of the big picture, and you may find it difficult to hit your targets as a result. I've written…

View On WordPress

[chrishausernet]

Prospect Interaction For Better Sales Relationships

Prospect Interaction For Better Sales Relationships

The prospect isn't always right; it's an old truism that simply isn't true any more. And I think it's time that we, as salespeople, begin to step away from it towards more realistic relationships. The reason it's no longer true is because the products we're selling, especially in the B2B world, have become increasingly complex and capable. As such, it takes time to assimilate enough knowledge to…

View On WordPress

[chrishausernet]

The Importance Of Honesty And Integrity In Sales

The Importance Of Honesty And Integrity In Sales

Contrary to popular belief, the principles of honesty and integrity are absolutely vital to every salesperson. Here’s a nice illustration you can print out and stick on your cubicle, wall, or wherever else you like. (more…)

View On WordPress

[chrishausernet]

The Top 5 Mistakes In Sales Conversations

The Top 5 Mistakes In Sales Conversations

The best salespeople master the art of conversation. They know how to build rapport, gauge needs, perform business discovery and qualification, and ultimately position and sell a product effectively. It all seems absolutely natural when they talk, as if this is merely part of another conversation.

And then there's almost everybody else. These are people who, when they call, sound like…

View On WordPress

[chrishausernet]

Don't Sell A Product, Sell An Idea

Don’t Sell A Product, Sell An Idea

Products are the end-point of a process usually involving much creativity and hard work, and they are usually valued on the basis of their relative merits. The discussion around them is thus a rational one, with features and benefits as the chief topics. This conventional approach is certainly functional, but it is slowly and surely losing ground. The competition in every sector is so fierce, and…

View On WordPress

[chrishausernet]

The Basics Of Effective Use Of Tone In Sales

The Basics Of Effective Use Of Tone In Sales

Speech as a skill is remarkably underdeveloped in the sales profession. It's something people use every day, and forms the basis of every relationship, and yet it's almost universally ignored as its own discipline. Salespeople study scripts and focus on the words that might possibly bring the best result. They focus on pitches, and on effective closing.

(more…)

View On WordPress