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Resistance

For everyone, everywhere

You are not alone in your resistance to improvement…or rather to the actions that deliver improvement. In fact, you are human in your resistance to taking new actions changeresistance.jpgthat will produce new and desired outcomes. As am I.

I hired a coach in January, had an initial meeting and brainstorming session, was given homework to produce before the next meeting (which was yet unscheduled) and have only produced 25% of that work and have not yet scheduled a follow-up call. To be fair…

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High Impact Actions

For sales leaders, everywhere

Many retailers use statistics to measure performance and results, and there are some constants that all retailers measure: Traffic, close ratio, average sale.  All are measurable, all matter, and all have specific actions to increase them.

There are retailers who add another statistic – sales per guest/dollars per opportunity/performance index. Whatever you call it, they all measure the same thing: Total revenue divided by total traffic. It is a combination of close…

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A Measure of Relationship Value

For everyone, everywhere

I once had a customer who was a bit of a maverick in his marketplace and in the industry. He has since passed away, but Chuck Forcey was a character. When he was in the military, he flew planes and was on an elite fighter team…and he brought his irreverent ways with him.

Fortunately, he had a commander who was tougher and more focused than Chuck was and while he respected and appreciated what Chuck brought to the team, he refused to let the team be defined by one of its me…

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What do we really think about “Just Browsers”?

For showroom sales professionals, everywhere

 In a recent coaching call I was startled by the simple articulation of how one of the salespeople/designers viewed people who say that they are “Just browsing” and those people she’s been unable to connect with: “I think they are killing time and wasting mine.” Wow. I asked her to explain more about this…and it was more about her perspective, which unknown to her, was furthering her inability to connect with browseincoming customers.

Consider this: what do y…

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Ask Commitment Questions

For sales professionals, everywhere.
 
In keeping with the lifelong practice of asking questions is my lifelong practice of talking about them. Imagine a conversation where YOU really drive the exchange by completing EVERY response you have with a question. Think about it. Even if you answer a question posed by the other person, you keep the volley going with a question of your own. You: “Lobster is my favorite food…what’s yours?”
One of the more challenging types of questions is Commitment Que…

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Customer Service Cancellations

 
For everyone, everywhere
As you might be doing at the start of the new year, I am scouring my expenses looking at what is nice versus necessary and can be cut. As an avid reader, my news subscriptions paper-business-finance-document-previewstarted to add up and I considered how much I read of each publication and I decided to cancel my digital subscriptions to both The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. The latter could be done via their website and it was a simple process to execute, followed by a confirming email from …

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This Equals That

For Sales Managers, everywhere
I  love Sales Managers, especially selling sales managers. I love that they love to sell and engage with the customer and that they are interested in developing their team members for greater achievement.  managers810
You know that I believe the sketch is the Holy Grail for the salesperson and the customer. Those salespeople who sketch and take notes during the interaction and gather great data that they use in their sales presentation have a higher close ratio, higher ave…

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Ask Questions vs. Just Answer Them

For sales professionals, everywhere.
When I roleplay/practice with salespeople and play the part of the salesperson as a way of demonstrating the behavior I want them to follow, I am very conscious of my intention and behavior in the interaction: I am focused on what they are saying, use voice and body match, listen deeply and reframe their words and recreate their emotion, and ask more questions in response to what they say. These are all teachable actions and they all require repeated practic…

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“Helpful” is Not an Outcome

For sales professionals, everywhere
 
I had a great call today with the sales leadership of Interiors Home in PA. We have been working together for a couple of years and discussing how to break some habits and create new, more effective ones. One of the actions we were discussing I have mentioned Handshakebefore: Sales managers interrupting sales/customer interactions on the sales floor to help the salesperson to overcome concerns and to help them to close the sale (or get the appointment).
Today we dis…

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You Won’t Win Them All

For sales professionals, everywhere
 
And you don’t have to win them all.
You want to win them all, will do your best to win them all, and sometimes obstacles will arise that will prevent that from happening.
There is ALWAYS something to learn that can be improved, eliminated, or adjusted.
You want to engage so that THEY feel heard and fully expressed and so that YOU can accomplish something - the sale today or to forward the sale today.
And when you fail to produce a result, look to see if…

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