It seems Multitasking is today’s badge honor. In the 90’s the badge of honor was comparing how hard or how many long hours and weekends you’re working compared to others.

Your Sharpenz 30 Second Sales Manager Tip: Encourage Solving Problems Last week there was an interesting read in The Marcus Buckingham Company Inside Strength newsletter about a problem solving technique.  It went in my, ‘this would be good to use one day’ mental file and low and behold, the next day it a committee meeting [...]

In 2003 Frederick Reichheld’s article, The One Number You Need to Grow, was published by the Harvard Business Review. Based on his research, the results of just one question are correlated to the future outcome of a company’s results.

How many benefit statements are in your sellers conversations? Listen to your sellers and I wouldn’t be surprised if you heard more Feature to Feature Statements than Feature To Benefit Statements.

The holiday season isn’t the only thing on today’s sales managers and sellers minds. They are already thinking about 2011. How is it going to be different? And please, don’t let it be the same. Even if they made their sales quota, sellers often thrive on the adventure and excitement of the sales challenge.

Lately, we’ve seen salespeople become a bit paralyzed as they look at all the activities they could be doing to make more sales. Don’t let that ‘I’m overwhelmed’ feeling stop you. Instead of thinking you need to do 20 different things today, focus on the power of one.

Randy Paush’s book, The Last Lecture, is a best seller, and after reading it, I see why. There is a lot of wisdom in his stories and advice. One story in particular, about time management, hit home with me, because there are always more things we can do to make the most of our precious time.

Asking the best questions is incredibly important. Without finding out the problem, opportunity, want or need first, presenting solutions, products or services is premature, and can easily be dismissed as too expensive, not needed or just annoying.
Here are some of the common mistakes sales professionals make when it comes to asking questions and some best practices.

Are you a fan of horror movies? Various scare tactics with music, visuals and suspense are used to drive the fight or flight response and leave us feeling a little creeped out and unsettled. Not a place most of us want to be for very long. So why would sales strategies focused on scaring people stick around for decades?

Keeping your sales team engaged and aligned with the needs of the organization can sometimes be a challenge for sales managers. But the rewards are plentiful: research shows that the more engaged the workforce, the more innovative, productive and profitable the company. Here are three actions you can take to engage your sales team.