Colleen Stanley
Are You Losing Sales to Status Quo in This Virtual Selling World?
[embedded content]Are you losing sales to status quo? Now, you might think I’m referring to your prospect’s or customer’s attitude of not changing, or of stalling about making buying decisions. No, I’m talking about you and your sales team, and...
Five Sales Management Metrics to Track and Measure
[embedded content]Which sales management sales activity metrics does your company track and measure? Sales organizations often focus only on tracking and measuring a salesperson’s sales activity metrics, such as number of prospecting calls, new s...
Five Ways To ROCK Your 2021 Sales Kickoff
[embedded content]I’m a big fan of sales kickoffs. As a former vice president of sales, I learned that well-conducted sales kickoff meetings make you money---they don’t cost you money. What? Sure, there are visible costs to conducting an effec...
What Is The Weak Link In Your Sales Organization?
[embedded content]When I was a kid, we’d often play Red Rover during recess. Classmates would split up into two teams, link hands and then call for a member of the opposing team to send someone over. The goal was to try to break through one…
How To Decrease Stress and Increase Sales
[embedded content]Imagine if you and your friends watched a movie recapping the year 2020 and didn’t know it was a true story. “Wow, wouldn’t that be something if that really happened?” someone might say. Well, 2020 is happening and the pandemi...
Building a Strong Referral Network in a Virtual World
You can hear the heavy breathing and the sound of footsteps pounding the pavement (figuratively) as salespeople race to achieve Q4 and year-end goals. The questions every seller should ask themselves is: How would do I prefer to build my book of busin...
How to Run GREAT Group Sales Meetings
[embedded content]It’s the Monday morning sales meeting and your sales team gathers together. Look around and count up the payroll in that room. It’s not a small number, especially when you combine salaries plus opportunity cost. Because, when your sal...
Is Your Sales Team Waiting Out the Pandemic?
I’ve heard more than one CEO and VP of sales express concern around members of their sales team that appear to be “waiting out the pandemic.” Hope is not a strategy, and this type of denial results in salespeople not taking the right actions, enough…
Three Reasons Sales Managers Fail
I’ve said it more than once in my role of coaching the coach: Sales managers get set up to fail. They’re promoted to sales management with little understanding, training or education about what it takes to build and develop a great sales organization. ...
It’s Time to Update Your Sales Playbook(s)
Can you imagine a sports team running the same plays year after year and still expecting to win? The answer, of course, is no. However, many sales organizations use the same sales playbooks year after year and then wonder why they aren’t closing more b...
Avoid This Sales Coaching Mistake
[embedded content]I’m reading “The Talent Code” by Daniel Coyle and am reminded of the importance of understanding the neuroscience and practice needed to achieve sales excellence. It’s easy to believe that masterful people are born, not developed. &nb...
Sales Productivity During a Pandemic
[embedded content]When the COVID-19 crisis struck, many companies thought the move to remote offices and remote selling would last just a few months. But the pandemic seems to have a different timeline, which no one knows. Dr. Robert Sutton rec...
Demystifying Virtual Selling
[embedded content]Sales trainers, sales managers and podcasters are focused on helping sellers learn how to sell in a world gone remote and virtual. These conversations show that there is angst among sellers that this new thing called “virtual selling...
Selling During COVID-19: Improvise, Adapt and Overcome
[embedded content]My husband Jim is a former Marine. And on more than one occasion, he has said that I remind him of his former drill sergeant. (But that is a story for another blog.) Marines are taught -- and drilled -- to overcome any obstacle.…
Emotionally Intelligent Prospecting in Turbulent Times
[embedded content]Do you remember the good ‘ole days? I’m talking about January 2020! The economy was humming, sales kickoffs and annual awards were celebrated, and many sellers were on their way to their best sales year ever. And then, for many...
What’s in Your Salesperson’s Briefcase?
[embedded content]A popular television commercial asks, “What’s in your wallet?” Whenever I see the ad, I immediately think of another question: “What’s in your salesperson’s briefcase?” Salespeople get hired and show up at work with two briefcases. O...
Sales Managers: Are You Showing Up and Throwing Up?
[embedded content]Sales managers complain that their sales teams don’t listen to prospects and fail to ask questions in order to create the best solution for customers. This selling behavior often is labeled as “product dumping” or “showing up and thro...
Are You an Instant Gratification Sales Manager?
[embedded content] Delayed gratification has been defined as the ability to put in the work to earn the reward. Sales managers teach and preach the importance of precall planning and preparation to their sales teams in order to conduct effective ...
Should You Have Been There in the First Place?
There are many great coaching questions that salespeople and sales managers can ask when pre-briefing and debriefing sales calls. One that I often start with is: Should you have been there in the first place? Many hard-working salespeople are wor...
Is It Time To Bring Your Customer Into The Monday Morning Sales Meeting?
[embedded content] I recently worked with a terrific client at their national sales meeting. Much of the conversation at the conference focused on ways to add value to their clients and prospects. Many great ideas, however, one made me laugh out loud a...