Many Australian Sales Teams are in Social Distancing Mode and working remotely right at this moment. This places many new demands on the sales team, and we have taken the opportunity to offer some insights as to the silver linings which are visible as a result of working remotely. Some Salespeople may struggle with time management working from home and this can be expected, however setting and agreeing on expectations is crucial. Expectations such the amount of sales activity, proposal…
Category: Articles by George Manolis
Sales Training gains consistent results for Global Corporation
Sales Training gains consistent results for Global Corporation - Read Below for the full story from one of our clients! One of our clients who are part of a Global Organisation which collectively turns over $ 2 Billion dollars, contacted us over 4 years ago and asked for assistance in sales growth. As a directive from the Global Headquarters of this company, the request for a modest increase of 15% per year was requested in our proposal. Whilst this growth…
What to expect in 2020?
Feedback from some of our Clients in 2019, was that it was one of toughest years for a long time. An expected burst of activity after the elections in May 2019 did not eventuate for many organizations. Retail and Automotive including Trucks saw massive declines in Revenue. Some Mining clients experienced the reverse and enjoyed sales growth last year. When we contacted the C Level Executives for many of these organizations for comment, we were told to expect “head Count”…
Sales and non-sales related activities
How effective is your sales team? What percentage of their time is invested in sales related activities? A recent survey of Australian Corporations conducted by SFSI indicates that sales teams invest less than 30% of their time in Sales Related Activities. How does your team compare? Sales related activities are regarded as: Prospecting activities by telephone, door knocking, LinkedIn & Social Media, networking events, trade shows etc. Initial and subsequent visits to prospects to conduct needs analysis and or…
Recruiting Great Sales People
Here are some great tips when you are recruiting great sales people. Get referrals from friends and colleagues. I've found most of the great performers I've hired for my business this way. Ask your customers. Customers bond well with sharp representatives and they often will be a great medium for an introduction. Use social media. LinkedIn is particularly powerful. Engage with people - everywhere you go and especially when you have met a great sales person. Create an amazing advertisement…
The cold-caller’s guide to manoeuvring the gatekeeper
There are many ways of connecting with prospects to identify what opportunities actually exist within their organisations, including email marketing, direct mail, invitations to events and so on. Getting past the gatekeeper can be daunting. Here's our cold-caller’s guide to manoeuvring the gatekeeper. This article will discuss the strategy of cold calling – that’s right telemarketing! As we make over 1 million calls in our own outbound lead generating call centre, we know that telephone canvassing is the most…
How to answer the phone: a guide for millennials – and the rest of us
Customers and prospects contact your business by phone or call in to make enquiries about your products and services. That's why it's so important to know how to answer the phone. They expect to be acknowledged, greeted and treated like VIPs when they make contact with you. No matter what size company we work with, our best advice for business owners and sales team members is: “The reason you exist is to be 100% focused when a client or…
How to ask for the sale
Many sales people are afraid to ask for the order, this is sad but true. Many Strategic Selling Courses specifically teach that if you ask the correct qualifying questions then the order will follow. We do not disagree with this, however, we still need to ask for the order. Before we discuss what are the best closing lines, let's talk about the pre-amble, or what has to happen before we ask for the order. Never ask for the order before…
Measuring to win: which numbers keep your sales on track?
Winning organisations are those that regularly manage their Key Performance Indicators (also known as KPIs). KPIs come in many forms and it is important to monitor these from many areas of your sales based business. As they say “you can’t manage what you can’t measure”. So what should we measure in our business? We suggest that you regularly measure, monitor and adjust performance issues related to: Monthly sales revenue Incoming enquires through walk-ins Internet and telephone enquiries Number of…
The unfortunate maths of discounting – and what to do about it
Many organisations are happy to offer discounts – all the customer needs to do is ask. In other companies, the sales people are so grateful and familiar with customers that on many occasions you don’t even have to ask for a discount – the sales person just volunteers a healthy slice of the profit back to the customer. Let's do the maths on discounting. When we offer a discount, we take away the profit directly from our cash register and…