Good addition to SMART goals

Phil Gerbyshak has made SMART goals SMARTER. Good stuff here, Phil.

smart goals, motivation

7 new fundamentals for 2006

It’s time to master some new sales fundamentals for even more competitive times ahead. Simply keeping your head down and “working hard” doesn’t cut it any more. Read the full post

Sales research (pre-call planning)

The days of asking a buyer the question, “So, what do you do here at ABC Company?” are over. Buyers expect you to know what they do when meeting with them. You’ve booked the appointment with them because you know what they do and believe you can help them, right? Well, don’t ask that question then.

Here are six steps to finding out who’s who at an account and what’s going on. Read the full post

Be the Part, Look the Part

A sales professional needs to not only be a professional, but look like one, too. If you believe all the things you read about how fast people size you up (how fast do YOU size others up?), then you need to take seriously how you dress.

People will attach one-word adjectives and simple phrases to you the moment they see you, and they could be all over the board: handsome, attractive, beautiful, clean, confident, good looking, happy, approachable, sloppy, wild, crazy hair, what an oddball shirt, look-at-those-shoes… Read the full post

110 sales and marketing ideas

MarketingSherpa has just released its PDF report entitled, Marketing Wisdom for 2006. It’s a free, user-contributed compilation of ideas for improving small business marketing, both online and offline.

Now, before you get on me that I’m deviating from my sales focus, download the report and read the entries. There are plenty that are focused on face-to-face selling. Trust me. There are plenty that email marketing related, or website marketing related, but again, read the thing, you’ll like it.

Also, the link I sent you above connects you to the page where you can download the same report from 2005, 2004, and 2003.

marketingsherpa, wisdom, marketing, marketing ideas

Salesteamtools Book Club, #4

D-Day: June 6, 1944

An out-of-left-field addition to the Salesteamtools Book Club is D Day: June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II by Stephen Ambrose. Read the full post

Are you in the right sales position?

Quickly following up my last post on 11 ways we deny ourselves of success, I just stumbled upon this article at Sellingpower.com, Selling Power magazine’s website. It’s an overview of the results of a study by The HR Chally Group.

By the way, if you’re not a subscriber, shame on you…

11 ways we deny ourselves of success

There are a multitude of reasons why people fail. Failure is almost always based on reasons that are in that person’s control. Think about these and what you can do to avoid getting derailed…

• We lack concentration. We think we can wing our way through crucial moments in work and life. Rather than translate experience into expertise, we let it translate into bad habits.
• We don’t seek to improve our technical skills, let alone our people skills and attitudes. We’re satisfied with where we’re at in life, especially if improvement won’t come easy.
• We surround ourselves with the wrong influences. People with no ambition, no goals, no optimism, nothing positive to contribute.
• We expect people to cater to us, or give us things. This is particularly sad when we expect it based on reasons that matter only to us, when we think because we were born, we “get” something.
• We’re just too proud. We don’t seek advice, guidance, input, or even casual suggestions from others. We think we can go it alone forever.
• We don’t put in enough time. We slip into a mediocre, half-hearted routine, and we lack the self-discipline and achievement drive to stick to successful, daily habits.
• We have no inspiring, internalized reasons for wanting to be successful.We move as the carrot and stick dictate. Or, our stated reasons aren’t compelling enough to cause daily behaviors.
• When we don’t hit our objectives, we too quickly point to external reasons or place blame on someone besides ourselves
• We’ve got our ladder against the wrong wall. Either we’re in the wrong position, the wrong company, or the wrong industry. And we ignore all the signs that it’s a bad fit.
• We’re not willing to “endure to the end.” We get fired up for a short period of time, but then flame out.
• Most tragic of all: we don’t want to succeed. We’re willing to settle for mediocrity.

Don’t settle.

success, habits, attitude, motivation

Maintaining high standards

A post by Steve Pavlina yesterday caused me to think about the standards we set for ourselves and others we lead. Here’s my BLUF: you can’t fully succeed in life living off of expectations established by others. Read the full post

Quota growth over 2005

I’m hearing quota increases that include an average of 11% growth from 2006 over 2005, from a variety of account managers (those who sign new business and manage an existing base).

What’s your increase? Do you feel it’s realistic? What’s your personal goal? Do you have a specific gameplan for being ahead of pace throughout the year?

sales quotas, goals

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