Sales and Management Tips and Techniques for Industrial Manufacturing

Protect Your Core Business by Competitor Proofing

Scott — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 22:27:45 +0000

Several people have asked me recently, “How do I prevent a competitor from undercutting me, or otherwise influencing my customer to go with the competition?” The scenario typically goes something like this: “I just had a great visit with a prospect, and he really seems excited about the project we discussed. I think he’s going [...]

Never say “Thank you for your business”

Scott — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 14:25:17 +0000

Every sales rep appreciates winning a big order from a key customer; but it’s rarely appropriate for him or her to say so to the customer. Saying ‘Thank you for your business’ is bush league, and can significantly weaken your position. Top performing sales executives recognize that customers buy their solutions because to do so makes good business sense for the [...]

Balancing Life and Work for Your Troops

Scott — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 11:59:36 +0000

“Find a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.” – Confucious This truism is a powerful leadership and motivational tool that is underleveraged by most sales leaders. We’ve all heard the buzzwords, “Creating Work/Life Balance,” but we usually think of the concept in terms of our own situation, not [...]

Don't Sell Like a Jerk – MP3 Podcast

Scott — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 17:27:14 +0000

Listen to this training call with Scott and Noelle Kim with her team of Advisors at World Financial Group (Aegon) to discover the secrets of selling like a pro. Developing long-term successful client relationships is much the same whether selling individual services to consumers or selling multi-million dollar capital equipment to industrial process facilities. Right Click here and Save Target to download [...]

Share Your Organizational Passion With Your Employees to Drive Greatness

Scott — Thu, 08 May 2008 13:00:35 +0000

I read a great post today that I wanted to share with all my sales leadership readers. The essence of the post is this: Leaders who keep their employees in the dark about their corporate vision and strategy are missing the greatest opportunity available to them for creating a truly great team. Read the post [...]

Peer-To-Peer Sales Coaching | Rewards and Processes

Scott — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 12:07:41 +0000

Last week I introduced the very important concept of Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Sales Coaching in my post entitled Best Practices in B2B Sales Leadership | Peer To Peer Sales Coaching. I promised some examples. First, though, let me reiterate the power of “P2P Coaching”. I use this term specifically, as it differs distinctly from traditional ”mentoring”. While mentoring is [...]

Best Practices in B2B Sales Leadership | Peer To Peer Sales Coaching

Scott — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 11:59:36 +0000

Hi Again, I hope that you’ve all had a joyful and productive week. It’s been some time since I’ve had a chance to put some of my sales leadership ideas to paper, so I apologize to my readers who look forward to these insights. As an accomplished sales leader and coach, I am always looking [...]

If you don't have a system for automating your rapport building strategy, you don't have a rapport building strategy.

Scott — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 11:23:42 +0000

I have finally found the perfect system for automating my strategy for building customer rapport, and I must say that it is everything I had dreamed of. For those of you who want to differentiate yourselves from your ‘peers’ and competitors by vastly expanding your network of contacts and generating a full pipeline of leads [...]

Recruiting Top Sales Reps – Part 2 of 4: Telephone Interview

Scott — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 13:36:12 +0000

Once your candidate has passed the initial screen for ‘likeability’ and fundamental sales skills, it’s time to get really tough. The recruiting phase is when you need to scrutinize your candidates with vigor. This article addresses phase 2, the “Telephone Interview”, of the four phases of hiring peak performing sales reps: Preliminary Phone Screen Telephone Interview [...]

Sales Closing Strategies Are Not Dead

Scott — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 19:54:34 +0000

There’s a lot of talk about “closing” in sales, and yesterday I read an article that compelled me to write this post. The article, simply entitled Closing Techniques, really put the “slam” on the concept of “closing”. The article I read stated that “closing techniques are an outmoded form of psychological manipulation…” There are numerous closing [...]