Lynn Mcinturf

June 20 is the longest day of the year. I would bet that even on that day, you would still NOT have time to finish everything you wanted or planned to accomplish. Time is truly an un-renewable resource. Once it is used up it is gone – all 86,400 seconds in the day. Try this tip to manage the activities around time.

If you are asked to forecast the number of sales you’ll close or the amount of sales revenue you’ll generate in the coming month, could you come up with a meaningful answer? Meaningful in that it’s based on something more concrete than wishing and hoping? Most salespeople, if they are being honest, would answer “no.”  Discover how to take the mystery out of sales forecasting and make it a reliable and predictable process.  

Every time a prospect asks you a question during a sales call, it’s highly likely that you’ve got an opportunity to improve the relationship by asking your own question … instead of answering the prospect’s question directly. Read more about a basic communication principle that too many salespeople overlook.

Have you ever had a series of good meetings with a prospect gathered all kinds of information and given what you thought was a great presentation only to receive a response like, "Let me think about it," "I have to share all of this with my boss," or, "We'll get back to you?" ... and you never hear another word?

Often focusing on a rote, boilerplate survey process that sends the same questionnaire to everyone we miss a golden opportunity to understand what’s really meaningful to our clients. And that very understanding could help us avoid big problems, drive service excellence and grow the account. Imagine a different approach that focuses on investing time in a discussion with key team members about what is most important to their organization using that information to evaluate the partnership.

How many times have you made a hiring mistake? Let's face it, if we hire any level or any quantity of people we are going to make mistakes. A small, inexpensive investment will ensure that you have hired the right person for the right position.

You can’t reach goals if everyone is allowed to decide for himself how to reach them.  It’s not uncommon for a sales manager to let the sales staff have their way.  The result of such a management practice is chaos.  Reduce the stress and chaos by getting the sales team to follow the same process.

How a smart targeted combination of standard email messaging and LinkedIn networking can serve as a platform for generating new business and increasing revenue.

As Sales Professionals, we can't think of many prospecting options that we enjoy more than a busy Trade Show floor. Why? Where else can you get so much practice? Where else can you interact with multiple prospective clients each hour? Where else do you have people approaching YOU about your products or services?

On the other hand, you must be really effective at engaging people in conversation, and in the RIGHT conversation, to assure your Trade Show success.

When Milt was at risk of not making quota for three straight quarters, his manager decided to take an unprecedented approach to motivating him to reach his targets. Milt not only went on to exceed quota in his next quarter – he became one of the top performers on the team.