The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

If you are in sales, you can’t avoid price competition altogether, but you can take steps to reduce the focus on price. You need to behave in such a way that you are working with the prospect to create specific value, using your product or service as part of the solution. The alternative is that you present general value by pitching your product or service as the solution—inviting the type of product comparisons that lead to price negotiation. 

Creating specific value for each customer BEATS presenting general product value to every prospect.

Everybody’s got one. In fact, ideas are not only cheap and plentiful, but their overuse often obscures the work we should really be doing—gaining an understanding of what the prospect is trying to get accomplished. I see so many salespeople (and sales managers) default to premature ideas that end up nowhere.

The temptation is to vomit an idea the minute we see or hear a possible need in the customer’s business. Bad practice. Ask a few more questions and dig a little deeper about what business results the prospect is looking for, what problems exist for them in the marketplace, what opportunities are out there for their category of business they have yet to realize, or what conditions are specific to their category of business. 

Keep in mind that all your competitors are talking about ideas as well. The prospect has heard it all before. What makes an idea valuable is that it addresses a very specific need in that prospect’s business.

We hope you've had a great week! It's Friday, and today we're sharing what we've been reading online this week! Here are our "best" from around the web.

1. 4 Essential Email Marketing Tips to Know for 2018 — Salesforce

A lot has changed in email marketing over the last year. You need practical, actionable ways to revitalize your email marketing over the coming year. Here are four ways to boost your email marketing strategy in 2018.

Here it is, the beginning of another new year and the perfect time to make sure you are setting yourself up for success in 2018. If you manage people, one of the best ways you can do this is to ensure that you have a strong talent bank — even if you do not plan on making a single hire. 

A strong talent bank allows you to set the bar high for your team, hold people accountable to meeting expectations, and move forward without missing a beat if one of your people chooses to leave.

Here Are 5 Pro Tips for Strong Recruitment and Selection in 2018:

When you look up in the night sky, there are millions of stars. So many that it’s sometimes hard to find even the easiest constellations. But one star everyone knows is the North Star. Why is that? It's different in a few signficant ways.

We hope you've had a great week! It's Friday, and today we're sharing what we've been reading online this week! Here are our "best" from around the web.

1. How to Use the ‘Rule of Three’ to Create Engaging Content — Copyblogger

What’s so magical about the number three? It’s no accident that the number three is pervasive throughout some of our greatest stories, fairy tales, and myths. It’s also no coincidence that some of the most famous quotes from throughout history are structured in three parts, nor is it surprising that the Rule of Three also works wonders in the world of comedy. It all comes down to the way we humans process information, and that’s why the Rule of Three will make you a more engaging writer.

“I had a really good meeting! But. . . I can’t get the prospect to call me back!” or “I had such a great meeting, but I never got an answer to the proposal.” I hear statements like these frequently when working with salespeople. They return from a meeting telling their manager how great it was, but then nothing happens. Wishful thinking sets in. Calls get made to the prospect on a weekly basis, managers ask about it in their weekly meetings, and salespeople start saying, “I don’t know what could have happened—the meeting went so well!”

What does “I had a really good meeting” really mean? For some, it means the meeting was long. For some, it means the prospect opened up and talked a great deal. For some, the client nodded and sounded interested. This list could go on and on.

I bet when you read "Killing your KPI's", your first thought was this was going to be a blog about sales high performers, right?

Not really!

I'm literally telling you that you should KILL your KPI's. As in buried and dead. As in no longer around.  

Ok, that might be a little over the top, but I fear that if I don't push the envelope, you won't get my point about why you shouldn't be basing your sales success on just Key Performance Indicators.

We hope you've had a great week! It's Friday, and today we're sharing what we've been reading online this week! Here are our "best" from around the web.

1. 5 Skills Every Sales Development Rep Needs to Master in 2018 — HubSpot

To be successful next year and beyond, sales development reps need to think outside the box. With the right skills, they’re more valuable than ever before. Here are five skills to focus on gaining or honing. And if you’re a manager, here’s what you should be teaching to your team.

If you put a bad apple in a bushel of good apples, the bad apple won’t become good. In fact, when a bad apple starts to rot, it emits a gas that can indeed start to rot the good apples. But even if the bad doesn't completely rot the good apples, it's important to lock on to the fact that the bad won't get better by being with the good.

Over time, organizations can begin to lose performance. It can start to feel like the organization is missing a beat, not hitting on all cylinders.  If it was your car, you'd take it into the garage and get a tune-up, but what do you when it's your sales team? 

How about a sales tune-up for your organization? 

A sales tune-up is the perfect way to assess your sales organization through a comprehensive, analytical sales diagnostic. It's a time to step back and assess your organization in a factual and objective manner. A sales diagnostic allows you to dive deep into your numbers, your processes, and your people and objectively determine what is working and what isn't.

We’re all familiar with Ego. If someone says you have a “big ego,” you know that’s not a compliment. At least not in most circles. Your Ego is about your survival. At its best, your Ego is simply your awareness of your own identity and how you interact with the outside world.

Let’s look at five strategies your Ego may be using that may be interfering with the way you interact with business prospects and partners.

We hope you've had a great week! It's Friday, and today we're sharing what we've been reading online this week! Here are our "best" from around the web.

1. 6 Soft Skills Every Salesperson Needs to Get Ahead — HubSpot

To know how successful a salesperson is, just look at their numbers. Understanding why they’re succeeding is trickier. In sales, success is a reflection of two things: The strength of their hard skills and the strength of their soft skills. Here are the six soft skills every rep needs to get ahead -- and more importantly, how to develop them.

Pilots learn that the best way to land a plane is to look long toward the horizon, not directly beneath them. Great sales leaders do the same thing. They focus on the horizon, not just what's right in front of them.

Pilots learn that when landing, you are better off looking down the runway at the horizon than the ground rushing up underneath you. You need to balance keeping your eyes focused on the horizon, while peripherally watching your height above the runway to achieve a smooth landing. We have all felt the runway slam when a pilot gets this wrong.

If salespeople are generally optimistic (I think we can all agree they are), then the words “sales manager” may as well be Greek for God of Optimism. We have to believe to achieve! In sales, the glass is always half full. But these three optimistic phrases will actually hold you back, so be careful not to let your optimism trip you up.