The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

We always talk to our salespeople about having better business acumen, and we teach them to speak like a business owner. This gives sellers leverage and credibility when talking with prospects and customers.

Growing up, my dad always told me that if you just read the front page of The Wall Street Journal, you'd be more informed than 95% of the business people out there that you'd be talking to.

Need some help connecting with target accounts when prospecting? Do you know the decision maker you need to connect with at a company, but don't have their email address? Have no fear. Trey is here... to share a hot tip that he uses regularly to connect with target accounts. 

I was listening to a sports radio station in town last week, and it had breaking news that the Major League baseball team had just fired their manager.

It wasn't a big surprise. The team had underperformed for the last couple of years, but what was surprising was the reason the club gave to the media.

His style wasn't connecting to his players.

What? His style? They didn't mention his performance, his attitude, or even lack of confidence by management. Nope, it was that his "old school" style didn't connect with his young(er) players. He didn't know how to connect with his millennial or Gen Z players.

One of the radio hosts said that he was too much like John Wayne. He was tough, to-the-point, and not very touchy-feely. He wasn't very caring, emotional, or even friendly with his players. To him, it was all business. They weren't friends. He was their boss!

People crave feedback. We want to know if what we are doing is good, bad, or just plain ugly.

It starts when we are little kids. We all desperately wanted our parent's attention. We wanted them to "watch us" run fast, jump high, or sing a song. We wanted them to be proud of us, but also to give us feedback. Were we doing it "right?" How can we do it better? 

Well, not much has changed since we were children. We still want to know how we are doing. Yet, so many managers seem to think that their people don't need feedback or even want it. WRONG! Your people desperately want to know how they are doing. Feedback is a fantastic way for a sales manager to improve their team's sales performance by reinforcing good behaviors and improving upon weak behaviors.

No one likes to wait!

We don't like to wait in lines, on hold, or for Christmas morning. We want things now! As a society, we've become accustomed to instant downloads, on-demand programs, and same-day Amazon Prime deliveries.

Which is why sales organizations want to accelerate the sales process. For years, B2B sales were often seen as a long, complicated process where the salesperson could do very little to speed up the sale, but today you can speed up the process by simply slowing down!

We're ignoring you. 

You know it's true. You've always thought it to be the case, but now you have confirmation. Prospects are ignoring you! And how I do know this? 

I'm a reformed client. 

"If you don't know your numbers, you don't know your business!"
-Marcus Lemonis 

My friend (and Managing Partner at The Center for Sales Strategy), Matt Sunshine, got me into the CNBC television program, The Profit. And I am absolutely addicted to it. And I mean addicted… I might have just finished watching 6 hours of the program this weekend. 

And you should be watching it, too!

Marcus Lemonis is the CEO of Camping World, and he uses his money to invest in struggling businesses that he features on his show. The stories are exciting, compelling, and full of drama! But, that's not why you should be watching the program.