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Companies develop a brand, why not salespeople? It is worthy of your time to think about what you do differently and better than your competition. What do you bring to the table, and how do you solve problems for your existing clients? If you cannot pin that down, it is critical that you focus and develop your personal brand. Think about a significant purchase you made recently and the process you went through as a buyer.
As 2024 comes to a close, were sharing our most read and favorite sales training and management content that helped sales teams thrive this year. Whether youre focused on leadership, skill development, or strategic planning, you can use these resources to help drive sales success in 2025. Don't miss our top videos and free downloads at the end!
As Sales Leader, it is your role to bring resources to your team to help them become even better. Our team of sales experts at Anthony Cole Training Group have compiled 25 sales tips to help your salespeople prospect smarter, plan effectively, and sell with confidence. These tips will help them build stronger client relationships, work on their time management, and improve their selling strategies.
There are few responsibilities in life more important than being a coach, whether for a sports team, teaching mastery of a musical instrument, or serving as a sales coach. Consider the impact a coach has on their students: helping them uncover problems, discover opportunities, enhance their approach, improve their skills, and achieve success. This also makes coaching one of the toughest roles, as those responsible for it often juggle numerous other tasks daily, including operational, administrat
AI is a leading topic in almost every industry publication these days from Forbes to Insurance Journal to the American Bankers Association. As it should be, since it is revolutionizing most job functions, including sales and business development. AI is another tool that offers many benefits for salespeople, and staying informed as AI is evolving will be important.
This week I was rewatching the Steve Jobs presentation from 2007 where Apple released a piece of technology that perhaps you have heard of. They called it the iPhone. Maybe you are like me and wonder how it is possible that 18 years have passed since then. I still remember having dinner in Philadelphia with a work colleague who had just bought the first version of the iPhone.
Every sales leader understands intellectually that practice is an essential contributing factor to the success of their salespeople in the field. Any skill, every skill, whether it is playing an instrument, competing in tennis or basketball or soccer, requires hours and hours of practice. So does becoming a champion in selling. It requires hours and hours of sales practice to refine a successful prospecting approach with a unique and compelling value proposition.
We know that salespeople who accomplish their goals do these things consistently: Their goals are written down and they have a plan to achieve them. They have a timeframe that they stick to and their goals are defined and measurable. Lastly, they have an accountability partner or a coach to keep them on track. A sustainable sales goal plan is more than just thinking about and writing down goals.
According to HubSpot, companies with well-optimized sales pipelines reported a 28% higher revenue growth rate compared to those with poorly managed pipelines. So why is it that many sales leaders default to coaching the deal at hand and do not consistently have sales pipeline management sessions with their people? These sessions should begin with a broader view of the opportunities each salesperson has in their pipeline, with a focus on several key metrics so that managers can compare and track
This is the third and final article in a series of three blog posts about hiring and retaining top sales talent. In the first two articles, we covered defining your sales candidate ideal profile, establishing your companys hiring standards, and building a robust candidate pipeline. Now we will focus on how to screen and phone interview the right candidates to increase your success at hiring and retaining top sales talent.
This article was originally published by Objective Management Group and written by Ben Tagoe, CEO of OMG. It is shared here with permission. Anthony Cole Training Group is a Certified OMG Partner, helping organizations hire and develop high-performing sales teams using OMG’s industry-leading assessments and insights.
What you cannot see can kill you. If you don't see the car to your right about to run a stop sign, you might be in trouble. If you cannot see a clogged artery, you might be in trouble. If you cannot see that your sales team is failing to execute the fundamentals of an effective sales approach, then surely that will kill your chances for sales effectiveness and consistent sales growth.
"Every journey starts with the first step." When it comes to building the confident and trusting relationship associated with a strong seller/buyer relationship, the beginning is especially important. An effective sales pitch should begin with the early "bonding and rapport" part of selling. Finding commonality and relating to a prospect is an important first step.
When asked, most sales managers say that one of their greatest challenges is their ability to motivate salespeople. If a sales manager can figure out what makes their salespeople “tick,” they can help them hit their goal numbers. Motivation seems like hard work because nearly every salesperson values different things. However, there are several steps a sales manager can take to establish a motivating environment for salespeople in order to build a high-performance sales team.
Integral to every sales training and coaching program, we work with organizations to help them write and deliver their phone scripts, value propositions, and elevator pitches. For salespeople and managers, this skill is critical as it often initiates the relationship on the right foot by getting the audience engaged.
We know that there are four things that separate high-performing banks from their peers in terms of their sales and revenue growth. Banks that embrace these four things will almost always outperform the competition. These activities are validated by the Objective Management Groups 30-year history of sales skills assessments across the country.
Last week in part 1 of our 3-part series on Hiring and Retaining Top Sales Talent, we discussed the importance of defining your ideal sales candidate profile and establishing firm hiring standards. Identifying critical, non-negotiable standards and expectations for new hires will help to improve the quality of the candidates you look for, interview, and eventually hire.
In the old days of selling, closing was about what happens at the end of a client or prospect meeting did we get them to sign something, give us the green light, or seal the deal? The activity was about applying pressure on the buyer to make a decision NOW. Lets pause and think about how we, as buyers, feel when a person is pressuring us to make a buying decision now.
Salespeople have to prospect. That's the truth. Salespeople can find their prospects in lots of different ways: introductions, social media, networking, lists, internal referrals from business partners, cold calling, pre-approach email, association memberships, and business networking groups. What is also true is that no matter how a salesperson gets a name, the next step is to contact them.
Here is the definition of client centered selling given by AI: Client centered selling is a sales approach that prioritizes understanding and addressing the unique needs and goals of each customer, rather than simply promoting a product or service. It focuses on building long-term relationships and providing solutions that empower customers to achieve their desired outcomes.
Id like to blame my poor visual perception for my subpar golf game, but the real culprit is my lack of consistency in practice. Im inconsistent. As a result, my performance on the golf course is erratic, with scores ranging anywhere from 92 to 102. I can shoot a 44 on the front nine and a 54 on the back. Dont get me wrongbeing virtually blind in one eye doesnt help with depth perception.
Selling to Zebras is a focused and effective lead generation strategy. There is no mistaking a zebra when you see one. If you book a safari to see the great African elephant and all you see is zebras, you're going to be disappointed. Maybe not the first couple days, because zebras are pretty cool—they’ve got those stripes. But eventually, you want to see that elephant.
The Pareto Principle, also known as the 80/20 rule, suggests that 80% of outcomes are typically driven by 20% of causes. In sales, this means that a significant portion of sales revenue often comes from a relatively small number of customers. By focusing on this "vital few," financial firms can optimize their sales efforts and maximize profits. This same principle applies to the makeup of sales teams.
Focus on the customer experience is not new. Secret shoppers and client surveys with NPS (net promoter scores) have helped build an entire industry because all banks, like all companies, want to continually improve the customer experience and ratings. Research validates that high ratings on the customer experience in banking correlate to more repeat business, more profitable and longer-lasting relationships, as well as recommendations to others.
There are several components to being a good sales coach. Often, sales coaches do not understand the difference between holding people accountable to the sales activities (e.g. the numbers like prospecting dials) versus technique mastery (or how the activities are being executed). Here, you will focus on the technique of consistent sales coaching, not on holding people accountable to their numbers.
The 5 keys to creating a high-performance sales team have more to do with effectiveness and consistency in execution than any specific kind of sales enablement or CRM tool that supports selling. Successful sales leaders and managers rely on critical data because they realize that it can and will provide them with real-time information. This real-time sales data can identify trends, effort and execution issues, and areas for coaching.
Coaching of sales teams is usually done as needs arise. If a salesperson has a deal he needs to close, he may talk it through with his sales manager. Or if a salesperson has a specific problem submitting paperwork or with technology, coaching may take place. Of course, these items must be addressed. But ultimately, we must coach for sales success. We must coach bankers and advisors to go out and win more business.
Todays buyer is more sophisticated and has access to all the information they need at their fingertips, so how do your salespeople differentiate? They must have the skills to ask the right questions, listen to understand, position their value, and help a prospect self-discover the solution that makes sense. This is very different than selling in the past when the seller controlled the information and buying process.
As you take stock of your teams performance, what concerns you most? Is it the challenge of maintaining your companys market share? Are you worried that your salespeople are not selling? Are you concerned that they even have what it takes to sell?
There are entire books written about building trust in selling, but for today, we will focus on one key element that may seem quite ordinary and obvious but is actually a well-honed skill of highly successful salespeople. And that skill is: Find out what your client or prospect wants. How is that done?
Like so many of you, I enjoy the work of the worlds best comedians. At Anthony Cole Training Group, we have often used athletes, singers, and actors as a source of learning and inspiration for salespeople. And today, I want to add to that list by talking about sales tips and tactics that can be learned from comedians.
'Tis the season for prospecting, right? Actually, 'tis the season for every sales leader and company to wonder: Are my people reaching out to enough prospects and customers so that we can begin the year strong? The runway is shortening, and this can be a challenging time to reach decision-makers because they, too, may be out of the office or otherwise busy.
Many companies monitor their pipeline opportunities with the use of a CRM in order to have information about the opportunities being created by the sales team.
Sales leaders must be both effective managers and great coaches by arming their salespeople with the skills to be successful and managing their strengths. This week, we identify the final 5 keys to success in leading a sales team.
This article is the 1st place winner of the 2022 Sales Pro Central MVP Awards on Sales Leadership! In our sales management training, we have developed 10 keys and a framework of activities that provide a new or tenured sales leader with a roadmap they need to put in place to help lead their team to greater sales success.
In order for salespeople to truly engage, build value, and develop long-lasting relationships, they must compliment their selling approach with sales enablement tools and technology. Listening with the intent to learn, asking questions that are not product-based, and understanding the nuances, trends, and challenges of a company and industry are required in today’s environment.
Most of the companies and salespeople we work with must do outbound lead generation and relationship building, and many do not have the luxury of filling their sales pipeline with inbound leads. Like most things, if you have a plan and stick to it, outbound selling will be more effective.
If your goal is to retain and expand relationships, it is important to create a consistent and remarkable experience for your customers, clients, and potential clients. If you are not providing a superior experience, your clients might start asking, “ Then, who will?
An effective sales proposal is less about what the proposal includes and more about what the end result is supposed to achieve. In fact, many sales proposals are delivered much too soon and inappropriately, often generated because the prospect asked to "see what you can do." If a salesperson follows a stage-based sales process, they know that a proposal only follows when the prospect has hit certain milestones in the discovery process, and they will be ready to give an answer, whether yes or no,
In 2005, I read Dave Kurlan’s book Baseline Selling. Dave took the fundamentals of effective selling and used the baseball diamond and baseball terminology to explain his sales process. Baseball today is essentially the same game that was formalized in New York around 1840, but we know that selling has changed considerably. The baseball analogy is a strong one for developing a milestone-centric sales process with your team.
All salespeople and their managers want to understand the psychology of selling and in fact, is it a highly searched phrase on google. Giving credit where credit is due, The Psychology of Selling is a well-regarded book by legendary sales professional Brian Tracy that should certainly be on every salesperson’s list of must-reads.
Every business that has ever been started has done so by wanting to position its products or services on a continuum between the two extremes of value and price. Some businesses (think Apple, Ritz Carlton) are focused on delivering a high value experience. Some businesses (think Walmart) are focused on being the low-cost provider in their industry. Most businesses land somewhere in the middle.
In selling, you should have various rules of engagement when it comes to cultivating a prospect. Across the country, most salespeople just chase prospects. They do not follow any rules of engagement. They fundamentally lack a process, a decision tree, if you will, for deciding yes or no in terms of determining if a prospect is truly a prospect for them.
To compete in any marketplace, especially the competitive arena of financial services, advisors, producers, lenders, and relationship managers must have a strategy for success. The top 7% of salespeople, the elite producers, certainly follow a sales strategy and can articulate what they do consistently to find and develop client relationships. There are many ways to differentiate and compete but there are 3 key areas to developing a competitive sales strategy.
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