Selling is a beauty contest, not a race. Unfortunately, the majority sales reps and sales leaders focus on their goals, their quota and making the numbers in the forecasted time frame, thus creating the sense of a race. This race approach is very seller centric, not customer centric. According to a recent Salesforce.com study, 82% of sellers are out of sync with their customers.

C

Is your selling strategy based upon building solid relationships through the sales rep's likeability factor? If so, you are getting a declining return on the sales rep's ability to get new business or even maintain existing customers. Most sales reps are very high in the red or relationship quadrant. (Whole Brain Thinking) (Herrmann) They have good people skills and can win others over (WOO ability) quickly. The strategy behind WOOing is that they are trying  to build trust. The assumption is that if someone likes me, they will trust me.

The likeability sales strategy or relationship selling tactic is breathing it's last breath. In today's business environment, the majority of decision makers don't have time to discover if they like you before they know  what value you offer. Today's decision maker does not have the time for building interpersonal relationships (red quadrant) unless there is an obvious value to be gained. The traditional relationship selling model of being liked first assumes the likeability factor will then lead to the opportunity to show value.

Busyness does not necessarily equate to productivity.

John Lee, writes in his blog Lessons Learned from the Least Busiest People that real productivity comes from a free mind, not a busy mind. I love his example of the surgeon running from one meeting to another while also trying to stay focused to operate on a person, all the while being distracted by social media. 

• Productivity in Selling
  

  Tim Ferriss does an excellent job in addressing the habits or "to dos' that we do that kill one's productivity. In sales, the temptation is that if you are not answering emails, then you are not being customer focused. Unfortunately, that is not true. Emails start controlling you  and you lose focus, become inefficient, and decline in your ability to truly meet your customer's and prospect's needs.

  Your mind needs protecting. Following these rule will keep your mind refreshed, your time more productive, and your life in a much better balance.

• http://fourhourworkweek.com/2007/08/16/the-not-to-do-list-9-habits-to-stop-now/

20 Causes of Sales Problems

Below are 20 problems that cause VP of Sales and business owners great distress. These mostly sales process issues that result in poor sales. If you are having less than stellar sales results, see if one or more of these reasons are the culprit.

11 Ways to Build Trust

Reducing Objections Through Building Trust

Howard Stevens writes in the book Achieve Sales Excellence that there are 4 key criteria buyers use when deciding to make a buying decision and the percentage weight given in that buying decision. Those are:

1) Sales Rep's Competence - the ability to build trust and add value - 39% of the decision

2) Total Solution offered - products, services, bundled solutions, etc. - 22% of the decision

3) Total Quality - company and product/service reputation of quality - 21% of the buying decision

4) Price - what the customer will pay - 18% of the decision

No Questions - No Sale - Improving the closing ratio

• Jill Konrath makes a great point in her latest blog about sabotaging the sale by not asking enough questions. sabotaging the sale

  A good sales rep relates the product or service features to true business situations. If you are quick to answer the customer’s problem before understanding how the problem impacts their business, you are sabotaging your own sale. Don’t tell what your service or product can do, let them discover through asking relevant questions digging into the deeper issues. Question asking is the key to a Customer Aligned Selling approach and is integral to an effective sales process.

   

Well, that didn't last long.

Just six years after the end of the Great Recession, another one might be looming right around the corner.

The China stock market is in free fall, plunging 47 percent since hitting its peak last summer. Oil prices remain volatile, presenting a significant risk to financial companies. Retailers are struggling, consumers aren't buying, and credit debt is at its highest level since 2009 – the year the Great Recession came to an end.

Brace yourselves, because the economy is changing – again. Are you prepared?