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Edward Golod is the founder of Revenue Accelerators. A successful Fortune 100 sales professional, entrepreneur of three business, and impassioned sales evangelist, Ed has sold over $160 million in hunted new business from a career totaling twenty plus years of selling complex, software technologies into the Enterprise. Leveraging his background as an AE, Director, VP of Sales, Country Channel Manager, President, and tenures at Microsoft and SAS Institute, Ed's deep knowledge is gleaned from years of intense training and self-study in every major sales technique.

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Sales Force Spinach: How to Strengthen the Team, Close the Deal, and Sign the I/O

Written on
May 1st 2006
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by Ed Golod  |
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So, what do we do to help correct the four issues above and make our sales people better performers? We start with understanding that selling is an “emotional science” requiring both logic and IQ plus emotional intelligence. If this was easy to do, everyone would be great at it, and that is hardly ever the case. Let’s start with the first assumption:

- Increased competition, especially among giants: Here we build our unique Value Proposition, then test it with our best clients. Use it to differentiate, so sales can quickly spell out for the prospect the “how & why” we are different, who it matters to the most, and specifically how we can help their business. Simple and very clear, it projects a high degree of trust.

- Customers are more wary than ever before: Sales needs to sell consultatively, period! The essence here is to listen, encourage the prospect to talk, and talk and talk…and make suggestive ideas once you understand their pain and business issues. Of course, we use questioning to lead the prospect into thinking of our technology and solutions, helping them come to a positive conclusion on their own. Yes, they will close themselves!

- Lack of substantive ROI and proof metrics: Almost all deals are built on value, so use simple but nonetheless proven metrics to show the prospect that we can deliver on our promises. This does not have to be a long-drawn out process, but at least trying to measure success will go a very long way to closing more deals.

- Increased roll-ups, mergers and acquisitions: This one is the easiest to correct by teaching sale people the how & why’s of relationship building. Learning “what to say and to whom” and having peer-to-peer conversations that build trust are easy to learn. Use handwritten notes, send articles of interest, don’t stop calling but think of your prospect and they will think of you when ready to buy.

Seems like a good amount of work, but the rewards are great and your sales morale will be high when they see how the company values the customer and what they are willing to do to care and nurture them as business gets done.



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Reader Comments.

It goes to show that sales hasn’t really changed much, you need to build relationships. I see people who bang out numbers and bring in a lot of clients but they are working harder and harder and then completely stop communicating with their clients once they have signed on.

Posted by Wison Davalos | 11:54 am on May 3, 2006.

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