Springboard

We Make Sales Happen

Learning from Lost Sales: Turning a Negative into a Positive

by

You can’t win them all (if sales were that easy, everyone would be in the business). What you can do is learn from those lost sales. A good sales person loses a sale and moves on to the next prospect; a great sales person loses a sale and asks “why?”

Which sales person are you? The one who ignores defeat, or the one that learns from that defeat and constantly strives to be better? Remember, those who ignore the past are doomed to repeat it. So don’t risk losing future deals because you failed to address past failures.

Ask Yourself the Following Questions:

  • Was I able to effectively communicate with the customer?
  • Did I learn the prospect’s key needs and desired benefits?
  • If so, how did I address those needs?
  • How did the customer respond to me?
  • What sales techniques did I try?
  • How did the customer respond to those techniques?

Set Up a Post-Sale Debriefing with the Prospect

  • Ask the following question: “I’m always looking to improve, what could I have done better to earn your business?”
  • Don’t settle for vague answers. Ask “How do you mean?” or “Say more” to help probe for more detailed answers.
  • Don’t get defensive or angry. Take full responsibility for everything.
  • Don’t try to resell the prospect.

By learning from failed sales deals, you will grow as a sales person and become a much more efficient seller.

If you have any questions, contact Springboard Business Development by calling 410-832-7560 or click here today!

Located in Baltimore, Maryland, Springboard offers outsourced sales solutions for businesses in the professional services arena. It’s simple, while you focus on delivery, we bring our sales expertise and connections to focus on your business development challenges.

Our approach to business development makes it easy to find new clients without the concerns of sales team turn-over, lack of sales expertise and payroll.

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter as well!

Sources:

What Did You Learn from the Last Sale You Lost?

Generational Differences in the Workplace: Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Generation Y

by

While your office may seem quite peaceful, there is actually an underlying tension between the Baby Boomers (people born 1943-1960), Generation X (people born 1961-1981) and Generation Y (people born after 1982). This tension threatens to lower moral, increase turnover and hobble your business’ ability to grow.

Authors of Bridging the Generation Gap Linda Gravett and Robin Throckmorton’s research found the following:

  •  68% of Baby Boomers feel that “younger people” have poor work ethics, which in turn makes their work even harder.
  • 32% of Gen X-ers also feel that the “younger generation” has a poor work ethic.
  • Gen Y-ers, which have been called “the most high-maintenance, yet potentially most high-performing generation,” believe they have a good work ethic for which they are not given enough credit.
  • 13% of Gen Y-ers believe the difference in work ethics between generations causes friction in the workplace.

And what is one of the biggest differences between these generations that is a constant cause of workplace tension? Technology!

While Baby Boomers and Generation X-ers prefer phone communication and face-to-face business transactions, Generation Y-ers prefer to communicate via blogs, IMs, text messages and emails. Gen Y sees this type of communication as effective and efficient, while the older generation sees this as lazy and potentially harmful to business.

But this is just one of many examples we could have chosen. There are several causes of generational conflict in the workplace, putting increasing pressure on bosses, employers, and office managers who must recognize these ever-present tensions and then find a way to alleviate some of that tension. Each generation has a unique set of strengths and weaknesses and it is the managers’ jobs to identify those points and find ways to get the most out of their employees.

One key message employers and managers must drive into their employees is this: age defines a demographic, not a person. While people from any given generation may share certain similarities, they are individual people with their own individual set of strengths and weaknesses. Just as they say don’t judge a book by its cover, you shouldn’t judge a person by the generation they were born in.

After all, we are all the young, “misunderstood” generation at one point in our lives…

If you have any questions, contact Springboard Business Development by calling 410-832-7560 or click here today!

Springboard offers outsourced sales solutions for businesses in the professional services arena. It’s simple, while you focus on delivery, we bring our sales expertise and connections to focus on your business development challenges.

Our approach to business development makes it easy to find new clients without the concerns of sales team turn-over, lack of sales expertise and payroll.

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter as well!

Sources:

Gen Y, Gen X and the Baby Boomers: Workplace Generation Wars

The Mental Game of Sales: Keeping a Positive Mindset can Change the Outcome of a Sales Meeting

by

All too often, salespeople are their own worst enemies. And to make matters worse, they don’t even know they are sabotaging their own sales. You may be wondering how this is possible, so let me tell you. It is actually quite simple. Salespeople out think their way out of a sale.

or example, if you focus on failing, catching a cold, dropping a ball or striking out, then don’t be surprised when those dreaded events actually happen. The same goes for sales. If you focus on losing a sale or fumbling through your sales pitch, then that will probably happen. You have doomed yourself before you even met with your potential client. And this type of sales behavior happens all the time! Below, you will find the top 10 ways in which salesmen and saleswomen think their ways out of sales:

1.     Trying too hard.

2.     Attempting to micro-manage.

3.     Self-instruction during their performance.

4.     Negative thoughts.

5.     Negative mental images.

6.     Negative beliefs.

7.     Preconceived beliefs.

8.     Self-limiting thoughts.

9.     Lack of self-trust.

10.    A busy mind.

On the other hand, if you stay positive and focus on making the sale, you will have already increased your odds of success. It is that simple.

Now don’t get me wrong, there is a lot more to sales than just having a positive attitude. But even the most fundamentally sound salesperson can ruin their chances of closing a deal if they dwell on the negative. It shows in your facial expressions, your body language and your speech. And if you don’t believe in yourself or your product, why should your customer?

So instead of dwelling on the negative side of sales, readjust your mental focus to a more positive place. Try practicing the following mental sales techniques:

Quiet The Mind: When your mind is calm and not racing from thought to thought, you can better focus on the task at hand – the sale.

Let It Happen: Let the sale come to you. Do not try to force it. So relax and let the sale unfold on its own. Do not try to micro-manage and control the situation.

So get out of your own way and start selling like you have never sold before!

If you have any questions, contact Springboard Business Development by calling 410-832-7560 or click here today!

At Springboard we offer outsourced sales solutions for businesses in the professional services arena. It’s simple, while you focus on delivery, we bring our sales expertise and connections to focus on your business development challenges.

Our approach to business development makes it easy to find new clients without the concerns of sales team turn-over, lack of sales expertise and payroll.

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter as well!

Sources:

The Mental Game of Sales Success

The Inner Game of Sales

Why Outsourcing Works

by

Outsourcing works for one reason and one reason only; it saves companies money. But how does outsourcing help save companies money? Well, there is no one answer. There are, in fact, many answers to that one questions. They include:

Outsourcing costs less than dedicated, in-house employees: This is the #1 reason outsourcing works. It allows companies to cut back spending without cutting back on productivity. And in today’s down economy, this is a huge plus for companies struggling to get by.

Outsourcing allows you to have experts or specialists at your disposal: Instead of hiring, training, and housing an employee at your office, you can outsource your needs to an entire company of experts for less than the cost of employing a single worker in-house.

Outsourcing allows you to lower infrastructure investments: Cutting edge IT systems, state-of-the-art customer service call centers and technical helpdesks require huge investments by companies. By outsourcing these functions to external vendors, companies can keep their investments in these areas very low.

Outsourcing allows you to work around the clock: Do you want to make money while you sleep? No, you are not dreaming; outsourcing services often operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. So even when your company is closed for the day, the weekend, or a holiday, your business will still be reachable.

Outsourcing allows you to manage your business better: Without having to worry about every little detail of your business, you are free to focus on your core business activities. So while you outsource your IT needs to a specialist, you can work on growing your company instead of worrying about system backups, database crashes, etc.

Outsourcing is an inexpensive but nevertheless effective method of improving your business. And trust us, outsourcing is not a fad; it is here to stay!

If you have any questions about outsourcing, contact Springboard by calling 410-832-7560 or click here today!

At Springboard we offer outsourced sales solutions for businesses in the professional services arena. It’s simple, while you focus on delivery, we bring our sales expertise and connections to focus on your business development challenges.

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter as well!

Sources:

Why Outsourcing Works VirtualPersonalAssistant.com

Why Outsource Work? Outsource2India.com

How the Sales Process Has Changed

by

Selling in a down economy is not only difficult it is scary. When the economy tanked and companies came to the realization that they would be unable to increase revenue they began to look for ways to save money. The best way to do this was to cut spending.

To make things even worse for the 2011 salesperson trying to make a living, the Internet has completely changed the game. Consumers are more educated now than ever before. They can research your company – your successes and failures – your competition, and your product. The consumer now has all the power, making the salesperson, in the traditional sense, almost obsolete.

Before, companies needed salespeople to get information, speeds, feeds, features, functions, performance specifications, colors and delivery dates. Now all that information is just a few clicks away.

So it’s adapt or die.

Well, it might not be as dire as that, but if the 2011 salesperson fails to adapt to the educated consumers of today’s market, they will struggle to survive in the business world. So what are your options?

First of all, you must accept that you, the salesperson, are not in charge. Companies know what they want. They know what you are offering. So a lot of the time the first interaction the 2011 salesperson has with a client is a negotiation.

The negotiation is now, in many cases, the first step in the sales process.

Today’s salesperson needs to be less educated on the product they are selling and more educated on the client. It’s about understanding how your customers buy. What are their buying preferences? What are their buying tendencies? What are the alternatives they may have other than you?

You must understand how the buyer buys and adapt your sales process accordingly.

The key to being successful in this environment is to have a highly trained sales staff at your disposal, leaving you with two options: hire a dedicated sales team or outsource your sales to a professional business development firm.

This is where a company like Springboard comes in.

At Springboard we offer outsourced sales solutions for businesses in the professional services arena. It’s simple; while you focus on delivery we bring our sales expertise and connections to focus on your business development challenges.

If you have any questions about outsourcing, contact Springboard by calling 410-832-7560 or click here today!

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter as well!

________________________________________________________

Sources:

Sales Cycle SearchCRM.com

The 7 Stages of the Sales Cycle About.com

Selling in a Recession: The Best Sales Strategy HeavyHitterWisdom.com

Has the Complex Sales Process Changed? Are You Kidding? ExpertAccess.CinCom.com

©Copyright 2007-2015 Springboard Business Development. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy.