No matter what we sell, there are times when the brakes are on. Something is holding us back, keeping us from moving forward.

Then, we feel even worse when hearing about someone who gets ahead by overcoming unspeakable adversity. “You can do it. Just change your thinking.” It sounds easy and most of us have tried it dozens of times. And it works — for about five minutes.

As most salespeople know, moving forward is tough, but changing our behavior can help knock down obstacles. Here are eight ideas to get the wheels moving in the right direction:

1. Get … Read the rest

No matter what you do, getting ahead shouldn’t depend on lucky breaks, favoritism, or even hard work. It should be in our control. To make that happen, certain behaviors will help you stand out from the crowd. Here are eight of them.

1. Be Suspicious

No one likes getting blindsided, yet it’s all too common in business. More than anything else, a little paranoia helps avoid the sucker punches.

Even when some coworkers are bracing for a layoff, others are shocked when it happens. “I didn’t see it coming,” they say. Is it possible that we can get so wrapped … Read the rest

Even though we know that “telling isn’t selling,” we can’t stop doing it. It’s become “second nature” to tell customers what to think, believe and buy.

In a sense it is, since most of us were raised to “respect authority,” whether it was the police, teachers, clergy, bosses, doctors, accountants, politicians, reporters, bankers, business leaders, coaches and news anchors.

It worked well for selling just about anything, but not now. The air has gone out of respect for authority, including marketing and sales.

Even so, playing the authority card continues. From actors in TV ads wearing white coats with stethoscopes … Read the rest

It takes smart, highly competent salespeople to meet the challenges presented by today’s informed and savvy customers.

Even so, there are many in sales who believe that success depends on a friendly smile, a gift for small talk, and a large dose of enthusiasm and optimism. Others might toss in a passion for selling, listening, the ability to close, and coming across as sincere. Yet, possessing a great attitude and excellent sales skills doesn’t guarantee success.

Many salespeople who “do everything right” underperform. With so much focus on personal qualities and skills, the sales process doesn’t get the attention it … Read the rest

First impressions make a difference when the goal is winning a new customer, moving up the career ladder, gaining acceptance to a group or, of course, attracting a new special friend.

That’s a lot to ask when some experts say first impressions lock-in in the first three to seven seconds. A Princeton University researcher drops it to less than one second.

To make first impressions even more daunting, some claim first impressions are indelible, with no second chances. To put it bluntly, first impressions are a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

That’s one view, a frightening one at … Read the rest

Selling is never easy. Never. But salespeople often make it even tougher for themselves by letting customers get away empty-handed. It isn’t that customers don’t find what they want or what they’re looking for. It’s just that they don’t want to deal with the salesperson.

With the 800-pound Internet gorilla lurking over every sale, today’s customers are much more demanding when dealing with salespeople. If the experience doesn’t meet their expectations, they’re gone.

More often than not, misreading customers causes them to look elsewhere — missed sales. It doesn’t need to happen and here’s how to avoid it:

Be Sure … Read the rest

Employment is on the up side. Employers are actively looking. Offers are getting better. Even so, many find themselves “stuck” where they are with no light at the end of the tunnel. Getting ahead eludes them; knowing how to make things happen isn’t easy.

Keeping your fingers crossed that a rising economic tide will take care of you or that your luck will change is, to put it bluntly, naïve, or stupid. You have better odds at the lottery.

This may sound pessimistic. “You have to stay optimistic,” some will say. It sounds good but it won’t get you where … Read the rest

With all the talk today about the need to create a great experience for customers, why are so many companies overwhelmed with a tidal wave of customer complaints?

Much of it is little, picky stuff; but small things get big in a customer’s mind, and the next thing you know, the customer is gone — for good. Spotting the little stuff that upsets customers is the first step. The next one is to do something about it.

Here are examples of little stuff that drive customers crazy — and away:

1. “We Make It Easy for You” — For many customers,

There are a few star performers in sales. The other 99 percent fall on a continuum from very good to poor. While this isn’t news to anyone, the common approach is to hold up the one percent as models for everyone else. “Strive to be a star,” they’re told. While that may motivate a few, it doesn’t help the vast majority of salespeople who want to sell more but don’t know how to go beyond where they are.

This picture isn’t complicated. For the most part, salespeople can do things that bother customers, so they lose sales unnecessarily. Here are … Read the rest

“Digital disruption makes a nice headline,” said an insurance executive, responding to a news report that insurance agents are being “squeezed” by the Internet. “The realities of the insurance business are a bit more complex than that,” he said, assuring insurance agents that digital is no threat to their business.

We like to think that what we do is impervious to disruptive forces. But the tipping points come and the longstanding pillars begin to crumble. Some try to hold on for dear life.

Somehow or other, we believe we can beat the odds, that the storm will miss us, it’s … Read the rest

Even highly experienced and successful salespeople can have a blind spot. So intent are they on what they want to accomplish, it’s easy for them to ignore how others view them. And it isn’t always complimentary. “Oh, don’t take Sally seriously. Just remember that she’s in sales.” This is one reason why year-after-year salespeople find themselves on the bottom rung of the public’s trust ladder.

Going into sales can be like having three strikes hanging over your head every day: instant distrust, not being taken seriously, and getting more rejections than you deserve. What’s amazing is that so many stay … Read the rest

There’s an oversupply of useless, wacky, and just plain dumb marketing and sales ideas. For example, if someone says the best time to e-mail customers is 10 a.m. on Thursdays, forget it. What if you’re aiming at teachers, lawyers, nurses, boomers or just about anyone else? One solution never fits everyone, even if they’re in the same market segment. So, forget about simple solutions to issues that require serious thought.

Right at the top, an idea that makes sense must pass the useful test; it’s only good if its works — if it gets the desired results. Here are several … Read the rest

There’s nothing complicated about being successful in business. It’s simple and it goes like this: It’s all about making a name for yourself. That’s it, self-promotion. Getting known.

Whether it’s finding and impressing prospects, keeping current customers, or moving ahead in a career, volunteering has long been the platform for gaining visibility. For some, it’s serving on company committees and taking on extra assignments, or having a reputation as the “get it done” person.

In the community, self-promotion ranges from sponsoring or coaching youth sports teams, working charity fundraisers, belonging to a service club or fraternal organization, serving on non-profit … Read the rest

Tactics constantly come and go in sales without making a significant impact on outcomes. On the other hand, solid strategies can make a significant difference in what happens. Here are several sales strategies that can have a positive influence on performance in 2015.

Define Yourself Clearly

Most people let others decide who they are, define their capabilities, and what they can accomplish. This happens without even knowing it. More often than not, the results are far from accurate.

Worse yet, such “labels” stick, unless we work to change them by having a clear picture of how we want to be … Read the rest

It’s easy to roll your eyes and moan about the state of business communications — everything from incomplete, inaccurate and confusing e-mails and memos to meeting minutes and reports that don’t make sense. Ineffective business letters, most of which are peppered with the first-person singular pronoun, are fodder for the recycling bin.

All this results in errors, causes confusion, wastes time, creates aggravation, and puts even capable workers at an advancement and career disadvantage, not to mention the negative implications for their employers.

It’s any wonder that productivity, which is dropping, isn’t collapsing. However, it’s irrelevant whether or not the … Read the rest

In Lee Child’s Without Fail, a Secret Service official simplifies a disturbing problem. “If the Yankees come to town saying they’re going to beat the Orioles, does that mean it’s true?” And then he adds, “Boasting about it is not the same thing as actually doing it.”

It’s the same with sales where there’s often too much boasting and not enough doing. Here are several tactics to improve sales performance.

• Use Stories That Make a Difference to Customers

While facts help support a sales presentation, they can also be confusing, create doubt and turn people off. Yet, many salespeople fill … Read the rest

Marketing and sales initiatives are a company’s lifeblood. Yet, the top leadership in many companies harbors serious doubts about the effectiveness of such initiatives. The confidence level among some executives is so low that they’re not sure it would make much difference if they stopped most of it.

Even so, marketing and sales efforts can build brands. “I was fascinated by the idea of developing brand value through your ability to create an image and sell that image to the public,” said the late Frank M. Woods, founder of the famed Clos du Bois winery in California’s Sonoma County.

The … Read the rest

If This Is Your Mantra, Customers Will Vanish

It was an early morning meeting chaired by the senior vice president. There wasn’t any reason to anticipate fireworks this particular day so the atmosphere was, to say the least, rather relaxed. A sales manager was the last to arrive, whispering to the person next to him as he sat down, “All I want to do is sell.”

The meaning was clear. He viewed meetings and all other “non-selling” tasks as unnecessary interruptions keeping him away from the job of selling. His meeting intolerance was palpable, announcing at the start that he … Read the rest

The only way to find out if your marketing is performing the way you want is to doubt everything you’re doing.

Instead of guessing, jumping from one initiative to another, hoping for the best, or taking advice without knowing how to evaluate it, start at the beginning by questioning your assumptions, your expectations, your personal preferences, and, particularly, your perceptions of what marketing should do for the company.

Just to be clear, question every marketing activity, every plan, every “great idea,” and every recommendation. It’s the only way to move from hoping and assuming to getting marketing right for your … Read the rest

The idea that marketing is something that companies do is so ingrained in the business mindset that it’s impossible to think otherwise. Yet, that’s exactly what needs to happen.

It’s true that many marketers enthusiastically avoid the traditional marketing label with energetic efforts to recalibrate their careers. No matter what you call it, pull the curtain back and marketing largely remains an “activity” or a “function” with the mission of engaging customers for the purpose of selling them a product or service.

And, there’s the rub. Contrary to popular thought, the heart beat of a business enterprise is neither “making … Read the rest

One seminar leader opened a workshop for property and casualty insurance agents by asking this question: “Why do people buy insurance?” After the participants offered a variety of responses, he says there’s only one right answer: “To take care of claims.” What seems rather intuitive to most consumers may not be quite so clear to insurance salespeople.

How could they miss something that seems so obvious? It’s easy. Insurance salespeople are knowledgeable about analyzing and managing risk. This is their job; it’s what salespeople know. It’s ironic that the strength of knowledge shifts to weakness when they blindly approach solutions … Read the rest

What does it take to get ahead in business today? While the experts may offer such suggestions as having cutting-edge skills and being a good team player, there are other even more essential attributes.

Clearly separating the average employee from the superior worker are basic — but often lacking — qualities.

The techniques are actually quite simple, but they have one fundamental, common characteristic that makes them so valuable: each one produces positive action.

The quickest way to achieve success is to eliminate the negatives. If you want to be considered a “star” performer, here is what you should strive … Read the rest

Salespeople are often known for their “can do” attitude when it comes to getting an order. They don’t let anything get in their way. Yet, the road to closing sales is getting rougher, with more obstacles, hairpin turns and fewer straight-aways. Customers are more discerning, demanding and cautious. They expect guarantees, free enhancements, incredible support and, of course, a “white knuckles” price and beyond. They’re not satisfied with reducing risk; they want to eliminate it.

All this drives salespeople to search for more inventive ways to get the job done — everything from finding appropriate prospects to nailing down appointments … Read the rest

Some business ideas seem to have a life of their own, particularly since they sound so reasonable. They’re so much a part of the culture and so obvious that they go unchallenged, requiring neither proof nor explanation. Since they’re “self-evident,” they gain truism status. But once unmasked, they’re revealed to be what they really are — untrue.

But that’s not all. Some truisms aren’t only false; they can also be downright dangerous. Here are several popular business truisms that deserve a closer look:

• “It Takes Money to Make Money”

This one is so obvious that it has earned a … Read the rest

Marketing is too important to be left either to marketers or CEOs — but for different reasons.

Much of marketers’ energy goes into what is popularly known as self-marketing; that is, landing the next marketing gig. If you don’t believe it, take a trip through LinkedIn, where self-promotion among marketers is brazenly and shamelessly transparent.

Marketing is also too important to allow company CEOs (or anyone else of that ilk) to get their hands on it. Inevitably, they will try to shape it to fit some notion they have inside their heads. And it will be wrong. Look no further … Read the rest

The sales function is built into the DNA of every business. It’s as basic and unquestioned as a “great steak” at a company sales meeting.

The story with marketing is quite different. It’s often viewed as a “side dish” to the sales “entrée,” nice but not necessary, particularly when the economy is either very good or very bad. When things are humming, who needs it and when the economy tanks, “we can’t afford it.”

There’s something of a “congenital” ambivalence about marketing; wanting it but not really trusting it. Even more to the point is a pervasive doubt that it’s … Read the rest

“It worked once, it worked twice, it worked three times,” reflects the serial killer in Lee Child’s Running Blind. “But you know there are no guarantees in life. You know that better than anybody. So you keep on thinking, because the only thing that can get you known is your own complacency.”

The words may seem strangely philosophical for a crime novel, but no matter who we are, it’s complacency that gets us “known,” that betrays us. For anyone in sales, complacency is a sure-fire career killer. With that in mind, here are some thoughts that can help avoid the … Read the rest

There was a time not so long ago when accountants, attorneys, doctors, some musicians, certain ball players, the clergy and a few others earned the right to be called a “professional.” But that was about it.

More recently, the dam burst and we’re now flooded with “professionals.” Everyone wants in the club.

It’s as if just calling ourselves a “professional salesperson,” for example, is magical, lifting us above all those unfortunates, the “unprofessionals.”

For “professional” to mean something special, something unique, something above the crowd, it requires content that’s specific and concrete, a standard against which a salesperson’s behavior can … Read the rest

For countless employees and business owners, the workday is life in a straight-jacket. There’s not enough time to get the daily tasks done, let alone find even a few minutes to think about anything other than what we must do next.

All of which explains why doing is a top priority in business, while thinking doesn’t get much attention.

It there’s any time left, it’s focused on how best to get through the next day, the next quarter, the next crisis or to fantasize about how to get to retirement.

Even so, thinking about some things can be rewarding: It … Read the rest

Marketing is a mystery — at least that’s the way it seems when compared with just about every other company function. There’s plenty of talk about “marketing,” but efforts to nail it down, specifically, usually end in an uncomfortable silence. It makes the point that it’s difficult to get your arms around marketing.

There are more “marketing geniuses” floating around than anyone can count. Everyone has an opinion as to what’s needed, what works and what doesn’t.

And whatever marketing activities a company implements, there will always be those who rush forward with criticisms and complaints.

Such turmoil may help … Read the rest