Xsell Systems

"The Numbers." Everybody is always talking about "The Numbers". We live and die by "The Numbers" in the car biz, don't we? In the Service Department we live and die not only by the monthly numbers but by the daily numbers as well. Service Managers are constantly reading reports with HPRO and EFL and CSI plastered all over them and the Advisors, well the Advisors, they are watching the Managers read the reports so they know what to expect. In the Service Department bad numbers are rarely a secret. The Advisors know what bad numbers mean. It means meetings and monitoring. It means stress piled on top of stress. And many times they have no idea where or how those numbers are calculated or even compiled...

In the years prior to the global financial crisis, too many salespeople across the world had unconsciously fallen into the habit of becoming order takers. In other words, many sectors of business were so good their products and services sold themselves. But no longer. The competitive environment in the new global economy is cutthroat, and it's the sales force - not the product itself - that will differentiate one competitor from another. Clearly, not all businesses have adjusted to the times. Maybe they're not capable of adjusting. In a recent article from the Dynamic Small Business Network, Sales: A Strategic Boardroom Issue, we see that businesses can become too focused on sales numbers rather...

"Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other thing." - Abraham Lincoln - I have recognized for years that I could teach and then drill selling skills into a promising sales representative and could help my client to create a climate for self-motivation and yet some representatives with extremely high potential for success still would fail at the selling process. To combat this unpredictable failure, I often have counseled clients to hire two representatives to end up with one good one or three to get two. Even though I believed that a new sales person would do well as long as he had been given the right selling and prospecting tools and the motivation to...

The best training for acquiring sales skills is through role playing exercises. By role playing different scenarios with a sales person, the trainer can evaluate skills, give instant feedback, and correct shortcomings. Knowledge of sales techniques is only useful to the extent it can actually be applied. Why is role playing a superior training method? I have found that inexperienced sales people can pick up skills faster through a series of short role play sessions. Consider that typical sales training consists of a lecture. Trainees may not give full attention to the subject. Even those that do concentrate and take notes often retain only a small portion of the material. Having a sales person take...

Many sales trainers consider customer run meetings to be a key component of sales training for the sales force. They can be one of the most effective on-the-job training methods for the sales manager to use. At the meeting your sales people hear directly from your clients on what they like and what they do not like. When organising a customer run meeting there are a number of important points to follow to make them successful which are described below. 1. Set yourself clear goals Successful customer run meetings are based on careful planning. It is not enough just to invite a few clients and put them in a room with some of your sales people. Determine, in conjunction with your colleagues, exactly...

Asking the right questions is one of the vital factors in closing sales and is a key part to any good sales training course. Salespeople usually focus on securing an order; so closing is their main concern. However, emphasis on the end of the sales process often leads to the preceding steps being neglected or, in some cases, completely overlooked. The fact remains that it is questions which ultimately unlock the sale - so it is vital that they are designed carefully and used in the right sequence. Successful salespeople, have ability of asking open-ended questions. These questions - usually starting with interrogative words such as who, what, why, and so on - provide us with more information than...

It is said that the sales person's mind works faster and more accurate than a super-computer when it comes to calculating their incentive payments. They know how to reach their targets and optimise their pay by taking the most efficient of all actions. Yet, despite all the incentives that companies give their sales people, there are still some chronic problems faced by most sales forces, such as: * Selling low margin items and foregoing higher margin ones, since it's easier and a lot faster to sell; * Pushing products rather than providing solutions that will deliver long-term benefits to customers; * Selling to the same customers and not doing enough to develop new ones; * Communicating with the...

Imagine this scenario. You are a sales representative for Baker distributing. One of your long-time customers, Albertson Metals, operates a mill that produces high nickel alloy ingots. Each year, this mill purchases approximately $500,000 worth of MRO products such as bar conditioning wheels, flap wheels, grinding belts, cutoff wheels, steel shot and grit, and other products for the mill's laboratories. Unfortunately, you are usually able to obtain only about 30% of this business. During the last six months, you have been working intensively with the mill's management to convince them of the value of developing an integrated supply arrangement with you. They have reacted positively to your ideas and...

is a young woman who attended one of my sales negotiation training programs shortly after taking a new job. When I asked her how she did with her salary negotiation, she replied, "Well, I didn't negotiate. I was offered $44,000 and I took it. "Why didn't you negotiate?" I asked. "Because I didn't want to start off my new job on the wrong foot" she replied. Donald works for a small weekly newspaper. He likes his job and his employer, Jeanne. He doesn't get paid much, but he likes his work. His only problem is that he's being asked to shoulder an increasingly large share of the responsibilities around the office. If there's a late-breaking story that has to be covered or a page that has to be laid out...

This article could easily be titled "How to Find and Keep Clients." The dynamics of successful annuity agent marketing for retail clients are the same dynamics for the successful annuity wholesaler marketing for agents. You want to take your own advice and do what you tell your annuity agents to do. Recruiting You have six opportunities for recruiting: cold calling, advertising, direct mail, email, seminars and referrals-the same methods your annuity agents use to find annuity buyers. Everyone knows that the best and least costly way to get clients is through referrals. Yet in almost 20 years as an agent and being appointed with 25 different companies through at least 8 different annuity wholesalers...

When you decide to start an Internet Business online you really have no idea how much it is going to cost or where to start. That is usually because you have no prior business experience or knowledge. I have to give you credit for wanting to start an online business but I also realize that this is not an easy task. If you are like me, you probably have some Network marketing experience and you probably heard that the next wave for Network Marketing is to move your business online. If you have no experience with Internet Marketing then you may be hit with unwanted expenses and that is why I am providing some key steps for you to follow. Here are some tips to help you build your internet marketing...

"body"> I have a background in Corporate Sales Training, and each time I started a sales training class (whether it be "New Hires" or "Advanced Skills Training") I would ALWAYS start with "Expectations". Because no matter what you are getting ready to embark on, there are always a certain core of expectations that will define success. So let's make sure we know what they are. These are crucial in that they will define your path to business victory. Expectations: 1. You must be seriously committed to be your own agent of change in your own life and you see that building an online business from home is the tool that will allow that to happen. 2. You must be willing to learn, be coachable and IMPLEMENT...

Resume objectives are outdated. In order to capture the attention of a decision maker, the introduction of your resume should outline your experience, not provide a weak sentence or two that focuses on your needs. An example of this: "Seeking a position that will utilize my education and experience." This type of introduction is boring and won't move the interviewer to pick up the phone to call you. Other resume objectives don't work for the following reasons: - The objective statements are generally too vague and do not provide the reader with enough information to determine whether or not there is a fit. - Most objectives are "me" oriented where the focus is on what the job seeker wants in a...

Throw away those white shoes! Stop trying to be like-able and appeasing. If you want to increase your sales closing rate, learn the sales techniques of the consultative sale. After all, it's all about reaching a successful close that sticks and nullifies any buyer's remorse. So what are consultative selling techniques? Many buyers expect a sales person to be ingratiating and friendly....because if they like the sales person they might buy the product or service. This is what we call the "white shoe" style of selling. It's based on the premise that the client wants to help the sales person and not so much themselves; a very weak premise. If there is no sale, then it becomes a personal rejection of...

Do NOT bother with sales skills training Do NOT waste your time and money hiring a top notch sales trainer. Do NOT invest a single dime in your sales reps. Do not bother with any of these activities unless you plan to actively coach your sales reps on an ongoing and continuous basis after the training. Training gets your reps started down the road to sales success but it is coaching that keeps them on the straight and narrow. Don't kid yourself: coaching is the key to achieving and exceeding your sales objectives. This article will examine at why sales training, as means of changing sales behavior, does not work and what you can do about it. It will reveal specific strategies, skills and techniques...

The emphasis of this article is on the word Team. In my book, a great sales team is more than just a group of great sales professionals who are employed by the same company. A great sales team works together to sell more and sell faster. They take advantage of each other's strengths, care less about who gets the credit and care more about making the customer happy and closing the sale. This type of selling is critical when dealing with complex products or services or selling large national or international accounts. Here are five steps that will help you build a team that can help you close the big deals. 1. Know the job - Before you can build a great team, you need to have a plan. Design your ideal...

Another key reason why companies suffer from 80/20 performance is their processes for hiring, training and managing salespeople rely almost entirely upon subjective information. Think about it: - What are resumes? They are an individual's subjective portrayal of their capabilities and experiences. - What occurs during an interview? Interviewees attempt to package their responses to questions in a manner that will make the best impression. Meanwhile, interviewers are forming personal opinions about candidates' qualifications for the position. I'm not suggesting that subjective information is useless. Subjective information is a valid and valuable component of any "people decision". However, if...

st recessions many companies have taken the short-term soft options of cutting back on training and freezing graduate recruitment. However, the companies that actually analysed what happened as economies came out of previous recessions found that these options greatly impacted their ability to respond to the up take in demand for their services and products. However, companies do have to respond to a reduction in orders, so what options are available with regards to training? Well, as with many departments in the good times, the training function in companies has grown over the last few years in terms of the number of people employed, budgets allocated and the scope of work undertaken. So at this...

Having a website for your business is one of the latest trends these days. Regardless of size of the business, a good ecommerce website has become essential for quick growth of business. Ecommerce website development enables you in promoting your services or product to a large number of users and helps in creating global presence of your business. Unfortunately, most small businesses fail to realize the importance of ecommerce website development, thinking it does not work or is too costly. By not doing this they lose their potential customers to their competition. As people are making extensive use of internet for local searches, you need to establish your online presence. For this purpose hiring...

If you want to make sure that you’re the best sales manager you can possibly be, why not check out these helpful sales manager hints below? By employing some of these sales manager tactics, you’ll soon be able to motivate and direct your team better than ever before. Sales Manager Strategy #1: Learn as much as you can To become the best sales manager you can, you really need to stay up to date on sales topics and trends. This means you must read books and articles on the topic of sales, even when you’re not on the job as a sales manager. Keeping yourself informed should always be in the back of your mind, so the next time a brochure for a sales manager training comes across your...

As a fanatical fan of the National Football League, I watched the HOF (Hall-Of-Fame) inductions for 2010' last weekend. Interesting enough, Emmitt Smith's speech (pun not intended) really caught my attention. For starters, he memorized the entire dialogue, all twenty minutes... impressive. What was more moving - what seized my attention - was when he shared with the audience how he went about doing his job; reaching for stars and working towards being the best in the world. Emmitt has goals. Mr. Smith enlightened the 10,000 people in the audience (as well as millions of viewers on television) that as a youngster, dating all the way back to his high school days, goals were the driver of his success...

Many businesses are realizing the significant benefits of leveraging a salesforce automation tool. Through such sales management software, businesses can subscribe to customized, on-demand services sans the high maintenance costs involved. Here are some of the main benefits of using a sales force CRM system. More Focus On Business With salesforce automation systems, businesses get to reduce overall ownership expenses, reduce risks as well as time wasted in manual operations. Businesses can focus more on core competencies as well as overall management as opposed to the technology. Management Of Contract Lifespan Contract approval cycles can be reduced dramatically with a robust sales force CRM...

Wouldn't we all love a bit more action! If you are working in sales, sales requires movement, sales requires action. You need to get commitment and get action from your prospective clients and act yourself too. You need to do this in a planned time frame. Recently on a sales training course I asked the participants whether they had anything in common with Barrack Obama or Bill Gates. They all replied with a no. The truth is that they do and so do you and I. We all have the same 24 hours in a day but it is what you choose to do with that time that counts. In sales training we pinpoint that you need to spend the quality time with those that actually can and will be interested and not on those that can...

With more and more people buried in credit card debt, especially from the recent holiday shopping, it's no coincidence that more and more sales offices, call centers, mortgage offices, credit repair companies and entrepreneurs are jumping head first into becoming debt settlement affiliates, net branches and or attorney based debt resolution affiliates. The simple fact is, there are no barriers to entry except a physical presence, a sales force, debt settlement and or debt resolution leads and money to carry you until the monthly fees start adding up. Realistically, this can take a long time and many have learned the hard way in not preparing themselves for the little amount of money coming in and...

Are you happy with your business sales? Would you like a quick additive to boost sagging sales? Then start using each of these simple sales strategies or the G.A.S. acronym to increase business sales. - Goals - Attitudes - Self leadership skills Simple Sales Strategy Number One - Goals are set by many and achieved by far fewer. To reverse this trend, adopt a proven goal setting process. Then train and next develop your sales staff including management to consistently execute this process. A proven goal setting process will discover the - Whys - Obstacles - Solutions - Action Steps This process allows for a solid foundation for all future communications. By having a plan in place, the salesperson...

"May I help you?" "Just looking, thanks." "Okay, if you do need anything I'll be right here." "Uh, okay. Thanks." Does any of the above sound familiar? I'll bet it does. It's the usual scenario when you walk into some type of shop and most of us will probably recognise it, or have been victim to it, at one time or another. I did some retail work, once upon a time a long, long time ago. Where, or why, it doesn't matter. Misspent youth, I suppose. In the process, I've had quite a lot, and I mean a LOT, of sales training. One particular course always sticks to my mind as I am convinced that it was probably the best sales training course I have ever encountered, bar none. I won't go into the nitty...

One of the most important parts of any businesses is the management, the command and control if you will. This should be evident in your business plan as well. Below is a sample of a Management and a Training Statement for a business plan. This example will help you in your first rough draft of the business plan. You can add too your rough draft later, as you need to, but you need to state the tone and purpose of management in you new company and it is paramount that you do so at the earliest possible date, please read this sample: MANAGEMENT Charles Shooster Ph.D. will be the President and CEO of this company and will hire outside consultants to help with setting up a Tele-Sales team, web-site team...

Every sales manager has experienced it - the salesperson that's just not cutting it. Their numbers are down, they're visibly distressed and unhappy, and the team is suffering as a result. The situation, whether with a newly hired member of your sales team, or with a long-term employee, is never easy to deal with. Before making the decision to terminate a salesperson, ask yourself these questions first - as a sales manager, you could be missing a potential opportunity. 1. Have they ever produced adequate results for me in the past? If you have a salesperson who has delivered acceptable sales for you in the past, then chances are they can replicate that success. They may have a specific issue that is...

I am privileged enough to meet a lot of great companies; I spend a good amount of my time each week on the road. The opportunity to sit down with many different styles of sales managers and business owners has allowed me to discover that every management team drives their sales team differently. In certain companies, sales management provides a roadmap for activity, growth and creating progress. Others, don't. I see firsthand both sides of the spectrum. Many sales managers do everything they can to see that their sales organizations will mature this year and regain their winning forms. Unfortunately, others are doing everything they can to guarantee their status quo remains. You could call it...