Test your integrity quotient to meet your quota…or not. If you regularly read my blog, you know about the PITA client—”pain in the ass” prospects who drain your team’s time, resources, and morale. I’ve made the case many times that salespeople should walk away from a PITA sales opportunity as fast as you can. However, there are other reasons to walk away that I never considered. Jill Konrath covers these points in her blog, which she agreed to let me share (in full) below. Read on to learn why some sales opportunities just aren’t worth the headache: Sales Integrity is Being Willing to NOT Sell ..read more

It’s OK to double your price for PITA clients Every buyer isn’t your client. If buyers continue to make unreasonable demands and keep changing requests and deadlines—even after you’ve given them exactly what they need—then you’re dealing with PITA clients. These PITA clients drain your energy, demotivate your team, waste your time, and expect you to do more at the same price.  I don’t usually suggest sending business to your competition, but in this case, I just might… There’s another alternative: Double your price. Do that, and PITA clients will probably walk away of their own volition ..read more

Get offline to get your referral. Social media lead generation can work. But clicking buttons to forge new relationships is a waste of time, and digital referrals are a myth.  Why is asking for referrals on social media a bad idea? And why does taking these conversations offline give your sales team a competitive advantage? 4 Reasons Not to Ask for Referrals on Social Media 1. Referrals are your reputation. When you introduce someone, you put your reputation on the line. You must have a strong enough relationship to feel confident that this person will follow through, earn the prospect’s ..read more

Relationships drive sales—always have, always will. Most sales teams miss quota year after year. Yet, quotas continue to increase. Doesn’t make much sense, does it? Sales leaders bemoan that they don’t have enough qualified leads in the pipe, that their people aren’t getting meetings with decision-makers, that they can’t seem to differentiate themselves from competitors.  The problem is all in the prospecting and the relentless focus on getting the newest, the best, the most sophisticated technology—when sales teams should be focused on building the best relationships, having the most sop ..read more

Here’s what you might have missed from No More Cold Calling this quarter. It’s an exciting time: The time of year to construct your business future. What will you do differently in 2024? You’d better have some innovative strategies, because the same-old doesn’t cut it. Even If you’ve had a stellar year, you’ll be outsold if you stay with what you’ve always done. You’re savvy. You’re resourceful. It’s time to get a move on.  I’m doing the same on two fronts (so far): 1. I’m introducing a Referral Selling System to ensure companies build a referral culture, source only qualified leads, get ..read more

How asking for referrals will drive your revenue in 2024 How many people should you ask for referrals to get five new clients? No more than 20. In my experience, at least half the people you ask for referrals will introduce you to your ideal prospect. Referred prospects convert to clients a minimum 50 percent of the time (most salespeople tell me it’s closer to 70 percent). So the ratio of referral requests to new clients is roughly four to one (4:1). And that’s a conservative estimate. The referral business case math looks like this: Ask 20 people for a referral introduction to your ideal pr ..read more

I’m most thankful for our human connection. I’ve always barbequed our Thanksgiving turkey. Raining? No problem. That’s what umbrellas are for. My turkey is juicy and moist. I insist on making the turkey, so it’s not overcooked and dry like many people make it. However, a couple of years ago, my kids told me they didn’t like turkey. I was shocked. We’ve always had turkey at Thanksgiving with rave reviews.  The next year, my kids brought buttermilk fried chicken. I didn’t like it, so now I barbecue my turkey, and they bring their chicken. They all love the stuffing and special cranberry sau ..read more

Put the “Social” Back in Social Selling Salespeople have forgotten the social part of social selling.  Instead of using social media to make connections and strengthen relationships with potential prospects and referral sources, they pitch, spam, and annoy their contacts. They actually think it’s helping them sell. It’s not, because that’s not what social media is for.  What Is Social Selling? Social selling is a misleading term. Done right, it doesn’t actually involve selling, which is good, because no one wants to be sold to on social media. Social media is a place to begin convers ..read more

Emotion trumps emoticons. Digital communication only takes us so far … period. Even the best sales technology isn’t as valuable as business relationships. But it’s easy to forget that in the digital era. These days, people are literally addicted to smartphones, and salespeople are so reliant on social media that they forget to be social. But that is sales tech that doesn’t work. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not a Luddite. Technology is great when it’s kept in its place. It should enable us and make us more productive, and most of the time it does. But our total dependence on technology makes us sus ..read more

Here’s what you might have missed from No More Cold Calling this quarter. Mark, a salesman with an enterprise company, invited me to connect on LinkedIn. I accepted his standard invitation, thinking he might be a good connection, and sent him a personal message, inviting him to contact me with any questions about referral selling.  His response: “What is referral selling?” Obviously, he had no clue who I was when he invited me. He is a sales stalker—someone who blasts out dozens of invites and then lies in wait, ready to pounce with an unwelcome sales pitch the moment anyone responds. Lik ..read more