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Travis Dhein, Waytek Inc.
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Anyone can give products or services away by cutting the competition's price. Selling occurs when your prices are higher, but you are still able to close the deal. If you want to learn how to sell at a high price, read this book. Learn more...
Almost all salespeople use the telephone to get appointments and most have never taken a course or own a book that tells them how to do it!. This would be a great time to check out these resources by Art Sobczak that teach salespeople the telephone techniques they need to succeed.
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Articles
This is a list of articles written and copyrighted by Dave Kahle or the noted author. New articles are added regularly. If you are a publisher, feel free to use these articles as they appear, or edit them to fit your publication's needs. Make sure that you print and return the publication terms of agreement if you decide to use any portion of the editorial content offered here. Thank you - and enjoy!
Articles by Other Authors Articles about contemporary spirituality 
Protecting Your Good Accounts from the Competition
by Dave Kahle We all know the feeling. Your key contact in one of your good accounts sheepishly admits that they have moved some business to a competitor. No problem with your service, it was just a price issue. Nothing is more discouraging. You've spent years developing this account, building relationships, working hard at meeting their needs, and then, in the blink of an eye, you lose the business to a price-cutter. Is there anything you can do to prevent this? Of course. Here are four proven strategies that will help you prevent your hard-earned business from disappearing into the hands of price cutting competition. Strategy One: Deepen your personal relationships with the key decision makers.... [Read More]
First Steps to Effective Sales Planning
by Dave Kahle Most salespeople love to be active - out in their territories, seeing people, solving problems, putting deals together. This activity orientation is one of the necessary characteristics of a sales personality. A day sitting behind a desk is their idea of purgatory. Unfortunately, this activity orientation is both a strength and weakness. Much of a salesperson's ability to produce results finds its genesis in the energy generated by this activity orientation. But it can be a major obstacle. Far too often, salespeople are guilty of going about their jobs directed by the credo of " Ready, shoot... aim." The luxury of this kind of unfocused activity is a casualty of the Information Age. In order to be effective, salespeople must be focused and thoughtful about everything they do. Activity without forethought and planning is a needless waste of time and energy..... [Read More] Systematically Identifying New Prospects by Dave Kahle Your business, like every other one, needs a constant stream of new customers if it is going to remain viable. The constant churn in the market place means that some of your customers will be acquired and others will go out of business. Unless regularly replaced by new customers, your business will inevitably dwindle. If you are going to thrive, you must replace and add to them. Which brings us to the need for prospecting. As you know, "prospecting" refers to the front end of the sales process. It is the necessary process of identifying companies and institutions who could buy your products, and then arranging a first appointment with them. As with every other stage of the sales process, there are ways to do this better than others. In today's economy, it is not just about identifying a prospect, it is about identifying a prospect that is likely to buy..... [Read More] Time Management: An Ounce of Prevention... by Dave Kahle The essential challenge of effective time management is to spend more of our time doing those things which bring us the best results, and less of those things that don't bring us results. So we struggle, every day, with surmounting this challenge. We try to spend more time with customers, and less with paperwork. We try to delegate portions of our "to do" list that can better be done by someone else. We arrange our days to spend our time doing the most effective things..... [Read More] Characteristics of a Successful Professional: A Propensity to Take Risks by Dave Kahle What sets the exceptional professional apart from the average? Regardless of what the profession, from sales to psychiatry, the exceptional professionals share certain characteristics. Here's one: The propensity to take risks. Now, don't get the wrong idea. We're not talking about skydiving here. Nor are we talking about sinking your life savings in the new start up dot com that your friend told you about. I don't mean taking risks that might endanger your health, safety or long-term security.... [Read More] Knowing Your Customers by Dave Kahle Again this week I encountered what has become a common event. I was called in to consult with a client. Sales were flat for too long, and the client knew that something had to be done. One of my first questions was this: "What do you know about your customers?" Once again the answer was a glazed look and some mumbling about information in the credit department. Trying to refine a sales system without adequately knowing your customers is like playing pin the tail on the donkey -- you'll stumble around blindly unless you're lucky enough to stick something by chance..... [Read More] The Power is in the Process by Dave Kahle Here's a lesson that every salesperson needs to learn early in their career: Sales is not magic. Just the opposite; every selling situation has a very definable, step-by-step process which, when executed with expertise, almost inevitably leads to a sale. One way to define the job of a salesperson is this: Salespeople manage a sufficient number of customers step-by-step through the selling process. It follows, then, that one way to improve your results is to clearly identify the steps in your selling situation's unique process, and then focus on moving each customer, one step-at-a-time, methodically through that process.... [Read More] Fine in the Past: Are You Hindered by Formerly Effective Sales & Marketing Policies? by Dave Kahle I call it FIP. Fine in the Past. It refers to all the sales and marketing efforts, ideas, policies, principles, techniques, and strategies that worked well in the past, but are no longer effective. The past is everything that's pre-2005. I still recall a poignant moment with an attendee at one of my seminars. During the break he came up to me and said this: "I've been in business for seventeen years. And we've done well. But now, it seems like everything is changing, and I don't know what to do." He went on to explain that he had built his formerly thriving tool and die business on certain core principles: Quality workmanship, competitive prices, and good service.... [Read More] Characteristics of a Professional... Are You Serious about Your Job? by Dave Kahle "I wish my people were more professional," executives and managers often commiserate to me. Even with those who don't voice it, that unspoken yearning often hovers just-under-the-surface of their conversation. Ah, if only the people around us were more professional. Our lives would be easier, our businesses would grow more effortlessly, we'd find our jobs more fulfilling... the list of dramatic benefits can go on and on. But what does it mean to be more professional? More importantly, what can we do to make sure that we, and our associates, are becoming ever more professional? [Read More] Frustrated with your company's inability to develop new customers? Try a sales blitz. by Dave Kahle One of the most common complaints I hear from my clients is this: "I can't seem to motivate the salespeople to call on prospects and develop them into new customers." There is a relatively simple, fun and inexpensive way to remedy this situation. It's called a sales blitz. Unfortunately, few companies are even aware of it, and fewer yet use it. Here's the problem. Most B2B sales efforts are organized around a sales rep who is responsible for a specific set of accounts, or a specific geographical area. Typically, that rep is expected to grow the business with the current customers as well as to identify and develop new customers. Clearly, most sales people are better at one part of this two-part responsibility than the other.... [Read More] Salespeople: Position Yourselves with Power by Dave Kahle His eyes were narrow and bloodshot from staying out late and partying too heavily the previous night. A two-day old stubble framed his face. He was wearing a dark colored tee shirt, which he hadn't tucked in, a pair of jeans, and scuffed loafers which had probably never seen shoe polish. It was the second day of my Sales Academy seminar, and this participant in the program was complaining to the group that his customers were only interested in low price. I didn't say this, because I didn't want to embarrass him in front of the group, but I thought it none the less: "Do you think your appearance and demeanor have anything to do with your customers' reaction? Do you think that you may give them the idea that you are the lowest rung on the pricing scale? Is it possible that you have inadvertently positioned yourself as the Wal-Mart of the industry?" [Read More] The Three Most Common Mistakes Sales Managers Make by Dave Kahle In most organizations, sales managers are the essential bridge between the company's sales goals and the realization of those goals. The gritty day-to-day interactions between the sales people and their customers are frequently filtered through the perspective of the sales manager on their way up the ladder. And the aspirations and strategies of the company's management must be imprinted by the realism of the sales manager as they come down from above. Sales managers are the conductors who carefully orchestrate the tentative entanglement of the sales people with their management.... [Read More] Accepting Responsibility for Your Sales Success by Dave Kahle That we live in a time of relentless and pervasive change is no longer news to anyone. There is one important implication of this situation that continues to be a challenge. That is that our employees need to continually change their behavior to adapt to the world around them. My work of helping companies develop more effective sales organizations always involves making changes in the company. And sooner or later, that means that some of the employees must make significant changes in the ways that they think about, and do, their jobs. This is particularly true of the sales people, who must decide to change their behavior and to implement the best practices that I teach. Beyond that, ultimately, helping people change is the work of every executive, manager, consultant and trainer..... [Read More] Communicating Price Increases to Your Customers by Dave Kahle Eek! Price increases from several of your suppliers! Your customers won't like that. How do you manage to pass on that price increase without losing business or giving away margin dollars? This is becoming a major issue for distributors. The economic pendulum has inevitably reached its apex and begun to swing back in the other direction. In many industries the pressure to reduce prices is coming to an end, being replaced by upward pressure on prices. If you are like most segments of the economy, there have been more price increases announced in your industry in the last three months than in the last three years combined. Unfortunately, many sales forces are peopled with individuals who have never lived through a time of price increases. They have no frame of reference from which to view it, and no experience on which to draw..... [Read More] Strategic Planning for Salespeople by Dave Kahle "Ready, shoot, aim." Unfortunately, that's the all too common description of the field salesperson's modus operandi. In a misguided attempt to stay busy and see as many people as possible, too many salespeople subscribe to the theory that any activity is good activity. There was a time when this was true. Customers had more time, sales was a simpler job, and any conversation with a prospect or customer was a good thing. But times have changed, and the job of the salesperson has become much more complex. The pressure on the salesperson to make good decisions about the effective use of his time has never been greater. Salespeople now must confront an overwhelming number of potential "things to do," and that requires them to make decisions about which customers in which to invest their time, to prioritize their activities every day, and to continually choose from a menu of possible activities. In other words, salespeople must now engage in strategic planning..... [Read More] What's a Professional Sales Manager? by Dave Kahle I was in the depths of a major depression. As a third year salesperson with a good company, I was doing well, and was on my way to becoming the top salesperson in the nation for that company. But business had slowed down a little, and I didn't have my usual number of proposals out for consideration. So, I wasn't as busy as usual. As my activity slowed, I began to worry. My doubts increased to the point where I had thought myself into a real depression, stuck on the question of "What's the use of trying?" The more negative my thoughts became, the less energy I had. My lack of energy led to fewer and fewer sales calls, which of course, led to less activity. And that led to more depressing thoughts. I was caught in a powerful downward spiral..... [Read More] Sales Practices That Will Increase Your Margins by Dave Kahle There are a number of factors that weave together to make margin shrinkage an issue for everyone. In many areas, competition has increased dramatically. As new competitors vie for your business, they naturally lower prices to buy their way into your accounts. In many industries, products cost less today than they did five years ago. In the face of decreasing prices, it's difficult to maintain gross margins. And, of course, in this era of Wal-Mart, Target and ubiquitous demands for lower prices in every other aspect of our lives, salespeople constantly hear that refrain voiced in the B-2-B sector. What to do? Is margin degradation inevitable? Should we just give in to the pressures and try to lead the pack in cost cutting?..... [Read More] Myths of Sales Management: The Entrepreneurial Salesperson by Dave Kahle I just had a phone conversation with a client who had a familiar story to tell. He had built his business on the model of an entrepreneurial sales force. Give them a territory, pay them straight commission, and tell them they are in business for themselves, free to develop the customers they chose with the products they wanted. And for a couple decades it had worked well. The business grew and expanded. More entrepreneurial sales people were added, and the model was duplicated over and over again. So far so good. But then the growth in sales began to slow down..... [Read More] |
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Transforming Your Sales Force by Creating Specific Expectations by Dave Kahle I just finished a phone call with a potential client who had called to discuss a problem. His 18 person sales force was paid on straight commission. All had been with the company for 8 - 15 years and were earning healthy incomes. His problem was that he couldn't get them to do what he wanted them to do. Here's the example he shared. He wanted the salespeople to call on new prospects to expand the company's base. Instead of just seeing established customers, he asked them to call on prospects, and report back to him on the progress they were making. There were almost no results. Instead he got comments like: "I'm not going to do this, I'm not a new salesperson." Or, "That's just more paperwork." This list could go on and on..... [Read More] Developing Account Strategies: Excerpted with permission of the publisher, from the First Steps to Success in Outside Sales, Copyright 2003, by Dave Kahle. Our objective is to equip you with an understanding of the principles and processes you'll need in order to develop effective account strategies. First, let's define our terms. Strategy means a series of steps designed to bring your prospect or customer from where they are now to where you want them to be. It's the long-term view. Realistically, it's a planned series of sales calls in which each sales call has a distinctive set of purposes, a distinctive piece of education, a person or set of people to speak with, and a distinctive agreement that you'd like to attain. The purpose, the timing, the organization, and the sequence of that series of sales calls is the strategy. It's the long-term perspective, the big picture, of what you want to do and how you want to do it.....[Read More] Sales Management Myths: Straight Commission by Dave Kahle I had just hung up from a phone conversation with one of my clients. He was commiserating with me on the sorry state of his sales force. He had a group of seasoned, experienced salespeople, each of whom was making a good income on a 100% commission compensation plan. The problem was he couldn't get them to promote new products or seek new customers. They were content to stay within their comfort zones of established customers and familiar products. That contentment is more typical than most of us are willing to admit. Many sales managers and principals continue to strive under the myth that sales people are forever motivated to sell ever larger quantities. And we attribute much of that motivation to the 100% commission compensation plan. Unfortunately, straight commission plans rarely motivate an established sales force to sell more!..... [Read More] Staying Motivated In Challenging Times by Dave Kahle One of my Ezine subscribers recently sent me this question: "I really struggle with the highs and lows of field sales. Most days I feel like the weight of the world is on my shoulders. In this economy, especially, it's difficult to stay positive. Any suggestions?" This is one of those rarely voiced issues that every sales person must confront sooner or later. Sales is an emotional roller coaster, and unless you figure out how to manage those emotions and keep yourself motivated, you'll have a difficult time succeeding. This is particularly true right now. As I write this, in the middle of 2003, the economy continues to struggle, and unemployment is higher than it has been for years. Many companies are cutting back, there are fewer jobs available, and pressures to perform are greater than ever..... [Read More] Don't Fire All the Salespeople Just Yet! by Dave Kahle Should you fire all the salespeople? The temptation is there, and probably growing in strength weekly. That's easy to understand. Pressures are pressing on you from a number of directions. First, you may be in the middle of a flat or declining market. Many industries are experiencing the second or third year of flat or decreasing sales. That alone makes you wonder. If your sales aren't growing, what are the salespeople doing, after all? Could you maintain your business with out salespeople? Then there is the constantly drip, like a Chinese water torture, of price pressures from the competition. It's likely that their sales are down as well. Many of them, in a desperate bid to maintain their businesses, will continue to resort to more aggressive discounting. When margins fall, can you afford to pay salespeople?.... [Read More] Seize the Day! The economy offers a special opening for companies to transform their sales force by Dave Kahle Bring any group of sales executives together today and the conversation inevitably drifts to the miserable state of business. The mode of the moment seems to be to bemoan the fact that the market is not as robust as it once was, and then to wallow in worry. There is another way to respond to the slower market. That is to recognize this as a once-in a lifetime chance to make significant changes in the way your sales force is organized and managed. These changes can form the infrastructure for constant growth in market share and profitability in the future, as well as greater immediate profitability.... [Read More] Chapter Twelve: The Fourth Hat - Skillful Influencer Excerpted with permission of the publisher, from the Take Your Sales Performance Up a Notch, Copyright 2003, by Dave Kahle. It's like basketball. At some point, you must put the ball in the basket. But you can't do that without developing the skills of dribbling, rebounding, and passing. Those skills are necessary, but not sufficient. They get you to the point where you have an opportunity to put the ball in the basket. Presenting and closing, the skills we're going to discuss in this chapter, are the equivalent of putting the ball in the basket. And that brings us to the first principle: Deciding to buy is a process, consisting of a series of small decisions. When your customers decide to give you money for what you're offering, that decision doesn't exist in a vacuum. The decision is only the latest in a string of decisions that your customer made along the way..... [Read More] Value-added Selling by Dave Kahle "Value-added." That word is used so much it has become a cliché in business circles. There may not be a business in the world that doesn't claim to be a "value-added" seller. The problem is that once a word or phrase becomes a cliché, it often losses it's original meaning. This is true with "value-added." What exactly does that mean?.... [Read More] Biggest Time Wasters for Salespeople by Dave Kahle Good time management for salespeople has been an obsession of mine for more than 30 years. In the last decade, I've been involved in helping tens of thousands of sales people improve their results through more effective use of their time. Over the years, I've seen some regularly occurring patterns develop - tendencies on the part of sales people to do things that detract from their effective use of time. Here are the four most common time-wasters I've observed. See if any apply to you or your salespeople.... [Read more] Think a Lot by Dave Kahle It's a difficult year for a lot of sales people. The world is changing rapidly, and every new headline seems to some how impact business in a significant way. The competition is more active, customers are more discriminating, and no body had enough time. There was a time, just a few years ago, when it was easier. You could work hard for awhile, and then you could relax and enjoy the fruits of your labors. You'd reach a point where life became easy, your customers were buying from you consistently, and you had your job figured out.... [Read more] Finding The Silver Lining Among The Clouds by Dave Kahle "Dave, what's the good news? Where is the silver lining?" Great question. So many of us have been concentrating on the clouds recently, that we haven't noticed the silver lining around the clouds. Certainly the economy is limping along in many industries that had been accustomed to regular growth. And the challenges of the Information Age can seem overwhelming at the moment. However, at the same time, there are unique and powerful opportunities for those salespeople who choose to pursue them.... [Read more] Taking Your Sales Performance Up-a-Notch by Dave Kahle "Selling is more difficult now that it was just a couple of years ago." Most of the participants in my sales seminars nod solemnly when I make that statement. And then they begin to fidget in their seats when I follow that up with this: "And it will be more difficult next year than it is today." They become really uncomfortable when I extend that idea: "And it will be increasingly more difficult every year thereafter." That's a sobering truth that we don't like to face.... [Read more] How Do You Change the Behavior of an Experienced Salesperson? by Dave Kahle Every client I deal with, in one way or another, eventually asks that question. The words may be different, but the question is the same. In this turn-of-the-century economic environment, it's a universal question. If you haven't confronted the issue yet, it's only a matter of time before you will. Here's the context in which this question surfaces. The company needs to make some change that impacts the sales force: A new compensation program, a new automation tool, a new sales process, a new way of working with inside salespeople -- a new something. Most sales forces are made up of a variety of people, ranging from the inexperienced rookies, to the veterans who have been around for anywhere from five to twenty-five years. The rookies are eager to learn and quick to adapt to the new thing, while most of the veterans are set in their ways and resistant to the new initiative. The question of how to get the veterans to embrace and implement the new thing always comes up within the framework of a specific change that the company wants to make. From my perspective, however, it is a larger issue.... [Read more] The Ninth Time Management Secret: Nurture Helpful Relationships Excerpted with permission of the publisher, from the 10 Secrets of Time Management for Salespeople, Copyright 2003, by Dave Kahle. Published by Career Press, Inc., Franklin Lakes, NJ. All rights reserved. Early into one of my sales positions, my boss informed me that the operations manager was upset with me. I was too focused and task-oriented in my dealing with the company's internal personnel who made things happen in the business. I'd come into the office, drop projects and requests on everyone's desk, and head out again. My task-oriented behavior was upsetting people. As a result, they were balking at cooperating with me. My projects were being left on the bottom of the pile, and other salespeople were getting more cooperation. I had better change my attitude, he told me, or I'd find it very difficult to succeed in this organization. My lack of good relationships with the people who could make things happen for me was hurting my performance. Eventually, I came around to understand that. I swallowed my pride, bought each one a six-pack of premium beer, apologized, and started focusing on building positive relationships with everyone inside the company.... [Read more] The Five Most Common Mistakes Salespeople Make by Dave Kahle Over the decades that I've been involved in sales, I've worked with tens of thousands of salespeople. Certain negative tendencies -- mistakes that salespeople make -- keep surfacing. Here are my top five. See to what degree you (or your sales force) may be guilty of them.... [Read more] Popcorn and Other Marketing Mistakes In a Changing Economy by Dave Kahle Ten years of competitive hell! That was the title on the seminar brochure I received recently. As I survey some of the forces flowing through our economy, and witness the way in which they effect my clients, I have to agree. The Information Age is certainly one of the most turbulent times business people have ever seen. And the force causing the greatest turbulence is rapid, unrelenting change. Consider this. In 1900, the total amount of knowledge that mankind had was doubling about every 500 years. Today, it doubles about every two years. And the pace continues to increase. One futurist predicts that today's high school seniors will have to absorb more information in their final year alone than their grandparents did in their entire life.... [Read more] How to Protect Your Good Accounts from the Competition by Dave Kahle Question: Because of the slow down in my market, my competitors are trying to gain business anywhere they can. They are more active in my good accounts then ever before. How can I protect my good accounts from the competition? Great question. This is a major threat to your business. The Paretto Principle, also known as the 80/20 rule, dictates that for most salespeople, 20% of their customers produce 80% of their revenue. If that is true for you, it means that losing one of your good accounts to the competition can be devastating to your business. That should be enough reason for you to give special time and thought to this question.... [Read more] On Entertaining Your Customers by Dave Kahle How much time should I spend entertaining my customers? Good question. The world of the field salesperson is changing rapidly these days, and everything is in question. The practice of entertaining customers is one of those issues that needs to be rethought. First, let's consider whether or not you should entertain your customers. In these days of e-commerce and Internet communication, is there a place for this age-old practice.... [Read more] Are You Part of The Problem, or Part of The Solution? by Dave Kahle We've all heard the numbers: Consumer confidence is down, retail sales are down. And for many of us, the markets we serve are down, as well. There is an important relationship to note here. Confidence - an attitude - is down, so sales are down. When confidence is up, sales follow. The principle at work here is this: Our actions follow our attitudes. The relationship between actions and attitudes is so close, that the two go hand-in-hand, and our actions can be seen as outward expressions of our attitudes.... [Read more] Can Customer Service Representatives Become Proactive? by Dave Kahle How can we get inside sales to do some proactive sales activities each day? We want our inside salespeople to use some of their time to shift into the proactive mode to make outbound phone contact to existing and new business.... [Read more] Teaching Your Organization to Learn by Dave Kahle Are things changing rapidly in your business? Silly question, isn't it? Of course they are changing. Rapid change is the distinguishing characteristic of the new millennium. Take that rapid change and add to it growing competition, increasing complexity, consolidations at every level, and increasing demands from customers and you have the recipe for a business climate that will turn anyone's hair gray.... [Read more] Selling Commodities by Dave Kahle "How do you create a perceived value to differentiate yourself from the competition, when you are both selling a commodity?" That's a question I'm often asked in my seminars. It uncovers a problem that is spreading to almost every industry. The rapid pace of technological development and our ultra-competitive global economy means that no one can keep a competitive edge in their product for very long. Develop a hot new product or service, and before you can take your first check to the bank, a competitor has a hotter or cheaper version. As a result, customers are more and more inclined to view your product or service as a commodity - no real difference between you and the next guy.... [Read more] The Ultimate Survival Skill for the Information Age by Dave Kahle We're living in incredibly turbulent times. The well spring of this uncertainty lies in one of the characteristics of the newly-arrived information age. Business people are being buffeted by an increasingly rapid rate of change. Consider this. In 1900, the total amount of knowledge available to mankind was doubling about every 500 years. In 1990, it was doubling about every two years.... [Read more] Dealing with Difficult Customers by Dave Kahle Difficult customers come in a wide variety. There are those whose personality rubs you the wrong way. They may not be difficult for someone else, but they are for you. And then there are those who are difficult for everyone: Picky people, know-it-alls, egocentrics, fault-finders, constant complainers, etc. Every salesperson can list a number of the types... [Read more] Creating Long Term Goals by Dave Kahle One of the habits often practiced by highly successful people is the habit of regular goal setting. There is a reason for that. Goals compel you to work with discipline and concentration rather than going about your job mindlessly and routinely. Goal-setting is a discipline that helps you focus. Here´s how to go about creating long-term goals... [ Read More] How to Deal with the Salesperson Who Has Leveled Off by Dave Kahle Every manager has, or will, confront this troublesome issue. It´s arisen in every workshop for sales managers or branch managers I´ve done. One or more of your salespeople has leveled off. Their performance hasn´t improved much in the last few years. Where before you were able to count on significant increases each year, now you can not. You know that these experienced salespeople can do better, but they seem unable or unwilling to break out of a certain level of performance. You are scratching your head, frustrated, and loosing sleep at night wondering how to improve the situation. What do you do?... [Read More] How Sharp is Your Sales Structure? by Dave Kahle How can I get greater productivity out of my salespeople? In one form or another, that's a question every owner and sales manager ponders regularly. As a sales trainer and consultant, it is the basic question that I confront. And it is the underlying question behind every attempt to train salespeople. Investing in training and developing your salespeople is always a good idea. But it isn't the entire solution for many organizations. Often, enormous improvements in sales productivity can be achieved by sharpening the structure of your sales organization.... [Read more] The Ten Commandments for the Ethical Salesperson by Dave Kahle This may be another definition of integrity -- the courage and conviction to walk away from an unethical short-term gain in return for a long-term gain. In other words, always be willing to give up a sale or some immediate advantage if you must stretch the truth or act unethically to get it. For example, you may have an opportunity to acquire a quick sale because your customer has misunderstood the specifications or features of your product. It's tempting to take the order and not say anything. But that would not be ethical.... [Read more] Is Integrity a Sales Strategy? by Dave Kahle Honesty is a powerful sales strategy that is probably more important today than ever before. It works like this. If you have integrity, you save your customer time. In today's frenzied world, time is more precious than money for a lot of people. If your customers cannot believe you, then they must spend hours, days or weeks of precious time confirming the representations you have made. If, however, they can believe you, then they don't feel the need to check for the veracity of every fact or statement.... [Read more] Managing Information by Dave Kahle I'm spending more and more time dealing with information. It's squeezing out my selling time. Here's the issue. Technological advances in recent years have multiplied the amount of information that you must handle. The quantity of information landing on your lap has increased from sources all around you. Welcome to the information age. This problem of information inundation is a relatively new but almost universal threat to your livelihood. Four or five years ago, salespeople were not too concerned with it. Today, dealing with information is so critical that it is an important part of almost every seminar I present.... [Read more] Developing Your Salespeople by Dave Kahle Is there such an initiative? IS THERE ONE thing you can do that will help you keep the good salespeople you have, motivate your salespeople, stimulate your salespeople to become more productive, and attract good quality candidates? The answer? Of course there is. It's this.... [Read more] One of the Emerging New Rules for Sales - The Value-Added Sales Call by Dave Kahle No matter what you sell, it is likely that your customer has more to do and less time in which to do it than ever before. Your customer's lack of time is a relatively recent phenomenon. It wasn't much of an issue a few years ago, but it has become universal and growing in intensity day by day. Your customer is overworked and pressed for time. As a result, there is just not enough time in the day to get everything done. Some things have to go. A long, leisurely conversation with a salesperson is often one of those things that is going.... [Read more] The Impenetrable Account by Dave Kahle How do you sell to an account that is in the hands of a competitor? It's a great question, reflecting one of the most perplexing and frustrating situations every sales person faces. In this article Dave expalins how to get an account away from your competition.... [Read more] How to Close the Sale ~ You've Got to 'Open' Before You Can Close by Dave Kahle Every salesperson talks about "Closing the sale." The best salespeople understand that before you can close the sale, you must open it. "Opening" means using well designed and delivered questions to thoroughly uncover as many aspects of the buying decision as possible. Too many salespeople mistakenly concern themselves with only the technical aspects of the sale, and neglect entirely some of the other issues.... [Read more] On Fielding a Directable Sales Force by Dave Kahle Do you have a directable sales force? Directable means that your sales force can be counted on to quickly, thoroughly and positively carry out your directions. Such a sales force is both rare, and incredibly valuable to the company. In fact, a directable sales force is one of the greatest strategic advantages your company can have.... [Read more] How Can I Sell More When I Have So Much to Do? by Dave Kahle How can I sell more when I have so much to do? You have new products to learn, paperwork to complete, hundreds of customer problems to solve, meetings to attend, inside people to cojole, managers to mollify - and, on top of all this, you are expected to sell something! Let's start by identifying one of those essentials. Think about the sales process - the activities that it takes to make a sale - and certain key activities come to mind.... [Read more] How to Maximize the Power of a Sales Call by Dave Kahle How to Maximize the Power of a Sales Call. The sales call is the most critical point in your sales and marketing system and the ultimate test of your marketing program -- It's the point where all your work comes together and you either succeed or fail. Mishandle the sales call and you may lose a customer for years. Handle it correctly and you'll take the first step toward a lifetime relationship. The key to maximizing that power is to implement some systematic methods of structuring that time together.... [Read more] Do You Have a Selling System? by Dave Kahle Do You Have a Selling System? Should your company allow every salesperson to have their own style, or should you have system for selling to which everyone adheres? Almost any work can be systematic. "Systems" are how good work gets done. A selling system addresses the interaction between the salesperson and the customer, providing a "game plan" for success. Think of it as a template for the salesperson's face-to-face tactical encounters.... [Read more] Is Telemarketing Feasible For My Business? by Dave Kahle Systematic use of the telephone is one of the fastest growing sales and marketing strategy today. Rapid growth of telemarketing has stimulated marketers from companies and organizations of all sizes to question whether or not there is some application of telemarketing in their business. Telemarketing, perhaps more than any other media, requires a commitment from management to resources and time to make it work.... [Read more] Victory Over Voicemail by Dave Kahle Voice mail has become the number one irritant for salespeople in the Information Age. And with good reason. If you can't communicate with your customers, you can't get to see them. And if you can't get to see them, you've been knocked out of the sales process. Unless you learn to work through this electronic obstacle, the likelihood of you making a sale is dramatically reduced.... [Read more] Is Your Sales System Clogged with Accumulated Gunk? by Dave Kahle What's gunk? Any practice that detracts from the salesperson spending time with customers. In other words, other things the outside salespeople do instead of meeting with customers. When we boil down the job of the typical outside salesperson to its essence, it is clear that the one thing we want of them, the one place that they bring value to the organization, the one thing they do that is the essential reason we have them, is interact with the customers. Everything else is a means to that end.... [Read more] Using the Internet & Automation as Tools for Salespeople by Dave Kahle Will the Internet cause the death of the outside salesperson? So what's the answer? Like most others, I have to admit that I don't know. It is certainly possible that some aspects of today's outside sales jobs will be replaced by point-and-click. But the answer to the big question remains unclear and a ways into the future. I am sure of one thing, however. The Internet, specifically, and computers in general can be powerful tools in the hands of a capable salesperson, and those salespeople who take the initiative to become automation-enabled will find themselves growing in importance to their customers and in value to their companies.... [Read more] Dealing With Your Customer's Time Constraints by Dave Kahle This is a real information-age issue. You know how confused and pressured you feel these days. Your customers feel the same way. As pressures brought on by rapid change, growing competition and the need for every organization to become more streamlined and efficient have hit your customers, many of them have reacted by trying to make everyone more productive.... [Read more] For CEO's: How to Model Self-Directed Learning for Your Organization by Dave Kahle The challenge for every CEO is to transform his/her organization into a learning organization. Self-directed learning is the fundamental skill necessary for individuals and organizations to survive and prosper in our turbulent times. Those organizations who successfully transform themselves into learning organizations -- organizations which continually process new information and change their behavior on that basis of that information -- will be tomorrow's winners.... [Read more] Is it Time to Revise Your Sales Compensation Plan? by Dave Kahle If you're paying your sales reps straight commission, you're using an obsolete formula. If you're paying your sales reps a straight salary, you're also using an obsolete formula. Read this article to find out a much more effective way to compensate your sales staff.... [Read more] Your Most Powerful Sales Tool by Dave Kahle Mastering the use of good questions is the salesperson's single most powerful interpersonal tool -- every aspect of your sales interactions will dramatically improve your results.... [Read more] What's the Best Way to Find a Good Salesperson by Dave Kahle Good question! It seems that everyone has a favorite response. Some people only use recruiters, and others swear by networking. But classified ads continue to be the most common choice. Almost everyone who hires salespeople will, at some time, search for prospects via the "help wanted" section.... [Read more]
How can I sell when I'm not the lowest price?
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10 Secrets of Time Management for SalespeopleThe typical salesperson today is overwhelmed, trapped in a chaotic, pressure-filled environment with too much to do and not enough time to do it. Salespeople need help! This book provides it. Dave Kahle contends that smart time management is not about cramming more activity into each hour; but about achieving greater results in that hour. The content has been honed in hundreds of seminars and refined by the perceptions and experiences of thousands of salespeople. 10 Secrets of Time Management for Salespeople provides powerful, practical insights and ideas that really work, including hundreds of specific, practical, effective time management tips from dozens of salespeople who are on the "front lines" every day. Buy it Now! |
How to Excel at Distributor Sales - In the New MillenniumThe distributor salesperson's bible. The book contains 354 pages of detailed, street smart strategies designed to empower your salespeople with the skills they need to be successful in the information age. The most popular sales book for distributors ever written. This much-praised book is an absolute must for every one of your salespeople if you're serious about improving their performance. Buy it Now! 
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