By GilCargill on February 22
Believe it or not, the advice of listening to your prospect seems to be becoming increasingly archaic and outdated. Unfortunately, it is the best way to get a sale.
One of my first sales managers told me that GOD gave us 2 ears and 1 mouth and that we should use those features in at least those proportions (2 to 1) when selling.
Over the past few years, I’ve noticed an alarming decrease in the willingness of sales people to listen. When I make field calls with my clients’ sales people I can see the prospects literally seething due to the fact that the sales person clearly isn’t listening to them.
Not only is this disrespectful, but by not listening and talking (way to much) the sales person is literally talking him or herself out of a sale. Proactive listening is a …
Posted in Sales Skills | Tagged listening skills, proactive listening, sales
By GilCargill on March 30
Over the past 35 years, thousands of CEOs have hired me to help them improve the productivity of their sales force. Without exception, I’ve found that the fastest route to significant, permanent and measurable improvement in both the top and bottom line has very little to do with sales training and much more to do with many other factors.
In fact, if you violate some of the principles discussed below, there is no amount of sales training that will overcome those inherent problems. Let’s take a look at some of the problems that you can address, next week, that will improve the productivity of your existing sales team without putting anyone through the cost, expense and inconvenience of a one- or two-day sales training “blitzkrieg”.
Increase selling time: Over the years, many organizations have required salespeople to do many non-sales tasks. Without exception, the number one sales productivity inhibitor is this incessant …
Posted in Cargill Consulting Group
By GilCargill on February 2
I was recently asked by one of my clients to conduct some research to find an emailing service. Their goal was to send out marketing emails to their database and drive some of the contacts in their database to their website. The goal and the concept sound very simple and straight forward.
My offer to help began what I eventually perceived to be a bit of a technological nightmare. Now I hasten to point out that the technology of bulk email marketing is quite simple and proven. Where things really got complicated was in the area of comparing pricing and services based on published plans from the various email service providers.
Candidly, it was maddening. For instance, the term “softbounce” is a very common term in email marketing. The complexity comes in under the definitions of various email marketing services.
You see, one of the differentiators …
Posted in Cargill Consulting Group
By GilCargill on June 25
This is a question many of my clients frequently ask me. CEOs of companies rely on their sales forces to bring new accounts and/or new business into their company. Frequently, they express frustration regarding the cost of marketing. I frankly don’t believe that marketing costs too much; I believe that too much of marketing’s cost is unpredictable and unmanageable.
Studies have shown that as much as 87% of our business-to-business generated leads are never pursued. That means that 87% of the buyer’s energy, effort, time and talent that your company expends on marketing is wasted. This 87% leakage factor is extremely expensive. This problem can only be fixed by implementing a closed-loop marketing system. Cargill Consulting Group’s LeadMinder service will plug the leaks in your sales funnel and/or pipeline.
There are many reasons why leakage occurs but, most often, leakage occurs as a result of a phenomenon I have nicknamed “the gap …
Posted in Cargill Consulting Group
By GilCargill on June 23
Any business-to-business sales organization that subscribes to the concept of best practices may be behind the times. It is far more profitable to be concerned about next practices – in other words, what’s coming up next. The manager of a business-to-business sales force should ask him/herself “What’s next?” or “What’s new?” on a regular basis.
By constantly focusing on what’s next, you will be able to align your organization’s resources to capitalize on the new opportunities coming down the pike. I don’t believe there has ever been a time in the history of sales where so many new products, services, concepts, etc. have been available for us to market. Unfortunately, many of us are rooted in following the best practices of the “good old days”.
The best practices many of us follow were first established back in the 19th Century! In today’s environment, those best practices could drive your organization’s productivity and …
Posted in Cargill Consulting Group
By GilCargill on June 22
Many salespeople confuse establishing a sales funnel, or pipeline, with creating a pipe dream. We are all naturally optimistic and, sometimes, this optimism gets us into sales trouble – specifically, when we confuse a prospect who is willing to talk to us with a prospect who has a set of needs that can be satisfied by you and your company. These needs must be expressed in terms of some level of discomfort that the prospect is currently experiencing.
When you have the ability to help your customer achieve a permanent improvement in one or more circumstances within their business, then your pipeline is indeed a list of potential new deals. Following are some questions that I suggest you examine for each opportunity in your current pipeline. If you can’t answer these questions, then you don’t have a pipeline but, rather, a pipe dream.
Is there an opportunity? Are you working with an …
Posted in Cargill Consulting Group
By GilCargill on June 18
During a conversation with my seatmate on a recent plane trip, I mentioned that my business was helping other businesses to sell more. My seatmate replied that he was President of a company that had, in his opinion, “wasted millions of dollars” on sales training. In fact, he went on to say, “Sales training doesn’t work”. He was shocked when I agreed with him. However, I did add one caveat, which is “Traditional sales training doesn’t work.”
Traditional sales training doesn’t work for several reasons. First, selling is a team sport. Consequently, if we only focus our training and development efforts on our salespeople, we are missing a significant component of the productivity and profitability that could be generated. Even if a sales team is highly skilled, highly motivated and incredibly well-managed, they will not produce optimum levels of profit if an organization’s operations and administrative staff are performing …
Posted in Cargill Consulting Group
By GilCargill on June 16
Conflicts between sales and marketing can become so severe that neither department is able to function optimally. The source of this conflict usually stems from the fact that sales and marketing fail to agree on a clear definition of an inquiry versus a lead, which too often leads to poor sales.
Inquiry Defined
Inquiries are responses to your marketing efforts from an individual or organization that may have interest in creating a relationship with your company. I say “may”, as the conversion rate from inquiries to transactions is traditionally low.
However, research shows that anywhere from 45-63% of all inquiries eventually purchase products or services identical to that which they inquired about. Unfortunately, this process takes anywhere from six to eighteen months, and the typical salesperson is neither able nor willing to nurture a relationship for that long.
To rectify this situation, I suggest keeping all inquiries within the marketing department, until …
Posted in Cargill Consulting Group
By GilCargill on June 11
Since my early days of managing sales teams, I have noticed that many sales managers have either not been trained or have not learned the skill of coaching. The number one objective of all sales managers is to improve the quality of their sales force. This is done through coaching. Far too often, I encounter sales managers whom either lack of knowledge and/or environmental circumstances force to be nothing more than a business administrator. When you stop to think about it, that is a tremendous waste.
First, the man or woman selected as a sales manager was probably selected because of their sales ability. I am confident that they were not selected because of their administrative or paperwork-shuffling abilities. However, many companies have incorrectly eliminated this valuable resource of sales support from their organization. Consequently, the most talented, most …
Posted in Cargill Consulting Group
By GilCargill on June 11
There’s a lot of noise in the marketplace regarding internet marketing. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and PPC (Pay-Per-Click) advertising seem to lead the pack in terms of the most popular terms that are being batted around.
I have to admit that I have had to take a crash course in both of these technologies. My good friend and strategic partner, Maggie Strevell at Naper Solutions, has been my tutor. Her lessons have been augmented by input from my son, Edward Cargill, who has his Master’s Degree in Computer Science.
The reason I say I’ve had to gain a crash-course education in this is because I have sensed, for quite some time now, that it is an extremely powerful method of gaining leads. As you will know if you’re a consistent reader of my newsletter and/or blog, filling the funnel is my passion.
I read an article several months ago indicating that fully …
Posted in Cargill Consulting Group
