Editor’s Note

Every month our objective is to present you with the best resources that you, as a sales, marketing and service personnel, can avail and benefit from.
All the articles in this issue of Sales and Service Excellence Essentials are great and worth a read. Even so, I would like to recommend two in particular.
One is the Cover Article of this month, Are You Creating A Culture of Dependency?: 5 tips to foster more independence within sales force by Michelle Vazzana and another is from our regular contributor Dave Kahle

Sales and Service Excellence October 2015 Advertisers

Are You Creating A Culture of Dependency?: 5 tips to foster more independence within sales force

How independent are the sales reps within your sales force? Are your sellers in constant need of support from sales management? If so, it can wreak havoc on your company’s revenue goals and bottom line. So what creates a culture of dependency within a sales force? There is one simple answer — leadership. Your sales management leadership style could be fostering a culture of dependency, often without you even realizing it.

Beliefs Limiting Your Performance?: You're missing out on opportunities by being a ‘problem solver’!

"Good sales people are problem solvers.” Or, so the illusion goes. That belief ranks high on my all-time list of the beliefs that most limit a sales person's performance. This one is especially insidious because it is so commonly held, without reservation, by such a large percentage of sales managers and sales people. And it sounds so reasonable.

Coffee Is For Closers: 12 tips to get that coffee

It was National Coffee Day on September 29. But we all know, coffee is for closers. Like any sport, there are rules to selling, especially when it comes to closing the sale. So you can become a master closer and earn that coffee, here is a dozen of my best rules for closing the deal.

Leaders’ Guide To Sales Force Restructuring: Items required for an effective and seamless transition

There are several best practices to preparing for a sales force restructuring. Before announcing any restructuring initiatives it is important to make sure you have dotted all your “i’s” and crossed all your “t’s”. The following list covers many of the big picture items that are required for an effective and seamless transition to occur. Checklist Prior to Announcing any Changes

Loyal Customers Give Second Chances: How loyal are yours?

I arrived to check in at one of my favorite New York City hotels, only to be disappointed that the hotel was under extensive renovation. Instead of walking into a beautiful lobby, a sanctuary from the hustle and bustle on the street, I experienced unfinished construction and the smell of sawdust and paint. Their cool and trendy bar that was usually packed with “beautiful people,” was temporarily cut down to about a quarter of its size with very few customers.

Your Sales Team Needs More Practice: It takes a lot of practice to deliver right results

I am often asked by small- and medium-sized business owners and managers in larger companies what steps they can take to help their sales people perform more effectively. The answer rests with them. But when told what needs to be done, many fail to step up, primarily because it requires a greater effort than they are willing to make.

Think Promotional Writing Isn't Part of Your Job?: Think again!

Have you ever read one of those really, really long sales pages online — the ones where you have to scroll and scroll and scroll down to get to the price — and wondered whether they really work?
The short answer is that, yes, they do work. In fact, there's quite a bit of science behind why they work.
The writing in those sales pages, and in so much of the other copy you read online, is direct response copywriting; that is, promotional writing designed to inspire people to take action (nothing to do with copyrighting creative materials). It's sales copy.

Miscommunication: The reasons, the cure, the prevention

Spoken language is a mutable translation system - a best attempt to impart thoughts, feelings, and world view between dialogue partners for the purpose of shared understanding, intimacy, and maintaining relationships. Senders (unconsciously) choose their words as representative of what they wish to share. Most of the time their communication partners understand them. But sometimes Receivers don’t hear a Sender’s message accurately even when they define the words identically causing them to misunderstand or bias what’s been shared, with a potential for a miscommunication. What’s going on?