7 Hot Topics for Today’s Business and Sales Motivational Speakers

March 27, 2019

Business speakers, corporate keynote speakers, and sales motivational speakers can captivate and entertain crowds, and they also provide valuable data salespeople can use to increase their business and work more effectively. The speaking industry has grown dramatically thanks to YouTube and social media, which can turn a TED Talk into a viral sensation overnight. This means you have many choices when hiring a speaker and the subject matter addressed. ... read more

8 Warning Signs When Hiring Sales People

March 20, 2019

Hiring sales talent is one of the more stressful aspects of a sales manager’s or executive’s jobs. In the past they’ve had to rely on far too many opinions, gut instincts, or whether they simply liked how a candidate looks and speaks rather than objective, scientific data such as a sales hiring assessment.... read more

4 Advanced B2B Sales Training Topics Every Company Needs Right Now

March 12, 2019

Do your sales training seminars cover what salespeople really need in today’s selling environment? While tips on appearance, prospecting, building rapport, delivering presentations and the like are useful, modern selling requires an upgrade in training. There are a few additions to advanced sales training that could produce better salespeople if implemented. In this post I will focus on four important ones: emotional intelligence, video selling, gender/diversity training, and intensity.... read more

TREND WATCH: Want to become a Sales Hacker for your business? Incorporate video sales calls

March 6, 2019

Video chat technology is ubiquitous. Just look at how easy it is to jump on FaceTime, Skype, Facebook and Instagram video chats with friends and family. However, B2B sales professionals and buyers have not fully embraced it despite the technology being quite mature and available at a low cost or free. Signs point to increasing adoption, and every sales hacker needs to take note of this trend. ... read more

3 Advanced Power Negotiating Tactics for Salespeople

February 25, 2019

The ability to negotiate is critical for all B2B salespeople. This goes beyond handling objections. When a buyer begins negotiating with you, they are demonstrating they truly want your product or service. They are not objecting to your offering, they simply want to see if they can obtain more favorable terms. If you don’t understand the difference, you can confuse things and blow the deal.... read more

Key Ingredients For Successful Sales & Marketing

February 11, 2019

For the majority of B2B companies, a formulated sales and marketing process is a must. There are simply too many moving parts in each deal to simply “go with the flow” or rely on someone’s instincts. The same applies to government sales, where winning just one contract can keep a firm flush with revenue for years to come. Why not maximize the chances of winning the bid by sticking with a winning formula?... read more

Sales Tips: 4 Tactics for a Better Sales Year in 2019

January 21, 2019

Happy New Year! As we work on our resolutions (as well as work off those extra holiday calories) most of us endeavor to tackle the year with a sense of optimism and new-found motivation. What helps to do that is to be on the cutting edge, and that’s what this post is about!... read more

5 Great Social Media Selling Tools to Add to Your Arsenal in 2019

January 4, 2019

Social media selling refers to receiving business directly from platforms such as Facebook or LinkedIn, as opposed to simply increasing brand awareness or performing customer service. It leverages social networks for more than sharing photos or catching up with old college buddies, and when done correctly, it can be a lucrative source of business.... read more

All Top Sales Training Programs Excel With These Three Ingredients

December 21, 2018

Top sales training programs do more than just present information once and let salespeople loose without further guidance. The majority of your training investment is wasted if you buy a program which does this, as very few people can absorb and apply information the first time they hear it. In fact, most of us forget just about everything we hear if there is no repetition!
In contrast, the top sales training programs consistently include a few important elements to stack the odds that salespeople actually retain and use their training to close deals faster and in volume.... read more

3 Key Things to Avoid Hosting Boring Sales Seminars

December 14, 2018

Have your past sales seminars been snooze-fests? Whether they were small affairs held in company conference rooms or mega-productions complete with stage lights and enormous video screens, perhaps you felt the trainers could have done a better job in holding the audience’s attention. Since this problem occurs with both simple setups and elaborate ones, the secret to engagement must lie elsewhere than the venue or the A/V equipment used.
This is good news for firms that would like to host their own training – you don’t need to spend a fortune on fancy bells and whistles. Instead focus on the following elements to make sales seminars more enjoyable for your trainees.... read more

2019 Sales Training Workshops Best Practices for Your Business

December 10, 2018

You want to close deals faster and increase revenue in 2019, right? Sales training workshops could be the key to achieving that goal. I know you have several options, from employing ASHER or the many others easily found through Google or Bing searches. In this post, I will give you some best practices for selecting a training firm and making the most of your sales training workshops, regardless of the vendor you end up choosing. ... read more

3 Indicators You Need Training on Closing the Sale

December 4, 2018

Everyone wants to close sales faster, especially in B2B sales which tend to take a long time to come to fruition. Navigating the multiple layers of authority required to sign off on purchases can take months, and shaving off even 10 percent of the time involved can make a big difference. Speed equals power!
Deals which take forever drain energy and dampen morale. They are definitely a signal something is wrong. However, closing the sale training can help. Let’s explore this indicator and two others which point to the need for sales training.... read more

Can a Sales Aptitude Test be Faked?

November 30, 2018

A sales aptitude test is the best way to hand-pick applicants who possess natural sales ability from a pool of applicants. Sales aptitude tests are affordable, convenient, and accurate, with results corroborated against actual sales performance through 20 years of research and 300,000 assessments. A large body of real-world experience and testimonials exists, including that of many of our customers who credit the APQ for revolutionizing their sales staffing efforts.... read more

Only the Best Sales Programs Work – Here’s Why

November 26, 2018

You could throw a lot of money away by choosing sales training which isn’t a good match for your business — or isn’t good period. And there is a great reason the best sales programs consistently get a large volume of signups and many of their students go on to stellar careers in sales – and the reason is they DELIVER RESULTS.
The best sales programs have a few characteristics in common which you should expect whenever doing your due diligence on a training firm.
The trainers sell constantly in the real world
There are things which simply cannot be taught in a college classroom or learned from a textbook. Often the hard knocks in life are the best teachers, and this wisdom only comes from rolling up one’s sleeves and getting dirty in the trenches.
This is why the best sales programs are almost never found in universities, and why graduates of these programs don’t leave the classroom and start selling up a storm. Most college professors are not involved in running a business day-to-day, so there is too much unworkable theory. However, when your sales trainers actively sell every day to keep their own firms afloat, they are much more in tune with what works and what doesn’t.... read more

Can You NOT Afford One Day for a Sales Seminar?

November 21, 2018

Sales seminars prove their value time and time again. Every company should put their sales force through a training, at least once per year. One of the biggest excuses for not doing this is not “we don’t have the money,” but rather “we don’t have the time.” If this is the case for you, can you really afford NOT to take one day per year to get your sales team trained?
Here are some symptoms which indicate the need for sales seminars:... read more

Sales Aptitude is So Hard to Assess – How APQ Does It

November 19, 2018

Sports is a multi-billion-dollar industry. While sports superstars get a lot of attention for their individual flair and abilities, teams are predominantly managed to success by statistics rather than personalities. Contributing to this were the results obtained by manager Billy Beane, as famously documented in the hit book and later film, Moneyball. Beane transformed the Oakland A’s into a powerhouse that could stand its own against the likes of the Yankees with a much smaller budget, and he did it by looking at players using different metrics than the traditional ones used by other recruiters.
A similar shift gaining a foothold in sales recruiting. Instead of relying solely on the old methods of selecting “players,” such as the resume and work experience, salary history, personal interviews with tricky questions and similar, a more scientific tool is increasingly used: the sales aptitude assessment. It is only logical — if scientific measurement proves so successful in recruiting sports players, doesn’t it make sense to leverage the same approach in building a winning sales team?
Why the APQ
The best sales aptitude assessment currently available is the APQ, which stands for the Advanced Personality Questionnaire (formerly known as the Craft Personality Questionnaire).
It is an affordable test which takes about 20-30 minutes to take and is available on any internet-connected computer through an ordinary web browser.
The APQ sales aptitude assessment plots the taker’s test scores across several ranges which correlate to low, moderate, and high correlation for success for a given sales role, from outside hunter to inside farmer.
There are nine primary traits which are the most important to determine natural sales aptitude. These are:
1. Intensity/Drive
2. Need for Independence
3. Assertiveness
4. Recognition
5. Need to Analyze
6. Self-Protection
7. Need to serve
8. Trust
9. Optimism... read more

How Sales Keynote Speakers Provide Sales Focus and Motivation Through the Human Touch

November 16, 2018

Can you win at sales by playing it as a pure numbers game, driven by automated processes, rote scripts, and algorithms which calculate potential win rates? Or is it there more to it? I believe that I and all other sales keynote speakers will agree that the human element comes first, and that without addressing the emotions, dreams, and inspirations of both your buyers and your salespeople, all those tools are for naught.
The best sales keynote speakers inject humanity into their presentations to wake up the emotional brain of the audience. This in turn encourages salespeople to develop their own emotional intelligence and better serve their buyers.
Think of how warm Zig Ziglar’s presentations were while still imparting actionable sales wisdom – he is a perfect example of using the human touch to inspire people to change for the better.... read more

Finding a Keynote Speaker Who Gets Both Sales and Marketing

November 13, 2018

Traditionally, sales and marketing departments have distinct structures, leadership, budgets, and goals. This can lead to feuds between the two sectors in many companies. Marketers claiming salespeople waste their hard-earned MQLs by not thoroughly following up, and salespeople retort that the leads being handed to them “stink.”
The above image is representative of a more modern look at sales and marketing: two faces of the same construction, perhaps with slightly different viewpoints and with the same overall goal. And that is to drive revenue, the lifeblood of any business, working together as a cohesive unit.
A sales and marketing keynote speaker who understands this and can speak to both audiences can add a lot of value to today’s sales and marketing teams as the traditional lines of demarcation slowly erode.... read more

ROI for the Top Sales Training Programs

November 7, 2018

The top sales training programs in the world attract the best and brightest in sales who seek to gain the competitive edge needed to make it in today’s marketplace. Many sales professionals pay their own way, but a great deal has their training covered by their employers. This leads to the question many CFO and VPs of Sales ask themselves: “Is the ROI worth it?”
I am going to explain a few reasons why top sales training programs are worth every penny spent on them. Of course, I have a heavy bias, since I sell and conduct sales training, and the reason I do so is that I have a passion for helping people and businesses succeed by studying what makes them tick. It’s just my natural inclination, so I am bound to recommend what I think works to my friends and colleagues. Hence, sales training!
So, here’s why you should get yourself and your people trained without reservation.... read more

Top 3 Results to Expect from Your Sales Keynote Speaker

October 25, 2018

Great sales keynote speakers can deliver more than a few amusing anecdotes and one-liners. They can deliver real business benefits too. The difference between sales keynote speakers and other business or celebrity speakers is that they address the most pressing hurdle most businesses face: overcoming challenges related to revenue growth.... read more

7 Rules for Corporate Sales Training You Should Never Break

October 23, 2018

Corporate sales training is a multi-billion-dollar industry in the United States. Most well-known training firms do a good job and deliver significant value to their customers. However, some miss the mark –usually unintentionally through lack of experience.... read more

5 Ways You are Wasting Your Investment on Sales Training Workshops

October 18, 2018

Sales training workshops are a must for every company. New people need to learn professional selling techniques, and veterans need to brush up on their existing skills and add to them. Every business must budget for this, or risk eventual collapse because the sales function is what literally generates all the activity in a company. Otherwise, all you have is products and ideas, with no money. Bleak.... read more

Get Your Sales Team Fired Up with a Sales Motivational Speaker

October 16, 2018

Sales motivational speakers, such as the late great Zig Ziglar and the very well-respected Brian Tracy, can produce life-changing benefits for those in attendance at one of their talks. From fresh outlooks on the sales profession to tips on how to close deals faster, great sales motivational speakers know what it takes to engage salespeople and motivate them to excel in their jobs.... read more

How Sales Training Seminars Can Be Made Better with Online Refresher Training

October 12, 2018

Sales training seminars are fun, informative affairs for most salespeople. They leave the office for a while, meet sales experts, network with colleagues, and pick up some new skills. The problem with sales training seminars is one of retention: because of the Curve of Forgetting, the average person loses the majority of the information they learn within days, and it becomes even worse as time marches on.... read more

How Sales Consulting Services Can Save Years of Trial and Error

October 9, 2018

Pick up any business trade paper or browse any of the articles on websites such as Forbes, Entrepreneur, Inc., Bloomberg, and dozens of others, and you will no doubt encounter stories about how self-made people endured years of failure and rejection, yet somehow made lots of money. These people were resilient and did not quit despite many wrong turns. How would you like to achieve their sales success without going through all their pain?... read more

Testing for Sales Aptitude is the First Step (In building a great sales team and rapid growth)

October 2, 2018

As sales and marketing professionals, we have come to accept the value of data analytics from lead generation all the way to the final sale and beyond. Data informs our decisions along each step of the funnel and continues throughout the entire lifespan of the customer relationship. This has revolutionized marketing and leveled the playing field to some degree, as we no longer rely so much on some mystical intuition possessed by a select few to generate business, we rely on the facts available.... read more

Keynote Speaker for Company-Wide Emotional Intelligence & Sales Success

Sales could be described as the leveraging of human emotion in order to create desired outcomes. Ideally, these outcomes should be desired by both the buyer and seller to create a win-win. Using this definition, you can see why emotional intelligence for sales success is a topic of concern for all salespeople, managers, and the C-suite.... read more

Why A Sales Speaker Makes Sense

September 4, 2018

Every day, in conferences, seminars, and summits the world over, keynote speakers deliver informative and motivational talks to audiences in every possible industry. Many of these speakers are big names in business, sports, television, or literature. Most are excellent and deserve every penny earned for their speaking engagement. However, sales and marketing speakers might represent a better choice for companies seeking a direct boost in revenue from their event.... read more

Teach Your Sales Team These Two New Marketing Tricks

August 16, 2018

Marketing and sales go hand in hand. The functions of these departments often overlap, and I have worked with some firms where there is no real distinction – the sales department is the marketing department for all intent and purposes.
That being said, marketing speakers are just as valuable for salespeople as they are for dedicated marketing teams, because it gets them to own the beginning of the funnel and be more proactive in sourcing leads.
Here are two great tips to help your salespeople become better marketers in this digital age.... read more