Prospects are smarter, well armed with information and detect sales techniques quickly. They dont enjoy sales meetings that seem like a role play. Prospects want salespeople that are the real deal and real smart.

Here are three beliefs to check and change if youd like to enjoy better results from sales in 2012.

#1: You can only expect people to stay with your company for a short amount of time. Business owners and sales managers are told by the experts that the alphabet generation, X, Y, and M (millennials), are different than the boomers. They are motivated to stay in a position for only two years. Then they will move onto the next opportunity and throughout their career enjoy approximately 14 different jobs.

Heres a tip that will make you money immediately. Let your competitor hire this traveling group of salespeople. The numbers show that a short tenure by a salesperson is not a profitable business model.

Lets walk through the numbers. You hire a new salesperson and even with the best on-boarding and training process, it takes about six months to get her up to speed. She must learn the business, fill the sales pipeline and close business. According to the job hopping experts, you now only have one and half years for that salesperson to produce revenue for your company before moving on. The formula doesnt make sense. Most top sales producers hit their stride after two years. By then, theyve built relationships, referrals are coming in and repeat business is in place.

Look around at the most successful people you know. Are they job hoppers or job committers?

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This tradition has been going on for years and most of the time it is just rhetoric and hope which eventually leads back to old comfortable behaviors and attitudes. Heres three things to consider choosing if you are serious about making 2012 your best year in sales.

#1: Choose your "why." Many people get caught up in setting goals that are based on other peoples expectations, not their own. The conversation around the new goal is one of excitement and motivation, however, often lacks the real reason for changing or improving. Business owners say they want to grow their businesses. Why? Salespeople claim they want to make more money. Why?

Heres a quick reality check. If your why isnt big enough, you will not do the work necessary to change and improve. You will talk a good game and talk will be the only concrete action taken. Take some time to reflect and figure out your why. Once you figure out your why, ask the second most important question: What are you willing to do to achieve it?

The most successful people in the world arent the smartest or most talented. They are people who are clear on their why and willing to do the work necessary to achieve their goals. "I want to grow my business" sounds like the right battle cry for a business owner. Are you willing to take the risk, put in the hours, hire the team, grow the team and invest in new resources? Making more money is the politically correct answer for any salesperson. Are you willing do the work, invest in yourself to get smarter and experience the discomfort that happens anytime you change in order to take your skills to a new level? (Or would you rather watch another episode of reality TV.) Get clear on your why. I

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* Content - The World Wide Web is teeming with fresh, informative and relevant sales content (i.e., articles, stories and illustrations) covering selling, prospecting, and every other subject or area of interest to sales practitioners. No longer is the printed sales magazine the go-to source for sales and related content.

* Sources - The large pool of unique sales content available on the World Wide Web comes from a variety of sources from around the world and is not limited to the same small group of sales experts routinely published in a sales magazine.

* Availability - Unlike content printed in a sales magazine (periodic publication) sales content published on the World Wide Web is made available to readers instantly without the traditional delays associated with print media (e.g., printing, distribution).

* Pricing - In some cases, if not most cases, the same sales content found in a printed sales magazine can be found on the World Wide Web at little to no cost. It has been suggested that trends show consumers are moving away from traditional subscription services (fee-based) to free information sources.

For many these new realities serve as trigger events leading to change. Trends in traditional print media advertising suggest that savvy advertisers have seen the writing on the wall for some time now and are currently in the process or have already moved their advertising dollars elsewhere accordingly.

What does this mean for the future of the printed sales magazine? It means publishers had better come up with something of value in their print publications other than the same sales content (e.g., articles, stories, illustrations) that can be found faster and cheaper elsewhere if they want to maintain

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People are in "holiday mode" and many businesses are in a holding pattern, waiting for budgets to be released in the New Year.

Ill admit, it can be challenging to engage new prospects under these circumstances, but that doesnt mean you have to write-off two months of the year. On the contrary, we believe this is the perfect time to lay the groundwork for a fast start in 2012. Heres how... Focus on your customers!

Yes, you read that right. After all the writing I do about prospecting; now Im telling you to focus on your customers.

This will accomplish two things for you. First, it will create goodwill, which leads to referrals and repeat business. In the holiday spirit, you can send cards, emails, or pick up the phone to express your appreciation and wish your clients happy holidays. Youll generally find them light-hearted and eager to chat. Its a great way to show some "love" and solidify your relationship.

Secondly, you may unearth some surprising revenue sources.

How? Here are a few ideas...

1. Do a year-end review and offer to help with next years planning.
   Send your customers an email highlighting what youve worked on over the past year. Thank them for the business and point out that you havent discussed next year yet. Suggest a meeting to plan for their upcoming initiatives.
   
   During your meeting, be sure to mention all your products and services. I wish I had a dollar for every time Ive heard, "Gee, I didnt know you did that."
2. Schedule executive level meetings with your top 10 accounts.
   Similar to #1, but at a higher level, you can get the ball rolling by pointing out some of the ways youve helped the clients company over the past year. Ask if you can meet with him or her to discuss how you might help meet their initiat

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   ]]> http://www.salesresources.com/articles/article.cfm?ID=1818 Thu, 08 Dec 2011 12:00:00 CST http://www.salesresources.com/articles/article.cfm?ID=1816
   There is a common mistake sales people make when using LinkedIn for business development. In this episode of the Sales Management Minute, learn how to avoid this pitfall.

   
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   ]]> http://www.salesresources.com/articles/article.cfm?ID=1816 Mon, 05 Dec 2011 12:00:00 CST http://www.salesresources.com/articles/article.cfm?ID=1815
   

   I just had a conversation with one of our clients who is successfully scheduling appointments based on a lead generation email campaign he created after attending one of our virtual training programs.? Sounds great, doesnt it?? But theres a catch.? The appointments arent producing much in terms of sales.?

   You might think the problem is that the email campaign is attracting the wrong kind of prospects, but thats not the case.?

   I believe the problem is that the clients sales cycle is too short.?

   Its an issue we see with many of our clients.? In their haste to close a sale, they try to gather all the information needed to write a proposal in just one meeting.? Then they send the proposal and try to close ...without much success, I might add.?

   This "one-and-done" approach is ineffective for a variety of reasons, particularly in high-stakes sales, as is the case with this client who sells IT services.?

   Think about it.? Would you allow a company access to your computer systems after just one conversation?? Unlikely!? And the same holds true for selling many other solutions.?

   You need to take time to build rapport with your prospects, to earn their trust.? That just doesnt happen in one conversation.?

   What typically happens, instead, is this.? You...

   • Overwhelm the prospect with too much information.
   • Take more of his or her time than planned.
   • End the meeting with little rapport, or worse, an irritated prospect.

   Whats more, when you try to close too quickly, before earning the prospects trust, it generally becomes a price game - and thats a hard one to win consistently.? On the flip side, if a prospect trusts you to solve his or her problem, price is often a no

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   ]]> http://www.salesresources.com/articles/article.cfm?ID=1815 Sun, 04 Dec 2011 12:00:00 CST http://www.salesresources.com/articles/article.cfm?ID=1814
   

   

   Youve taken the time to develop a great email prospecting list, crafted a brief, interesting note to send off to potential clients, and then excitedly hit "send."

   Hours later, somewhere across town, your prospect opens the message and is so impressed by what you sent that she decides to save the email and follow up with you shortly.

   Congratulations! Youve got a new lead... right?

   Unfortunately, no.

   Even with their best intentions, the chances that a prospect will actually respond to your email, if they werent compelled to do it right away, are slim.

   Why? Because in as little as a day or two, your message will have dropped down several screens in their in-box.

   Your prospecting email is no longer exciting or urgent. Other priorities take precedent. When your prospect eventually comes upon it again, he might have forgotten why he kept it, realize that what you offered is no longer relevant, or just ignore it simply because he doesnt have time to deal with it. Either way, youve hit the delete barrier and the opportunity is gone.

   Since thats not very helpful to you, or your prospect, its critical that you send prospecting and lead-generation emails that compel them to take action right away. There are four rules to make that happen:

   1. Your prospecting email needs to look "easy." It should be a quick read - no more than 175 words, or three short paragraphs. If it looks like something your prospect doesnt have time to deal with right now, he wont.
   2. Your email ne

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      ]]> http://www.salesresources.com/articles/article.cfm?ID=1814 Sun, 04 Dec 2011 12:00:00 CST