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Whether your numbers weren't what you wanted them to be in 2012 or set a new standard, it's time to sit down and get busy planning to make 2013 your [...]

IT'S NO STRETCH TO SAY THAT SALES CHANGED MORE IN THE LAST 25 YEARS THAN IN THE 100 BEFORE THAT. THE SALESPERSON NO LONGER COMES BEARING THE LATEST NEWS FROM [...]

Succeeding in sales depends on many factors, some of them beyond your control. But what you can control is you. Jill Konrath, Blair Singer and Don Hutson offer these pointers [...]

Anyone who has committed to a diet or weight-loss plan--and stuck with it for a solid four or five months--is surely familiar with the plateau phenomenon. At first, you're making [...]

This study examines the state of academic research in selling and sales management (S&SM) from the years 2003-7, ten years after the data collected by Moncrief, Marshall, and Watkins (2000). Sales articles are reviewed that appeared in 19 marketing journals and evidence is provided on the state of the S&SM discipline by comparing the number of authors, authorships, and publications versus a comparable five-year period a decade ago. Of interest are the universities that produce and employ faculty in S&SM and to identify those schools and geographic regions that are publishing the majority of articles. Publication distribution trends across journals are also examined. A dramatic increase in non- U.S. authors and authorships is noted versus the prior study. Overall, the findings indicate that, perhaps contrary to some popular misconceptions, the state of S&SM research is healthy, vibrant, and evolving. DOI 10.2753/PSS0885-3134300305

LONG-TERM BUSINESS partnerships are created by delivering on your promises with successful execution of a customer's project, both during implementation and through ongoing support. When working with a new prospect [...]

Can your bank answer the following questions with precision? * What next year's retail sales will be? * Whether it's on target to meet this year's sales quotas? * What [...]

Most business owners have a dream client in mind. And in many cases, the hero of that dream is a blue-chip, deep-pocketed, major corporation. As it happens, executives at big [...]

Firms regard technology as a strategic tool to enhance sales effectiveness, improve customer service, and reduce costs. Within the context of sales technology, the focus of the paper is on the effect of technology mediation in consumer selling environments. Extant research has typically been at a micro-level and concentrated in two distinct areas: (1) salesperson adoption of sales technology and its effect on salespeople's performance and (2) consumer adoption of technology and the use of technology in decision making. The paper examines the simultaneous effect of technology-mediated selling on both salespeople and consumers, at both micro- and macro-levels. DOI 10.2753/PSS0885-3134300203

Owning and running a business is a task. But accurate sales forecasts can make the job a heck of a lot easier. Particularly, they can help with four crucial business [...]

Five years ago, Brenda Dietrich started to investigate how IBM's 40,000 salespeople could learn to rely a little more on math than on their gut instincts. In particular, Dietrich, who [...]

How salesperson can achieve genuine differentiation based on something the customer values and is hard for competition to replicate is discussed. Salespeople can identify opportunities to expand the offering by looking at the customer perspective. The four steps which are typical of the customer's experience with product or solution are also presented.

A wise man once explained 'we never learn anything with our mouth open. We can only learn by reading, by listening, by observing and by doing.' If you are like [...]

Do your customers call you with leads? Have they already convinced their friends to buy the products before you even make the first sales call? For the quality salesperson who [...]

Right now there are potential customers for your business trying to decide whether or not to choose you. Unfortunately, most of them can't see much difference between you and your [...]

Selling today is filled with contradictions. E-mail enhances our connectivity, but the number of e-mail messages is often so overwhelming, they go unanswered. Voice mail brings us together, but voice […]

Is a downturn in the economy forcing your industry to drop its prices or offer special promotions in order to acquire new customers? What happens when the market you are […]

Positive customer relationships are the basis of much distributor business, right? Positive business relationships ensure us an audience with the customer, make every step of the selling process go easier, […]

When Marketing Manager Reed Kaufmann's company added an exciting new promotional apparel line he saw a big opportunity to grow his sales. What he didn't count on, however, was the […]

Recent studies indicate people want quality customer service. They also want to pay less for the services and products they receive. Business establishments in an attempt to meet the financial […]

Whether you are conducting a one-on-one interview, motivating your sales team or delivering a keynote address, your success as a leader is defined by your ability to persuade with clarity […]

When it comes to a company's marketing program, few executives know what to expect. "How can we evaluate our marketing program? How will our investment translate into increased sales?" Although […]

The Acme Widget Company needed to increase revenue and profits, so they undertook an initiative to attract new customers. They launched a new advertising campaign and offered special deals to […]

As sales people, we love to complain about the competition. Unfortunately, complaining doesn't do us any good. A better approach is to create a system to learn about the competition. […]

Scandal. Fraud. Spin. Corporate greed is far from dead in this country, but it certainly has lost its luster. No longer are lies and misrepresentations deemed acceptable means to luxurious […]

Do you sometimes "give up" on hot prospects too soon? Do you sometimes leave sales on the table that should be rightfully yours? If so, you're not alone. One survey […]

It's a common mindset. The field sales person wants every communication with the customer to go through him/her. In other words, instead of calling customer service with a problem, the […]

It's Tuesday and I'm meeting with an executive for a large equipment organization. It's an interesting conversation, as it's indicated the sales force is very busy with customers wanting equipment, […]

The most successful companies place great value on developing lifetime relationships with their customers. In today's competitive marketplace, they are aware that their customers are aggressively prospected and their loyalty […]

Every year companies look for ways to increase sales. This year is no different, only with today's economy, the answers seem to be harder to find. One sure way to […]

Knowing where you stand in the selling process is the key to achieving or exceeding your sales goals and is therefore the key to successful selling. Knowing where you stand […]

The truth is clear: the majority of salespeople don't take follow up seriously. After talking with a prospect they leave one follow up voicemail or send one e-mail, and that's […]

To be truly effective questions need detailed qualifiers and quantifiers so they produce the right outcome. Often a small, overlooked detail can change dramatically the entire tenor of a question […]

Abstract Purpose--Characterized by declining goodwill and exemplified sharp drop in gross premium, the Nigerian insurance industry, in recent times, has experienced turbulent economic challenges that necessitated re-engineering of its core [...]

Advertising must be sales effective in the short term first to achieve long-term effectiveness. The half-life of advertising was also observed to be three to four weeks. Best practices in advertising are discussed further.

No one knows stress better than a salesperson who is trying to close deals during a global financial collapse. How is the retrenching affecting your resources to deliver? Is the […]