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Articles from Sam Manfer | Selfgrowth.com
- ***Hiring Super Sales People And Sales Managers - by Submitted on Jul 09, 2008 from Sam ManferHiring successful sales people and sales managers requires a scientific process, not a resume and interview ritual. You’ve probably been fooled many times from a great impression at the interview, and then the person didn’t cut it. S/he either quit, got fired or worse yet, s/he is still with ...
Views: 2382 - C-Level Selling – 2 Steps to Own Existing Accounts and Steal Competitors’ - by Submitted on Feb 17, 2016 from Sam ManferYour buyers from the top C-level echelon to lowly subordinates will stick buy you if you continue to meet their needs. Likewise, they will switch to competitors if you don’t. This means, if you want your competitors’ accounts, get to the c-level leaders and show them you can satisfy their needs ...
Views: 2366 - C-Suite Selling Is Where You Will Win the Sale and Cross Sales - by Submitted on May 18, 2015 from Sam ManferThe reason for C-Suite selling is to attain the final yes on a contract or sale. Additionally, C-Suite selling is the most effective way to generated excitement to start a project or sale. So what excites C-Suite executives to buy and/or initiate projects? It’s the expectation to eliminate ...
Views: 2361 - ***Selling At The C-Level - The 5 Elements: Part IV- Credibility - by Submitted on Aug 22, 2008 from Sam ManferEveryone knows that “Those with the In, Win”. Sales people want to be connected at the top, but usually struggle. Sales managers to presidents wish their sales people could get connected and were schmoozing with the top executives. So this five part series is intended to help you easily and ...
Views: 2356 - ***C-Level Relationship Selling – 3 Steps to Handle the “Too Busy” Selling Objection - by Submitted on Jan 04, 2011 from Sam ManferHow many times have you heard the executive who’ll make the final decision is too busy to meet with you? C-Levels and top executives have so many things to do. Well, something is wrong here because at some time the C-Level will have to take the time to learn before s/he makes the final ...
Views: 2330(3 votes) - ***Choosing the Right RFP’s and Avoiding the Wrong RFP’s - by Submitted on Mar 23, 2009 from Sam ManferIn this article we will focus on selecting the types of clients and the types of projects where you have the best chances of winning. Keep in mind all RFP’s, clients and projects are not good for you. Knowing what RFP’s you can win before you bid is critical to your success ratio. Keep in ...
Views: 2314 - ***Networking Magic for C-Level Relationship Selling - by Submitted on Sep 07, 2010 from Sam ManferNetworking produces leads, contacts, and C-Level relationships better than anything. So use your resources. You know people that know people who can get you to where you want to be. However you have to stop and think about this for a minute because you’re not used to using these contacts. ...
Views: 2296(3 votes) - ***C- Level Selling -- Subtleties Make Big Differences in C-Level Selling - by Submitted on Oct 14, 2009 from Sam ManferOver the course of a year I talk with thousands of complaining sales people. Some complain about getting to the right people. Others complain about making pitches that stick; others about competition; some about the support they get from their company, etc. etc. When I suggest what they ...
Views: 2294(1 vote) - ***Your Next Sale Is the Game of Your Life - by Submitted on Jan 08, 2010 from Sam ManferToday's sale, this month's target, your yearly quota -- this is the game of your life. Why, because you're only as good as your last accomplishment. If you win, you're praised and rewarded. If you lose, you pay a toll no matter how bulletproof the excuse. More importantly, it carries you ...
Views: 2291(37 votes) - ***C-Level Sales Management - Who’s Ready for More Sales? - by Submitted on Aug 18, 2009 from Sam Manfer“When the student is ready the teacher will appear.” The other day, a board member was lamenting on the poor performance of his company. So I said, "You should hire me to help your company get more sales." To which he replied, "Not right now, Sam. The timing's not right." So I said, "Timing?? ...
Views: 2268(2 votes) - ***7 Sales Management Training Drill for Handling “I’m Interested, but I’ll get back to you.” - by Submitted on Jun 24, 2010 from Sam ManferProspects lose interest in your pitch for many reasons. So before they do, use it to meet more and higher level people to generate shared interest. Prepare Yourself 1. Your attitude has to always be, “Get to the leaders.” A prospect’s interest doesn’t mean much if you haven’t talked to ...
Views: 2261(4 votes) - ***4 Quick Tips For Cross-Selling - by Submitted on Jan 30, 2008 from Sam ManferIs cross-selling in your 2008 future? If not it should be. It is the easiest way to make more sales. That’s because you have relationships and if you know how to use them, it translates to easy sales, better pricing, elimination of any budget issues, and no competitive involvement. Now for ...
Views: 2258 - C-Level Selling: Sales Questions That Engage Prospects - by Submitted on Mar 24, 2014 from Sam ManferLet’s say you’re a C-Level executive or a staff manager doing your job and someone comes into your office. Who would you rather sit opposite: (1) a detective trying to interrogate you about what you’re doing, or how you’re doing your business or (2) an interested person (maybe a friend) asking ...
Views: 2230 - ***C- Level Selling: Increasing Your Chances of Winning Competitive Bids - by Submitted on Mar 17, 2009 from Sam ManferThe key to any good proposal or presentation is the pre-work. Any company can close 33% of what’s in their pipeline. Better companies closing ratios are greater than 60%. That’s 60% of what they forecast or what’s in their pipeline. If you’re not winning at this ratio, then either you are ...
Views: 2220(1 vote) - ***Increase Retail Sales By Being Attentive - by Submitted on Sep 29, 2008 from Sam ManferI was on a mission to do a few things at the Mall the other day. I was what’s called a motivated buyer. I dashed into one of the optical chain stores, and there at the reception counter was a middle-aged woman talking on the phone to a friend about being reprimanded or something. After seeing ...
Views: 2211 - ***Sales Management Training - Managing Lead Generation / Sales Prospecting - by Submitted on Jul 07, 2009 from Sam ManferPart I, Active Networking For salespeople to be effective lead generators, they must have both active and passive marketing programs. Now (1) their marketing program must be their own -- not the company’s (although the two can be in sync with each other), and (2) they will do both, ...
Views: 2194 - ***Sales Training: 8 Steps To Close Sales Quickly - by Submitted on Sep 11, 2008 from Sam Manfer"Start with the end in mind," as Steven Covey of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People says. So let's start with booking the order and work towards where the selling process starts. 1. How Do You Get the Order? Get all the powerful people - especially the most powerful person - to commit to ...
Views: 2188(1 vote) - 3 Steps to Quickly Build Credibility When Selling To C-Level Executives - by Submitted on Nov 30, 2016 from Sam ManferCredibility is the key to success with the C-Suite executives and other high powered influencers. The problem is how to do this quickly so they don’t tire of you or refuse to meet. Respect, trust and presumption of results are the 3 steps to credibility Keeping it all about the C-Level ...
Views: 2134 - ***Sales Management -- Selling and Business Development in the 21st Century - by Submitted on Aug 04, 2008 from Sam ManferThe marketing components that used to generate leads -- product, performance, promotion and price -- are no longer effective. The tools for selling -- lots of sales calls, lunches, golf and give-always -- are expensive and inefficient. In the 21st century, selling and business development ...
Views: 2132(1 vote) - C-Level Sales Training - Cross Selling - The Fastest and Easiest Sales - by Submitted on Nov 21, 2013 from Sam ManferCross selling is the fastest and easiest way to generate more revenues and at higher profits. Cross sales are also the easiest sales. They have a 3 times higher closing ratio than selling any of your products to a new customer. So do you have a cross selling process operating in your ...
Views: 2132 - Focus on the C-Levels Executives in the C-Suite, Not Just the Subordinates - by Submitted on Jan 05, 2015 from Sam Manfer“A sale begins anywhere you get your foot in the door. A sale ends in the C-suite.” Never doubt that C-level executives are involved in the initiation and approval of a sale. But you must interview the C-level executives first to learn what's important to them before presenting. Then show ...
Views: 2130 - ***C-Level Selling: How TCreate And Manage Large Accounts - by Submitted on Sep 25, 2008 from Sam ManferLarge Account Management requires knowledge of where the account is going with respect to it's customers, competitors, industry and the economy. This knowledge is housed in the heads of the profit-center leader and his or her staff. So anyone that wants to manage a large account has to get to ...
Views: 2120 - ***Selling Doctors - Fear of the Doctor Is a Sales Person's Biggest Challenge - by Submitted on Aug 11, 2009 from Sam ManferFears, excuses, uneasiness, rationalizations, intimidations all stem from negative projection. The doctor is too busy. The doctor doesn’t see salespeople. The doctor doesn’t care who they have selected. These, plus a whole range of other statements about this doctor, are excuses - ...
Views: 2113(1 vote) - ***C-Level Selling Tips – Keep Competition Out of Your Key Accounts - by Submitted on Mar 02, 2012 from Sam ManferCompetitors are constantly approaching your top customers and their C-level executive staffs with offers of better, easier, and cheaper. If you’re nothing special to the high ranking staff you’re vulnerable to replacement. If any of the staff had missed expectations, you’ll be talked about ...
Views: 2103(1 vote) - ***C-Level Selling: Executive Relationships - The Primer - by Submitted on Sep 03, 2008 from Sam ManferFor people new to C-Level Selling getting to executives, knowing who the right executives are is a problem. This is followed by getting to the executives and then developing professional relationships with them. The right executives are the profit-center leader and his or her staff. These ...
Views: 2085 - ***C-Level Relationship Selling Requires Differentiating Your Company to Your Customers’ C-Level Managers - by Submitted on May 16, 2008 from Sam ManferCustomers choose vendors based on the perception that something important is better from one company than another. “Better” simply boils down to three (3) factors – more benefits, less risks, and/or least effort. Many believe selection is based on price. I say not really. A “better” deal ...
Views: 2065 - ***C-Level Selling Tip 3: Sales Rejection, What You Didn’t Learn in College - by Submitted on Aug 31, 2009 from Sam ManferMost training for salespeople comes from corporate marketing which sends the message that your mission is to tell prospects about us, convince people to buy, and discuss why you are superior to competition. This is marketing – trying to generate interest. Once the prospect says, “Tell me ...
Views: 2057(2 votes) - ***C-Level Selling - Large Account Plans Require Both Parties’ Participation - by Submitted on Mar 15, 2012 from Sam ManferMost sales people make two key mistakes when building a large account plans or as I like to call them relationship plans. First they build the plan by themselves or with the help of their teammates instead of with the inputs from the C-levels and influential people of the large account. ...
Views: 2053(1 vote) - ***C-Level Selling: Are You a Tiger, a Phil or Struggle to Make the Cut - by Submitted on Sep 29, 2009 from Sam ManferI can't help but compare Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson to selling. Tiger Woods came in second place at the Tour Championship, yet walked away with $10 million as the FedEx Cup champion and $800,000 for his second-place finish. Phil Mickelson walked away with $3 million for the FedEx Cup and ...
Views: 2043(3 votes) - C-Level Selling for Closing Sales and Passing Legislation - by Submitted on May 13, 2013 from Sam ManferPresident Obama could learn from a C-Level selling expert. He’s having issues persuading senators and congress people to support gun control, immigration reform, budgets, debt ceilings and more. These are powerful people, just like the ones sales people encounter or try to encounter in their ...
Views: 2026 - ***8 Ways to Get C-Levels and Gov’t Exec’s to Start Spending in this Depression - by Submitted on Mar 10, 2009 from Sam ManferRight now corporate and government officials are keeping spending and capital investments to minimum. Even if government projects are funded and have nothing to do with budgets, they are still being put on hold. Why, because it’s not right to spend now. It looks badly and ultimately the fear ...
Views: 2019 - ***C-Level Sales Training Tip 2 – The Prospect Seemed Interested, But the Sales Cycle Stalled - by Submitted on Aug 25, 2009 from Sam ManferSales have a beginning and an end, and you can adjust how much time is spent in between by making the right moves. Sales begin wherever you can get in, but always end with the power executives saying yes or no. What happens in between is a lot of due diligence work with subordinates and ...
Views: 2018(1 vote) - C-Level Selling - 6 Steps to Get Your Higher Price - by Submitted on Apr 17, 2017 from Sam Manfer1. Sell in the C-Suite Don’t bypass the subordinates, but don’t get stuck there either. C-levels are looking for value, not price. Subordinates are looking for whatever they think their boss, the C-level, General Manager, Profit Center leader wants. Only the C-level boss knows what s/he ...
Views: 2016 - ***C-Level Relationship Selling Eliminates The Need for Low Price Bidding – A Case Study - by Submitted on Jun 19, 2008 from Sam ManferHere is a true story to go along with Wednesday’s Blog on Eliminating Low Price Bidding. Recently a semi conductor client of mine wanted to move one customer’s (A) production from one facility to another in order to make room for another customer’s (B) production. It was a special fab with ...
Views: 1996(1 vote) - C-Level Selling Tip 6: Networking, Use Your Resources - by Submitted on Oct 01, 2009 from Sam ManferIf you want to get to people, no matter who they are, network to them. You know people. You also know people who know people who can get you through many doors. These are your resources. However, you have to stop and think, and search your mind to realize who and how many people you really ...
Views: 1991(2 votes) - ***C-Level Selling During This Recession - The Low Price Issue - by Submitted on Dec 04, 2008 from Sam ManferI was at an association meeting the other night doing some networking. As I talked with people, it was amazing how inefficient people are in their selling and business development. So I have five stories, each with a lesson that could help you develop business better. . As I introduced ...
Views: 1965 - The Process of Networking to C-Levels and C-Suite Executives - by Submitted on Jan 28, 2015 from Sam ManferMost salespeople have never received a proper education in selling and therefore do not have processes and strategies to use when trying to access and develop relationships with C-Levels and C-Suite executives. In actuality, most learn by trial and error, and errors cause rejections and ...
Views: 1962 - C-Suite Selling: Identifying the Ultimate Decision-Maker - by Submitted on May 25, 2017 from Sam ManferSometime it’s tough to know who actually makes the final decision. Well, the person responsible for profit and loss (P/L leader) is the ultimate decision-maker for anything of consequence in his or her domain. This person can be a CEO or a General Manager or a Plant Manager, or a Product-line ...
Views: 1958 - ***C-Level Relationship Selling – How to Differentiate When Selling - by Submitted on Dec 15, 2011 from Sam ManferIt’s easy to differentiate if you use numbers names and details because all of yours differ from all of your competitors’. In the greater scheme of things, your products or services are similar to competitors’. But, in the finite scheme of things every competitor is different – different ...
Views: 1944(1 vote) - ***Turn Prospecting Rejection into Future Sales Opportunities - by Submitted on Jan 27, 2009 from Sam ManferProspecting rejection hurts. Some targets are gentler with their rejection than others, but the message is the same – “NO”. Once rejected, you'll be annoying if you keep pushing which could burn a future opportunity. Oh, there are those that attest to their tenacity in ...
Views: 1936(1 vote) - ***Turn Prospecting Rejection into Future Sales Opportunities - by Submitted on Jan 27, 2009 from Sam ManferProspecting rejection hurts. Some targets are gentler with their rejection than others, but the message is the same – “NO”. Once rejected, you'll be annoying if you keep pushing which could burn a future opportunity. Oh, there are those that attest to their tenacity in ...
Views: 1936(1 vote) - Creating a Targeted Prospecting Strategy - by Submitted on Jun 06, 2017 from Sam ManferCreating a targeted prospecting strategy is the biggest prospecting problem facing sales people from the recent 2017 survey by the Richardson Co. The survey was broken into 6 categories; Prospecting, Negotiating, Closing, Buyer’s Decisions, Productivity, and Team Selling and I commend them for ...
Views: 1929 - ***C-Level Relationship Selling – Gaining the Confidence Required for Selling High - by Submitted on Apr 26, 2011 from Sam ManferIt's uncomfortable selling to C-levels and influential leaders. They are hard to get-to and they are intimidating to talk with. They have an air of superiority and power. The only way to handle these C-levels and top executives is with confidence. Confidence is a sales person’s biggest ...
Views: 1927 - 4 Simple Steps for C-level Selling - by Submitted on Mar 14, 2017 from Sam ManferThe main reason companies and sales people lose orders is the sales person delivered the wrong message. It isn’t about price, or competition having something you don’t have. S/He hears his or her vision of what’s needed will be fulfilled by someone other than you. Bottom line and never ...
Views: 1916 - ***Sales Management in This Recession - Improve Your Sales Team’s Performance - by Submitted on Jan 06, 2009 from Sam ManferWe limit ourselves when it comes to selling and business development. Here is another story from my networking association meeting the other night. This article can help you or your people overcome self limiting sales beliefs and develop more business faster. Back to the two ladies I ...
Views: 1909 - ***Sales Peoples' Biggest Weakness – C-Level Selling - by Submitted on Sep 08, 2009 from Sam ManferSalespeople know how to prospect -- although they hate to. Salespeople can certainly present -- and they love to. They know they should ask questions -- although most don't and the ones that do ask self-serving ones. Salespeople can close -- even though they usually let the customers do it for ...
Views: 1906(1 vote) - Sales Management III - What Works - by Submitted on Oct 28, 2014 from Sam Manfer“A Sales manager’s job is to move sales people to do what works.” This is Part III of the key elements – “Move” (I), “Do” (II), and “What Works” (III) A very wise sales guru once told me, “If a sales person is unruly, not conforming to policy, etc., but really selling well, keep him (or her) ...
Views: 1876 - Sales Management II – What Managers Should Do for Off the Charts Selling - by Submitted on Jul 08, 2014 from Sam ManferSales Management II – What Managers Should Do for Off the Charts Selling “A Sales manager’s job is to move sales people to do what works.” This is Part II of III - The “Do” of the key elements – “Move”, “Do”, and “What Works The “Do” “Do” means implementing the skills, techniques, ...
Views: 1871 - ***C-Level Relationship Selling: Selling at the Executive Level -The 5 Elements - Part II - Focus - by Submitted on Aug 18, 2008 from Sam ManferEveryone knows that “Those with the In, Win”. Sales people want to be connected at the top, but usually struggle. Sales managers to presidents hope their sales people are connected and schmoozing with their customers’ top executives. So this five part series is intended to ...
Views: 1870 - ***Good Work Won’t Win the Next Sale - by Submitted on Jan 05, 2012 from Sam ManferWhen people buy from you they expect good results. So when they get what they paid for, it’s really nothing special. Therefore, when it’s time to buy again, those same people will consider you because you delivered. But they won’t necessarily buy from you, because again, it wasn’t anything ...
Views: 1863 - ***Be Distinct Or Be Extinct - by Submitted on Oct 06, 2008 from Sam ManferCustomers select one company from the others based on getting something that’s important “better” from the one. “Better” simply boils down to three (3) factors – more benefits, less risks, and least effort. Many believe selection is based on price. I say not true. A “better” deal – yes. ...
Views: 1847(1 vote)