In th

is m

onth

’s is

sue What’s the Reason Beyond BLAME?

Maybe it’s YOU! by Jeffrey Gitomer

6

The Busy Person’s Pages 4

A Conversation with Linda Richardson 8

How to leverage the full potential of yoursales enablement platform! by Tamara Schenk

14Top Sales Article of the Month Announced– Plus the ten nominees for April 16

Top 50 Sales & Marketing Influencers for2012 Announced 10

2 Top Sales Associates Magazine May 2012

It’s time to reflect on Q1 – how was it for you? – And then surge into Q2, with enthusiasm,confidence, and self-belief.

As with all of our Top Sales initiatives, our primary objective with this monthly magazine is toprovide you with fresh pearls of wisdom, inspiration, and the opportunity to expand yourcommercial bandwidth. No- brainer? You bet.

This month we have an absolute feast of resources for you to gorge yourself on:

As an aperitif, we are delighted to offer you exclusive comments and pearls of wisdom fromthe most significant sales blogger and author Geoffrey James, in conversation with LindaRichardson

For starters, we have articles from “The King” Jeffrey Gitomer, Dave Kurlan, Tamara Schenk,and Samara Pope. Then for our main course, we are serving you up the much anticipated“Top 50 Sales & Marketing Influencers for 2012” – carefully selected from an original long-listof one hundred and fifty potential candidates – let’s see if you agree with our choices?

We thought you might like to choose your own pudding, so you can have either “Top SalesArticle of the Month” complete with an accompaniment of ten new nominees for April, oryou can catch up on all of the past month’s highlights over at Top Sales World and Top SalesManagement

Still hungry? Need something extra? Ok, then catch Dan McDade in the spotlight, or allowJonathan Farrington to persuade you to be in London on June 7th.

Salivating? What are you waiting for? Get stuck in!

Welcome

Top Sales Highlightsfrom the Past Four Weeks ... In case you missed them

26TSH

How Important is it for Your Salespeopleto Practice? by Dave Kurlan

18Focus OnDan McDade 20The Sales 2.0 Conference Bandwagon isheading for Londonby Jonathan Farrington

23Using Psychology to increase your Salesby Samara Pope 24

Come and Discover Us �

contents

Editors: Jonathan Farrington & Linda RichardsonJF@jfcorporation.comDesign: Bill Jeckellsbill.jeckells@topgraphicsguy.comPublished by: The JF Corporation Communications House26 York Street London W1U 6PZ

3Top Sales Associates Magazine May 2012

★ Top Sales BlogsHERE ��

★ Latest Top Sales Book HERE ��

★ Top Sales HardtalkInterviewEvery Wednesday.HERE ��

★ Top Sales TipsEvery single day.HERE ��

★ Top 10 Sales ArticlesHERE ��

★ And so much more …. Top Sales World HERE ��

May 2012

I overheard sales dialog on the airplane this morning. “He (the customer) hasnever responded to one of my emails, and never calls me back. The ONLYtime he calls me is when he needs something.” Then back ... Read More�

OurPartners

4 Top Sales Associates Magazine May 2012

The BusyPerson’s PagesThe BusyPerson’s PagesHere is what you will find in this month’s edition.

5Top Sales Associates Magazine May 2012

What’s the Reason Beyond BLAME? Maybe it’s YOU! by Jeffrey Gitomer

Geoffrey James has interviewed me many times over the years and it was mypleasure to turn the tables by interviewing him. Geoffrey is a journalist inlove with the field of sales. From my experience that is rare. Read More�

A Conversation with Geoffrey Jamesby Linda Richardson

A few weeks ago, there was an interesting LinkedIn question regarding salesenablement platforms. It was called “So you’ve got a platform for SalesEnablement! What is the feature that really benefits or ... Read More�

How to leverage the full potential of your salesenablement platform! by Tamara Schenk

Where do the articles come from? Each month we select the very best salesarticles from the major article sites, which have been written by top salesgurus from around the world. We cull through till we find ... Read More�

Top Sales Article of the Month Announced – Plus the ten nominees for April

When I was much younger, I was a pretty good trumpet player, playingprofessionally for nearly 10 years. I took weekly lessons from the age of 9,played in multiple bands and orchestras, and when I ... Read More�

How Important is it for Your Salespeopleto Practice? by Dave Kurlan

Dan McDade founded PointClear in 1997 with the mission to be the first andbest company providing prospect development services to business-to-business companies with complex sales processes. He has ... Read More�

Focus OnDan McDade

It was only a matter of time before the highly successful Sales 2.0Conferences made it across the “Pond” and the organizers have finallyannounced that June 7th is the date, and London is the ... Read More�

The Sales 2.0 Conference Bandwagon is heading for Londonby Jonathan Farrington

There are two ways in which you can use psychology to increase your sales.The first is to gain knowledge of the psychological aspects of sales and buyer/ seller interaction. The second is to leave behind the ... Read More�

Using Psychology to increase your Salesby Samara Pope

Enjoy the latest Top Sales Hardtalk Interviews and recent blogs from TopSales World plus Recent “How To” Guides, Sales Team DevelopmentSessions and Sales Management Issues Interviews ... Read More�

Top Sales Highlightsfrom the Past Four Weeks ... In case you missed them

TSHWho really are the sales and marketing experts, gurus, commentators, authorsand spokespeople that are genuinely influencing the way we think, sell andmarket our companies/ products/solutions in 2012? ... Read More�

Top 50 Sales & Marketing Influencers for 2012Announced

� Why did they not respond to myemail?

� Why did they say, “Notinterested”?

� Why did they say, “We’re happywith our present supplier”?

� Why can’t I set an appointment?� Why can’t I get through to the

decision maker?� Why are they meeting with other

vendors or suppliers?� Why did they take the lowest bid?� Why did they buy from the

competition?� Why did they tell me that my

price is too high?

Why are you blaming others(especially customers) for yourinability to attract, engage, connect,and create value that leads to a sale?

One of the weakest and leastexposed shortcomings ofsalespeople is how they use time. Ifyou’re allocating too much time towatching TV, or other nonsenseactivities, you’re wasting valuablecareer-building opportunities.

Whatever you’re doing with yournon-business, non-family time, askyourself these reality questions:

� Will this help me double mysales?

� Will this help me build betterrelationships?

� Will this help me become better

known?� Will this make me be perceived

as a person of value?� Will this help me build my

reputation?� Will this help me build my sales

and personal development skills?

Work on these elements of yoursales and business life:

� Message leaving. Are yourmessages in any way impactingyour standing and status with thecustomer? Is there an ounce ofvalue or creativity, or are you justbegging for some news about theproposal you sent (and callingthat a follow-up)?

� Be available. Your prospect willcall you when they are free. Thismay be before or after businesshours.

� Be easy to do business with.Customers want everythingNOW!

� Leave value messages.Something short and sweet thatthey can use.

� Study creativity. Yourcompetitive advantage is to beperceived as different. Read abook on creativity as a startingpoint.

� Be more friendly thanprofessional. Sales is aprofession, but salespeople (you)must be perceived as friendly.

� Build your business socialmedia presence. Are youtweeting value messages?Interacting with customers one-on-one on your businessFacebook page? Looking tomake new connections onLinkedIn? Creating a YouTube

channel with customertestimonial videos? Or are youwatching the 6-o’clock news?

� Use meals to buildrelationships. You’ll be amazedhow much more availablecustomers become once you getto know them personally.Breakfast or lunch prospects andcustomers at least three times aweek.

SIMPLE SELF-EVIDENT FACT:If you want customer response, youhave to EARN it. �

Jeffrey Gitomer is theauthor of The Sales Bible,Customer Satisfaction isWorthless CustomerLoyalty is Priceless, TheLittle Red Book of Selling,The Little Red Book ofSales Answers, The LittleBlack Book ofConnections, The LittleGold Book of YES!Attitude, The Little GreenBook of Getting Your Way,The Little Platinum Book ofCha-Ching, The Little TealBook of Trust, The LittleBook of Leadership, andSocial BOOM! His website,www.gitomer.com, willlead you to moreinformation about trainingand seminars, or you canemail him personally atsalesman@gitomer.com

I’ll tell you why:It’s easier to blame

others for yourshortcomings

thanit is to takeresponsibility for them.

7Top Sales Associates Magazine May 2012

Why do salespeople blame otherpeople and/or other things

for their own ineptitude? Why didn’tthis salesperson say, “I gotta workon my voicemails and emails.They’re not getting any traction, andthey’re costing me major money. I’mgoing on an all-out effort toimprove my writing skills, myvoicemail skills, and my creativity togenerate better response!”

I’ll tell you why: It’s easier toblame others for your shortcomingsthan it is to take responsibility for

them. It’s easier to blame than admityou’re not that good. It’s easier toblame than it is to improve. It’seasier to blame than face your ownreality.

And I’m certain this messageapplies to you.

You blame the customer whensomething goes wrong, somethingdidn’t happen as planned, someonedidn’t respond, or you lost a sale to acompetitor – especially at a lowerprice. Wrong. Very wrong.

I have been helping salespeople

sell more and sell better since 1976,and during the time no one has evercome to me and said, “Jeffrey, Ididn’t make the sale, and it was allmy fault!” Interesting statistic.

Rather than blame, I have someanswers that will help you. Actually,I have some questions. Questionsyou MUST ask yourself BEFOREyou blame. These questions will giveyou a brand new perspective, andthey automatically shift blame toresponsibility. They will bring you anew sense of reality. And they willmake you a better salesperson.

Ask yourself “WHY” to get tothe truth.

� Why was my call not returned?� Why did they cancel my

appointment?� Why did they delete my email?

6 Top Sales Associates Magazine May 2012

I overheard sales dialog on the airplane thismorning. “He (the customer) has never respondedto one of my emails, and never calls me back. TheONLY time he calls me is when he needssomething.” Then back to devouring this week’sedition of US Weekly magazine. Sound familiar?

What’s the Reason BeyondBLAME? Maybe it’s YOU!

industry will turn to your blog as amain interchange and central sourcefor information. And even if youare not building huge traffic on yourblog, you can point your prospectsand customers to your audit streamand create the perception you arereally plugged into the industry andcan solve their business challenges.

In addition to this, a blog is apowerful prospecting tool becauseyou can use it to build credibilityprior to making your call to yourprospect and differentiate yourself.It is only after traffic builds up onyour blog and subscribersrecommend it to others that yourblog will help you attract newprospects. The main purpose ofyour blog is to establish you assomeone who has the pulse of theindustry and to differentiate youfrom the other salespeople who sellto your group of customers.

You can write a blog thatcreates a buzz by followingGeoffrey’s Six Rules:

1) Focus on the content yourreaders will be interested in, not onsearch engine optimization/rankingon Google. If your content is strong,

your customers, prospects, andcompetitors will check you out andturn to you as the established expert.Learn as you go. For example,Geoffrey learned that salespeoplearen’t interested in blogs on CRMsor 2.0 but become very involved withtopics like bad sales managers orwhich includes seemingly unrelatedtopics such as Yoda from Star Wars,or relevant lists. Figure out whatwould excite customers or help themthink about something in a new way.2) Write with somebody in mind.Visualize your target market and askyourself of all the things that havecome across your desk what will thiscustomer be interested in. Includeyour opinion. Have a point of viewand back it up.3) Make it easy for subscribers toregister quickly to build up yourmailing list. Keep your request forsubscription information short andsimple: only name, email, andcompany. Use the mailing list to sendyour blog posts. Constantly remindthem about your RSS.4) Keep your blog short so it is veryconvenient for people to check inwith you to see what is importantover the other sources. Twitter is sopopular because it is short. After 100or so words you will start to loseinterest. Add a link for readers tolearn more.5) Write as you talk. Don’t write asyou write. Eliminate bizblab andmeaningless jargon.

6) Spend no more than 30 to 45minutes a day on your blog. Everyfew days check what is reported bythe industry association, whatcompetitors are doing or post thingslike job openings, etc.

To get started blogging you canuse a blog site such as Blogger.comor even Facebook but Geoffreyrecommends you buy a domainname based on your name or avariation of your name (if theobvious name is not available).There are many sites that offer bothdomain name purchasing andhosting, and most of them supportblogging with popular andreasonably easy-to-use bloggingtools like WordPress.

As a wrap-up I asked Geoffreywhy he blogs. His first answer washonest and straightforward: he’s ajournalist paid by Inc.com. But itleft me silent for a few seconds and Iasked why he chose to write aboutsales. He continued, “Sales is theheart and soul of business. It ismore important than anythingelse in the company. Everyorganization, including topmanagement, exists in order toprovide a service to the salesfunction because if sales don’ttake place a company does notexist. So why would I want towrite about anything else? Iwould rather hang out withsalespeople than anyone.” ■

You’ll find Geoffrey HERE

In addition to this, ablog is a powerfulprospecting tool

because you canuse it to build

credibility prior tomaking your call toyour prospect and

differentiate yourself.

The most frequently asked questionhe’s asked is, “Why isn’t this

prospecting email working?”Geoffrey attributes the problem withthe emails that are sent to him inlarge part to the sales training manysale organizations provide to theirsale teams. The growth in sales jobs,and therefore one would think, insales training is in inside sales.Although there is a migration to

inside selling, most sales training isbased on the assumption that salescalls will be face to face. Based on allthe questions he gets he knows mostsales training has not caught up withthis trend. Face to face selling ishappening, of course, and willcontinue, but it is decreasing infrequency while phone and emailcontact is increasing even forcomplex sales. Salespeople needtraining in non face-to-facecustomer contact whether on-line orphone, in how to use the toolsavailable to them including blogs.

Having written over 2000 blogsfirst for CBS and now for Inc.com.Geoffrey is an expert. For starters hefeels salespeople are ideally cut outfor blogging because they are strongcommunicators who know how toexplain ideas simply. The oneconcern he expressed, based on themajority of examples of emails

salespeople send to him forfeedback, is that most salespeopledon’t write the way they talk. Insteadthey abandon the simple, clearEnglish they are so good at anddefault to bizblab. But with someencouragement and guidancesalespeople have what it takes tobecome popular bloggers.

If you are not already bloggingand your organization does notprohibit it, why should you blog?Geoffrey sees it first and foremost asa way “to turn yourself into thecenter of the discussion andestablish you as an expert.” Forexample, if you are selling into thecommercial air conditioning marketand blogging on that subject,regularly updating it, pointingreaders to articles, giving commentsabout what works or does not work,talking about industry trends etc.,customers who buy from that

8 Top Sales Associates Magazine May 2012

Good Blogging Is Good Selling:Five Myth Breaking Rules for BloggingA Conversation with Geoffrey James by Linda Richardson

Top of Mind

Geoffrey James has interviewed me many times over the years and it was mypleasure to turn the tables by interviewing him. Geoffrey is a journalist in lovewith the field of sales. From my experience that is rare. He has focused onsales issues for a decade and currently writes a column for Inc.com where hehosts the world’s most visited blog, with and impressive 2.9 million visitors inMarch. He communicates with hundreds and hundreds of salespeople andsales managers and is passionate in his views as to what’s hot and what’s not.He is also the author of How to Say It: Business to Business Selling (Prentice Hall,December, 2011).

Linda Richardson is the Founder andChairwoman of Richardson, the global salesperformance company and is responsiblefor product and sales strategy.www.richardson.com

9Top Sales Associates Magazine May 2012

ArdathAlbee

Dr TonyAlessandra

MilesAustin

TrishBertuzzi

JoanneBlack

JebBlount

MarcBenioff

IanBrodie

PaulCastain

JohnDoerr

KevinEikenberry

CraigElias

JonathanFarrington

JosianeFeigon

KeithFerrazzi

ColleenFrancis

JeffreyGitomer

SethGodin

CharlesH Green

PaulGreenberg

GerhardGschwandtner

MattHeinz

MarkHunter

AnthonyIannarino

GeoffreyJames

11Top Sales Associates Magazine May 2012

Top 50 Sales & MarketingInfluencers for 2012

Over the past few weeks, a smallteam of professional

researchers rigorously examined thecredentials of one hundred and fiftypossible “candidates” to arrive atthe top fifty, and we also asked theeditors of the most popular salesresource venues to give us theiropinion.

The criteria we used tobenchmark each individual’s impactwithin the sales space was:� Social media presence –

Twitter/ Facebook/ Kloutscore/LinkedIn authority.

� Quality, regularity andpopularity of written work –

books, blog posts, articles,EBooks etc.

� Active engagement withrecognized resource sites.

� And not least, a commitment tocontinually advance selling andmarketing practices.

Congratulations to everyone whomade the list, and thank you foradding so much value to the way wesell, and to the way we marketourselves. �

Who really are the salesand marketing experts,gurus, commentators,authors and spokespeoplethat are genuinelyinfluencing the way wethink, sell and marketour companies/products/solutions in2012? We decided tofind out - not subjectively,or for that matter, purelyobjectively.

10 Top Sales Associates Magazine May 2012

Why were these 50individuals chosen?

Find out Here ��

GuyKawasaki

JimKeenan

JillKonrath

DaveKurlan

KendraLee

PaulMcCord

DanMcDade

DavidMeerman Scott

NancyNardin

NeilRackham

LindaRichardson

LoriRichardson

KelleyRobertson

KeithRosen

MikeSchultz

AnnekeSeley

KokaSexton

TiborShanto

ArtSobszcak

ColleenStanley

DaveStein

KenThoreson

DanWaldschmidt

MikeWeinberg

WendyWeiss

12 Top Sales Associates Magazine May 2012

This powerful event is limited to the first 50 people that register.

full potential of technology? It’s allabout “content managementhomework”.

Let’s start with the end in mindto get the big picture: You live in awonderful, effective and efficientsales content world, without anyrandom acts of content creation. Allthe attributes you mapped to yourcontent are completely covered bythe newly implemented salesenablement platform and you creategreat value in terms of reducedsearch time, reduced ramp-up timefor new hires, dynamic contentgeneration and increasedcollaboration between contentcontributors and contentconsumers based on a variety ofsocial collaborative features – andyou receive great analytics toimprove continuously.

What does that mean and how toget there? Content types arecategorized and defined, the internaland external target groups includingtheir altitude level are mapped, eachcontent type is also mapped tocustomer oriented milestones alongthe sales process – that's why eachcontent's purpose is so important.

You might get a first impression.

It’s a lot of work and I stronglyrecommend to start with a contentassessment – what is really relevant,what’s not required and not used -from a sales perspective. Be brave,throw away everything that’s nolonger relevant for yourorganization, available on differentportals in different stages, outdatedand so on...

Quality before quantity – thatshould be your mission!

Then, each content type has aclearly defined RACI matrixregarding content creation,publishing and localizationincluding relevant budgets –covering all relevant roles that areworking on sales content. This is bydefinition a cross-functionalendeavor. Not only marketing, butalso solution sales, presales,portfolio and process managers,solution designers, sales enablementand commercial roles are contentcontributors!

Now you can launch your shinynew platform! Next, make your roadmap and prepare the next level andcreate dynamic content – and that’swhere technology can be really veryvaluable. An example could be tocreate standardized andmodularized content elementsfocused on specific sellingsituations. If a sales person issearching for challenge x, industry y,audience z, first meeting to getaccess – and technology creates the

tailored content in a 80/20 manner.The sales reps get much moreselling time and are better prepared!The same principle helps you todesign dynamic playbooks, ideallyconnected to your CRM system –cherry on the cake!

Additional benefits are mobileservices, social features likecommenting, rating; also contactinformation on the specific productor marketing manager, just one clickaway for a chat - all that is very,valuable!

Sales people will use what’s quickand easy and what creates value fortheir daily business. And, beaware…. sales people will neverdistinguish between platform andcontent – it’s one system for them,and it should also be one for us.

Finally: Really smart salesenablement vendors are aware of allthese issues, they know pretty wellhow big the change effort in yourorganization might be to leveragethe full potential of theirtechnology. They don’t sell aproduct, they sell tailored services,e.g. consulting services that helpcustomers to master all the contentissues together combined with theirtechnology, based on a professionalanalysis of the current stateincluding professional changemanagement services.

Really smart providers love tosolve your problem instead ofselling you a product only … �

It’s a lot of work and Istrongly recommend

to start with acontent assessment –

what is reallyrelevant, what’s not

required and notused - from a sales

perspective.

This article was written by Tamara Schenk.To find out more about Tamara, visit:http://blog.tamaraschenk.com/http://de.linkedin.com/in/tamaraschenkhttp://twitter.com/tamaraschenk

15Top Sales Associates Magazine May 201214 Top Sales Associates Magazine May 2012

Iwrote a response which was rathera blog post than a short LinkedIn

response. That’s why I’m writingthis article on one of my favoritetopics – for YOU, the whole salesenablement tribe!

First of all, there are platformproviders and platform providers.Some of them just sell a softwareproduct, and some of them sell avariety of sales enablement services,

for instance consulting services toidentify the customer’s current stateand specific business challenges,different implementation services,change management consultingservices and additional contentservices. I think, we don’t need todebate that the tool providers won’tbe the winners in that business.

Anyhow, some platformproviders still believe – and that’s

how they are selling – thattechnology itself would deliversignificant business value to theirclients.

I don’t agree.In fact, I strongly believe, that

technology is a great enabler foradditional value and that we need toleverage this potential with a smartimplementation strategy. Then, wewill realize a significant return onour investment – regarding growthand efficiency!

But one without the other won’tdeliver the expected results, becausethere is a critical dependency – andthat’s sales content and the relatedcontent management processes! So,what has to be done to leverage the

A few weeks ago, there was an interesting LinkedInquestion regarding sales enablement platforms. Itwas called “So you’ve got a platform for SalesEnablement! What is the feature that really benefitsor differentiates, that enables you more thanyesterday?“

How to leveragethe full potentialof your salesenablementplatform!

How to leveragethe full potentialof your salesenablementplatform!

Stop Selling & Start Succeeding When asked “What do you sell?” my answer is“I don’t sell, I develop relationships, many ofwhich happen to turn into business.”…

By Gary Hart on EyesonSales �

3 Reasons Why Branding is Critical forEven the Smallest of Businesses You might think that branding is for the bigguys. Sure, it’s fine for P&G and Microsoft …

By Mark Reed-Edwards on EyesonSales �

Are You Ready to Shift Your SalesBeliefs? A belief is an assumed truth. Thus, everythingis a belief—including this statement ...

By Rochelle Togo-Figa on Salesopedia �

Can Too Many Opportunities be aNegative for Salespeople? Very few people have a surplus of importantthings. Imagine these …

By Dave Kurlan on Top Sales Management �

Selling as a Profession Like many of you, I have many roles that Imust fill. I am a sales trainer and coach; I am asales management consultant; I am a writer ...

By by Paul McCord on Top Sales Management �

12 Lame Sales Excuses Salespeople Useand How To Respond It is easy to allow your attitude to lapse intoself-fulfilling negativity when you are a …

By Todd Hockenberry on EyesonSales �

Don't Know Your Differentiators? Why Not Ask Your Customers You hear it every day: “If you don’t know howyou’re different from your competitors ...

By Kathy Maixner on Salesopedia �

Are You a Quitter but Don’t Know It? Nobody likes to think of themselves as aquitter but statistics would seem to indicate themany sales reps tend ...

By Jim Domanski on Salesopedia �

Rome Wasn't Built in a Day - Neither areSales Skills I love the movie Groundhog Day. If youhaven't seen it, please do. If you have, then ...

By John Doerr on Top Sales Management �

"Yes, No, Maybe.. What's Worth theMost?" If you're hoping for temporary relief fromthose irritatingly persistent salespeople from ...

By Colleen Francis on Top Sales Management �

We want to thank the following sites for supporting Top 10 Sales Articles:

17Top Sales Associates Magazine May 2012

● Salesopedia ● Eyes on Sales ● Sales Gravy ● Ezine Articles ● ChangingMinds ● RainToday

Authors: To be considered for Top 10 Sales Articles, please submit your articles to the above sites, which are theonly ones we select from. We do not accept any articles directly.

The April Nominations

Where do the articles come from? Each month we select the very best salesarticles from the major article sites, which have been written by top sales gurusfrom around the world. We cull through till we find the 10 best pieces of salesadvice – which we then share with you. The monthly winners compete for theTop Sales Article of the Year Award in December.

16 Top Sales Associates Magazine May 2012

Top Sales Articleof the MonthAnnounced

Top Sales Articleof the MonthAnnounced

The March WinnerYour Attitude is Showing- Is It Killing Your Sales?

by:Paul McCord on: Eyes on Sales ��

not very different from the salesprofession. Salespeople are verymuch like me, the golfer. The typicalsalesperson receives, on average, 3days of sales training -- in theirentire career. I've interviewedthousands of salespeople and mosthave never had a single day ofprofessional sales training. Andpractice? There has not been asingle client whose salespeople hadbeen practicing the art and scienceof selling before I required them tobegin practicing.

Why aren't salespeople gettingenough professional training? Inmost companies, ego, fear andmoney are the three biggest reasons.Sales leadership, althoughcompletely lacking in the skillsrequired, believe it’s their job to traintheir salespeople. Uppermanagement is frequently afraid ofchange, even when it will bringabout a change in results. And manycompanies simply won’t investmoney to develop their salespeople.

Why aren't they coached theway they need to be? Althoughcoaching is the number 1 job ofsales managers today, most havenever learned the proper way tocoach, instead using a homegrown approach and applying it

on an as needed basis.Why aren't they practicing?

Believe it or not, most salesmanagers are afraid of upsetting theapple cart. They believe that if theyrequired their veteran salespeople topractice they will have a rebellion ontheir hands.

Are your salespeoplepracticing each day?

Objective Management Group hasassessed more than 550,000salespeople and according to theirdata 74% of all salespeople arecompletely ineffective and many ofthem shouldn't even be in sales.They get by for a variety of reasons,among them:

� Low expectations frommanagement

� They are no worse than the otherineffective salespeople at theircompany

� Some are order takers and theytake enough orders

� Some are major accountmanagers and the accounts werepreviously established

� Some possess intangibles andhave simply developed strongrelationships over decades ofwork

� Many work for industry leadingcompanies - lowest price, bestreputation, highest qualityproduct, lowest risk - and theydon't have to sell, as much asshow up and quote

� Some bounce from company tocompany never staying longenough to actually fail

Are your underperformingsalespeople getting by? Can any ofthem become performers? You canfind out with a sales forceevaluation. Even better, why notjoin me for my annual SalesLeadership Summit? �

Why aren'tsalespeople gettingenough professional

training? In mostcompanies, ego,

fear and money arethe three biggest

reasons.

This article was written by Dave Kurlan.

To find out more about Dave, visit:www.dkatraining.com

19Top Sales Associates Magazine May 2012

Although baseball was myfavorite, I spent most summers

on the tennis courts, playing withanyone and everyone, until I enteredcollege as the #2 on the school’stennis team. It wasn't good enoughthough, and I felt like I should have

practiced more; a lot more.I was not going to be a star in

music or tennis. But what if I was?Would I have been finished with allof that practicing? No way. Thegreatest athletes and musicians stillhire the best coaches in the world

and practice harder and even morefrequently! I would have done thesame because that’s exactly what Idid when I started my salesdevelopment business 27 years ago.

By contrast, I am a terriblegolfer. Why? I never practice. It’s

When I was much younger, I was a pretty good trumpet player, playingprofessionally for nearly 10 years. I took weekly lessons from the age of 9,played in multiple bands and orchestras, and when I wasn’t taking lessons orperforming, I practiced. And I felt I should have practiced more; a lot more. Icould have been so much better...

How Important is itfor Your Salespeopleto Practice?

How Important is itfor Your Salespeopleto Practice?

18 Top Sales Associates Magazine May 2012

Focus On

Dan McDade

In addition to serving as presidentand CEO of PointClear, Dan is

the author of The Truth AboutLeads, an insightful book that shedslight on the little-known secrets thathelp focus B2B lead-generationefforts, align sales and marketingorganizations and drive revenue.The book was published in January2011.

Prior to starting PointClear, Danserved as president of UST, TheBusiness Marketing Group, a high-tech B2B marketing services firm.The company, serving leadingtechnology companies including

Sun Microsystems, TexasInstruments, Oracle and SAP, grewover 500% during his tenure. From1989 to 1991, Dan was an

independent consultant providingdirect marketing, telemarketing andnew business developmentconsulting services. Clients includedSears, Exxon, Rodale Press, R.J.Reynolds, and The Ritz-Carlton.Dan also served as vice president ofmarketing with Jackson & Perkins inMedford, Ore.

Dan is chairman of the board ofthe Technology Association ofGeorgia (TAG) EducationCollaborative, an organizationpromoting STEM (science,technology, engineering and math)education in Georgia’s middle andhigh schools. He is a member ofTAG, and also serves on the boardsof TechAmerica Southeast(formerly AEA); the Business &Technology Alliance, a TAGsociety; and TAG Marketing. TheSales Lead Management Associationnamed Dan one of the 50 mostinfluential people in sales leadmanagement in 2009, 2010 and2011. Dan is also the author ofViewPoint. �

Dan McDade founded PointClear in 1997 with the mission to bethe first and best company providing prospect developmentservices to business-to-business companies with complex salesprocesses. He has been instrumental in developing the innovativestrategies that drive revenue for PointClear clients nationwide.

20 Top Sales Associates Magazine May 2012

To find out more about Dan, visit: www.pointclear.com/

“My customer changedpriorities after three months.

What can I do?”“My prospect has gone silent.

Any advice?”There are sales stoppers at every turn and you

want to keep going, but how?

Your SalesRescue team is no further than yoursmartphone ready to answer your questions

24/7 - and Save Your Sale!

Launches May 1st on Top Sales World �

During the last 2 years we haveseen an increasing interest and

demand from business executives inEurope to understand and leveragetechnology within their salesorganizations to improve overallsales effectiveness. From our 2012survey done in conjunction withFrost & Sullivan of global salesleaders, we discovered their top 5challenges are:

1. Implementing lead generationstrategies 2. Aligning the sales process withcustomers’ decision-makingbehavior3. Enhancing sales reps’productivity (focusing on thehighest-value activities) 4. Integrating win/loss analysis intosales strategies 5. Responding to pricing pressuresfrom competitors, the market, andcustomers

The June 7th event will aim toprovide strategies to overcomethose and other key challenges. We

saw the highest demand for theevent in the UK so we choseLondon as the location for the firstevent.” And here are the full details.

Accelerate Sales Growththrough Strategic Leadership

The Sales & Marketing 2.0Conference, London, is producedby Selling Power magazine – theleading global publication for salesmanagement executives.

Topics will focus on sharing waysbusiness executives can:

� Strategically align sales andmarketing departments.

� Enhance sales force effectivenessby leveraging key technologysolutions.

� Adapt to shifts in buying cycles

and customer behaviors.� Incorporate social communication

tools into your current salesmethodology.

� Track, measure, and analyze salesperformance to increase salesforce effectiveness.

� Review the Agenda�

Attendees will include senior-levelexecutives in sales, marketing, orsales operations. (CSOs, VPs ofSales, VPs of Marketing, VPs ofSales Operations, Directors ofSales/Marketing/Sales Operations/Demand Generation, or otherexecutive-level leaders in sales andmarketing).

Use this code, s2cuk12topsales,to book your place and you willreceive a £50 discount.

See registration packages�

I have absolutely no doubt that itwill be an unqualified success, and Iam disappointed that I will not beable to attend personally – I will bein Poland and the Ukraine for youknow what! JF �

The Sales 2.0 ConferenceBandwagon is heading for LondonIt was only a matter of time before the highlysuccessful Sales 2.0 Conferences made it across the“Pond” and the organizers have finally announcedthat June 7th is the date, and London is the venue.Why London, and why this year? LarissaGschwandtner provides the answers …

To find out more about Jonathan, visit:

www.thejfblogit.co.ukwww.topsalesassociates.comwww.jonathanfarrington.com

23Top Sales Associates Magazine May 2012

24 Top Sales Associates Magazine May 2012

lacking in and don’t have. Soeveryone in this world has a need,something that they feel that theydon’t have, and this realisationcreates psychological stress andemotional pain which triggers theminto action to work towards theacquirements of whatever they feelthey don’t have.

Now here is where you come in.What are you selling and what needscan it fulfil ? Don’t think generically.Think psychologically. Whatpsychological needs does yourproduct or service fulfil ? Whatpsychological stress and emotionalpain can you and your service orproduct address ? And mostimportantly, where are the peoplewho are experiencing this pain ?Those are the people who willwillingly buy from you.

Let’s turn this around and look atyour prospects first. What are theirpsychological needs ? What are theirstresses and sources of emotionalpain ? How can you relieve theirpain, their stress and fulfil theirneeds with your products andservices ? If you can’t, move on.There are people out there in painwho need you. Find someone whoneeds you. Go help make someone’s

life better. That is what your job as asales professional. To make people’slives better. The sale comes naturallyas a consequence of your goodintentions.

This is the second step towardsyour sales success. Your ethics,principles and your intentions. Ifyou merely acquire the knowledgeof human needs, triggers andweaknesses and use this to makepeople buy from you, it is mostlikely that you would be perceived asdishonest and salesy. On the otherhand, if you use your knowledge ofhuman behaviour and motivation tohelp people, you will betremendously successful.

It is not possible to elaborate infull in this short article on how toadopt the working principles andethics of a sales psychologist, butwe can start with one importantpoint. Every morning, take a look atyour list of prospects, whether it isyour diary, card holder, or CRMsystem and instead of thinking toyourself, ‘who can I target today,who can I sell to today, who is goingto sign up’ which is the typical salesmentality, try something different.Ask yourself, ‘Who can I help today? Who needs me, where are they andhow can I reach them and maketheir life better today ?’

In this manner, try and examineall your thoughts and perceptionson sales, your job, your prospectsand see how you can change them

like in the above example. This is thefirst step to transforming yourselffrom sales executive to thinking likea sales psychologist. I did this in2003 while working on a sellingassignment for something perceivedas unsellable. Not only was Isurprised by the inherent thoughtprocesses that we sales professionalshave, but also by the results I wasable to achieve by changing myintentions and perception towardsmy job, my prospects and the salesprofession.

I have highlighted some of theseimportant discoveries in my book,The Sales Psychologist – TheGreatest Secrets of EthicalPsychological Persuasion applied toSales – which is still a work inprogress I must say as my readerscontinue to pour in their commentsand questions. The kindle version isavailable through amazon, whileother reader formats as well as pdfversions are downloadable fromsmashwords through the followinglinks.

� http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007RN9PO0

� https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/149332

Thanking Jonathan Farrington forgiving me the opportunity to writefor this magazine and I look forwardto providing readers with furtherinsights in the next edition. �

Let’s turn this aroundand look at your

prospects first.What are theirpsychological

needs? What aretheir stresses and

sources ofemotional pain?

This article was written by Samara Pope.

To find out more about Samara, visit:www.samarapope.co.uk/

If you are able to do so, not onlywould your sales results shoot up,

but you would also be respected,revered and sought after. Peoplewould love you and love to dobusiness with you. But that is only ifyou are able to do both. To gaininsight of the knowledge of sales

psychology and to commit yourselfto the responsible use of your newfound knowlege by adopting theworking ethics and principles ofpsychologists. Otherwise, you willbe seen as nothing more than amanipulator to others and peoplewill detest you.

Coming back to the first step,which is to gain knowledge of salespsychology and how you can applythis to your sales job. The mostimportant aspects to remember andfurther your knowledge in, are thefactors of human needs, weaknessesand triggers. Everyone has a need,something that they do not have andassume that they must have in orderto be happy, successful or whatevertheir goal is in life. Such things thatwe see as lacking in our lives or inourselves become our self-createdweaknesses. As human beings, thereis very little that we basically need tosurvive as a species. But we alwayswant more, we always want andstrive for that which we feel we are

There are two ways in which you can usepsychology to increase your sales. The first is to gainknowledge of the psychological aspects of salesand buyer / seller interaction. The second is toleave behind the persona of sales, of being salesyand to learn and adopt the working ethics ofpsychologists and counsellors. To essentiallytransform yourself from a sales executive to thinkingand being like a sales psychologist.

25Top Sales Associates Magazine May 2012

Using Psychology toincrease your Sales Using Psychology toincrease your Sales

Top Sales Highlightsfrom the Past Four Weeks ... In case you missed them

Plus don’t forget, we publish a brand new sales tip from the Top Sales Experts team every day!www.topsalesworld.com�

Plus we publish a brand new sales article every day:www.topsalesmanagement.com�

26 Top Sales Associates Magazine May 2012 27Top Sales Associates Magazine May 2012

Preparation,Preparation,

Preparation …

Before You Make ThatCall …Prepare

Intelligently!

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Face Meeting

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a Player)

Turn Around andWalk Away

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Who Coachesthe Coach?

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Jonathan London �� Colleen Stanley �� Steven Rosen �� Christian Maurer ��