Sales Training – How Top Salespeople Can Stuff Their Sales Funnel
Sales Training – How Top Salespeople Can Stuff Their Sales Funnel
. Prepare Stuffing Safely
Preparing turkey stuffing is like preparing yourself with product knowledge, people skills and sales ability. Additionally you have to add your attitude, your actions and your self-confidence. The stuffing, the professional salesperson, takes time to get all characteristics in line and in integrity for the process to be successful. It’s important to be in total integrity with all your actions or your stuffing, or else the filling of your pipeline will be sabotaged. This just might be the step to hire a coach.
2. Stuff Loosely
Stuffing a turkey is like adding leads to your sales funnel: too much dressing and it overflows and burns. In the selling process, prospects can drop out of the sales funnel at any stage. Potential clients go from a large number of initially interested persons, on to the narrow end with a smaller number of the initially interested people who will actually buy.
3. Cook Immediately
After you have a fair number of prospects to get to know, there will be some that are ready to buy sooner than others. How many times must you call a prospect for the right timing? Assuming that everything falls into place when you call them, and the pain is so bad you are in the right place at the right time, how prepared are you? As a sales professional, design a system that allows you to stay in touch with each true prospect.
4. Use a Food Thermometer
If you have too many non-qualified leads in your funnel, you can have an overflow, but not enough sales results. Yes, the funnel looks full, but you need to take the temperature of leads to decide when they are someone to spend time with. In difficult economic times people change their buying or decision-making style and the timeline may be longer. When economic times are thriving, the timeline may be shorter. Regardless of the economy, research from SiriusDecisions finds that sales of more complex solutions of any type in the business to business sector, has on average a 22% longer selling cycle, and 3.5 more people involved in the buying process. Whether it’s the economy or the complexity of the sale, it is critical to steadily fill the pipeline.
5. Let It Rest
Just like your turkey stuffing, you put together the right mix of marketing ingredients to attract prospects to you. Your sales assessment of the prospects needs and wants helps guide your time with them so that when they are ready to move along in the sales process, you are ready to guide them to a decision point to buy. There comes a time a client still may need to think it over or talk it over. While you may want to get a decision when you are ready, at times you have to follow-up and rest. Rest doesn’t mean stop in sales. Rest means to allow for a short break and recharge with planned, purposeful follow-up.
6. Refrigerate Promptly
With proper follow-up, customers do say, “Yes, I’m ready.” Of course many times the seller needs to prompt the yes by asking for a decision. In follow-up with valid and personal business reasons, salespeople continue to build trust. Always be ready also to continue to ask to move forward with your product or service. That is a sales professional’s role.
Many turkey recipes don’t go on to say eat and enjoy! In sales, it’s important to stop and recognize each success. While disputed by sales coaches and trainers, sales always was, and always will be, a numbers game. Numbers are as important to the sales pipeline as stuffing is to a turkey dinner.
Sales Training How Top Salespeople Can Stuff Their Sales Funnel - To learn more about this author, visit Patricia Weber's Website.
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Thanksgiving in the USA is November 27th this year. Just like turkey producers have been filling the grocery stores to sell more turkeys, professional salespeople need to fill their sales pipeline to continue to convert leads to customers or clients. How does the stuffing of the bird compare to the stuffing of a sales pipeline?
. Prepare Stuffing Safely
Preparing turkey stuffing is like preparing yourself with product knowledge, people skills and sales ability. Additionally you have to add your attitude, your actions and your self-confidence. The stuffing, the professional salesperson, takes time to get all characteristics in line and in integrity for the process to be successful. It’s important to be in total integrity with all your actions or your stuffing, or else the filling of your pipeline will be sabotaged. This just might be the step to hire a coach.
2. Stuff Loosely
Stuffing a turkey is like adding leads to your sales funnel: too much dressing and it overflows and burns. In the selling process, prospects can drop out of the sales funnel at any stage. Potential clients go from a large number of initially interested persons, on to the narrow end with a smaller number of the initially interested people who will actually buy.
3. Cook Immediately
After you have a fair number of prospects to get to know, there will be some that are ready to buy sooner than others. How many times must you call a prospect for the right timing? Assuming that everything falls into place when you call them, and the pain is so bad you are in the right place at the right time, how prepared are you? As a sales professional, design a system that allows you to stay in touch with each true prospect.
4. Use a Food Thermometer
If you have too many non-qualified leads in your funnel, you can have an overflow, but not enough sales results. Yes, the funnel looks full, but you need to take the temperature of leads to decide when they are someone to spend time with. In difficult economic times people change their buying or decision-making style and the timeline may be longer. When economic times are thriving, the timeline may be shorter. Regardless of the economy, research from SiriusDecisions finds that sales of more complex solutions of any type in the business to business sector, has on average a 22% longer selling cycle, and 3.5 more people involved in the buying process. Whether it’s the economy or the complexity of the sale, it is critical to steadily fill the pipeline.
5. Let It Rest
Just like your turkey stuffing, you put together the right mix of marketing ingredients to attract prospects to you. Your sales assessment of the prospects needs and wants helps guide your time with them so that when they are ready to move along in the sales process, you are ready to guide them to a decision point to buy. There comes a time a client still may need to think it over or talk it over. While you may want to get a decision when you are ready, at times you have to follow-up and rest. Rest doesn’t mean stop in sales. Rest means to allow for a short break and recharge with planned, purposeful follow-up.
6. Refrigerate Promptly
With proper follow-up, customers do say, “Yes, I’m ready.” Of course many times the seller needs to prompt the yes by asking for a decision. In follow-up with valid and personal business reasons, salespeople continue to build trust. Always be ready also to continue to ask to move forward with your product or service. That is a sales professional’s role.
Many turkey recipes don’t go on to say eat and enjoy! In sales, it’s important to stop and recognize each success. While disputed by sales coaches and trainers, sales always was, and always will be, a numbers game. Numbers are as important to the sales pipeline as stuffing is to a turkey dinner.
Sales Training How Top Salespeople Can Stuff Their Sales Funnel - To learn more about this author, visit Patricia Weber's Website.
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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John AlexanderJohn has taught keyword research and SEO skills to small groups of business owners and Webmasters from over 80 different countries world wide since 2002. John is also the Director of Search Engine Academy ; Co-director of Training at Search Engine Workshops offering live, SEO Workshops with his partner SEO educator Robin Nobles, author of the very first comprehensive online search engine marketing courses at SEO Training Online and the SEO Workshop Resource Center. I look forward to hearing from you! - Visit John Alexander's Website |
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