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Gerry Layo Articles

Guest post by: Gerry Layo

Cold Calling in Today's Marketplace - Click To Read Article
What is the problem with salespeople these days? The profession of sales begins and grows through learning and mastering how to increase the quality and quantity of new contacts in the marketplace. Here are a few words to help you get back in the game! For many sales people, the number one challenge that they have in their profession is prospecting or cold calling on the phone. There have been literally thousands of excuses developed over the years in order to avoid prospecting on a regular basis. And yet, probably the biggest factor in the growth of a salesperson's book of business and his or her career is prospecting.

Competitiveness, Sense of Humor, Passion and Appreciation - Click To Read Article
Life's (Sales) Lessons from the Links of Ireland. Our team of merry golfers from North America reaffirmed in me the importance of Competitiveness, Sense of Humor, Passion, and Appreciation in both golf as well as business. There are lessons all around us as to what we need to grow.

Are You a Manager or a Coach? - Click To Read Article
Discover what some of the best sales managers in the world do to stand out from the pack and drive results from their teams! Learn more about each of these strategies: Always be Looking for and Drafting Top Talent Set Expectations Up Front Always Have a Clear Plan for Every Player Always Be Training, Teaching, Guiding and Coaching Constantly Build and Strengthen Relationships

Are you STREAKIN' or SLUMPIN'? - Click To Read Article
Up or down? Making money or working hard? On a roll or in a rut? Where do you fall today? What exactly is a SLUMP? In baseball, have you ever noticed that they call it a batting SLUMP when you are not producing, but they call it a hitting STREAK when you are on a roll? Why is that? Why don’t they call it a hitting slump? Why isn’t it known as a batting streak? It seems that a batting SLUMP has the connotation that you are getting poor results from lackluster efforts, whereas it seems that a hitting STREAK suggests that your above average results are based not upon efforts, but upon action! Let’s break down those two words to see what they truly are. By using one, we may combat and even possibly avoid the other.

All I Want is an Extra Month - Click To Read Article
How many times have you caught yourself saying, “I just don’t have the time?” Think for a moment about what you might be able to accomplish if you had a 13th month next year? Would that help you get more of the results you are looking for? Let’s take a look at “Time Management” and what that really means. We don’t need to learn how to manage time well. We need to learn how to manage ourselves well. Time management is personal management. Time management is life management. Each one of us has been given the same 24 hours in a day. Time management is what you do with the time you have been given.

Personal Branding - Click To Read Article
Personal Branding is the absolute hallmark of the top 2% of sales professionals. Most of them don’t even know that they are doing it! Personal Branding gets your phone to ring. Personal Branding separates you from all of the competition. Personal Branding puts VALUE ahead of COST. Personal Branding elevates you and thus your company/product/service in the minds of your customer. Personal Branding, quite simply, creates more sales for you!

This Economy Demands Your BEST! - Click To Read Article
BEST =Belief, Everything Matters, Step Up & Tenacity Learn everything you need to do to be your best.

Good Habits are Hard to Break - Click To Read Article
A Day in the Life of a Sales Professional: Do you have the habits of a successful Sales Professional? Learn the daily habits neccessary to be successful.

Customer Service is NOT a Department - Click To Read Article
The average attendee in my seminars states that they have had mostly "average" customer service experiences, a few "horrible" experiences and just one "fantastic" experience in the past month. Tony Alessandra calls these Moments of Mediocrity, Moments of Misery, and Moments of Magic. It has been my contention that every company has the ability to stand out by simply striving for the WOW experience that Alessandra calls a Moment of Magic. While I agree that the customer service professionals on your team do absolutely drive the customer experience, I would like to challenge those of us in the sales side of the business to take a closer look at our role in this process. Let’s break down that MAGIC into an easy-to-digest (and apply) acronym: Managing Expectations, Assessing Needs, Growth vs. Maintenance, Interest and Communication.

Did He Really Lose on Price? - Click To Read Article
A true story about how one salesperson lost a sale while inadvertently helping out the other guy. Too often, when we lose a sale because the other guy was cheaper, we throw up our hands and blame it all on price. We start crying about lack of quality, lack of service or lack of ethics in the other guy. What a bunch of babies! This is war today and the one who tends to win is the one who hustles! Read this true story and see if you agree!

You Want the Sale? You Gotta Ask For It! - Click To Read Article
Get to the "selling end zone" more often by sharpening your skills. It is very important that we are focused on our ENTIRE sales approach. In doing so, we cannot forget to ASK FOR THE BUSINESS! We need to realize that whenever we do not actually attempt to create some closure--ask for the business--we literally destroy (or at least taint) all that we have worked for throughout the sales process.

Climb That Tree and Increase Your Sales - Click To Read Article
Most salespeople will tell you today that a lot of the business has gone away. The fruit that was once hanging so low in the tree is gone---picked away by the competition---caused to die away by the economy. In fact, it is these statements that trigger the VICTIM mentality and tend to shut down a good portion of the selling efforts. Listen to me: With very few exceptions, there is still plenty of opportunity (fruit) in the tree. Now is the time, however, that we need to learn (or re-learn) how to climb! Now is the time when the “weeding out” process begins. Now is the time when those who “cannot or will not” are replaced by those who can, will, and DO!

The Top 10 Reasons Why Salespeople BLOW Sales! - Click To Read Article
This month, I find myself taking inventory of some of the things that I have learned throughout the year in my various projects and engagements with sales teams and business leaders. As many of you know, I do a lot of training on "Top 10" lists in my teleseminars and live events. In these, I often identify and explain the Top 10 things that Top Sales Professionals do in specific areas to constantly and consistently win business. In my observations over the past year I have seen many reasons why salespeople (and thus the companies for which they work) have lost a sale. I have also interviewed many companies after my clients presented to discover why we lost. In this article, I thought I would share the Top 10 Reasons Why Salespeople Blow It!

5 Initiatives in Building A World Class Sales Organization-Part 3 of 3 - Click To Read Article
In the previous two articles we reviewed some important initiatives involved in building a world-class sales organization. We identified 5 main areas in doing so. These 5 areas of focus are: 1- Finding Good People. 2- Getting Them to Join Our Team. 3- Getting Them Trained and Producing. 4- Growing Them into Top Producers. 5- Keeping Them. The first article addressed appropriate strategies in recognizing, recruiting, and hiring top talent to our teams. The second article addressed getting those individuals up and producing quickly. In this article, we will address the maintenance of those individuals. This maintenance will be designed to continually grow your people to be better, more productive members of your sales team.

The Top Ten Assumptions that Can (and Do) Kill Sales Careers - Click To Read Article
In today's marketplace, where there is more access to information, more knowledge about pricing and competition, and more choices for your prospects, customers, and clients, salespeople need to make all the right moves...ALL THE TIME! Here at Sales Coach International, we are carrying around the banner that says "Assume Nothing." In order to illustrate the importance of this, I have detailed the top ten assumptions that salespeople can make that can kill their career.

5 Initiatives in Building A World Class Sales Organization-Part 1 of 3 - Click To Read Article
Regardless of your industry, there are only 5 areas that we have to focus on when building a world-class sales organization: 1- Finding Good People. 2- Getting Them to Join Our Team. 3- Getting Them Trained and Producing. 4- Growing Them into Top Producers. 5- Keeping Them. In this article, let's throw the tools in the box to help us out with the first two initiatives mentioned. In doing so, we can take the necessary steps to Find Good People and to Get Them to Join Our Teams.

5 Initiatives in Building A World Class Sales Organization-Part 2 of 3 - Click To Read Article
In part 1 of this series we identified the 5 main areas that must be focused on when building a world-class sales organization as: 1-Finding Good People. 2-Getting Them to Join Our Team. 3-Getting Them Trained and Producing. 4-Growing Them into Top Producers. 5-Keeping Them. In the first article, we tackled 1 and 2 which covered some of the things that are necessary to recruit and hire top talent. Now the true work begins! Getting Them Trained and Producing, and Growing Them into Top Producers

What Will Your Sales Organization Look Like in 24 Months? - Click To Read Article
Let's face it, with the speed of change revved up as high as it is, developing and executing a five-year plan is nearly impossible to do. While it may be true that changes in technology, the economy, the political administration, and the markets are considerably volatile today (and certainly more difficult to plan for and navigate) I believe that when designing and developing a plan for your sales organization, you clearly need to decide what it is that you want to be “when you grow up.”

What if you can't Blame Price? - Click To Read Article
Each of us has a justification as to why we lose a customer. In fact, many times, we own or work for a company that chooses to be a higher priced company with a higher priced product in the marketplace. In doing so they/we have made a choice to bring MORE to the table than our competitors-to add more value! We cannot simply MAKE more money, we must do things to EARN that additional margin and thus EARN that raise! Too many times the additional "service" offered is simply lip-service!

What Can YOU Do to Differentiate Today? - Click To Read Article
What is it that you bring to the table that your competition cannot or will not? What is it that you offer that your prospects, customers, and clients would be willing to stand in line and/or pay a premium to have? What value do you bring to the equation that creates a greater perception of value for your product or service and thus commands a higher price?

What is Your "Pre-Call" Routine? - Click To Read Article
Wrap your head around these six steps to a better result on the golf course and in the marketplace! The steps that you take mentally before you take the shot in sales or in golf will often play a considerable role in the result of that shot. What are you thinking? Many of you know that I am a bit of a golf nut. In fact, I am in the middle of writing a book on the 18 analogies between the profession of sales and playing golf. Recently, I read an article in GOLF magazine written by PGA Tour pro, Hunter Mahan in which he described how he “pressure-proofed” his game to make him more mentally fit for competition at the highest level. By turning to sports psychologist, Neale Smith, he developed a step-by-step “pre-shot routine” that I found to be very applicable to the preparation necessary before a sales call.

Tough Times Need Laser Focus - Click To Read Article
The word on the street is that we are in the middle of a tough economy. Some even say that we are involved in a recession and that sales are tougher to come by now than they have been in many years. With fuel prices soaring, commodity pricing all over the board, the financial markets in upheaval, and the real estate markets still reeling, many companies, in a lot of different industries, are trying to recover from slumping sales.

The Eight Sales Dysfunctions of a Salesperson - Click To Read Article
If you're like most companies getting fewer opportunities to create sales this year, you need to pay attention to all wins AND all losses in your sales efforts! There are specific things being done by salespeople every day that create the LOSS of sales and the LOSS of customers. Are you sure you and/or your salespeople are NOT doing these? It’s challenging enough in the marketplace today gaining new business from existing customers and gaining the trust of new customers to take a chance with you. The current state of the economy is driving fear and uncertainty which is driving decisions to new places in the organization. Those decisions are being made slower than ever and often times, by committees. On top of that, the competition is doing crazy things, dropping prices and trimming margins to all-time lows.

The Dreaded Monday Morning Sales Meeting - Click To Read Article
Do They GET TO GO or HAVE TO GO? For years as a speaker/trainer/coach, salespeople have approached me with feedback regarding their regular company sales meetings. This is what I hear: -The meetings are boring with little to no direction -The meetings turn into individual gripe sessions -The meetings turn into complaint sessions by management -The meetings tend to “bring down” the reps rather than “pump up” the reps -The meetings tend to be filled with reports, data, stats, and rules -The meetings never start on time -The meetings never follow an agenda -The meetings never end on time Does any of this sound familiar to you? Do your people tend to “go through the motions” in your sales meetings? Do they complain about having to come to these meetings regularly? Do you sometimes agree with them?

Social Media - Click To Read Article
With all of the recent buzz over Social Media, many people are left to wonder if this is just “another passing fad.” I seem to remember similar conversations just a short 15 years ago about that silly email thing. (“What the heck is a Yahoo?”) I recently saw a quick little YouTube video regarding Social Media and thought that I would share some of the staggering statistics it contained. I also thought I would throw in some running commentary for you as well (in parentheses).

Put ONLY Your Best on the Front Lines Driving Sales - Click To Read Article
Good enough isn't good enough anymore! Your customer acquisition efforts need to be driven by the BEST! When the economic winds were blowing harder, even our turkeys could fly! The wind has died down and has changed directions. Having only TOP representation in the field with your prospects, customers, and clients is a MUST DO for any company looking to stem the tides of customer exodus and margin erosion. When is the last time you looked for a superstar?

Refuse to Lose! - Click To Read Article
When times get a little tough in selling, we often hear of some people (myself included) stating that they “refuse to participate in a recession.” As a matter of fact, this has been said so often that it is becoming a bit cliché. However, we do need to REFUSE some of the things that hold us back during tougher economic times. We do need to REFUSE to suffer mediocrity from ourselves or our people. We do need to REFUSE to drop our prices but instead raise the bar on our value. We need to REFUSE to let our customers get a better experience buying from a competitor.

Create Customer Loyalty - Click To Read Article
Creating customer loyalty can by so simple, yet so impactful. The power of the personal touch is powerful. These special little touches don’t really cost you anything. They don’t take a lot of time. What they do take is some thought and some caring. Such a little thing can mean so much to the other party-inside or outside your company.

Top Sales Pros do These 10 Things----Why Don't You? - Click To Read Article
Every month, I run a Coach Call on two different topics. On this month’s second call, I listed the Top 10 things that the top sales pros do that most of the others do not. Since I recorded this call, I have had dozens of people respond that the call opened their eyes to the things that are necessary to stay on top. Furthermore, many of the respondents commented that the Coach call helped them get back on track to re-start doing the things that they used to do. In either event, due to the overwhelming response to this call, I have decided to write a corresponding article for those of you who are not part of the Coach Call program.

The More Things Change--The More They Stay the Same - Click To Read Article
With change occurring all around us daily, there are some pieces of advice that stand the test of time (and dramatic market shifts!) Occasionally, we will revisit an article from previous years at the request of some of our readers. In this particular instance, we discovered that advice that's sound for good times is even more sound during tough times! Below, you will find an article that I wrote back in Spring of 2005 at the height of the new construction "boom" here in Northern California. The article points out the need to pay attention when things are really rocking in your business. The interesting part is that the advice given as a result of the example in the article holds true today in the midst of a much different marketplace. The more things change, the more they stay the same---pay attention! Gerry





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