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Clive Miller Articles

Written by: Clive Miller

The New Sales Sense is Digital – Sales Training Must Keep Up - Click To Read Article
There is a buyer’s paradigm shift taking place. It is sweeping away many sales preconceptions and norms. The furore over the social media opportunity is merely a forewarning of greater change. The Retail world is already grappling with the early effects of what will be looked back on as a titanic revolutionary shift in the way people make decisions and the part sales people play in the buying process.

What Makes an Extraordinary Business Consultant? - Click To Read Article
So many now seek to serve in the capacity of an independent contributor to business success. 'Business Consultant' is a generic title. Most specialise and tighten their title to reflect their specialisation, yet there are some common skills essential to all consultants who set out to make something better.

Classroom Sales Training Demise Rumour Debunked - Click To Read Article
Many sales people work very hard yet apparently less than 50% achieve their sales target. Some might say this is testament to the failure of sales training. This is patently not the case and here are the reasons why.

Nine things to do that will give you more time - Click To Read Article
Sweeping strategies make a difference. Adopt the right approach to managing time and forget about the discipline. This is not just another time management article. There are some high level strategies that I know from personal experience lead to a greater sense of control. Read on and seize the initiative in your world.

Buyers Change their Ways - Sales People Must Keep Up - Click To Read Article
The trouble with change is that it sneaks up on you. It would be easier to deal with if it happened in a predictable manner, like a bus or train arriving at its final destination. After a major change, we don’t need historians to tell us that it was inevitable and that the writing was on the wall for all to see. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. For those in the midst of change, ‘after’ is difficult to define. Long after, we can put dates on things but while they are happening, there is always the hope that the situation is just an anomaly.

Twelve Steps to Business or Sales Team Health - Click To Read Article
They read your watch and tell you the time. Consultants certainly do this. It is a valuable service because we get too bound up in our own operations and lose the ability to read our own watch! In the next several paragraphs I will share the parameters we examine to answer the question, ‘Is this sales and marketing operation in good order?’ You may be responsible for an entire business, a division, department, or only your own sales territory. You can still make use of this list to read your own watch.

No more Sales Hiring Mistakes - Click To Read Article
A sales hiring mistake costs more than most sales managers care to contemplate. Apart from the loss of good will and the expenses associated with replacement, there is the missed opportunity cost. There is no way to recover the sales that the right sales person would have made. Read on for ideas, tips, and reliable ways to eliminate or minimise sales hiring mistakes.

Unblock your Sales Genius - Click To Read Article
The secret of genius is no secret at all. It is simply a matter of developing strengths until they become extraordinary. Unless weaknesses are a threat, people can ignore them or compensate for them. Developing self-awareness and self-knowledge may be the greater challenge.

Just Like Magic - Click To Read Article
The great thing about being in sales is that we all have an opportunity to raise our game, increase our success, and reap the short-term rewards of our efforts. All we have to do to sell more is to work a little harder or think a little smarter, or get a little luckier. Alternatively, try a little magic.

There is no ‘I’ in ‘Team’! - Click To Read Article
And there is no ‘T’ in ‘sales’. Performance based compensation works very well as a means of motivating sales people. There are other ways although few understand them and among those who do, even fewer consider these other ways to be a practical alternative.

Get that Sales Job - Click To Read Article
I don’t intend this to be an incitement for people to up sticks and seek pastures new unless now is the right time. A good reason for changing employer is that you have run out of things to learn. Another is when goals are miss-aligned and neither party is willing to compromise. If you are changing jobs for better remuneration, make sure you know what will be expected of you. Whatever your reason, if you observe the rules below, you will be much more likely to get the job you want.

Build Trust Fast - Click To Read Article
Being trustworthy is not enough. Sales people must first overcome the stereotype.

How to Get Referrals from People you Don't Know - Click To Read Article
It is a small world. Each of us can reach anyone in the world (all six billion souls) through a maximum of six other people. The six degrees of separation has been widely publicised and talked about. A scientific study demonstrated the truth of it. By way of letters, researchers asked people to forward a polite request to whoever amongst their contacts was most likely to know a particular person. They found they were able to get a message through to randomly selected people via only a few links. The calculated maximum distance between any two people in the world is 5.5, in terms of the number of people it will take to pass on a message. Read this article to learn more about ways to leverage this astonishing information to get in touch with hard to reach people.

Vanishing Freewill - Click To Read Article
The closer you get to winning, the closer you are to losing. The closer you get to the end of the race, the less opportunity you have to make a difference. The final spurt rests on your prior forethought, planning and preparation.

Selling in a Downturn - Click To Read Article
Seven Solutions - 120 words - 30 seconds: Get proof that your stuff does what you promise. Verifiable evidence convinces ahead of sales skills. Find prospects less affected by the downturn. Some are shrinking less or still growing. Use evidence and proof to develop better messaging and multiple messages. Cast better seeds on more fertile ground. Present better messages to more qualified prospects. Thrive on a small improvements. Vary your approach – phone, voicemail, email, letter, post card, introduction, or fax. Like advertising, effective sales prospecting depends on repetition and persistence. Have the customer quantify the cost of inaction. It is a brave manager who spends money in a downturn without a concrete business case. Training works. Attend or study a top sales course for new ideas. Full article >

Micro Articles - Click To Read Article
Say more with fewer words. As T. S. Elliot put it, “If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter” Take the time to be brief. Less than 30 seconds is the target read time for micro articles that communicate meaningful messages in 120 words or less.

Hate Something - Click To Read Article
Perhaps for you, things haven’t gone pear shaped before and you are reading along just for the ride. I hope you never find yourself being forced to make cold calls. No matter how impenetrable your titanium shell, customers can still hear the tremor of desperation in your voice. Then things go from bad to worse.





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