“Be mindful of when you’re going to take time off this year and look for the days and weeks that are going to have the least impact on your results. ” – Scott Ingram in today’s Tip 1449

How about you? Do you do strategic scheduling?

Join the conversation below and check out the links!

2023 Sales Success Summit
Scott Ingram on LinkedIn
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Transcript

Scott Ingram: You’re listening to the Daily Sales Tips podcast and I’m your host, Scott Ingram. Today’s tip is from me and it’s a little bit of a note to myself that I’d like to share with all of you and I’m probably going to set a reminder to listen back to this probably at the start of Q4 in October sometime.

The idea is about strategically and proactively scheduling your breaks and vacations this year. What really prompted this was a shift that I noticed, mostly after the fact about how Christmas and New Year’s holiday schedules apparently shifted.

In previous years it felt like a lot of people took off or really wound things down the last two weeks of the calendar year, but this last year it seems more people took off the last week of December and the first week of January.

I didn’t actually get that memo until it was too late, but I’m really paying attention to it for next year when it will make even more sense with Christmas falling on a Monday and New Year’s day coming on the following Monday. I actually think this is less disruptive from a sales productivity standpoint as well.

If you work on a calendar fiscal year then the end of year is often a mad dash to the finish, but there’s very little going on the first week of the month, year, and quarter.

So for next year. Think about taking time off the first week of January. It will likely have the least impact on your results for the full year and you can truly unplug, unwind and recharge. It’s also important for your mental health to have vacations planned. Times that you can look forward to.

My family and I already have our Spring Break trip planned and that’s more a function of the school calendar, but I have a week in Spain to look forward to.

If you’re in the US the 4th of July is on a Tuesday this year, which means you can pretty safely write that whole week off with minimal impact to your clients and customers.

So again, the overall idea is to be mindful of when you’re going to take time off this year and look for the days and weeks that are going to have the least impact on your results. It’s worth noting that this is exactly why we hold the Sales Success Summit on a Monday and Tuesday, early in the quarter in October.

Also, start preplanning those vacations. Have a trip or an experience that you can look forward to, to keep yourself going.

Once you’ve strategically penciled in some time off. Be sure to come back tomorrow for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!

Talk about the new way to plan vacations and such around the shifted holiday schedule.

“Our memory can be a really powerful tool in that quest to get better as we go across the cycle of planning for the new year and reflecting on where we’ve come from.” – Jacquelyn Nicholson in today’s Tip 1448

What’s your thought about this?

Join the conversation below and learn more about Jacquelyn!

Jacquelyn Nicholson on LinkedIn
Jacquelyn Nicholson on Sales Success Stories Interview
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Transcript

Scott Ingram: You’re listening to the Daily Sales Tips podcast and I’m your host, Scott Ingram. Today’s tip comes from Jacquelyn Nicholson. Jacquelyn has 3 decades building/supporting the best brands in the world and growing businesses in new markets from scratch, she is passionate about being the woman her husband would marry again, the mom her kids are proud of and the person her boss or customer would work with again. Here she is:

Jacquelyn Nicholson: Hey folks. I just wanted to offer a little bit of a twist on planning for the new year and reflecting on the year that’s passed. And how do you think about it in a unique way? I think oftentimes this is something that we do annually, and maybe for sales professionals like ourselves, we’ll of course, do this on a quarterly or a monthly basis, depending on how we plan our book of business. But honestly, I think the annual planning process is something that’s really vital, but you should never just put it away and look at it at the same time the following year. It’s something that you should look back on and adjust course. If you’re really maybe some of the goals that you set out for the year are no longer realistic or something has changed. So don’t be afraid to look at that. And also, I think we shouldn’t be afraid of looking backwards. A lot of times we want to kind of move on from something that wasn’t necessarily successful or something that was frustrating to us. But I think looking back actually can be very powerful. A lot of times, if we are unsure of where things are headed, it’s helpful to look back and see where you’ve been. A lot of times you’ll be able to see a lot of your growth as a sales professional and as a person by looking at where you’ve come from and where you’re at today.

There are many times in my life where I would say something along the lines of, if somebody told me a year or two ago that I’d be where I’m at today, I don’t know that I would have believed it’s possible. So that time and that reflection gives you evidence of your growth and your success as a sales professional and as a person. And living by that principle, I think, is really powerful. Many times our failures or deals that we lost or things that we view as negative can really be evidence of our ability to grow and to overcome obstacles. A lot of times, the stoic view of the obstacle is the way is really very important. It’s at times of great struggle that we often grow the most. And I’ve found that whenever I feel uncertain or fearful, I have a really great gift that gives me clarity and that gives me hope. And that’s a gift of my memory, because many times our memories, if we let them, will bring us frustration, anger, hurt, pain. But I think you can use your memory to see the progress that you’ve made. And ultimately, our memory can be a really powerful tool in that quest to get better as we go across the cycle of planning for the new year and reflecting on where we’ve come from.

There’s a beautiful old quote that I really love that says, God gave us memories so that we might have roses in December. And that’s something that I think at this time of year is very powerful. So as you look to do some yearend reflection and planning for the new year, remember a couple of things. Don’t put it aside and not look at it for a year. I’ve done that sometimes, but revisit it now and again. And keep in mind this is the long haul, this is a journey, this is not a sprint. And enjoy the time that you have and make every day great. And I hope that you will have a wonderful end of year and a great new year ahead.

Scott Ingram: For links to connect with Jacquelyn, just click over to DailySales.Tips/1448. Once you’ve done that, be sure to come back tomorrow for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!

“I believe that it actually all starts with understanding that the whole is not greater than the sum of its parts. The whole just is the sum of its parts. And you are one of those parts.” – Jack Wilson in today’s Tip 1447

What good culture means to you?

Join the conversation below and learn more about Jack!

Jack Wilson Sales Tips on Spotify
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Transcript

Scott Ingram: You’re listening to the Daily Sales Tips podcast and I’m your host, Scott Ingram. Happy Friday everyone. Here’s Jack Wilson with today’s tip:

Jack Wilson: What’s going on Daily Sales Tips Community. Jack Wilson back with another tip. And this might actually be my first official tip of 2023. But lately, we’ve been talking a lot about culture, specifically sales culture within the Sales Success Community. We’ve been discussing how do you know if you’re in a good one. Because I think we pretty much all know when we’re part of a bad one, or how do we identify if we’re about to join a good one, when we’re going through a job search? Or how do we help foster a positive or good sales culture?

I believe that it actually all starts with understanding that the whole is not greater than the sum of its parts. The whole just is the sum of its parts. And you are one of those parts. In your contribution to that whole, and to the other parts are just as critical as your contribution to yourself in that regard.

So what I want to urge you to do is create a positive sales culture of one. And what does that look like?

I want you to think about what good culture means to you, because that term and even the qualifier of good means different things to different people.

For example, some people think good culture are companies that have happy hours. Well, personally, I happen to be pretty outgoing and gregarious, but I’m sort of an introvert. And at the end of smiling and being happy and personal all day, I kind of want to just hide in a corner and be left alone. So happy hours sometimes scare me away and you’ll find that I might not be present on all of those calls. Am I detracting from a good culture because that’s what my company believes leads to culture? I don’t think so.

Instead, what I can do is identify what good culture means to me, and I can live up to those espoused values every other day. Things like serving my customer, always having their needs at heart, being ethical, always doing what I say I’ll do, being kind, putting others before myself.

If I understand what a good culture means to me, and I live out those values every day, then the people around me are going to see what that looks like, and hopefully, I can create an environment for them to live up to their own values as well.

Then, as all these individual parts seek to be their authentic selves in a positive manner, we all come together as individual parts, adding up to a much greater sum.

Scott Ingram: Hopefully, you’ve already done this, but for links to connect with Jack, just click over to DailySales.Tips/1447. Once you’ve been over there, be sure to come right back here for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!

“Pricing on the 9 is appropriate when what you’re selling is a commodity or near commodity, like I said, but it should not be used, if what you’re selling is unique in some way and where you use the price to message value, message a uniqueness, message a unique value, then you should not price on the 9.” – Per Sjofors in today’s Tip 1446

What’s your thought about this?

Join the conversation below and learn more about Per!

Sjofors
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Transcript

Scott Ingram: You’re listening to the Daily Sales Tips podcast and I’m your host, Scott Ingram. Today’s tip comes from Per Sjofors. As a serial entrepreneur, running companies in Europe and the US, he did pricing experiments. Some of these worked spectacularly well, and some did not work at all. As a result, Per founded his company out of his frustration with what business schools teach about pricing. Here he is:

Per Sjofors: We are all familiar with pricing on the 9. You know, 9.99, 99.99, 999.99, and so forth, right? It could also be 49.99, et cetera.

Why is that?

Well, it’s because the way we look at it, as humans, if we look at 49.95, 49.99 versus 50. For us it’s a difference, one is 40 something and the other is 50 something because we just look at the very first number in the price. And so as we look at it, it may be a cent difference, it may be three cent, it may be five-cent difference. But in our minds, not for everybody, of course, but for many, it’s a $10 difference. And that’s why pricing on the 9 works.

But there is a catch with pricing on the 9. If you’re selling something that is a commodity or something very similar to commodity, a product or a service that essentially is very similar or identical to other products or services in your category, then pricing on the 9 is a good strategy. And going from, let’s say, 50 again to 49.99 or 49.95 or 49.97. 97 actually typically give you 3% higher sales volume than 99. So that’s also something to consider.

But pricing on the 9 is appropriate when what you’re selling is a commodity or near commodity, like I said, but it should not be used, if what you’re selling is unique in some way and where you use the price to message value, message a uniqueness, message a unique value, then you should not price on the 9.

So a little tips on how you can get more sales volume by pricing on the 9. And there is a reason why we see it all over the place, and that’s because it works. And it’s been proven that you can gain about up to 20% higher revenues by pricing on the 9.

Now, that doesn’t mean that you sell 20% more of the product or the service that you price on the 9. It means that the buyer spend more money in total, so they may buy other products and they may buy other services that they wouldn’t buy if you didn’t price on the 9. Hope this was valuable. Thank you.

Scott Ingram: For links to connect with Per, and to his book “The Price Whisperer: A Holistic Approach to Pricing Power”, just click over to DailySales.Tips/1446. Once you’ve done that. Be sure to come back tomorrow for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!

“Great performers don’t make excuses. They own it. They get feedback and they listen to the feedback. They’re coachable.” – Shari Levitin in today’s Tip 1445

Do you make excuses?

Join the conversation below and learn more about Shari!

Take the Quiz
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Heart and Sell: 10 Universal Truths Every Salesperson Needs to Know
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Transcript

Scott Ingram: You’re listening to the Daily Sales Tips podcast and I’m your host, Scott Ingram. Today’s tip comes from Shari Levitin. Shari helps sales teams bridge the gap between beating quota and selling with an authentic, heartfelt approach. LinkedIn recognized her as a Top Ten Voice in Sales and Salesforce distinguished her as a Top 20 Global Sales Expert. Here she is:

Shari Levitin: People don’t really have an objection about price. The real objection is we didn’t raise the value. It’s easy for a customer to say it’s too expensive.

Now, what do you do when you get a price objection and the customer says it’s too expensive?

Well, you’ve got to see if that’s the real objection and the only objection. And I’m telling you, nine times out of ten, it’s an excuse. And sellers love excuses because, oh, gosh, then they don’t have to take responsibility. So much easier to say, oh, there’s inflation. My Venus is in retrograde. The price is too high because then I don’t own it.

There’s actually a study done from a company named Primary Intelligence. They’re a win-loss company. And what they did is they surveyed customers who didn’t purchase. So they went through hundreds, maybe thousands of customers who decided not to buy. And they said, what’s the real reason you didn’t buy that product or service?

Well, they usually cited a number of things, but before I tell you what they are, then they asked the sellers, why do you think that you didn’t get the deal?

Invariably, the sellers say, oh, it was too expensive or the timing wasn’t right, something that had nothing to do with them.

The customer said the reason that they didn’t buy is because the seller didn’t uncover their needs. That’s right. The seller didn’t uncover their needs.

So, sellers, you’re making excuses as to why your customer doesn’t buy because I’ve done it too. It protects our ego. Great performers don’t make excuses. They own it. They get feedback and they listen to the feedback. They’re coachable.

Scott Ingram: For links to plenty more from Shari, just click over to DailySales.Tips/1445. Once you’ve done that, be sure to come back tomorrow for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!

“Why is this important? Because how we do one thing is how we do everything.” – Ian Koniak in today’s Tip 1444

What’s your thought about this?

Join the conversation below and go check out the full presentation!

Ian Koniak on LinkedIn
Ian Koniak Sales Coaching
Habits of Sales Champions – Ian Koniak (Summit Presentation)
Habits of Sales Champions – 2022 Sales Success Summit Presentation
You Are NOT Your Number – 2021 Sales Success Summit Presentation

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Transcript

Scott Ingram: You’re listening to the Daily Sales Tips podcast and I’m your host, Scott Ingram. Today I’ve got a clip from the full audio from Ian Koniak’s presentation at least year’s Sales Success Summit that we just shared over on the Sales Success Stories podcast today. This was the top-rated presentation at the Summit, something Ian has now done two years in a row and he’s working to do it again at this year’s Summit. This clip captured what became a consistent them of the Summit and is more or less a core set of values for the Sales Success Community. Listen to this:

Ian Koniak: So we got to take a step back and get to really what matters. If you want to know it, three things make people happy in the long run. There’s three things.

Number one is connection. By far, meaningful connection with your family, with your friends, with your loved ones, with your partner. Making time for connections. That’s why I have lunch with my wife and we do all these date nights.

The second thing is growth. Feeling like we are growing and getting better and getting stronger. Feeling like we are becoming ourselves.

And the third thing is contribution. Feeling like what we do matters. That’s why I’m up here right now. It would have been easy not to come here, having run a marathon, but that’s not about me. It’s about helping others. Okay.

So connection, growth, and contribution. These things on the right, all of them. The growth, the first four is growth, right? Running, cold showers, prayer. It’s self-growth. The middle part is connections. Contribution is just my work and just the nature of what I’m doing now. So looking at those buckets, that’s what we want to do. So that’s habit number one is addition by subtraction.

Now, why is this important? Because how we do one thing is how we do everything. If you’re doing shit in your personal life that’s going to affect how you work, it’s impossible not to. You can’t just turn on one work bone and then go outside. It bleeds into it. Fundamentally, you can’t flood yourself with dopamine in your free time, and do deep work in the day, doesn’t work. And the reason why is because it determines how we physically feel and it determines our brain, right? But if you’re doing stuff outside of work that’s actually fostering those deeper connections and helping you, like being disciplined outside of work, that discipline is going to carry over into your work. How we do one thing is how we do everything. Bad habits, personal lead to bad habits at work and vice versa.

Scott Ingram: For a link to the full presentation audio on Sales Success Stories, the complete videos from Ian’s last two top-rated presentations as well as more about his coaching programs, just click over to DailySales.Tips/1444. Once you’ve done that, be sure to come back tomorrow for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!

“Remember, confidence takes practice and consistent persistent wears out resistance 100% of the time.” – Meshell Baker in today’s Tip 1443

Do you have confidence?

Join the conversation below and go check out the links!

1429: The ABC’s of Sales – ACTION
1436: The ABC’s of Sales – BOLD
Meshell Baker on LinkedIn
Meshell Baker on Youtube
Subscribe to Meshell’s Mailing List

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Transcript

Scott Ingram: You’re listening to the Daily Sales Tips podcast and I’m your host, Scott Ingram. Today Meshell Baker, the Sales Confidence Igniter, is back with the next installment of her multi-part series. Here she is:

Meshell Baker: Hello and as we’re calming down the alphabet. Today’s ABC’s of Sales, letter C is Confidence. One of my favorite words, if you don’t know already. Confidence is the belief in yourself. It’s the conviction that you meet life challenges and face them with the faith that you will succeed regardless of the challenge. It’s the willingness to act as if you’ve already succeeded regardless of the challenge.

The interesting thing is most of our population and most sales professionals and sales leaders are not confident. It’s the top performers, the high-performing people that are the most confident. Those are the people that ooze this natural sense of self-esteem and strength and work that you’re just amazed at how they can glide through a room and seamlessly interact with everybody in the room. No matter what that person’s status or stature, they stay that same level of confidence no matter what.

So how can you build that level of confidence?

Well, first I need you to give yourself a break. You already have some level of belief in yourself. First and foremost, you would not have taken the sales job or you would not have taken the promotion to sales leader if you did not believe that you were capable. Just that you might have lost it or might have waned or weakened in the face of the circumstances.

And the other thing to realize is that you must be patient. Confidence takes time. Confidence is a repetitious, consistent, day-in, day-out activity that you need to build your greatest strength and your belief that you are your own number one fan.

Confidence takes time. You want to feel good about yourself. You can’t do it until you have decided that you are your own number one fan. And that’s going to take time, especially if you’re listening to this and you’re struggling. It’s going to take time. And the thing that’s so interesting about this is that you don’t know when it’s going to happen. And I promise you, when you’re consistent with the next few things I tell you, you will have the confidence that I speak of.

Invest in your natural skills. What do you already have a knack for? What are you already good at? Take some time. If it’s not tied to sales, then make it a hobby. Find some things that you’re naturally good at and improve upon them. And then watch how you improve. And then apply those same principles to the places that you struggle. You’re already good at some things. Learn to be better at those things and expand your ability to be good at anything.

Accept your emotions. People get upset that they have senses of fear, anxiety, overwhelmed doubt. It’s a natural part of being a human. Accept it and then decide how you’re going to move forward regardless of it. See, when you run from it, when you fight it, when you feel bad about it, you can’t control it. It controls you. When you face the emotion and accept, you know what? I feel a little insecure right now. That’s normal. Most everybody feels insecure at some point in their life. And even when I feel this insecure, I’m still going to go ahead and make that sales call. I’m still going to go ahead and make that cold call. I’m still going to go ahead and make that presentation. Accept your emotions and decide that you’re going to move forward regardless of what they tell you.

Track what’s going well. This is incredible. You must take some time every day to applaud yourself and feel good about some of the things you’re doing. If you don’t, you’ll never feel good.

And the final thing is rephrase yourself talk. Begin to talk about yourself as if you’ve already succeeded, even when you haven’t. I’m amazing. I am successful. I am passing my number. I am incredible. People never forget who I am once they meet me. People want to call me back. You must make a habit of repeating and establishing the pattern of encouraging and affirming yourself every day, throughout the day, so that you can become the person you want to be.

Remember, confidence takes practice and consistent persistent wears out resistance 100% of the time. Have a great day selling.

Scott Ingram: For links to connect with Meshell, just click over to DailySales.Tips/1443. Once you’ve done that, be sure to come back tomorrow for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!

“If you want to get good at sales, learn to ask more questions, write down your goals, make them specific, and look at the outcome, predict the sale, see it in your mind, and then you’ll be a lot, lot, lot more successful.” – Kelly Shaw in today’s Tip 1442

Are you good at sales?

Join the conversation below and learn more about Kelly!

Kelly Shaw on LinkedIn
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Transcript

Scott Ingram: You’re listening to the Daily Sales Tips podcast and I’m your host, Scott Ingram. Today’s tip comes from Kelly Shaw. Kelly wants to help 10,000 Entrepreneurs become Millionaires in the next 8 years. He has a passion for sales and salespeople. He has traveled internationally to speak to thousands of students of sales, educating them and helping them to discover and realize their full potential. Here he is:

Kelly Shaw: Hey everyone. Hope you’re having a great day. I’m sitting here in Albufeira, Portugal, on a houseboat along the Gold Coast, enjoying life, traveling the world, and living life on purpose. And people ask me all the time, like, aren’t you afraid to do something like that because you’re in sales? And I go, well, no. Sales is the most stable job in the world and the most predictable if you’re good at what you do.

So here’s a couple of things that you can do so that your career is predictable and you can make money, serve more people, make an impact in the world, and actually live your life on purpose.

So number one, when you’re in a sales process, always look at the outcome first and predict it. I learned from Tony Robbins to look at the end of the sale like it’s happening. So when I would pull up to somebody’s house and I probably have one shot to actually create value, close the sale, and to help them reposition their money to better, safer places with a better return. I would see myself coming out of that door before I ever went in and shaking their hand and saying; Congratulations, you made a great choice.

The other thing is to learn to ask the right questions. Like why? Why is a great question. Like, Mr. Jones, why are you doing this now? Why are you thinking of doing this now? You’ve tried to lose weight in the past. Why is this going to be any different? There was something about our ad that you saw. What was it? And why today? And why me? Learn to ask better questions.

Another thing is, I have to go back to the 1950s study on people graduated from Harvard. 1500 people were interviewed. 3% actually had specific goals that were written down, and they followed up 20 years later. Every one of those 3% that had specific written down goals achieved all those goals or more. Yet the other people, very few of them actually achieved a whole lot. And a lot of them said it was just circumstances and luck, but they didn’t actually design their life.

So if you want to get good at sales, learn to ask more questions, write down your goals, make them specific, and look at the outcome, predict the sale, see it in your mind, and then you’ll be a lot, lot, lot more successful. God bless. Have a great day.

Scott Ingram: For links to connect with  Kelly, just click over to DailySales.Tips/1442. You’ll also find the original video version of this tip with a pretty cool background. Once you’ve clicked over there, be sure to click back here for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!

“Greatness in sales ultimately comes down to tapping into your own greatness.” – Scott Ingram in today’s Tip 1441

Will you be economically viable in 10 years without transforming in some way?

Join the conversation below and feel free to share your thoughts!

PwC Global CEO Survey
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Transcript

Scott Ingram: You’re listening to the Daily Sales Tips podcast and I’m your host, Scott Ingram. The World Economic Forum or WEF Conference happened in Davos this week.

I saw an interesting article that referenced a study that PwC conducted that said: “Nearly 40% of CEOs surveyed said their organizations wouldn’t be economically viable in 10 years if they don’t transform.” I thought that was a pretty alarming number, but then I started to think about it personally and what it means to sales professionals.

Will YOU be economically viable in 10 years without transforming in some way?

We spend a lot of time focusing on this quarter and this year, but how often do you look beyond that? When was the last time you considered your own 10-year time horizon?

Thinking about this for myself reminded me of a Bill Gates quote where he said: “Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.”

What can you do in 10 years? How can you transform yourself to be economically viable at the level you want to be at?

Give that some thought and then think about what you can do today to begin that transformation. Something to consider.

Also, I’ve got a link to the original article for you at DailySales.Tips/1441. Once you’ve clicked over there, be sure to click back here for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!

“When you have a competency model, you can look at each individual on your team, make sure they get the training that they need, make sure that they get the development that they need and the coaching that they need. This will level out your variability.” – Anthony Iannarino in today’s Tip 1440

How do you help your B2B sales team to hit aggressive targets?

Join the conversation below and learn more about Anthony!

The Sales Blog
Anthony’s books on Amazon
Anthony Iannarino on LinkedIn
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Have feedback? Want to share a sales tip? Call or text the Sales Success Hotline: 512-777-1442 or Email: [email protected]

Transcript

Scott Ingram: You’re listening to the Daily Sales Tips podcast and I’m your host, Scott Ingram. Today’s tip comes from Anthony Iannarino. Hopefully, you already know who Anthony is. He’s a keynote speaker, the author of The Sales Blog, and a whole bunch of great sales books. Here he is:

Anthony Iannarino: I’m the author of a book called Leading Growth, and that book is about the idea of how you consistently create net new risk revenue. But to do that, we have to have a conversation about something that’s really important, that doesn’t get much attention from sales leaders or sales managers. What we don’t pay attention to is the variability of sales performance between individuals.

So the question that I want to start with is how does one salesperson produce outstanding results while another salesperson struggles even to just get a second meeting? And the reason that these things happen is because there is a variability between each of these people. So some people have great skills, other people need help with those skills. So how does the sales force produce an uneven result when every salesperson that works for them works for the same company, they sell the same things, they have the same sales targets, they have the same prospects, they have the exact same managers, and they have the exact same competitors. And some people succeed and other people don’t succeed. And that’s what we need to work on because the variability between the individuals on your team is the variability in your result at the end of the year.

The way to even out the variability is to ensure that you have an effective sales approach, a modern sales approach, and not a legacy approach. So if any part of your first conversation with a client is talking about your company, talking about your clients, talking about your products and services, and then asking them what’s keeping them up at night, you’re practicing a legacy approach. And the legacy approach no longer works. So what you need is everyone on your team to do the right thing in the right way at the right time. So you can do the right thing in the wrong way at the right time and not get the result that you want. And you can do the right thing in the right way at the wrong time, and you still can’t get those results.

What we believe when we hire people is that this salesperson already knows how to sell because their resume showed that they had sales titles in the past and it looks like they have a pedigree. We give them way too much autonomy with too little discipline. Evening out this variability means that you need to train your sales force, you need to develop them, and you especially need to coach individuals and your teams. This means that you have to have a common approach. You have to have role-playing around good language choices, and you need to use your team meetings to increase your team’s sales effectiveness.

The way you want to do this is to get a competency model so you can adjust what you’re doing with your team and you can identify who’s got really strong skills in some of the things that you need to do to be successful and who is lagging and needs more help. When you have a competency model, you can look at each individual on your team, make sure they get the training that they need, make sure that they get the development that they need and the coaching that they need. This will level out your variability. I’m Anthony Iannarino, do good work and we look forward to talking to you soon.

Scott Ingram: For a link to the original video version of this tip, The Sales Blog, and Anthony’s books, just click over to DailySales.Tips/1440. Once you’ve done that, be sure to come back tomorrow for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!