Sales Leadership with Jim Pancero

Too many salespeople are afraid to ask for the order. They're either afraid they’ll seem too pushy or they don't know the steps to getting a buyer to say yes.

The close is not the most critical step in the selling process, especially when you’re successful implementing the first steps of their call. If you've effectively lowered their resistance, asked questions, and presented solid solutions, then your closure will be e...

I ask my sales training attendees to identify the slimiest salespeople they’ve ever met. Most identify a specific industry like time shares or used car sales.

I next explain, the difference between a trusted advisor to a customer and somebody who's slimy and pushy is not in the steps of a sales call. They’re all using the same steps. The differences are in how they utilize the steps.

High pressure slime ball salespeople f...

Blitz Days are based on team members blocking their calendars for a specific date agreeing, if at all possible, to not be calling on existing customers. The entire day is devoted to prospecting for new accounts and stopping by to identify new contacts to be talking to. 

Today even walking into an account is a challenge since there are few secretaries or receptionists anymore to greet you. But your reps can still identify compan...

Effective sales leadership is based on mastering four distinct skill sets to increase your team’s success, persuasiveness, and stability.

The first skill set, taking the majority of most manager’s time, is solving problems and fighting fires. 

The second skill set involves managing your team’s “performance numbers.”

Most sales leaders are good at these first two skills. But for too many, these first ...

Do you know anyone who doesn’t trust salespeople? They're afraid of being taken advantage of and not being told the truth. Do your buyers trust and believe your reps are committed to their best interests? 

Three ideas to help build even more buyer trust… 

1st - Make sure reps have a “No Surprises” selling philosophy. If a delivery is delayed, are they immediately alerting their buyer? Are your propo...

Give one of your rep’s a new sales lead…what will they do first?  

Sadly, most immediately grab their phones calling the lead to get a conversation, or even better, schedule a face-to-face appointment.

But these reactive “Ready – Fire – Aim” people are just “shooting into a darkened room.” It’s kind of hard to hit something if you don’t know what you’re aiming fo...

Successful selling today demands we master both sides. But most salespeople only gravitate to one side, and that side is usually the intuitive art side. 

It used to be having the “gift for gab” was all that was needed to be successful. But today, with tougher competitors, less product differentiation and less time in front of buyers, sales pros also need more structure, more consistency and more process controls.

How...

How many of your reps could be selling more…if they just put more energy into their territory? How you motivate your people and get them energized is a critical component of effective sales leadership.

There are four simple rules of motivation. The first rule is you can't motivate anybody to do anything. The reason you can’t is due to the second rule… you can’t motivate anyone because everybody is already h...

Are your reps only bragging about what they’ve got instead of focusing on the benefits your buyers will get?

How many of your reps sell utilizing a self-focused approach. How many were taught a “feature-benefit” presentation style?

“A feature of this pen is the cap fits on the base. The benefit to you, the buyer, is it can improve the quality of your presenter’s handwriting.”

Look how the rep is bra...

One of the best ways to increase your team’s effectiveness (and sales) is to not respond with the same answers everybody else gives when asked “Why do I want to buy from you?”

Ask this question of your reps and you’re likely to hear… “Because of our high-quality products, strong levels of support, our competitive prices (we’re not the cheapest but we are competitive) and you get me!”&...

There are three skill sets a salesperson needs to master to achieve long-term success in selling. We can view this as three points on a triangle.

The first skill area, and triangle point, is strong relationship skills so your buyers like and trust you.

The second area, or triangle point, is your industry and product knowledge so you understand their business bringing them technical solutions that can save them money, make their life ...

How much time do you spend fighting fires and fixing problems compared to actually coaching…and leading your team? Will you be able to spend more time this year being more of a coach conducting account planning and strategizing with your salespeople?

Too many sales managers are so busy selling in their own territory, helping their team close deals and handling problems that they have little time left to actually help improve ...

Most businesses assume their employees understand, and are following, their company’s values and ethics. But for most it’s also been a while since management actually talked with their employees to review the values and ethics expected. 

Values, ethics, professionalism, and trust have become such critical foundations of competitive buying today. Buyers have become so distrustful of salespeople. 

We need to make ...

Are your reps in a “selling rut,” going through the same motions, making the same calls and saying the same things to the same buyers day after day? 

Have any of your reps lost any of their selling energy? How many don't have as much spark compared to when they first began selling? 

You can help your team be more effective by giving them a shot of energy and excitement by doing something different that can help ...

A great way to increase the effectiveness and impact on your customers is to make sure all members of your team interacting with buyers have all the persuasive and problem-solving skills needed. Whether it be a delivery person, inside salesperson, administration, or counter sales.

Too many businesses only train and work with their outside sales reps and do nothing to improve the persuasive skills of their support teams. The goal is ...

Are your people giving up too early? How many voicemails will your reps leave before they abandon a sales lead? Zig Ziglar was famous for his motivational talk explaining how an old farm pump and selling have so much in common.  

The idea of the farm pump was the analogy that the pump was just like selling. He talked about how you have to pump and pump and pump with nothing coming out, but you can't give up. 

He also pointe...

Business decisions used to be very hierarchical. The company owner or department head would make the final decision after getting input from their team. Selling in the past focused on getting to that single, top decision maker.

Decisions today are much more consensus oriented. Even though one person in charge is still responsible for making that final decision, today they’ll first get input and agreement from their team about ...

Ever hear of the selling concept called “Second Step Selling?” Step one is satisfying your buyer’s needs so, Step two, they’ll satisfy your needs by giving you their business.

The only way we can get what we want is by first making sure we do something that brings our buyer value by either lowering their buying risk, making their life easier, increasing their profitability (or lowering their cost), or increas...

Have you noticed most sales reps today do not think or plan enough moves ahead? Most don't even know until the Fall what they still need to do to achieve their annual quota.

There's a great exercise you can conduct throughout the year called the “100% Forecast” that can help reps better understand what they still need to do to have a successful selling year. 

Each month reps prepare a forecast listing all the account...