Sales Articles

Should A Manager Be Liked?

Why are some managers more effective than others?   In the last few decades there has been a substantial amount of research that has verified the specific behaviors that can increase management effectiveness. One of the most surprising research findings was that great managers are liked by those they manage.  The following are four reasons why management likeability is essential.

How To Sell With Integrity

There is no doubt that integrity matters in business and sales.  To become a successful sales person, you must be trustworthy, honest and dependable.  In today’s transparent marketplace, salespeople who will do or say anything to earn a sale are a liability that is simply bad for business. 

How To Create A Sales Compensation Plan

If you are a sales or business leader how can you create a sales compensation plan that will improve sales results?  Here are four rules that will help guide you in devising highly effective pay plans.

Laugh Your Way to More Sales

Greg was a sales person that I will never forget.  He would often barrage prospects with a seemingly endless supply of sarcastic remarks.  Though his first quip would usually inspire a grin, as the attempts at humor continued, prospects would become annoyed and then attempt to disengage from the sale.  In the end, Greg’s ineffective use of humor cost him sales. Unfortunately, Greg is not alone.  Many sales people struggle …

How to Upsell

One way that you can boost your sales is by upselling.  Yet, what is the most effective way to create these opportunities?   Here are four strategies that will increase the likelihood that prospects will respond favorably to your upselling attempts. 

How Science Can Help You Sell More

How can you increase your sales?  This is where behavioral science – the study of how the human brain makes choices and which factors influence what we say, how we act, and what we decide to buy  – can help.  Here’s three science-backed principles that will increase your sales success.

3 Ways Behavioral Science Can Increase Your Sales

Education, marketing and economics are just a few of the growing number of disciplines that have realized that the insights derived from behavioral science are just too significant to ignore.  Even the United States Government has recently stated that it will begin using behavioral science to design policies to better serve its citizens.  Yet, nowhere can the research-backed insights from behavioral science make more impact than in selling.

What is Science-Based Selling?

What enables one salesperson to outsell another? Why does one sales process produce superior results, while others do not? The good news is there’s a clear, science-based answer to these questions. Over the past few decades, there has been an explosion of scientific research on how the human brain makes choices and which factors influence what we say, how we act, and what we decide to buy. Today we know …

What Causes Low Sales Results?

In the profession of sales we have an alarming problem:  many of the most commonly used and taught sales behaviors have been scientifically shown to drive down performance?  For example, a study published in the Harvard Business Review, analyzed the sales calls of 800 sales people.  The results were that only 37% of the sales people exhibited behaviors that increased the likelihood of the sale.  The remaining 63% behaved in …

Why Sales Simulations Should Replace Ride-alongs

In the past, many salespeople learned how to sell by observing other experienced sales reps on sales calls.  In fact, for some companies, these ride-alongs were a central part of the on-boarding process.  However, with the recent breakthroughs in the scientific understanding of how the brain learns and how expert performance is achieved, there is now an ocean of evidence that has shown that these ride-alongs are highly ineffective at …

7 Scientifically Proven Ways To Increase Your Charisma

Some people just seem to have it.  The way they communicate energizes others and causes people to want to be around them.  They have what is commonly referred to as charisma.  This is no small matter because charisma improves the likelihood of success in almost every area of life.  Charismatic people are able to inspire others to take what they say seriously and act on it.  Because of its importance, …

What Science Says Creates Sales Success

In the past, the factors that underlined sales success were thought to be a mixture of innate talent, timing and luck.  However, because of modern breakthroughs in behavioral science, there has been a codification of the causal behaviors that empower heightened levels of performance.  These behaviors are learnable and anyone who adopts them will significantly increase the likelihood of achieving their goals. The following are 3 scientifically proven principles of …