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Articles about Colleen Francis (0-43 of 43)
- Will Your Ship Come In Today?
By: Colleen Francis | -
When I am working with private coaching clients I note that ninety-nine times out of a hundred, a lack of consistent revenues is caused by a lack of consistent prospecting. A failure to prospect on a regular basis will inevitably result in irregular revenues, and inconsistent commissions. It's that simple.
This is especially true when we're doing well. It can be so easy to forget about prospecting when we're wrapped up with following a dozen (or so) hot leads, who are ...
Tags: Colleen Francis, Engage Selling, sales professional, ship, p
- Don"t Overdo It!
By: Colleen Francis | -
Avoid the trap of overselling
Its every salespersons nightmare: the sale that unravels just before the deal has been closed. It happens more often than it should, and overselling is quite often the cause. As sales professionals, its important to recognize that this is a trap that we all can inadvertently set for ourselves. With a little forethought, however, we can learn to avoid making this costly mistake.
Overselling happens when we promise a customer ...
Tags: Colleen Francis, Engage Selling, sales professional, salespe
- Build A Client-retention System
By: Colleen Francis | - Selling more in less time includes making sure
you look after existing clients
In an earlier article, I spoke about how important it is for sales professionals to fine-tune the way they attract new clients. The same is true of client retentions. To become a top-ranked sales professional (and to stay there), its vital to have a system running all the time designed specifically to help you hang on to your existing clients so that they call you again and again for new busines ...
Tags: Colleen Francis, Engage Selling, sales people, client-retent
- Networking In The New Economy
By: Colleen Francis | - The art of branching out, without forgetting your roots
How can I do a better job of gathering new business and new prospects in todays market? Thats a question that I get asked quite often as a sales trainer. Indeed, the simplest answer is that you need to build and sustain a network. In particular, you need one that can help you can get the word out on the street about your products or services, help you build a name for yourself in your industry, and give you support ...
Tags: Colleen Francis, Engage Selling, sales professional, sales t
- Build A Client-attraction System
By: Colleen Francis | - A vital component in your selling arsenal in today's economy
Nineteenth-century Danish physicist Hans Christian Oersted gave the world a legacy of discoveries, including one that all of us in sales today can appreciate. Hear me out here, I promise this will be worth it! Oersted discovered electromagnetism, which we can all credit as the basis for many of the comforts of modern life. However, there's another angle to Oersted's story that I find compelling. Electromagnetism, his most ...
Tags: Colleen Francis, Engage Selling, Opportunities, business sal
- While You See A Chance, Take It."'
By: Colleen Francis | - Opportunities and how to create them for yourself
One of the biggest difficulties I have with recessions is that the bad news it generates tends to become like junk food: we know it"s bad for us and yet we eat it up anyways. It is far too easy to get caught up in who is on the losing end of things in a tough market, even though""and let"s face it""that"s what tends to sell in the news business these days.
Too often what"s overlooked is that there are great success stor ...
Tags: Colleen Francis, Engage Selling, Opportunities, business sal
- Building Your Personal Philosophy For Success
By: Colleen Francis | - Throughout my career as a sales person and as a sales trainer, Ive noticed that thetop 10% of professionals in this field all share a passion for what they do. Its not just that they have a knack for connecting with people and getting them to buy more goods or services more often. They also put a lot of thought into how they sell, how they work with people, and about why their personal approach works well for them. In essence, top performers have a personal philosophy for suc ...
Tags: Engage Selling, Colleen Francis, personal philosophy, sales
- Being Honest With Yourself
By: Colleen Francis | - Adapted from Honesty Sells (Wiley Publishing) by Colleen Francis and Steven Gaffney
Lying to yourself is one of the worst lies we can tell. First, when we lie to ourselves it affects our attitude and our ability to communicate with others. Second, acting like ourselves is more powerful than trying to act like someone else. That"s why honesty is more effective than mirroring personality profiling or other strategies that seek to forge a false bond with clients.
The top ...
Tags: Engage Selling, Colleen Francis, being honest, Lying, salesp
- Voicemail Basics
By: Colleen Francis | - More and more sales reps are complaining to me that they are getting stuck, cant get through, cant make direct contact and cant get a return call. And, if I can be frank, its no wonder! Have you listened to the quality of the voice mail messages being left by sales reps who call your office or home? I have. If the calls I am receiving are any indication, its no wonder you may be having trouble.
Lets start at the very beginning ...
Tags: Engage Selling, Colleen Francis, Voicemail Basics, profitabl
- Beware The Seven Deadly Sins Against Honesty In Sales
By: Colleen Francis | - Beware the seven deadly sins against honesty in sales
Throughout this series of articles on how you can be a top-ranked power seller in this new economy, I’ve concentrated on a range of activities that you can put into place right away to reach more customers and prospects and generate chart-topping sales. So far, I’ve talked a lot about the thing you need to do, but in this final piece in the series, let’s talk about what you need to avoid doing, so that you can ...
Tags: Business, Economy, organization, business strategy, boost sales, communication skills, new economy, seven deadly sins, customers, sales management, tr
- Engage Your Offence Strategy
By: Colleen Francis | - Engage your offence strategy
In the new economy that’s taking shape around all of us today, confidence and pride haven’t gone out of fashion (and thank goodness for that). However, they have to be earned by doing more than just showing up in the market and assuming that your clients will be waiting in the wings, ready to do business with you. You need to equip yourself with a sales strategy that’s geared for offence—not just because the stakes are higher, but ...
Tags: Business economy, sales strategy, market recession, perseverance, sales management, boost sales, Winston Churchill, offence strategy, sales profession
- Telugu Movie Vedio Songs
By: Aarongolden Struchkova | - Your movie reviews will follow this brief discussion on downloading. Type in phrases like "Music Downloads", or "Downloadable Movies Online" and see what you find. Different keyword phrases, like "Movie Download" will provide different results.
Hitch: Alex Hitchens is a profession hook up man. He helps men succeed with the women of their dreams, for a fee. He eventually meets the woman of his dreams. Will she love him when she learns who he really is?
Puzzle of Kaspar H ...
Tags: movies, computers, entertainment, arts, music, games, internet, marketing, technology, downloads, recreation and sports, recreation, leisure
- Get Management Out In The Field
By: Colleen Francis | - Seven ways you can boost sales and thrive in the new economy
Step #5: Get management out in the field
So far in this series of seven articles, weve looked at field-tested activities that you, the sales professional, can embrace today to generate dynamite growth in your sales, even in this new economy. Earlier, I shared with you how you can generate more sales from existing business relationships, and about how you can communicate in a manner that m ...
Tags: management, new prospects, Management guru, new economy, sel
- Be Shrewd And Creative About Who You Target
By: Colleen Francis | - Seven ways you can boost sales and thrive in the new economy
Step #4: Be shrewd and creative about who you target
No one could hit a baseball the way hall-of-famer Ted Williams could. He knew there was a lot more to becoming a home-run champ than just swinging hard at every pitch. To be a good hitter, Williams once said, you've got to get a good ball to hit.Heres a lesson in there for all of us as sales professionals to apply each ...
Tags: Colleen Francis, www.engageselling.com, Be shrewd, creative
- Obtain Testimonials From Customers
By: Colleen Francis | - Seven ways you can boost sales and thrive in the new economy
Step #3: Obtain testimonials from customers
So far in this series on boosting your sales and thriving in this new economy, weve looked at the importance of leveraging who you know, of considering carefully what you say and how you say it. Lets turn now to what your customers have to say about you, and why it is vitally important that you harness the power of word-of-mouth in sales. ...
Tags: credible opinions, Obtain testimonials, boost sales, new eco
- Boost Your Risk-busting Communications Skills
By: Colleen Francis | - Seven ways you can boost sales and thrive in the new economy
#2: Boost your risk-busting communications skills
In the new economy that is emerging around all of us, one of the key shifts were seeing is in the area of buyer motivation. Today, from consumers to corporate clients, the people who make the decision to buy have one big question on their minds: how can you help reduce my risk?
There are all kind of reasons why people sha ...
Tags: Colleen Francis, www.engageselling.com, communications skill
- Focus On Existing Relationships
By: Colleen Francis | - Seven ways you can boost sales and thrive in the new economy
#1: Focus on existing relationships
Its a different market out there today from the one that many of us have known for the last several years. Theres no disputing that this new economy presents plenty of challenges, and yet by adopting the right approach, its also an opportunity for sales professionals to actually thrive...even in a tough market. The secret to success in sales ...
Tags: Colleen Francis, www.engageselling.com, Focus on existing
- New Rules For A New Economy
By: Colleen Francis | - what successful sales people need to do to thrive in a changing marketplace
It's been called everything from an economic downturn to one of the most important challenges of this generation, and no matter how you choose to define the state of the economy today, everyone recognizes a simple fact: these are game-changing times. Old rules and old assumptions must yield to new ones. And indeed, that transformation is already taking place in businesses and professions of all kinds across N ...
Tags: Colleen Francis, New rules, new economy, successful, sales
- Make 2009 The Year You Reinvent Your Sales!
By: Colleen Francis | - Every January, no matter where you look-magazines, newspapers, TV-everybody talks about how it's time dive in and get a "new you" makeover. Reinventing yourself ought to be about more than just getting a new outfit and haircut. Why not start by making changes where it really counts-in your sales results! More sales in 2009 means more commissionswhich means you'll have more money to really spoil yourself later on.
The first step is to know where you stood at the end of 200 ...
Tags: year 2009, reinvent sales, Colleen Francis, www.engagesellin
- Caught In The End-of-the-year Trap?
By: Colleen Francis | - On the one hand, you've got pressure from your manager to close deals NOW! On the other, you're getting the put off from clients who want to call you back after the holidays, next year!
The end of the year is a time when both you and buyers have fires burning bright and often those priorities conflict with each other. Many times we find that buyers use other priorities as an excuse to put buying decisions on hold. This can be especially bad if your clients tend to be publically traded com ...
Tags: Year ends traps, Colleen Francis, engageselling.com, sales
- Connecting Emotionally:a Vital Way To Build Deeper, Meaningful Business Relationships
By: Colleen Francis | - It's no secret that lasting success in sales, no matter what kind of market you're working in, relies on building and maintaining long-term business relationships with your clients. Indeed, most of us get plenty of advice on activities we can do to help make that happen-from follow-up calls to thank-you notes. As a sales trainer, I've noticed that what's often missing from that advice is a recognition of what needs to come firstthe missing element that is at the root of all great communic ...
Tags: Connecting emotionally, Colleen Francis, engageselling.com
- Two Magic Words That Help You Get The Results You Want
By: Colleen Francis | -
"The trouble with salespeople is that they'll say anything to make a sale." It's a common complaint and while it's true that there are indeed some who give into that kind of temptation, it's doubtful that you'll ever find one who is successful for very long. Top sales performers get to where they are-and stay there-because they are disciplined at what they do and because they communicate persuasively. This includes being choosy with their words-the opposite of saying anything-so they con ...
Tags: Colleen Francis, www.engageselling.com, because, never, sale
- Get Your Customers To Stick To You Like Velcro.
By: Colleen Francis | - Uncover new business through reactivation and retention.
It's no secret that finding new customers is both time consuming and expensive, but it's worth noting just how much it could be costing you and your organization-no matter what kind of business you're in.
According to Frederick F. Reichheld, author of The Loyalty Effect: The Hidden Force Behind Growth, Profits and Lasting Value, companies in America on average lose half their customers in five years and half their emp ...
Tags: Colleen Francis, www.engageselling.com, customers, Velcro
- Break Open The Voicemail Clamshell
By: Colleen Francis | -
Being effective at prospecting requires that you maintain a steady pace with your sales calls. That's how you ensure your sales funnel remains large enough so that you meet your sales targets year after year (and remember, that funnel has to be three times the value of your targets). In making those calls to new leads and prospects, sales people often complain to me that when they are intercepted by someone's voicemail, it too often becomes a black hole. No matter what you put into it ...
Tags: Voicemail clamshell, Colleen Francis, www.engageselling.com
- The Art Of Letter Writing- Don't Underestimate The Power Of "from Me To You"
By: Colleen Francis | -
One of the most important characteristics that sets top sales performers apart from mediocre sales people is the willingness to try new ideas on a regular basis. Rather than adopting a mindset of no sense doing something that nobody else does," achievers recognize new ideas as opportunities to stand out from the crowd.
I want to share with you one of those "new" ideas today-and that's the art of writing letters. Granted, some of you reading this might be tempted to say "but ...
Tags: letter writing art, Colleen Francis, business letters, sales
- Ten Things You Absolutely Need To Know About Prospecting
By: Colleen Francis | -
Ask any successful sales person and they'll likely admit to you that one of the cold, hard facts about this profession is that you can't sell to everyone. There is always going to be somebody who, for some reason at some time, either will not or cannot buy from you. That's why prospecting is absolutely vital. In fact, it's the number-one activity that you need to do daily-and do well-to achieve long-term success as a sales professional.
Prospecting outranks every other skill and e ...
Tags: ten things know about prospecting, Colleen Francis, success
- Passion Is No Ordinary Word-channelling The Sales Professional In Every Entrepreneur
By: Colleen Francis | -
As a sales trainer, I work with people from all walks of life who share a common goalthey want to learn how to emulate the success enjoyed by the top-ten percent of sales professionals in organizations both large and small.
People have many reasons to be motivated to attain that kind of success and in my experience entrepreneurs are especially driven. Here's why. For them, it's not just a job that's on the line, it's everything. Their livelihood is at s ...
Tags: Colleen Francis, Passion, Channels sales professionals, risk
- Five Simple Things You Can Do Every Day To Improve Your Bottom Line
By: Colleen Francis | -
Whether you're a business owner or part of a company's sales team, it's important to keep your finger on the pulse of the number-one activity that keeps your organization thriving, and that's client prospecting.
New business and repeat sales both put money in the till but this won't happen if you don't have anyone to sell to. However, prospecting is more than just broadening your social network. It's about finding who can and will buy what you ...
Tags: Colleen Francis, five simple things, improve bottom lines,
- The Amazing Power Of Testimonials
By: Colleen Francis | -
The amazing power of testimonials
For any sales professional interested in selling more to more people in less time, testimonials are an absolutely vital part of the formula for success. If you’re not using them in your business right now, you are missing out on one of the most useful and under-used sales tools...ever!
I have some thoughts on why most people don’t use testimonials anyw ...
Tags: sales professional, sales tools, legendary businessman, powerful testimonial, Great Depression, painful stories, amazing power, persuasive powers, pur
- Overcoming Customer Objections
By: Colleen Francis | -
Untitled Document
Overcoming Customer Objections
A Q&A with Colleen Francis
The following was adapted from an interview conducted by Dan Walker, host of SalesRepRadio – a weekly podcast offering tips, best practices and expert advice for sales professionals across North America and around the world.
Q: As sales reps, one of the major obstacles we encounter in doing our jobs ...
Tags: customer objections, sales training, sales process, product delivered, price objection, competitors, price range, cheapest product, big investment, sa
- The Good Karma Of Being Nice
By: Colleen Francis | -
Untitled Document
The good karma of being nice:
Steps you can take to influence behavior and get the sales results you want
I’m a big believer in the focusing on basics. Never mind the elaborate “selling systems” or prefab scripts that are out there. The single most important thing you can do to improve your sales performance in any kind of organization is this: be nice to people. ...
Tags: selling systems, sales performance, kind gesture, consistent, sales professional, sales approaches, Being nice, power of goodwill, personal relationsh
- Throwing Away The Sales Script
By: Colleen Francis | -
Throwing away the sales script
Master the skill of cold calling and supercharge your earning potential
Cold calling—the words alone can strike dread in the heart of even the most unshakeable among us. It’s no secret that there is a real fear out there about having to make these kinds of calls. If you’re in sales, cold calling is likely an important part of how you’re expected to f ...
Tags: cold calling, sales professionals, sales record, sales performers, voicemail message, favorite customer, success stories, awkward sales, voicemail pic
- The Key To Acknowledgement
By: Colleen Francis | -
The key to acknowledgement
A powerful driving force in all customers and sales people is the desire to make a difference. We want to see that our lives count and we need to feel that we matter to someone, that we are noticed and important. That’s why acknowledgement is important. To acknowledge someone is to say: I see you. You are significant. I understand you…I admire you. This is the c ...
Tags: over acknowledge someone, support behaviors, customers, sales people, Human selling, empathetic, gesture, organization, compassionate, true intent, wa
- Ready Set Change
By: Colleen Francis | - Last month, I was able to participate in one of my favorite pastimes: I went on vacation. Specifically to my favorite place the beach!
For many sales professionals, this is a big, big event. The Vacation! For me, it isn't. Why? Because I actually love my regular non-working life, i.e. personal life.
I always find it interesting when people don't, and who refuse to do anything about it, even insisting they can't. In the past month alone I've listened to f ...
Tags: Ready set change, Favorite pastimes, beach vacations, sales professionals, regular non-working life, Top performers, hogwash attitude.
- To Thine Own Self Be True: Five Steps For Dealing With Angry Customers
By: Colleen Francis | - To Thine Own Self Be True:
Five steps for dealing with angry customers
By COLLEEN FRANCIS
Every sales person will have at least one difficult customer during their career.
In fact, some experts argue that if you don't have at least one angry customer by 10:00 a.m., you aren't trying hard enough! While I'm not sure I subscribe to that particular philosophy, I do know that you can't please all the people all the time. Nor should you s ...
Tags: Dealing with angry customers, sales person, difficult loyal customer, customers arguments philosophy, attitude, Never argue, once profitable relations
- Dont Get Down Get Better! What To Do When You're Having A Bad Day
By: Colleen Francis | - Don't Get Down Get Better!
What to do when you're having a bad day
BY COLLEEN FRANCIS
We've all had em.
Days where everything that could go wrong, somehow does.
Every sales call ends in a no. Every meeting goes wrong, and it always seems to be your fault. Even your best clients, closest friends or family members suddenly seem like they're no longer on your side.
No one can control when a ...
Tags: dont get down get better, Colleen Francis, sales call, best clients, character building days, negative tension, skill of awareness, muscle rel
- Getting Inside The Vortex
By: Colleen Francis | - An often-overlooked source of increased sales is your current customer list. I am constantly amazed at the number of sales professionals and companies that do nothing to encourage repeat sales, up sales and cross sales within their own customer list.
As I write this, many of my clients are struggling with how to ensure they finish their selling year at or above target. My message to you is go back to your current customer list.
Your customer list is your most import ...
Tags: VORTEX, increased sales, current customer list, sales professionals, encourage repeat sales, up sales, cross sales, struggling, selling year
- Negotiation Preparation = Negotiation Success
By: Colleen Francis | - Mediocre sales people are notoriously bad planners. It can be said that they habitually play more than they practice. Going into most sales interactions unprepared, thinking they can wing it and negotiating off the cuff. Top negotiators know differently. Top performers know that in order to successfully negotiate with clients they must plan carefully or risk being left vulnerable. Without proper strategy, your opponents will use your lack of preparedness to their adva ...
Tags: Negotiation Preparation, negotiate Success, bad planners, Top negotiators, Top performers, plan carefully, goals, powerful negotiation, positions
- Price, Price, Price!!!
By: Colleen Francis | - Six steps you can take to keep cut-rate competitors from stealing your customers
In the last article, we covered the top mistakes sales people make that can keep them from closing more business. Today, we're going to take a closer look at an all-too common problem: what you can do to close an existing customer when your competition keeps lowering their price.
All sales reps face competition. And nothing is more frustrating than having your competition offer to ...
Tags: Price, Six steps, cut-rate competitors, stealing your customers, Colleen Francis, sales people, competition, reduced prices, save money, increase prof
- No Free Gifts!
By: Colleen Francis | - And Other Negotiation Advice Designed to Keep Your Value High and Your Customers Happy
Despite your best attempts to sell value and remain firm on your price, some clients will press ahead with their request for a discount. After a solid attempt from you to reassure them that your price is fair, if your prospect is still pushing for a discount, you have a choice. Walk away from the business because you want to maintain your price or slowly start to give concessions in an attempt t ...
Tags: No Free Gifts, request discount, maintain price, profitable negotiation, Money back guarantee, non monetary concession, managing customer expectations
- Know Your Customer
By: Colleen Francis | - 4 tips for increasing your customer retention rate
It's much easier and more profitable to keep an existing customer than it is to land a new one.
Don't believe me? Just look at the numbers.
Research tells us that most North American companies lose half of their customers every five years. We also know that as little as a five-percent increase in customer retention can increase profits by a whopping 75-95 percent. While this percentage can vary by i ...
Tags: Know Your Customer, 4 tips for increasing your customer, profitable, motivates, customer retention, criteria for success, consistent, challenges
- Looking Back To Plan Ahead: 4 Steps To Success In 2007
By: Colleen Francis | - Regardless of when your fiscal year ends, January is a great time to start thinking seriously about your business goals, and your sales plan for the year. Of course, it's always a great idea to plan ahead. But don't make the mistake of setting new goals for your career without first reflecting on your accomplishments - and your shortcomings - from 2006.
This isn't always an easy (or pleasant) task. But to truly control the direction you take this year, you need to be fully aware o ...
Tags: sales, success, goals, plan, objective, prospects,
- Why The Bottom Line Isn't
By: Colleen Francis | - Recently, I've been coaching a number of clients who work in highly competitive industries. It's not uncommon for these clients to have upwards of 30 direct competitors apiece - and that's just in the same town!
One subject that has been coming up a lot lately is what to do when the competition keeps dropping their prices. If you and your competitor sell the exact same product, this can be an extremely difficult situation. Regardless of how many times you remind them that "you get ...
Tags: sales, coaching, competitive, profit, selling, customers, prospects, bottom line
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