A Sales Compass – A Blog by B2B Sales Connections

Email is becoming a very important business correspondence tool, however few people use it to communicate effectively.  Here are some tips:

• Keep your email short and to the point.  Always think to yourself, what is the purpose of this email?  Know what you want and what you are asking for, and then make a short and specific request for it.
• If you are responding to an email, always answer every question that was asked.  Just before you hit send, re-read the original email and make sure.
• Don’t make every email “high priority”.  Remember the old story about the child who cried wolf?  If you make every email urgent, none of them will be treated as such.
• Keep it on a business level.  Smiley faces and shortcuts like “lol” are not generally understood, nor are they considered professional.  Spelling and grammar also count.  Using all capital letters is considered rude.
• Don’t copy someone in on the email unless it is absolutely necessary.  This just clutters everyone’s inbox and can be confusing for the copied person because they may not be sure if they are supposed to respond or not.

For more excellent tips on email etiquette, check out www.emailreplies.com.

Aim Higher!

Susan A. Enns, B2B Sales Connections
www.b2bsalesconnections.com, www.linkedin.com/in/susanenns or www.twitter.com/SusanEnns

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Is sales training really necessary?  To answer that question, you need to look at the facts.  (more…)

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Do you need ideas for discussion topics for your sales meetings?  Create a file folder labeled “Sales Meeting Ideas” and keep it handy.  As discussion topics pop up during the week, just place a reminder note into the file.  On the day before the meeting when you are preparing your agenda, review your file and choose a theme for your next meeting. 

For example, if a new order process procedure is resulting in a number of questions from the sales people, you could write a note for your file to remind you to arrange for someone from the Order Processing Department to speak at your meeting.  Or if you read a newsletter with a great sales tip, put it in your folder so that you share it with your team.

As a general rule of thumb, if you receive the same question from two different sales people in a short period of time, it is an excellent topic for a sales meeting.  It’s not that the others on your team don’t want to ask the same question, they just haven’t gotten around to it yet.  Answer a question individually, and you will have to answer it several times, but answer it in a sales meeting, and you answer it only once.

For some sales tips that you can use in your sales meetings, check us out at www.b2bsalesconnections.com/sales_resource.php.

Aim Higher!

Susan A. Enns, B2B Sales Connections
www.b2bsalesconnections.com, www.linkedin.com/in/susanenns, or www.twitter.com/SusanEnns

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What do Small – Midsized business owners in Ontario need to know about the impact of HST?

Recently, I had the pleasure of speaking with Rosalyn Cronin a Certified Management Accountant, author and networking associate.  Rosalyn has the ability to take difficult accounting concepts and truly keep it simple for most business people who don’t have a financial background. 

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Before you place a job ad and start to interview candidates, ask yourself if you know exactly what you are looking for.  What are the sales skills required to be successful at selling your product?  What are the personality traits of your top performers?    Take the time to clearly define your perfect sales professionals so that you will recognize it when you see them.  There is not one definition of the ideal sales candidate that fits everyone, but there is one definition that fits you! 

Aim Higher!

Susan A. Enns, B2B Sales Connections
www.b2bsalesconnections.com,  www.linkedin.com/in/susanenns, or www.twitter.com/SusanEnns

For automated tools to help you with your sales recruiting, check out our Recruiting, Hiring & Human Resources Tool Kit at http://www.b2bsalesconnections.com/automated_tools.php

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Have a mindset that you report to your sales team, as opposed to them reporting to you as the sales manager.  Ask them what three things you can do to help them service their customers better.  If you make their lives easier and make it easier for them to sell, they will do a better job.  Customers will buy more, making your whole team more successful.  After all, this is what your boss wants anyway, right?

Aim Higher!

Susan A. Enns, B2B Sales Connections
www.b2bsalesconnections.com, www.linkedin.com/in/susanenns, or www.twitter.com/SusanEnns

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Did you know that business people who read at least 7 business books a year earn over 2.3 times more than people who read only one book per year?  Think you don’t have time to spend on your own ongoing personal development? Did you know that if you spend just 10 minutes a day reading, that adds up to over 60 hours a year?

Investing in yourself is always a safe bet!

Strategies that Win Sales – Best Practices of the World’s Leading Organizations by Mark Marone and Seleste Lunsford (more…)

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You are looking for the perfect Christmas present for a loved one.  Let’s say you decide on a hand crafted silver bracelet that will be unique and meaningful.  Where do you go to buy the gift?  Costco, Walmart, or some other big box store that deals in sales volume and mass marketing of products.

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Once again this week a learning opportunity knocked on my door. As background information, I should explain that the City of Ottawa is launching a new green bin recycling program early in the New Year.  This week they first went door to door to drop off our new recycling bins, and then yesterday they had crews going door to door answering residents’ questions. 

The program has raised a number of concerns with the public, and some would argue is quite controversial.  Since I don’t fully understand the program myself, I welcomed the opportunity to receive the answers to my questions.  I was soon frustrated and disappointed by what I was hearing, however the reason why had nothing to do with the recycling program.  It was because I wasn’t getting any answers!  Finally, after the fourth “I don’t know” I gave up.  (more…)

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“If you are not the lead dog, your scenery never changes.” – Lewis Grizzard

Aim Higher!

Susan A. Enns, B2B Sales Connections
www.b2bsalesconnections.com or www.linkedin.com/in/susanenns

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