Customer Engagement

What can Sales Teams Learn from Performing Arts?

Selling has a lot in common with performing arts than visible at first glance. One of the most important goal of a performing artist is to take their audience on a journey with them, the more immersive the experience, the more successful is the performance. The same is with selling. The goal of a sales executive should also be to take the customer on a journey with them. The more immersive this experience, the more successful will be the sales executive. Some lessons that sales executives can learn from performing artists who are very successful are: Weave a story: There is […]

Customer Engagement

An Example of True Customer Centricity – When Banking is No Longer Just About Banking

Fifth Third Bank and NextJob came together to address a challenge faced by most retail banks – Mortgage defaults. According to the press release from the company, Steven Alonso, executive vice president and head of Fifth Third Bancorp says – “Up to half of mortgage delinquencies are due to job loss. With NextJob, we immediately recognized an opportunity to go the extra mile to assist our customers. This is specific, one-on-one training that helps people identify their transferable skills and re-gain the financial stability of a new job.” Mortgage defaults can eat up a banks profits very quickly, hence most banks look inwards […]

Customer Engagement

Do Your Customers Feel Being Bullied?

Winning in the marketplace comes with a lot of hard work and sustained effort. It is easy to fall into the habit of winning. Though it is a great feeling, one should be very cautious about a few things. This winning habit could make your sales teams feel unbeatable, which could lead them to slowly become arrogant in their dealings with your customers. This change is so slow and subtle, that it becomes very difficult to notice unless you actively look for it. This could slowly lead to your customers starting to feel that doing business with your team is […]

Sales

What Do You Do When You Lose a Deal

No matter how good you are, you are bound to lose some deals to your competition. However, all is not lost. As they say, “Losing a battle doesn’t mean you shall lose the war”. How you respond and act in such a situation can go a long way in ensuring you continue to succeed in selling. Here are a few questions that could help you in making the most from the lose sale: Do you thank the prospect for giving you an opportunity to compete for their business?  Do you wish them success with their purchase? Do you ask for […]

Innovation, Leadership, Sales

Sales Forecasting

Every sales organization has a sales forecasting process in place. This is usually done in a meeting or on a tele-conference.During this call each sales team talk about how much sales closure do they each expect for the week, month or quarter. This is also the meeting where senior sales managers (2 or 3 levels above the sales executives on the road) want to know the status of the pipeline and determine if they will be able to achieve their sales quota for the respective period, as they are measured on delivering their sales quotas. Typically, everyone in the sales […]