Welcome back to the weekly sales roundup, which offers the newest thought on sales from across the Web. This week focuses on the softer side of the sales process. Underneath the sales automation solutions and efficient development of marketing programs lies a very human sort of connection. Have you wondered how to make your presentations sing? How to keep yourself motivated, and what kinds of sales professionals have had the most success? How to keep contact with a potential lead without driving them away? This week’s collection answers this and more. Take this expertise and add it to your own, and consider sharing it forward. Your own article might be in one of the future roundups.
How to Follow Up Without Being Annoying (Lifehacker.com)
This article’s sharp title points at a serious conflict in sales. You want to build a relationship with your customers, but your customers want to keep their time and attention focused on their own business. Many follow up methods become pestering, at least from the client’s perspective. The article discusses strategies on how to structure follow-ups to get the biggest result with the least difficulty for both ends of the relationship.
7 Simple Secrets of the Best Presentations (Geoffrey James)
Presentations are inevitable, and often dreaded from both ends of the process. Whether you’re demonstrating a product or introducing new sales management ideas to your team, you want your presentation to go over well. This article discusses some big-picture concepts that can improve your presentations while keeping them professional and effective.
Share What You Know And People Will Buy What You Sell (Entrepreneur)
Sales is more than telling someone, “Buy my product.” Many of the modern billionaires, including Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, were teachers as much as salesmen; they taught people about the possibilities that their products created. This article discusses how sharing your knowledge can be an excellent part of a customer management strategy; you will add value for your current clients and win over newly interested sorts as well.
Failing Until You Succeed (Seth Godin)
This video of an interview with Seth Goden, conducted as part of the “Beyond the Brand” series, covers the value of determination, the importance of challenging the status quo and never giving up. If you want to improve yourself even further, Avidian has collected some great books for sales teams and managers for you to read, internalize, and share with your staff.
The Most Inspired Sales Professionals In The World (Business 2 Community)
Inspiration is difficult to define, but can be a key element of turning an “OK” team into a truly top-performing group. This detailed infographic examines reported levels of motivation and inspiration across industries and some selected top companies, with results you might not expect. From there, the conclusion is that online social selling is a new and growing part of the profession. Consider investing in your staff with a sales system integrated in Outlook that is easy and fluid to use.