CONVINCE con•vince 1.  Cause (someone) to believe firmly in the truth of something. 2.  Persuade (someone) to take action. Building confidence in the validity of an idea. Inspiring action. The sellers who do these best sell the most. While a few do insight selling naturally, many struggle. Sellers might know with great certainty that when buyers buy they’ll be better off as a result, but they just can’t get the buyers to believe it, too. What’s interesting, though, is that the sellers who are good at selling an idea and those who aren’t often both understand the idea and its importance. It’s just that some communicate it far better than others. Those that do insight selling well—whether they know it or not—satisfy the same basic criteria every time, following the same story format. And the great thing is this: the basic structure is simple and learnable. We call this basic structure a Convincing Story.      

You’ve worked on building rapport with your prospect and you’ve uncovered their aspirations and afflictions. The question then becomes, "So what?" If your afflictions don’t get solved, so what? What won’t happen? Will they get worse? How will they affect the bottom line of your company, division, or department? How will they affect your life? If your aspirations don’t become reality, so what? Will your competition get ahead of you if you don’t innovate? Will you lose market share if you aren’t aggressive in your strategy? Will you never be able to grow your business to a point where you can sell it and reach your personal financial goals? Will the promotion you desire continue to elude you? Your ability to quantify the impact and paint the ‘‘so what’’ picture is the foundation for how important it is for the decision maker to buy from you. If you don’t answer the "so what" question, the initiative will fall to the bottom of the priority list...      

It usually takes a long time to find a shorter way. - Anonymous I spend a good percentage of my time selling. I also spend a lot of time coaching and training sales teams. One question that comes up time after time is, "How do I shorten the sales cycle?" My quick response is usually, "Have more in each stage of your pipeline at all times, so the sales cycle just seems shorter." Of course, that rarely makes anyone feel better. So based on RAIN Group’s research and experience, here are Ten Commandments that will help make your sales process move more quickly...      

In my last article about shortening your sales cycle, I revealed the first five tips for getting to the close faster. I covered: I. Thou Shalt Present a Crisp, Clear Value Proposition II. Thou Shalt Talk to the Right Person III. Thou Shalt Uncover the Prospect’s Aspirations and Afflictions IV. Thou Shalt Engender Trust and Confidence in Your Company V. Thou Shalt Deal With Objections Early On In this article, I’ll finish the list of commandments with the next five ways to shorten your sales cycle...      

In our What Sales Winners Do Differently research, we learned that reducing risk has shot up in importance as a criteria for buying today. Now, for every 100 times you as a seller find advice to sell the return on investment case, you might find just one piece of advice focused on minimizing the perception of risk for the buyer. This is interesting because it was just 40 years ago that marketers and sellers didn’t focus much on results and impact. The transition away from features and benefits had just begun But fast forward to today and every company’s marketing and sales messages promise some kind of results, often wild results, as their first foot forward. Yet while everyone’s promising results, buyers regularly report disappointment...      

Effectiveness of process to evaluate additional areas of value we can bring to strategic accounts. In our Benchmark Report on High Performance in Strategic Account Management research study, we learned that high performers—those companies that had much greater revenue and profit growth in their strategic accounts than the rest—were 2.8 times more likely to have an effective process for planning ways to add value to accounts. If you want to increase revenue in your accounts, the first thing you need to do is—you guessed it!—make it a standard, formal part of your process. Once you get the right members of the team together, you can explore ways to have the greatest impact on your client through additional product and service offerings. But simply having these meetings isn't enough. Four common problems crop up, all of which can be aided with the help of the right sales planning tool...      

Sales coaching—working one-on-one or in small groups with firms and individuals in a highly focused manner to help them increase effectiveness, revenues, and sales—is a large part of what I do on a day-to-day basis. Done right, it’s one of the most powerful, impactful ways to increase revenue and boost individual or group performance. I love the work. It allows me to make a real difference, work with driven, motivated professionals, and see them grow and expand their abilities in the process. I also love it because it is one of the most direct ways in which I can demonstrate the full impact of what I do to a new (or existing) client. Clients are often surprised by the effect of sales coaching, both in terms of "hard numbers," as well as the changes they see in the people being coached...      

Sales coaching has become a hot topic in business as more and more companies see a significant return on investment. However, where executive coaching and personal-effectiveness coaching yield positive results, sales coaching lags behind. Whether it's a lack of time, inconsistent coaching conversations, unavailability of tools and resources to succeed, or weak coaching skills, sales managers and leaders simply aren't producing strong results. Over the years, and through our own RAIN Sales Coaching program, we've learned there are three critical components to sales coaching success. A sales coach must: •  Play the five roles in the coaching process •  Establish a regular rhythm and frequency to the coaching process •  Lead masterful coaching conversations This infographic briefly covers the five roles of a sales coach. Feel free to print it, use it as a reference, and share it with your teams...      

Ask a group of professional services providers how much of their business comes from existing clients and the answers usually will be 60%, 70%, 80%, or even more. Then ask them how much time they put into nurturing those same clients and the answers will be a little, not much, or none. Finally, ask why they spend so little time building relationships when there is potential for so much new business and the answers will be: "Don't want to be a pest." "Don’t have the time." "I am not sure what to do to keep in touch." "I feel like a stalker." Obviously, doing great work is the first step in keeping in the best graces of your clients. But client loyalty can be fleeting and is not something you should take for granted...      

More than ever, sales teams are struggling with unqualified leads, missed sales goals, and lost opportunities. Increasingly, company and sales leaders are turning to coaching as a solution. And, why not? Executive and personal-effectiveness coaching have historically yielded great results. According to the International Coach Federation, the average company can expect a return of 7 times the initial investment in coaching.* Shouldn’t the same be expected from sales coaching? Yes. Even more. But both the approach to sales coaching, and the results, are pretty erratic. What we commonly see are sales managers and leaders who: Don’t have time to coach Aren’t sure what sales coaches are supposed to do Don’t have access to the tools and resources that can help them get the most of coaching Don’t establish consistent rhythm of coaching conversations Can’t lead a great coaching conversation The best sales coaches—the ones who get it right—play the following 5 specific roles in the sales coaching process...