Sales negotiation can be a nerve-wracking process. Without the right knowledge or tools at your disposal, getting to the best agreement can be elusive. In this podcast, RAIN Group's President Mike Schultz discusses how to overcome your fears, gain confidence, and leave behind some common misconceptions about sales negotiation. Click through to read a summary and listen to the full sales podcast...      

When it comes to business development for professional services, one of the biggest challenges professionals face is finding time to do it all. After all, you don't sell full-time. Your work, whether it's consulting, accounting, or engineering, is what you do full-time. And that makes it very difficult to find time to create and develop the relationships necessary to bring in new business. There simply are not enough hours in the day to do it all. As a result, business development activities are unplanned and inconsistent, which leads to limited touches and prospects slipping through the cracks due to lack of follow-up. While I cannot create more hours in the day, I can give you some business development tips that will help you become more effective with the balancing act of selling and doing.      

A sales negotiation can be lengthy, nerve-wracking, and complex. For many sellers, every negotiation adds at least one gray hair. The challenge is that too many people find themselves in a sales negotiation, but they don't understand the underlying dynamics of how sales negotiations work. To help you master the art of sales negotiation, we've created the OP2eRA2 Sales Negotiation FrameworkSM. Following, you'll find a brief primer on the key points...      

What makes a great negotiator? Negotiation is a craft that can be learned by just about anyone, as I discussed in my recent podcast with RainToday. There are, however, certain characteristics of great negotiators that are difficult to develop through the even the most rigorous of training initiatives. They are qualities you either have or don't or that develop over years of experience, coaching, training, and self-reflection. If you have them, you're ahead of the game. If you don't, negotiation success may be elusive. Great sales negotiators share 7 qualities that guide their success.      

There's been a bit of a gold rush around the term "insight selling" in the last several years. Research from a variety of sources, including RAIN Group, has confirmed a simple fact: Buyers buy from sellers who are sources of ideas. So now everyone's trying to do it. But the cold reality is that most sellers don't bring new and valuable ideas to the table. In fact, only 39% of executives say that meetings with salespeople are valuable and live up to expectations.* So what do you need to do to provide real value to buyers? In this new 22-page guide, Mike Schultz and John Doerr, Presidents of RAIN Group and bestselling authors of Insight Selling answer this question. They share tips and strategies that will help you drive change and win more sales right away. Download Your Guide to Insight Selling Success now.      

Recently we released our new white paper, Your Guide to Insight Selling Success. Like anything, insight selling comes with its own potential pitfalls. To help you avoid them, we have outlined the most common insight selling mistakes. Some points are tactical, and others strategic.      

It's that time of year again. The leaves have fallen from the trees, the temperature has dropped, and the calendar is filling up with holiday parties, ski trips, and family gatherings. Thanksgiving marks the start of the holiday season, the time of year when we reflect on the relationships we have with family, friends, customers, and co-workers. Thanksgiving in particular is a time to give thanks and show your appreciation.      

At RAIN Group it's our mission to help you unleash your sales potential. Through the RAIN Selling blog we strive to bring you the freshest sales research, tips, and strategies that will help you make breakthroughs in your sales results. In 2014 we did just that and we did it with gusto. We produced more webinars and blog posts than ever and even found time to publish a new book. But if you didn't have a chance to read through all of the new sales content this year, don’t worry. Below are the top 10 most popular pieces from 2014.      

57% of the purchase process is complete before buyers have their first interaction with a seller.1 This is one of the most cited statistics in the sales world these days—as if it's some kind of big news. Wait...so you mean buyers do research and talk internally before they bring in outsiders? No way, dude! That's, like, revolutionary! Puh-leez... In fact, all it says is that thoughtful buyers explore ideas with their internal colleagues. They discuss what they want to do, what they want as an outcome, and what the options are to get them there. They get their ducks in a row to an extent, before consulting with outsiders. Seems logical to me.      

There's one question I wish I got asked more when working with leaders looking to invest in B2B sales training. That question is, "What will it really take to get the best results?" If you're a seller, you can probably relate to the experience of a well-meaning trainer giving examples from an industry that had nothing to do with yours. Or maybe they didn't have a credible track record to back up their claims. And when the training was over, it was back to business as usual the next morning. No learning. No change in behavior. No results. Ask the average trainer what business they are in, and they will likely answer "I am in the training business." When I'm asked the same question, however, I answer "I'm in the sales performance improvement business." This isn't simply semantics. The way I see it, a sales trainer's job is to deliver results for their clients. In our case, the results come in the form of measurable, observable improvements within the salesforce. These changes don't make themselves happen. We've found that when 5 factors are in place, our clients get the most out of their B2B sales training.