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Email outreach is a cornerstone of modern sales strategies. With 93% of B2B marketers relying on email to reach their prospects and existing customers, crafting a good sales email is a critical skill for both sales leaders and frontline reps. And as virtual selling becomes the norm, the importance of well-crafted emails grows even further.
We’re standing at the precipice of a revolution in B2B sales. The landscape we’ve known for decades is transforming before our eyes, and it’s time we take a good, hard look at what’s coming.
Ten years ago, the phrase “tick-tock” referred to the sound a clock makes and artificial intelligence was mostly the stuff of science fiction. Technology has changed at an almost incomprehensible rate in the last decade, transforming how we work, communicate, and make purchasing decisions.
Whether you love artificial intelligence (AI) or want to steer clear of it, one thing is for sure—it’s influencing a lot. From looking something up on Google for work or suggesting a new place to grab lunch, it’s become a daily part of life.
The face of B2B sales is changing. Enter the “Soundbite Generation” – a new breed of sales professionals born into the digital age. They represent a fundamental shift in how sales professionals approach their craft, bringing powerful advantages and unique challenges to the modern sales environment.
Today’s B2B buyer is unlike any other. They research extensively, compare options thoroughly, and make decisions differently than any generation before them.
At ASLAN, we've seen firsthand how tailored, role-specific sales training can transform sales teams.
Picture this: It's Monday morning, and your sales team is gathered for the weekly meeting. Are they energized, sharing new insights and strategies? Or are they slumped in their chairs, waiting for you to tell them what to do next?
The business world moves fast. Sales professionals must continuously sharpen their skills to keep up and stay competitive.
There’s no doubt about it:effective sales training delivery methods drive business growth and boost revenue.
Sales training equips your team with the skills, knowledge, and strategies to close deals, build customer relationships, and outperform the competition.
When it comes to sales training, quality trumps quantity. A few well-crafted articles and videos that are tailored to your team's needs are far more effective than an overwhelming collection of disorganized materials. If your sales reps can't easily find the right content when they need it, the size of your training library becomes irrelevant.
We've all been there – sitting in a training session, nodding along, feeling like we've got it all figured out. But then, when it's time to hit the field, that knowledge seems to vanish into thin air. This is the classic gap between knowing and doing, a challenge that many sales teams face.
Does this sound familiar: You’ve finally invested in a sales training program for your team after many months of deliberation. Something needed to change in your sales organization because buyers were simply not interested in what your reps had to say—and your reps were feeling disengaged and unfulfilled.
A well-trained sales team can be the key to success. Like athletes preparing for a championship, sales professionals need expert training to reach their full potential and outperform the competition.
A well-trained sales team is essential for business success.
Investing in professional sales training can be a game-changer for organizations seeking to enhance their sales performance and gain a competitive edge.
A well-trained sales team is critical for driving revenue and achieving growth.
Imagine this: You're the star quarterback leading your team into the biggest game of the season.
Investing in the right sales training provider is a strategic move that can elevate your organization's sales performance and drive significant revenue growth. However, finding the perfect fit isn't always straightforward.
Did you know companies that invest in comprehensive sales training programs see 50% higher net sales per employee?
Investing in sales leader training programs is a strategic decision with the potential to transform your organization's revenue generation.
Possessing strong leadership skills and executive presence can be a game-changer for your career. Executive presence is a powerful combination of confidence, communication abilities, and charisma that commands respect and inspires others.
In the high-octane world of sales, success hinges on one crucial factor: people.
Congratulations!
Imagine launching a multi-million dollar marketing campaign without understanding your target audience or their needs.
As a sales leader, you wear many hats: strategist, motivator, and, most importantly, coach. But let's face it – coaching your team can be a challenge!
Are you tired of feeling like you're constantly reacting to market changes instead of shaping your sales destiny? There’s a good chance getting strategic could be the answer.
The sales landscape is undergoing a seismic shift. Gone are the days of generic scripts and cold calls dominating the game. Today's empowered customers, armed with information at their fingertips, demand a more sophisticated approach.
The world of sales is undergoing a seismic shift. The days of traditional, one-size-fits-all training and transactional selling are fading fast.
Building a high-performing sales team isn't just about enriching individual skills; it's about creating a culture of excellence led by visionary leaders. In the dynamic B2B landscape, where customer expectations evolve at lightning speed, the role of the sales manager and leadership becomes more critical than ever.
The account management landscape looks much different today than it did just a few years ago. Competition has exploded, customers expect hyper-personalized service, and technology is rapidly changing. Account Managers (AMs) need new strategies to deliver results, or they’ll be left in the dust.
Here, we’ll cover what Sales Leaders need to do to set their Account Managers up for success in today’s environment. With the right mindset, strategies, and training under their belt, your AMs can thrive and drive revenue growth.
As a sales leader, are you looking for the best way to train your high-performing Account Managers (AMs)?
Do you worry that generic sales or customer service training won’t meet the needs of your AMs?
If so, you’re not alone.
That’s because AMs need specific training tailored to their role and responsibilities, not some out-of-the-box training. What’s even worse is that this one-size-fits-all approach to training generally assumes all AMs are at the same level and have the same skills. We know this just isn’t the case.
Account Managers play a critical role in customer retention and growth. Their specialized position straddles sales and service, focusing on strategic expansion within key accounts. Despite this, companies need to provide their AMs with adequate and role-specific training for their AMs.
For maximum impact, AMs need customized programs tailored specifically to their needs. The right training teaches the mindset and capabilities needed to uncover customer challenges and demonstrate continual value.
Are your Account Managers (AMs) equipped for success in today's complex sales landscape?
Account management has evolved, and so should their training.
Account Managers are vital players in growing and retaining revenue from existing customers. Unlike traditional sales reps focused on hunting new business, Account Managers are tasked with farming and cultivating current accounts to uncover expansion opportunities.
However, many organizations still treat Account Managers like any other salesperson – with quotas, territories, and a mandate to aggressively sell. This outdated approach sets Account Managers up for failure, given how much the buying environment has changed. With more stakeholders involved and sky-high buyer expectations, a more consultative, customer-centric mindset is required.
Account managers need specialized training to adopt an Other-Centered® perspective and execute the unique objectives of their role. The Other-Centered mindset focuses on deeply understanding the customer's needs, challenges, and goals rather than taking a sales quota-driven approach. It enables Account Managers to build trust and strengthen relationships.
And that is what AM training desperately needs.
Customer expectations are at an all-time high – being an order-taker won’t cut it these days. In the same breath, poor customer service in this role will have customers high-tailing it off to a competitor. Customers want a trusted advisor who can walk with them in lock-step as they navigate their business needs. A Key Account Manager (AM) is that person.
A Key AM plays a critical strategic role focused on managing and expanding relationships with a company’s most valuable customers, also known as key accounts. They serve as the primary point of contact and liaison between the company and key clients.
Their core mission is to maximize sales opportunities and revenue growth from these key accounts while ensuring continued loyalty and business – it’s no small feat.
When asked what an Account Manager (AM) does, the plain-jane answer is, well, they manage accounts.
And while that answer is logical and incredibly simplistic, it’s not entirely accurate. Sure, most AMs can offer a bare-bones relationship that is purely transactional, but this leaves a lot of money on the table and worse, displeased customers. With customer expectations at an all-time high, AMs are called to be so much more than that.
Here is a generalized breakdown of the basic activities an Account Manager typically does:
Over the past couple of years, a recurring theme has popped up at conferences for sales and sales enablement leaders. The main theme: growth is attainable, but sales performance is on a continual decline. Here’s the rub – everyone seems to be scrambling for the tool or missing piece that can take their team to the sales promise land.
This is probably why the latest productivity tools are so hot, with the latest AI tools at the top of the list. It seems like everyone is interested in leveraging AI to read the prospect’s mind.
There are now over 3,000 sales and productivity tools on the market, and the number grows each and every year, with each one claiming they have cracked the code. Everyone, it appears, is looking for something to make it easier to sell – and more power to them.
Selling is hard and any edge you can get is worth pursuing.
But here’s the truth about selling – There is no secret sauce, silver bullet, magic fairy dust (choose your favorite metaphor) to mastering the profession.
Make no mistake, we’re a big fan of the tools, pro tips, insights, and anything that will make it easier to sell. Our company has invested heavily in tools. But just like learning to play golf or the violin, there’s a defined set of capabilities sellers need to succeed. There are no shortcuts.
If a golfer struggles to hit the ball in the fairway, yes buy them the latest driver but rigorous practice is required to fix their swing.
As long as sellers are talking to customers, there is no shortcut to mastering the art of influence.
So this begs the question, what’s the most effective strategy for developing a seller’s capabilities?
Training? Nope.
Is it delivering real-time micro-learning to your team? Nope.
Here’s what we’ve learned from 20 years of research, conducting control group studies, and analyzing the highest-performing organizations – If you want to change performance there is nothing more effective than focusing on your front-line sales leader.
Training, micro-learning, and productivity tools are all critical to improving performance but nothing has more impact than the leader/coach. The leader drives the culture and engagement and is the key to developing the seller’s competency.
Simply put…change happens one to one and not in a workshop.
I know this idea on face value, isn’t revolutionary. You’re probably a big believer in coaching. You love the whole coaching movement. Almost every organization I’ve worked with supports the ideas.
But then I spend some time on the field and ask a few questions:
Imagine someone who knows nothing about sales, coming up to you and asking what a manufacturing sales rep does on a daily basis – how would you answer?
When was the last time you went into a restaurant, and the server told you that you would be having the crab without even giving you the chance to look at the menu? It sounds absurd, but it is exactly what buyers experience when exploring solutions in manufacturing sales every day.
Sales in the manufacturing industry can feel like a page ripped straight from Dante’s Inferno – “abandon all hope, ye who enter here.” That might be a bit overdramatic, but you don’t have to spend much time in the manufacturing space to understand that the struggle is real.
Sometimes the industrial manufacturing sales world can feel like a high-stakes game of whack-a-mole. Challenges and obstacles are constantly popping up, and more reps than ever are struggling to earn a seat at the table and drive results.
Have you ever heard the old saying that “the only constant is change?”
In real estate, the saying is “location, location, location.” In the world of technology manufacturing sales, location is replaced with the word “access.” Access is critical for any sales organization, but in the technology industry, it has become the single most important factor that determines sales success.
Have you ever been set up on a really bad blind date? You are probably thinking to yourself, “What the heck does a blind date have to do with sales rapport and referrals?”
Have you ever considered that sales is a lot like building a home?
Landing a referral is the holy grail of sales leads for most reps. Referrals are viewed as an easier win because they are motivated to buy, have at least basic knowledge of your product, and were pointed in your organization’s direction by someone they trust.
Your reps may be great at peeling back the layers of each organization to find the right decision-maker, but how do they overcome objections and a meeting? Chances are there is a gatekeeper that is ready to throw up one objection after another, all in an effort to filter out the riff-raff and not waste the decision-makers time.
“Selling doesn’t begin until the customer objects.” Sound familiar?
Let’s face it, sales teams spend countless hours each year role-playing, analyzing customer discussions, and more – all in an effort to improve their effectiveness at overcoming objections.
“If you build it, they will come.” We aren’t talking about a cornfield in Iowa, but the statement rings true in sales, nonetheless. This is especially true when discussing building rapport, and for sales leaders looking to build a robust referral pipeline, it simply cannot be overlooked.
A referral is a powerful thing. It’s a personal recommendation from a trusted source, which can be a make-or-break factor in a customer’s decision-making process. From a sales perspective, a referral is a gimme, a slam dunk, a home run, or any other sports analogy that comes to mind. Or at least they should be.
Referrals are the golden goose of sales leads and prospects. They come prepackaged with a seal of approval from a trusted source, they already have an idea of the type of solution you provide, and they can move through the sales process faster than prospective clients that are cultivated through cold outreach. Recent studies have shown that around 85% of decision-makers start the buying process with a referral.
If you were to take a snapshot of the professional services sales landscape, it would look drastically different than it did a decade ago. While technology has undoubtedly streamlined the sales process it has simultaneously created one layer of complexity after another for sales professionals. The result? A more competitive industry with ever-growing customer demands.
On the surface, selling software as a service(SaaS) is no different than selling a physical product. Both have specific properties, features, and usability and are implemented to generate ROI.
When you talk about all-time comebacks, chances are your mind immediately goes to sports. The 2004 Boston Red Sox, the Patriots overcoming a 28-3 deficit in the Super Bowl, the list goes on and on.
The sales landscape is constantly shifting and there are a million different perspectives on how you should be coaching your team and ensuring success. Sales techniques, technology, handoffs between sales roles, quotas, and more are constantly being juggled. A rep’s job is simple: don’t drop the ball.
There are always ebbs and flows in the world of sales.
The rolodex has taken its place in the archives of history as an old-school way to collect and organize contact information.
It’s doubtful you’re picturing an old fashioned gold prospector with long-johns and a shotgun.
Freshly fallen snow on a breath-catching slope, a just-cracked can of something fizzy, blood-pumping cryotherapy: plenty of great things are cold.
These days, you can order lunch, send a gift, schedule a meeting, and catch up on news (2x speed) all in the course of 30 minutes, all online.
If you’re in sales, you might think everything is negotiable. But if you want to take your B2B sales team to the next level, one thing that’s non-negotiable is investing in training.
At the enterprise level, reps are playing with table stakes. They need to have a handful of relevant skills they can deploy on-demand to win.
Have you read any articles lately about how the sales industry is becoming simpler and less competitive?
The workforce is changing, the market is in flux, and sales approaches that worked last year may not be effective anymore. Many sales leaders are being asked to lead sales reps who are up against challenges like global market shifts and increasing unreceptivity.
Sales leaders in enterprise organizations face high demands, high expectations, and the pressure to get results. They have to be trained to achieve at that level.
It’s always the right time to implement better practices in sales.
Great sales training means reaching as many people as possible in ways they understand.
Successful sales relationships are built on trust, acceptance, and understanding.
The effectiveness of sales training is determined far before it begins, and continues long after everyone has exited the conference room or logged off the video call.
Sales leaders are MVPs. They’re on the frontlines, equipping sales reps in the field.
Sales managers play an important role. They manage the plan and productivity. They support sales reps in their efforts to hit numbers. It can be a hard role to do well, and requires an advanced set of skills.
The marketplace is changing. Due to the glut of information, customers are less dependent on reps when evaluating solutions. And most sales reps are still struggling to sell virtually.
The days of walking into a physician’s office, getting a meeting, and selling a product (as an easy wham-bam) are long gone. Due to regulatory shifts, the days of golf outings, wining and dining, and other sales nurturing efforts are also gone.
Life in the glowing box: it’s our new normal.
There are 5 things I have learned in 25 years of prospecting. (I know, that’s only one thing every five years), but hear me out…
My transition to sales manager was fairly typical. I was promoted from a role I had excelled in (selling), to a role where I was completely incompetent (leading). In those early years of managing a team, I was more of an interactive kiosk than a leader: “If you have questions, I have answers. Be safe out there.”
Have you ever witnessed greatness? I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to personally watch some of the greatest athletes of all time. I’ve experienced the unrivaled performance of Michael Jordan, Nolan Ryan, Dale Earnhardt Sr., Peyton Manning, Tiger Woods, and even Trevor Brazile (every blog needs a rodeo reference). I can testify to some of the greatest one percenters in sports.
Today we thought it might be interesting and fun for our readers if we discussed an amazing book that Tab Norris, Co-founder of ASLAN has been reading, called Win the Day. “In Win the Day, Mark Batterson, the New York Times bestselling author shares practical yet life-changing habits that will set you on a path to harnessing the power of twenty-four hours. And the best thing about it? You can start today.”
Think about your most difficult presentation, your toughest audience, or the time where you had little to no shot at changing the minds of the decision-making team. Despite the odds, you showed up anyway. Got it? You remember the day? I promise you it doesn’t come close to the audience Erin Gruwell faced in the early fall of 1994.
Starting a new training initiative for your sales organization can be daunting. How will you know if it was successful? Should you look at revenue? Team morale? ROI? Something else?
When I’m passionately trying to make a point, I’ve been known to overstate reality to boost my argument. I use words like “millions” or “never” or “always,” especially with my wife, to win the argument or sell an idea.
So, you had a productive call/meeting with a potential client when suddenly they show some hesitation. “I’m not really sure about …,” they say.
When most people think about selling or persuasion, they think of the presentation or the “talk.” While important, there is a more critical step that must occur before the words leave your mouth. And when communicating with those closest to me, I’m ALWAYS tempted to blow by this step – especially if it’s a critical conversation.
I have spent the last 25 years singularly focused on answering one question: How do you improve a sales rep’s performance?
Do you ever feel at a loss for why your customer decided to buy from the competition? You had the perfect pitch! Your data was clear, your argument was succinct, your logic was flawless, your recommendation was a perfect fit. So what happened?
It’s probably safe to say that we’ve all had a case of the pre-presentation jitters. The level of nervousness can range from slight anxiety to full blown panic.
The popular show, Shark Tank, provides a great platform for hopeful entrepreneurs to present their ideas to a panel of industry titans. The budding entrepreneurs are there to try to convince the sharks to invest in their product idea. Contestants are presenting to a receptive group of individuals, but without insight, preparation, and skill, it is unlikely that they will hold the sharks’ interest long enough to successfully convince them to make an investment.
The reality show, Shark Tank, provides a great platform for hopeful entrepreneurs to present their ideas to a panel of industry titans – ‘sharks’ who have made their own dreams a reality and turned their ideas into lucrative empires. The entrepreneurs are there to try to convince the sharks to invest in their product idea.
Mark Cuban once summarized his activity as a Shark Tank investor at the Wall Street Journal “WSJD Live” conference like this: “Of the 71 startups that I’ve invested in through Shark Tank, two have gone out of business, three are so stupid they don’t know they’re out of business, and then probably 50, give or take, are in growth.”
Since 2009, entrepreneurs have pitched their ideas and dreams to a panel of ‘sharks’ on the hit reality show Shark Tank. The sharks – titans of industry who have made their own dreams a reality and turned their ideas into lucrative empires, listen to pitches and decide whether or not to invest their money in other potential profit-making ventures.
Fear. It’s the foe I battle every day. I believe fear is the biggest villain in all of our stories.
Chuck Noll was the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1969-1991, leading them to four Super Bowl wins (more than any other coach) and nine AFC championships during that time. Noll was the youngest NFL head coach in history when he took over in 1969, but he showed great talent for choosing to draft players of exceptional quality, including the league’s first African-American starting quarterback Joe Gilliam and first Super Bowl MVP winner Franco Harris.
Tom Landry was the first-ever coach of the Dallas Cowboys. He coached from 1960 to 1988, leading the Cowboys to five Super Bowl appearances and a record-setting 20 consecutive winning seasons. Landry pioneered several new techniques including the 4-3 defense and the shotgun formation on offense.
As Superbowl LVI approaches, along with many folks across the country, we’ve got football on the mind. And especially where it relates to us most in the world of sales… that’s right, coaching.
The role of a sales leader is complex and nuanced. Sales leadership is really about having the ability to motivate your people to accomplish set goals by empowering each individual. It requires you to focus on their professional growth, as well as their personal growth. Being an effective leader is about seeing the big picture, without overlooking important details. Great leaders drive results by motivating their team to want to do their job.
In today's digital age, we're bombarded with information. We now consume the equivalent of 174 newspapers a day, more than four times the average in the late '80s, and receive anywhere from three thousand to ten thousand messages daily.
There are thousands of movies, books, blogs, podcasts and other resources for sellers that address the final phase of a sales cycle: the close. In many of these it’s often wrongly assumed or purported that closing a deal requires control, manipulation, or some creative strategy to “beat the customer” and win the sale. This is a misconception.
The biggest challenge facing sellers today is that most customers in the marketplace are unreceptive. They are resistant, not to a solution to their problems, but to salespeople and their attempts to engage.
Many people think of selling as relationship management or demand fulfillment. But it’s much more than that. Selling is about serving, it’s about changing beliefs, and it’s about influence – all with your customer’s best interest at heart.
An underrated but important topic for sales reps to consider is how exploring and fulfilling your customers’ unstated emotional needs may help you find more success in your selling practice.
The reality of our world today is that people are overwhelmed and distracted by the amount of information coming at them every single day. This poses a problem, in particular for sellers, because it has become increasingly harder to break through that noise and deliver a message. People, especially customers, are unreceptive.
Sellers, what would you say is the biggest challenge you face today in sales?
A few years ago, one of the largest sales organizations in the world communicated the desire to purchase one of our training programs. The scope was to train tens of thousands of sales professionals annually. That got my attention. If we won, it would be our company’s largest and most profitable contract in our history.
We began the discussion in our last blog about what customers actually mean when they say “no” to a sales rep’s attempt to engage.
Check out this excerpt from CEO Tom Stanfill’s new book, UnReceptive: A Better Way to Sell, Lead, and Influence. Available anywhere you get your books.
I have a celebrity crush. It started in 8th grade, and has stayed with me ever since. I love Bill Murray. It’s a long-distance relationship and probably (okay, definitely) a bit one-sided, but I am committed.
In 1999, one of our most beloved Americans, JFK Jr., tragically died in an airplane crash. What was most disturbing to me was how easily it could have been avoided. He had what pilots refer to as vertigo. Due to thick cloud cover, pilots can get disoriented, believing up is down and down is up. While trying to gain altitude, he flew his plane into the ocean 7.5 miles west of Martha’s Vineyard.
As sales professionals, our time is our most valuable resource. How we invest that time will ultimately determine our success in sales.
As sales professionals, we have limited time; a finite number of hours to hit our sales goals. How we invest that time will ultimately determine our level of success.
Sales reps have less access and limited time with decision makers since the growth of virtual selling. It’s more critical than ever for sellers to spend their time and resources on the right sales opportunities. But how do we know which sales opportunities are the right ones?
As sellers, our most valuable resource is our time. If we had more time, we could close more business. But, since the onset of virtual selling, it’s been a lot more difficult for sales reps to qualify and win opportunities because we have less access and limited time with decision makers. And while we are working one deal, we are losing another. So, we better make sure that we are working the right deals – and those aren’t just the biggest ones. How do we know which are the best opportunities to spend our time on?
One of the greatest challenges that all salespeople today face is that our audience’s level of receptivity is rapidly decreasing. Said another way, our customers are becoming less receptive to us and to our messages.
I recently sat down with Stefanie Boyer, a professor at Bryant University, to discuss the academic side of selling, the importance of women in sales leadership roles, and how practice makes perfect in a selling career.
One of the most critical aspects of a sales rep’s role is being able to effectively guide conversation and uncover information through good questioning techniques. There are many ways to unpack this topic, but I thought it would be interesting to look at questioning, or interrogation, from another perspective.
Sales training programs are just one of many ways to spend company resources to grow sales. A finite number of dollars is available for a seemingly infinite number of priorities, including product improvement and development, marketing, hiring quality employees, and more. When companies choose to invest in sales training programs, they should have clear and definite ways of measuring the return on their investment (ROI).
When asked the question, “What do you sell?” most sellers think about a product or a service with some sort of tangible benefit or ROI. They think about a “thing” they offer as a solution and the business or financial benefit attached to it. But that’s not what reps are actually selling – what you are really selling is an emotion.
Every so often, we like to highlight stories from frontline sellers and sales leaders to discuss the applications of sales philosophy and methodology not just in theory, but in practice. I sat down with Charles Forsgard, VP of Global Sales at Honeywell, to discuss his own experience on the frontlines of sales leadership.
Building a new capability or skill can be a challenge – whether you’re a sales rep, sales manager, sales leader, or someone just getting back into the gym (quarantine workouts were nonexistent, at least for me). There has been a great deal of research done on what it takes to form a new habit or new skill. It’s a hot topic for many people, both personally and professionally.
Whether you’re prospecting, cold calling, or trying to grow business within existing accounts, political structure plays a huge part in winning sales opportunities. We all know there are several roles in the decision making process: the coach, gatekeeper, influencer, evaluator, or ultimate decision maker. I sat down with Tom Stanfill, CEO and Co-Founder of ASLAN, to discuss why we need to identify the actual structure, how to do it, and a tool to make it easy for sales reps.
There are lots of coaching models out there in the sales world. But the goal for each is the same: to improve sales rep performance and drive revenue. Our preferred and proven model, based on decades of our own experience working with sales reps and sales managers alike, consists of 3 stages: diagnose the gap, align, and develop. In this blog, we’ll focus on the second stage, align (how we actually coach) and put forward a 6 step coaching framework to manifest powerful and effective sales coaching sessions.
There are many similarities between selling and sports – many overlaps and common lessons shared, particularly between baseball and sales. As anyone familiar with ASLAN knows, we are big fans of sports analogies and references.
We recently put out a blog titled The #1 Sales Lesson from Kramer, for all of our Seinfeld fans. We highlighted Kramer’s questioning technique in the episode “The Keys,” where he attempts to persuade George to move to California with him.
Virtual selling has been a buzzword in the world of sales for well over a year now. Based on our interactions with thousands of sales reps and sales leaders over the past months, most people agree that virtual selling will be with us, in most industries, for the foreseeable future. It will become part of the new hybrid world of selling – we will return to the field in some cases, but also continue to connect virtually with customers.
Every so often, we like to highlight stories from front-line sellers and sales trainers to discuss the practical applications of ASLAN’s philosophy and methodology. I recently sat down with Chris White, speaker, sales expert, Founder of Tech Sales Advisors, and bestselling author of The Six Habits of Highly Effective Sales Engineers, to unpack his own experience on the frontlines of selling.
One of the toughest parts of the sales cycle is simply getting in the door. It’s often a challenge for salespeople to get a meeting. And once you do have the meeting, how can you use the time you have to connect your solution to your customer’s problem. Fortunately, our CEO Tom Stanfill has a unique perspective on how salespeople can effectively book meetings and close opportunities, by leveraging their position, not their product.
As we continue to conduct our sales training workshops virtually, we’re meeting and engaging with sales reps from all over the country and the world. Everyone seems to be in agreement that virtual selling will be in place, in some shape, form, or fashion, for the foreseeable future. Many reps are still on complete lockdown, while others are beginning to return to the field, meeting with customers for the first time in well over a year.
As a continuation of our blog about the lasting impact of virtual selling on market dynamics, the sales process, and team selling, I wanted to unpack the effects (and the importance of) on one-to-one sales interactions.
As the world begins to recalibrate after more than a year of shutdown, many of us are left with questions about the future state of selling. What will be the lasting impact of 2020 and the rise of virtual selling?
Many sellers run into the challenge of defending the value of their solution to customers, particularly with more complex or expensive offerings, or with something that is perceived as a commodity. Many customers jump to the conclusion that there are cheaper options out there, which may be true. As a sales rep, your job then becomes to defend the price of your offering.
You’re attempting to vet a few training providers, and as you navigate the process, you realize that choosing the right firm is far from easy.
I think we need to hit the pause button on prospecting. It’s not working.
The customer may know what they want, but not always what they need.
Implementing a long-term sales coaching program is a key component of any successful sales organization. In fact, the 2019 CSO Insights Report on sales enablement states that organizations that effectively incorporate a sales coaching program are nearly three times more successful in meeting their sales goals and almost twice as likely to have engaged sales professionals.
Those of you who remember that old 90s show, Seinfeld, will appreciate this story. In one early episode, “The Keys,” Kramer tries to convince George to move to California (check out the clip on Youtube). Kramer has the “acting bug” and wants George to join him as he pursues his new passion. But when Kramer floats the idea by George, he vehemently resists. In George’s mind, he is living his life to the fullest and has no reason to leave New York. This is where the selling begins for Kramer.
What is a sales process and why do we need one? Why is the topic of “sales processes” worth discussing? Why does it matter? Why am I much more likely to succeed if I use one?
There are new challenges for salespeople selling virtually, whether it’s getting a response from prospects, setting a meeting, or dealing with Zoom fatigue. Selling has changed, and sales reps need to adjust. In our blogs each week, we try to offer helpful tips and suggestions to address the shift that sellers are facing.
Staying organized and up to date with sales reporting and CRM software can be a chore for many B2B sales reps. Sales leaders appreciate the value of this kind of data, but it can be difficult to help sales reps see the value of spending their valuable time inputting this information.
Tis the season! Or rather the end of the basketball season… and we’re excited to facilitate a collision of worlds with a discussion about two of our favorite things: selling and basketball.
Every winner has a coach, and every coach has a philosophy. Here is a deeper look inside the philosophy of one of the best.
Your company leadership has decided that business results could be better, and they’ve identified top-line (sales and service) as where the improvement needs to come from. After careful scrutiny, it is observed that sales force execution has either stagnated or has never met expectations in the first place. Somewhere, there’s a sales execution gap that needs to be addressed.
When you were a kid, did your mom or dad ever turn the car’s headlights off while driving at night to scare you? Mine did.
We spend a lot of time sharing our thoughts about what it means to be truly Other-Centered® in the world of sales. But it’s always good to hear it from another source. I sat down with my former colleague and true disciple of the Other-Centered philosophy, Matt Caldwell. Matt was exposed to ASLAN early in his career and has carried the foundations through a selling journey that has included transactional, complex and even executive relationship sales.
Simply put, you are coaching the wrong sales reps.
As a sales training company, we spend a lot of time focusing our content on the technical side of selling. But we do also like to take a step back and examine the human elements of being a sales rep or sales leader, or a professional of any sort.
Using success stories to illustrate the benefits of your product or solution, in any conversation or presentation, is something that we teach every sales rep and sales manager we work with. Those stories help your audience emotionally experience the payoff and connect to your message.
The topic of team selling is a great one, and very relevant for most of our audience. Within our own business here at ASLAN, we frequently sell across teams. But there are certainly challenges for sales reps, sales leaders, system engineers, and account managers. What are those challenges and how can salespeople overcome them to close more sales and serve their customers well?
What is it that makes some salespeople outperform others? What is it that sets them apart? Whether you’re in B2B or B2C sales, account management, inside sales or field sales, there are governing principles that guide a meaningful sales process. How can we take selling philosophy and turn it into tangible sales success and increased revenue from closing deals?
Over the years, so many of us have used ROI, Return On Investment, as a sales strategy. But we rarely go back and get that endorphin rush of proving that ROI to our clients. It’s a strategic decision we make, at some point during the selling cycle, to measure and go after.
Whether you’re an account manager or a sales rep in B2B sales or B2C sales, making sure your customers are heard, understood, and validated, throughout the sales process is crucial. The lack of in-person, face-to-face interaction in a virtual sales environment can make it more challenging to make our customers feel that empathy and connection.
I still wonder if the lady at the tanning salon really understood the meaning of the title embossed on her name tag in bold letters: Tanning Consultant.
Let’s have you “lay on the couch” and talk about your feelings. You have a relationship problem and we’re here to help. Building and strengthening the relationship between B2B sales reps/ account managers and their sales leaders is absolutely vital to a productive and happy sales organization. We hope to improve that communication by sharing what we’re hearing from both sales reps and sales managers, and by adding some of our own insight as well.
Prospecting and pipelines are a common challenge for B2B sales reps, with a host of strategies, techniques and best practices on how to do it well.
It’s been almost a year since we, along with the rest of the world, were plunged into the Work From Home (WFH), all-virtual business environment. Whether in B2B or B2C sales, we’ve all had to grow and evolve continuously, re-learning to serve our customers and adapt to their changing needs. Salespeople, prospectors/hunters and account managers have made huge strides and progress.
But with virtual communication taking a more permanent place in our way of conducting sales, it’s vital to continue that progress.
Here are four of the “mistakes” that we are still seeing people (and even ourselves!) make in virtual meetings, and how to overcome them to improve your remote selling skills.
If you prefer to take this on the go and listen to our conversation on this topic, feel free to check out sALES with ASLAN podcast episode 90:
People aren’t changing their slides or tailoring their presentations to a more virtual friendly format; they are trying to present the same amount of content, the same exact slides, that they once used in person. This is a big mistake. A virtual meeting or presentation should not just be a “screen share session.”
Virtual presenting takes more time than when you are face-to-face with a customer. You need to cut down your content and be concise. Virtual meetings already have the bad rap of being boring. Zoom fatigue is real. Don’t be a contributing factor.
In person, people are more likely to stay with you, keep their eyes on you, be engaged. As salespeople or account managers, we know how to work a room. Face-to-face, it’s easier to read and command a room. But Zoom rooms are different.
With a virtual meeting, you run the risk of losing your audience’s attention. When you screen share, customers and prospects automatically shift their focus from listening to you, to reading the slides or worse, checking their phones.
Minimizing your slide content will help you deliver a punchier presentation. With fewer words on a slide, your customer will stay with you, not just your slides.
“The best content is sometimes no content.” – Marc Lamson
When you do need your customer/ prospect to consume content from your screen, pause to let them read, then continue speaking. (Most) people can’t read and listen at the same time. When you really want to make a point or cultivate a dialogue, stop sharing your screen and talk directly to your customer. Or better yet, learn to use a second camera with a whiteboard or flipchart. Movement is key for keeping your audience engaged.
Do not share your slides the entire time. Frankly, it’s boring. Moral of the story: minimize your slides and their content, and focus on keeping their attention on you.
This puts more of an emphasis on the preparation for your virtual presentation. Be thoughtful, concise, and intentional with what you put together. With less content to carry you, fewer slides to rely on, being prepared is key. Know what you are going to say – and practice.
This is exponentially more difficult when selling virtually. Basically, there are two ways to uncover the decision maker: clues and questions.
Clues are harder to see in a virtual environment. Body language, posture, reactions, and other non-verbal cues are almost obsolete in a zoom room. Everyone is looking at their camera or their screen… whereas in a meeting room (in person), people would be more inclined to give away levels of influence by their physical cues and orientation towards one another.
With less rapport and relational equity in a Zoom meeting room, it’s harder to ask the questions and observe the clues needed to discern the influencers and decision-makers. But it’s not impossible. Since clues are less reliable in a virtual sales setting, you need to be willing and prepared to ask the tough questions. For example, you might ask:
“Assuming we have the exact solution you’re looking for, based on our meeting today, what has to happen next?”
This question about process is a “softer ask” that will probably reveal the key players – who will be meeting afterwards to debrief, discuss, and decide.
What keeps us from asking these tough questions is not knowing how to position them. We need to position the question in a way that demonstrates why it benefits them to give us the answer. We call this “priming the question.” Why is it in their best interest to answer your question? Give them an OtherCentered(R) reason to respond.
For example,
“The reason I want to know ____ is so that I can make sure everyone is educated on ___.”
“Is there anyone else who will be involved in the process? If so, I can record this meeting if that would be helpful for them.”
Be prepared with questions you want to ask, and how you are going to prime them. You need to have the “why” behind each of the questions you want to ask. If you can say, “The reason I’m asking is…” in front of every question, you will get answers. And better yet, it will give you the confidence to ask those tough questions.
It’s about communicating your desire to serve, and making sure your customer knows that they are the priority.
There are many “what ifs” that come with the virtual meeting territory, and we are still seeing people unprepared to handle such challenges.
Here are some examples:
With face-to-face selling, you may have had some notice about a change of plans (if someone was sick, or missed a flight, or got stuck in traffic). But with virtual selling, you probably won’t know something has gone awry until you’re in the midst of it. You need to be prepared with a back-up plan if anything goes wrong.
Think through relevant scenarios for you, and come up with a contingency plan for each one.
For example:
In virtual meetings, we have noticed many salespeople glazing over the Q&A portion of the session. They use the final minute to ask, “Does anyone have any questions?” It feels offhand, like a throwaway moment.
With face-to-face selling, the interaction naturally lent itself to more questions and dialogue. In a virtual environment, you have to make an effort. Leave 10-15 minutes towards the end of your presentation for questions. Build that time in – don’t just see if you have any time remaining. Stop screen sharing and open up the floor.
Without giving time and attention to Q&A, you run the risk of leaving objections uncovered and unresolved.
People are more uncomfortable in a virtual environment, so don’t just ask a general “Any questions?” You will probably hear crickets. But don’t put people on the spot either.
Be prepared with who you want to call on, what you want to ask them, and why you want to ask it. For example:
“Tom, I know we’ve been talking at length about the U.S. part of the business, but as the leader of the international division, what are we missing on how we would represent you?”
That’s a thoughtful, OtherCentered question that will likely start a good question and answer dialogue.
One benefit of selling virtually is that you can have notes with you, “cheat sheets” on the people you are presenting to, without them knowing. Jot down some notes. You can even sneak a peek at their LinkedIn profiles as people are entering the virtual meeting room. Check out where they’ve worked or where they went to school. You can use these notes or tidbits to break the ice and start conversations.
Selling virtually is a new skill set. It will take practice and preparation. Regardless of the pandemic timeline, it is here to stay. So get comfortable with it. Practice “presenting into the abyss.” And above all, be prepared.
Hopefully many of the articles on our blog will help you continue to grow and evolve your virtual selling skills.
What is social selling? We’re going to unpack that today, as well as how that plays into prospecting in this virtual world of B2B selling. Essentially, there are 3 components we’ve identified and fleshed out, that go into doing this well.
Today we’re going to dive into the integration of sales and marketing, and how they really are a team. I sat down with Sean Duffy and Kevin McCaughey to discuss this topic and the impact of “brand” on sellers. This is an extremely important relationship, because marketing can enhance the receptivity in our prospects. Therefore, sales teams can (and should) work hand-in-hand with marketing groups in companies of all sizes.
In the midst of basketball season, this take on coaching seemed particularly fun and relevant. I realize that not all of our readers are basketball fans, so I opted not to title this piece “Sales Coaching Lessons from Phil Jackson” – for fear that those of you who don’t know that Phil Jackson coached both the NBA championship Chicago Bulls with star Michael Jordan and the NBA championship Los Angeles Lakers with star Kobe Bryant, might not be motivated to read the article.
Stress management – not a new concept to any sales professional… but still one worth talking about, especially as the new year brings about new business and new challenges.
There is no time more fitting than the start of the new year to reflect on the wins and losses of the past year and set new goals for the upcoming one.
How are salespeople usually described? You typically hear words like “self-centered,” “pushy,” and even “untrustworthy.”
We spend a great deal of time thinking about and talking about how this new virtual reality has affected us as salespeople: how we prospect, how we conduct meetings, how we sell. But the truth is, the shift has also greatly impacted our customers and potential customers’ way of conducting business. They’ve had to deal with a whole different host of challenges as they change how they vet solution providers and choose their partnerships.
I see a lot written about effective strategies for dealing with objections, and I agree with most of the common wisdom about handling real/honest objections. What I think most experts, and reps, fail to understand, though, is that the typical strategies or steps that are effective in responding to a real objection fail miserably when faced with a “false objection.”
This article is a continuation of one we discussed last week. In the past, we’ve referred to it as “strategic coaching” or “OtherCentered® leadership,” but the idea we’re exploring here, called “Quadrant Coaching” is the same.
Our topic today is one of the more radical things we teach front line sales leaders here at ASLAN. In the past, we’ve referred to it as “strategic coaching” or “OtherCentered® leadership,” but the idea is the same. And this subject isn’t just for sales leaders, it is key for the reps they lead to understand this as well.
The beginning of a new year is always a great time to sit back, reflect and reevaluate. It’s a time to check in with ourselves and our peers, to set new goals and reconnect to what drives us.
Over the better part of the last year, we’ve spent a great deal of time discussing the transition to virtual selling, the new sales process, and the different new skills and technological considerations involved in serving our customers remotely.
I think I found the secret to building a teachable team.
One of the most advanced skills required in virtual selling is telling a story. You need your customer to experience the emotional connection and the payoff they would receive by embracing your recommendation.
Each week here at ASLAN, we put out content to help sales reps adjust to this new world of virtual selling. I asked myself, what’s the best way to help reps achieve their sales goals? Who is their “best friend” as they navigate this age of selling? It’s really their sales manager. It’s their coach, the person that helps them set goals and achieve them, growing as a seller along the way.
‘Tis the season… the holiday season, the season of giving, the season of kindness, compassion, and love. It’s a time for joy. As we round out 2020 and approach the end of a long, crazy year, one that has changed so much in the world of selling and the world in general, we thought it would be appropriate to examine the role of empathy in our world – how empathy can positively impact the world of selling, and virtual selling.
This topic, learning to identify the political structure of your prospects within an organization, will be very relevant and helpful to all B2B sales reps, especially in our current virtual selling climate.
In the world of sales, there’s been a lot of discussion lately about the feeling of vulnerability and discomfort that comes with selling remotely. What is it about this new “virtual reality” that makes sellers feel more vulnerable and “at-risk”? Is it the technology? Are we afraid of looking foolish?
Here’s a disruptive truth for you: the receptivity of your audience has more impact on your success than the power of your message.
There are a ton of “sales strategies” or “winning strategies” – but here’s the problem: most sellers only focus on one, or over-focus on one, completely ignoring the others.
Even if learning about sales training statistics doesn’t get your toes tapping, it is still something you should know about if you’re concerned with the performance of your sales team. Maybe you had not considered outsourcing your sales training, whether in person or virtual. Or perhaps you are just looking to gather some information about how it can help your business.
In the past, the “ABC’s” of selling was a recognized acronym for “Always Be Closing.” as you may remember for the 1990s movie Glengarry Glenross. Here at ASLAN, we want to rework that definition to mean something more aligned with our Other-Centered® Selling philosophy.
Cold calling, and prospecting in general, is a great challenge for most sales reps, across industries and at all levels of experience. Over the many years we’ve worked with sales professionals, we’ve managed to formulate several ways to make reaching out to prospects a more seamless and successful undertaking for those who sell for a living.
You must remember that ad from a few years ago. Well, I recently upgraded to a new cell phone. It took two trips to the store and two different sales people. When the first salesperson attempted to close with, “Is that the one you think you’d like?” I wasn’t sure. So I said:
Cold calling. Perhaps the most dreaded aspect of an inside sales reps’ duties. And with COVID-19 keeping us all in WFH mode, most salespeople have essentially taken on that role.
For all you married people out there, how did it go when you proposed or were proposed to? Chances are, it went pretty well. We don’t often hear about a marriage proposal that was turned down. Why not? Because you don’t propose until you are pretty sure you are going to get a yes.
As we navigate the seasonal shift from summer to fall, it’s becoming evident to many of us that this virtual way of conducting business will accompany us into the winter months ahead. Still dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic and all it entails, in both our personal and professional lives, may be leading some of us to lose our drive or motivation to keep striving.
None of us like wasting time divulging information to someone who can’t solve their problem. There’s no reason to provide a detailed explanation to your neighbor about an engine problem if he or she is not a mechanic. Studies have revealed that only 13% of customers believe sellers can understand their needs. The keyword is can. This reveals how customers and prospects enter into the selling process – skeptical that what they need to share will be understood. The deck is stacked against you.
What are we going to do about all of these Millennials? If you are trying to sell to this important part of our demographic or if you work with them on your sales team, this article is for you.
White chocolate. It was my favorite sweet treat as a kid… and it still is. In the summer I usually managed my meager allowance pretty well (even saving a little) and would look forward to going to the drug store down the street and indulging myself in pure delight once or twice a week. But I remember one week in particular when I was 12… I couldn’t treat myself to my weekly bit of chocolaty goodness because I blew my allowance on video games.
Combined, over the last 30+ years, Tom Stanfill has watched and made hundreds of sales presentations. Here is the most important thing he has learned: the best presentation wins, not necessarily the best solution.
And not only are we barraged with massive amounts of information, there are more choices as well. Research suggests we are now making 35,000 decisions per day. People are overwhelmed and paralyzed, driving response rates to a dismal 2%.
If you are scrambling to equip a sales organization to sell virtually, this is no small task. And much is at stake. To say your customers are very distracted right now is an understatement. Distractions at home, thoughts of the future, and to make matters worse, every rep and marketing executive has nothing but time on their hands to pump information into the market. Bottom line, there is a lot of noise out there.
The last days of summer are fading away, and the leaves on the trees are slowly changing colors; it is the time of changing seasons.
For the past 25 years, we’ve been studying what I (and most sellers) believe is the most difficult aspect of selling: prospecting or “cold calling” as some may remember.
Truth. A powerful word, but a destination seldom attained when talking to people we seek to influence.
What do you really want? It’s a good question. Some of us have an easy answer, while others struggle to describe what they really desire.
In July 1999, John F. Kennedy Jr. took off from New Jersey in his small, private plane and headed for the Kennedy compound on Martha’s Vineyard. Even though a storm was rolling in, he made the decision that it was safe to fly.
This may sound familiar… You’re attempting to vet a few sales training programs, and as you navigate the process, you realize that choosing the right training partner is far from easy.
In most parts of North America, people are enjoying the last bit of the summer before autumn, the time of year that means daunting trips into the attic for winter coats and torturous school shopping sprees if indeed schools actually open.
In this article, we are going to explore why much of the coaching provided in the workplace today is less effective than it could be, even now with the added pressure of most sales professionals needing to work remotely.
It had been a slow sales quarter for me. I needed to close some business and I finally had an opportunity that looked very promising. I’d engaged all the right players, identified the key decision-makers, made sure the project could be funded, and discovered the gaps and objectives that needed to be addressed.
There is a lot of buzz right now in the industry about redefining a sales person’s role.
My opening premise for this topic may fall under the category of “hard pills to swallow,” but hear me out…
As sales reps, adjusting to the new norm of selling virtually presents an added set of challenges to overcome.
The beginning of any sales relationship is most difficult. Actually picking up the phone or crafting that first email can be intimidating. If you have been selling face-to-face over the years, this is even more frightening now that we are all conducting business virtually. Remember this one thing when you start ANY conversation: no one wants to look at your photo album.
Have you ever stopped to think what it would take to sell yourself something? I mean really sell… to have your beliefs changed about a product or a service, to get you to pay attention and invest your hard-earned money in something or someone.
This is not the time for a big story. We have big problems. It cannot continue and something needs to change.
There are 3 beliefs that organizations and companies tend to have regarding virtual instructor led trainings (VILTs). Not everyone may subscribe to these beliefs but in general, there is an assumption within our industry that:
In the coaching workshops that I’ve led over the last twelve years, there is always a manager who asks me this question:
Up to this point in the series, we’ve been focused on creating a framework and setting the stage for a drop-the-mic presentation. In Part 3, I want to shift to delivery.
Whether you sell things that are going virtual, or you buy things that are going virtual, it’s worth reading this article to equip yourself with the information you need to know about the cost(s) of newly virtual offerings.
As explored in Part 1, the first step to delivering a killer presentation is understanding the right framework. Here I want to explore another critical element of the perfect performance – controlling the stage.
Take a stab at answering these 3 questions:
Combined, over the last 30+ years, I’ve watched and made hundreds of sales presentations. Here’s the most important thing I’ve learned: the best presentation wins, not necessarily the best solution.
Can you give us a discount on that? Can we postpone our payment? Is there any way we can get some of our money back? Admit it, you’ve all been hearing these requests since the start of the pandemic.
Everyone is talking about how to coach virtually – and that’s a good thing to be focused on. Coaching is every bit as important now as it was a few short months ago; maybe even more so.
As sales leaders and sales trainers, we’re all in the same virtual boat. COVID-19 has rocked that boat, and this new all-digital norm is here to stay – at least for a while.
If you inhabit the world of sales, chances are you’ve participated in multiple sales training lessons, or even online sales training courses, over the course of your career to learn and focus your sales skills as a sales professional.
By now, you may be very frustrated by all the new challenges of selling when you cannot visit your customers. You are having to relearn everything you thought you already knew and you realize that what made you successful in your career thus far, simply may not work any longer. If you’re in the world of sales, you’ve probably wrestled with each of the the following questions:
Let me guess, you never coached your reps much when you could travel with them. Now you are stuck in your home office and you do have time to coach and you are not sure where to start. Well you are in the right place, coaching and developing reps is even easier virtually and now, we actually have the time to do it.
During this pandemic, individuals and companies alike have had to adapt and evolve to the changing landscape of business and sales. With the majority of events, meetings, and projects being moved online, managers and leaders have had to get creative.
The amount of information we receive daily is staggering. We now consume the equivalent of 174 newspapers a day, over four times more than in the late ‘80s. Marketing experts will tell you we receive anywhere from 3,000 to 10,000 messages or ads each day. And not only are we barraged with massive amounts of information, there are more choices as well. Research suggests we are now making 35,000 decisions per day.
The coronavirus. COVID-19. It’s all over the news, and already greatly impacting people and businesses alike. We’re being affected personally and professionally. Schools are closed, restaurants and retailers are closed or operating in a limited capacity, and businesses have implemented mandatory work-from-home policies.
I’m a die-hard cross-country skier. I’ve been out 93 times so far this season. When I first started trying to conquer hills and sharp turns, I fell – a lot! It was discouraging. Then, my husband, who has been a skier since he was four and is now a skilled coach, said to me,
“You are what you read.”
Have you ever been completely bored by a presentation, zoned out as someone drones on and on? Or thought,
Should we be selling in the middle of a pandemic?
To my fellow CEO, Owners, Sales & Learning Leaders,
In Part 2 of Call Center Sales, we’ll pick up where we left off in Part 1. You’re leading the call, driving the conversation by asking questions, keeping it conversational, and making sure your customer is with you as you navigate a solution and resolution to their questions.
If you run an inbound sales organization, or if you make a living selling on the phone, you know the biggest obstacle to up-selling happens in the first 15 seconds of the call. Although all “genres” of sales share common themes and techniques across the board, there are some key differences to selling in an inbound, call center environment that we’ll address here today.
I love Cinderella stories – when someone overcomes impossible odds to do something great. It doesn’t matter if it’s an athlete, teacher, rockstar, mom, politician, or accountant, the story always moves me. This weekend I heard a new one.
If you’ve been following me on this step-by-step approach to filling your pipeline, you already know how to capture the prospect’s attention and the best answer to the question: “Why meet?” Next, we need to move this total stranger from “this looks interesting” to giving up their most precious resource: time.
If you understand and implement the principles offered in Step One, you will get the prospect’s attention. As the suit guy says, “I guarantee it.” Like unexpectedly jumping out from behind a door, there are some predictable things you can do to control eyeballs when facing obstacles to prospecting. The next step is a bit more challenging:
Managing a sales team has its own unique set of challenges when it comes to selling and building customer relationships — especially when prospecting over the phone. Even the most well-meaning sales reps might be unsuccessful when encountering certain obstacles in the prospecting process.
We've all been there - sitting in a coffee shop or at our cubicle, frantically preparing for that first prospect meeting. We're jotting down sales discovery questions, hoping to uncover those crucial needs.
For the past 25 years, we’ve been studying what I (and most sellers) believe is the most difficult aspect of selling: prospecting.
Thinking about a sales training program for your sales reps? If you’re unsure how to guarantee that a training investment will give you the return you need to build a more successful sales funnel, this is for you.
In this webinar, you’ll learn what actions you need to take to get sales training buy-in from your entire team, including how to:
We’ve recently discussed the biggest pitfalls of sales training objectives, from believing sales program effectiveness relies solely on the front-line to trying to tackle too many deficiencies at once. For this last post, we’re honing in on the last, and maybe the most important, pitfall: The assumption that generic sales training strategy will work for your sales team.
Previously, we discussed Why Sales Training Programs Aren’t Exclusively A Front-Line Responsibility and the importance of involving top-level leadership in your sales training strategy. In this blog post, we’re highlighting another leading problem with sales training programs: cramming everything into one program and applying the training to every possible service.
In our previous post, What’s More Important in Top Sales Training Courses: Measuring Behaviors or Outcomes? we discussed the importance of measuring the effectiveness of sales training courses by behaviors rather than outcomes. In this blog post, we’re highlighting another leading problem with sales training programs: focusing the initiative exclusively on front-line employees rather than involving mid-level and top-level leaders, too.
In our last post, 2 Ways Sales Training Courses Can Develop Your Sales Management & Reps in 2019, we talked about a serious problem in top sales training courses: Investing more in what happens in the workshop than after. In this post, we’re focusing on another leading problem with sales training courses: measuring behaviors instead of outcomes.
In our last post, 4 Things You Should Consider Before Committing to A Sales Training Program, we recognized a severe pitfall of training initiatives: Focusing on the WHAT vs. the WHY. In this post, we’re uncovering the next pitfall of sales training: what happens after sales training courses.
Here’s an uncomfortable truth: Most sales training initiatives fail to deliver.
Over the past two decades, I’ve learned that there is a critical concept in understanding how to close more deals. And it’s perfectly illustrated by what’s on my calendar today: Two calls that couldn’t be more different.
He never had a losing season as a head coach in the NFL, despite taking over some very poorly performing teams, first the Green Bay Packers and then the Washington Redskins. In his honor, the Super Bowl trophy is called the Lombardi Trophy. Such was his legacy as a football coach.
If you are responsible for training, leading, or developing a team of inside sales representatives (or your field team spends a majority of time selling over the phone), you understand the unique challenges of selling and prospecting over the phone. Every aspect of selling has a different set of challenges and requires a unique skill set.
Reps are struggling.
Here’s an idea: What would happen if we learned about our client BEFORE we pitched our solution to them? And we don’t mean what you can find out from their website, but things that you can only learn after a conversation with them. For example, what challenges are currently on their whiteboard.
Last month, Bobbi Kahler published an article, How We Sabotage Change by the Way We Coach. One of the saboteurs that she talked about is “Diverting Focus to Soon.”
Another year, another failed sales quota. This year marks the fifth year in a row that the percentage of reps hitting their quota have declined — and they don’t look to be changing for the better anytime soon. So, what do reps need to know to meet the new demands in successful prospecting and see positive change?
Working as a marketing executive for the last ten years, I have literally seen thousands of attempts from sales reps to get my attention. Salespeople have tried the “hey, I see you are a Villanova grad, GO CATS!” They’ve also tried: “I noticed that you worked at Kodak, so did my dad!” Occasionally, I also get: “How ‘bout those Patriots,” when they recognize that I live in New England.
All the experts and data say the same thing about sales coaching – it works. Initially, I wanted to start this article off with a series of data-driven statistics to substantiate the case I’m about to make. But if you are in sales, you already know it is true: Sales organizations that effectively coach their sales teams yield substantially better results and have better employee satisfaction rates. Period.
Earlier this spring, we remodeled our kitchen. As we were wrapping up the project, some friends came over to visit. They took one look at our shiny, new appliances and asked: “Where did you get those?”
Over my eleven year career with ASLAN®, I’ve coached hundreds of managers, and I’ve learned a couple of things.
A sales team that is not effective at qualifying prospects before they begin their sales process is like someone holding a heavy metal concert for classical music enthusiasts. You may have gotten people’s attention, but they aren’t going to like what they hear.
There’s a distinct difference between sales tools and sales training, but because they often overlap, it can be difficult to know which one is best for your organization.
Every rep at one time or another has struggled with obstacles in sales, and when it comes to sales motivation and sales strategy, there’s a lot of white noise out there trying to solve the problem with a series of tips.
We all know the truth: Selling is hard work. It demands a paradoxical blend of goal clarity, motivation, and talent to consistently prospect for, pursue, and secure new revenue.
Ready to improve your sales strategy and start successfully prospecting? But not exactly sure where to start? Pop open a cold one and join Scott Cassidy as he talks with Tom Stanfill and Marc Lamson on how to “read your sign.” Listen here:
It’s one of the oldest questions in the book: How do you make people care about what you have to say? It’s not just about your sales tactics; it’s more about how you’re delivering your prop.
Why is every rep struggling with sales prospecting? Here’s why. Most everything we’ve learned about selling sabotages our chances of converting the disinterested.
In our last post, “Is What You Learned About Sales Coaching and Performance Assessment Wrong?” we asked a tough question:
In our last post, Is What You Learned About Sales Coaching and Performance Assessment Wrong?, we asked a tough question: Are you developing the wrong people with your sales training? With this post, we’re going to explore another big mistake in sales coaching and performance assessment: Measuring behaviors instead of results.
For much of the sales world, the notion that sales coaching is an essential ingredient in improving sales organizations is not up for debate.
Congrats, you made it! Welcome to the sixth, and final, installment of our series: Exposing the 6 Myths of Call Center Training. If you haven’t had a chance to check out the previous posts, you can start with the first post in this series, or download the full series for free here.
Welcome to the fifth installment of our series: Exposing the 6 Myths of Call Center Sales. Be sure to check out the first, second, third, and fourth posts in this call center training series.
Welcome to the fourth installment of our series: Exposing the 6 Myths of Call Center training. Be sure to check out the first, second, and third posts in this call center training series.
The last few blogs have focused on the #1 characteristic of high-performers: desire, including how to create it, how to measure it, and how it affects coaching. Now I want to attack a myth about evaluating performance.
With the last blog in our sales strategy series, we explored a topic that’s even more important than coaching: igniting the desire to be coached.
In my last blog, the message was simple: Developing your leaders has more impact on sales performance than any other strategy, productivity tool, or sales methodology. Here my goal is to shift focus from awareness to application.
Welcome to the third installment of our series: Exposing the 6 Myths of Call Center Sales. Be sure to check out the first and second post in this call center training series.
The last thing you need is a whole new set of demands and challenges. But you’ve got them anyway, because now you’re now being asked to generate new revenue in addition to providing great customer service. Chances are, you’re already taking some steps to incorporate a sales element into your call center. But it’s not an easy transition.
I’ve recently attended two conferences for sales management and sales enablement leaders. They were different events, but they both had the same focus: Even though the economy is growing, sales performance is not.
You’re invited to ASLAN®’s one-day Catalyst™ workshop on Wednesday, July 24, 2019.
This week on sALES with ASLAN®, VP of Marketing Scott Cassidy chats with ASLAN President Marc Lamson on sales coaching and what it means to lead and manage successfully (hint: It starts with a nice beer on Friday afternoons).
There are 5 things I have learned in 25 years of prospecting. Wait, I know, that’s only one thing every five years. Hear me out.
This week on sALES with ASLAN®, VP of Marketing Scott Cassidy chats with ASLAN Regional Vice President of Sales John Cerqueira on what you can learn from 80 floors up on 9/11 (but of course, it starts with a nice beer on a Friday afternoon).
Feeling stressed? This week on sALES with ASLAN®, VP of Marketing Scott Cassidy chats with ASLAN President Marc Lamson on what you can do about end-of-quarter anxiety and sales stress levels (hint: It starts with a nice beer on Friday afternoons).
You’ve already identified step 1 of how to assess the sales strategy of a large organization, so know it’s time to close the gap and bring the sales management of your large organization full circle. Here’s what you need to focus on next:
When you’re ready to assess the sales strategy of a large organization, here’s the first step: Simplify and quantify what you want to measure. An easy way to start? Think about how you would assess a golfer.
When you’re trying to assess the sales strategy effectiveness of a large organization, your first goal should be this: to understand the needs of the sales organization and build the perfect training program.
ASLAN Training and Development announced it has been included on Selling Power’s 2019 list of the Top 20 Sales Training Companies that excel in helping sales leaders improve the performance of their sales teams. The list appears in the May 2019 issue of Selling Power magazine, which will be available to view online starting May 8.
It’s March Madness. For some, that phrase is just a reminder of the time of year when the rising pollen count pushes you to the brink of insanity. For basketball fans, it’s your favorite time of year, when 68 teams compete for the title of the best basketball team in college. And once again, the University of Kentucky is in the mix.
I’ve been looking at nice watches since the Rolex my father gave me tragically fell into the lake in 1988. I’ve always wanted to replace that extravagant graduation gift, but with four kids and 12 grandchildren, it’s hard to justify spending that kind of money on something I really don’t need. But I like to look.
If you fall into that category or you just want to sell more in the coming year, here are seven questions and some New Year’s resolutions to consider as you start 2019. I promise if you thoughtfully consider the questions — and follow through on the resolutions — when the clock strikes midnight 2020, you will clearly see (I know but couldn’t resist) why you had a great year.
For nearly 20 years, my wife and I have been a lead couple for Pre-Cana, the Catholic Church’s marriage preparation program. We attended a full weekend of preparation prior to our own wedding more than 25 years ago, as well as a marriage encounter weekend around the time the 7-year slump was approaching. We’re not just preaching what we believe, we were in the trenches too, just like the young couples we advise.
While it sounds like a quippy little tagline that belongs on magnets and coffee mugs, it’s absolutely true, and you pick up much more through reading than you realize. From teaching you how to organize your knowledge to building subconscious models and connections in your mind, reading shapes our experiences in ways that define our communication styles, our relationships, and our connections.
When I meet with sales and learning leaders, I see them make two big assumptions. First, they think they know what their sales reps need. Second, they overestimate the real competency of their reps to do the basics.
Is it a slick brochure on the programs offered? Probably helpful but it’s hard to condense a two or three-day program down to 500 words.
“Where did the name ASLAN come from?” It’s a common question I hear when meeting a prospective client. “Is it a combination of the founders’ initials or an acronym of our sales methodology?” No, it’s much more than that. The name reveals the deeper purpose of our company.
In December of 1995, I was reading The Chronicles of Narnia written by C.S. Lewis to my two young boys. It’s a series of books set in the mystical land of Narnia that appeals to both children and adults. Much like the Lord of the Rings, the story is filled with deep meaning about good and evil, with creatures foreign to this world. The villain is the white witch and the hero is a lion named Aslan.
If you had to characterize Aslan in one word, it would be servant. Yes he was the most powerful creature in Narnia but instead of leveraging that power and strength to serve himself, he chose to serve others. I instantly knew that this lion called Aslan captured the essence of what we were about. But I’m getting a little ahead of our story.
The desire to start our company first bloomed when my ASLAN co-founder (Tab Norris) and I decided to test our unique approach to selling. Prior to starting ASLAN in 1996, we were both running a large inside sales organization. Selling and prospecting over the phone was tough and we needed a training program. As we explored all the traditional sales methodologies, we quickly discovered they failed to address the unique challenges of selling over the phone. Worse, the programs perpetuated the adversarial relationship – the root cause of why selling is so difficult. So we decided to build our own program based on what had worked for us individually for years.
Getting an accurate pulse on a large sales organization is like getting input from 500 people about an upcoming dinner party — it’s not easy. And if you miss the mark, the most vocal people in the company have no problem communicating how they feel about the “party.” In order to get it right, it’s crucial to accurately assess skill rather than the client’s ability to answer a few questions about what they deem important. Many focus on surveys and while this is an important tool, it doesn’t reveal actual sales capability. In order to assess a seller, you have to watch the seller.
What can be more daunting than launching a company-wide initiative where the people who judge its success talk for a living? And to add a few more bricks to your shoulders, the time and resources required to pull it off are extensive. Bottom line – it better work. Bad news – most sales training initiatives fail to deliver. At a minimum, the ROI is fuzzy, bolstered by only a few anecdotal stories strategically captured to make everyone feel a bit better about making the investment.
In this eBook you will learn:
1) How to define the “big six” and overcome their obstacles.
2) How to properly assess your program with our rating system.
If you’re responsible for a call center, you know how hard it is to consistently deliver excellent service while reducing costs. The last thing you need is a whole new set of demands and challenges. But you’ve got them anyway. You’re now being asked to generate new revenue in addition to providing great customer service. It’s time to learn the truth about call center sales.
After training more than 25,000 sellers since 2015, we recognized the problem: Consumers, markets, and channels have changed, but sales reps haven’t. If your sales team is struggling to meet their numbers like half of the reps in the country are, you’re going to need to make a significant shift in your process to effect lasting change. Get our top five insights — and recommendations — on how your team can reframe their approach to be more successful in the modern marketplace moving forward.
In this e-book, you will learn:
With the help of ASLAN®, a high-tech manufacturing company changed their entire culture from top to bottom to grow revenue by 83.5%. By addressing their unique challenges with a custom ASLAN approach, this company was able to have a lasting impact on their sales organization, call center productivity, and annual projections.
By reading this case study, you will learn how ASLAN helped the company:
Learn how ASLAN® Sales Training helped this global services company shift their corporate culture while increasing sales in a down economy. With the help of ASLAN Training, this company was able to equip and inspire call center reps to proactively probe for additional opportunities and increase customer loyalty by providing a higher level of customer service.
To ensure the success of the program, ASLAN outlined three deliverables including:
The notion that sales coaching is an essential ingredient in improving sales organizations is not up for debate for much of the sales world. But while the debate about the necessity of sales coaching may be over, most sales leaders will tell you that they barely have time to manage their sales teams and they just don’t have time to coach. So we ask the question: What if you could cut the time you coach in half and get better results?
During a period of rapid acquisition-driven expansion, this financial services company realized that additional growth must come from boosting the conversion rate with retailers calling about establishing a credit card processing account and increasing retention within the existing customer base.
To ensure the program was more than an entertaining event, ASLAN®:
In order to address the enrollment and retention challenges of a disease management partner, ASLAN® put together a program to equip health coaches and their managers with a set of skills that would improve the effectiveness of their telephone interactions.
Working for one of the top 10 companies in the pharmaceutical industry is no guarantee the doctor will take your call, as the sales force of a globally-respected pharmaceutical company discovered. The young representatives were new to sales, lacked confidence, and experienced difficulty breaking through barriers. After they made a connection, many did not have the ability to navigate from the gatekeeper to the prescriber or to engage in consultative dialogue.
Whether you’re with a pharmaceutical drug company, a distributor of medical and surgical supplies or an EMR provider, you know that your ability to access decision makers in Integrated Physician Practices (IPPs) is crucial to your sales effectiveness. You also know that “getting in” is considerably more than half the battle. If you’ve been at it for any length of time, you know that accessing those decision makers has never been more challenging and it’s not getting easier.
There are two immediate challenges: Inside sales is different and selling over the phone is difficult. If you manage an inside sales or telesales team, you realize these as the unique hurdles to selling and managing customers over the phone. The purpose of this eBook is to share with you experience gained from research in hundreds of organizations since 1996 that will help you respond to areas that are inhibiting the performance of your inside sales organization.
In an effort to boost revenues within accounts too small to be supported by the field organization and the distribution channel, the manufacturer decided to create a telesales team to sell their products direct.
This insurance company engaged ASLAN® Training & Development to design a program dedicated to recruiting qualified and high-volume agent partners.
This leading, multi-location, upscale spa and full-line catalog company had no standard call model or coaching schedule for their call centers. The company worked with ASLAN® to identify the gaps in their selling and customer service skills. The goal was to demonstrate to customers that they are the spa experts who target services to meet the needs of the customer. To achieve this goal, the representatives and management team were trained on ASLAN’s Other-Centered® Selling program.
Along with the training for reps, managers went through ASLAN’s Catalyst program. They were taught skills to help them effectively coach the reps on their team. They learned to assess reps relative skill levels in each of the competency areas covered in the workshops – diagnosing reps skill mastery.
This large regional bank wanted to improve customer experience and increase customer loyalty.
Doing the same thing and expecting different results wouldn’t work. ASLAN® helped equip these reps with key skills they would need to help them manage calls differently. Rather than approaching calls in a responsive role and relying on the customer to take the lead, participants were equipped to assume the leader role in calls and proactively explore the full range of customer’s needs.
– on this earth, this big sphere, right now? How’s that for a casual conversation starter at your next backyard gathering?
ASLAN Training CEO and Founder Tom Stanfill was recently highlighted on the JF Interview Series and discussed the impact of the changes within the selling process.
Have you ever stopped to think what it would take to sell yourself something? I mean to call you during dinner and really have your beliefs changed about a product or a service and get you to stop eating and invest your hard-earned money. Do you have what it takes to sell yourself?
When I look in the mirror (not literally), and think about selling to myself, I learn quite a bit. I'm a hard sell. I'm typically immune to being approached by salespeople in general, and especially bad ones. And yes, I am a sales person by profession. Because of this, I take the art of selling very seriously, and I have a passion for helping salespeople transform into sales professionals. I also am very quick to recognize and reward good salesmanship.
I have rookies, amateurs, and time termites approach me every day, trying to pitch or persuade me. Very few succeed.
So, if I look in the mirror to selling me, what are the fundamentals to gaining access to me?
Check out this article recently published by TrainingIndustry.com and written by ASLAN CEO and co-founder Tom Stanfill on how we validate the impact of our training initiatives efforts.
Check out this article recently published by Selling Power and written by ASLAN CEO and co-founder Tom Stanfill on what he's learned from the sales leaders who are consistently on top.
It seems to me that every sales VP attended a secret meeting in Vegas a few years agoand they all came to a consensus as to what was the most important focus area for hitting quotas – the front line sales manager. Overnight, it appears, everyone now agrees that the best way to impact a team of reps is not just a 2-day training program but investing in the one person who works with the reps every day – the sales manager.
Whoever led that secret meeting in Vegas was pretty smart. Because I think they are on to something.
Behavior change happens one on one, not in the classroom. Don’t get me wrong; I am a big fan of the classroom. That is the most efficient place to ignite change and ensure reps begin to adopt a new methodology, skills, etc., but you cannot sustain change without the involvement of the manager.
So if the manager is so critical to the success of their sales team, what is this new sales superhero supposed to do you may ask? Good question. I’m not sure the guru in Vegas covered itbut I’m willing to give it a shot. But first it may be more helpful if I focus on what the sales manager is not supposed to do – a subject that will be easy for me to tackle since all I have to do is reflect back on my first year as a sales manager. I was horrible. I really wasn’t a manager at all. I was more like an ex-baseball player who liked to teach by saying, “Hey! Watch me hit the ball!” Or worse yet, just bat for you. “Let me show you how it’s done!” I had zero understanding of how to leverage my success as a sales rep to improve the performance of my team. It turns out that some of the big mistakes I made are still very common among seasoned and green managers alike. See if any of these misconceptions about managing hit home for you and then score where you are on the bad sales manager meter.
ASLAN Training & Development just concluded our ASLANetwork Certified Reseller (ACR) Jam Session in Atlanta where we had some of the top ASLANetwork Certified Resellers in to focus on continuous improvement in three key areas:
Improving salesmanship
Improving the ACR program
Improving each other
It was a successful and well-received event with learnings, shared ideas, and opportunities for self-improvement with colleagues and friends.
Do you have an ingenious design that solves a common problem? Then Lori Greiner wants you to make a million dollars. She’s “The Queen of QVC.” On the hit ABC series, Shark Tank, she’s “The Warm-Blooded Shark®,” “The Shark with a Heart.” But having a kind heart doesn’t make Lori an easy mark for just anyone who is pitching a product and willing to sell a piece of their company.
Be a Hero, Not a Zero
Lori is like an approachable customer for any salesperson: you can share ideas and have a decent conversation with her. But that does not mean you will make a sale.
On Shark Tank, the mandatory hook for catching a shark is often preparation. But with Lori Greiner, it is the key.
Lori has said that "I can tell instantly if a product is a hero or a zero." You'd better have a confident delivery and know what value you bring to the table. You need to have a product or service that many people want and that solves a common problem. Lori invests in simple solutions to those problems.
The popular show, Shark Tank, provides a great platform for hopeful entrepreneurs to present their ideas to a panel of industry titans. The budding entrepreneurs are there to convince the sharks to invest in their product idea. Contestants are presenting to a receptive group of individuals but without insights and skill, it is unlikely that they will hold the sharks’ interest long enough to successfully convince them to make an investment.
If you find yourself in front of the panel on Shark Tank hoping for Daymond John to invest in your company, being prepared and understanding his background and what he believes might serve you well. Knowing that he is the founder of the FUBU fashion empire is not enough, however. Understanding who he is and what makes him tick - is what will bridge the gap between being a presenter and becoming a partner when selling Daymond on an investment.
They ain't a'gettin' nowhere
And they're losin' their share
Boy, they must've gone crazy out there
Son, they all must be crazy out there
Jerry Jeff Walker - Night Rider's Lament
The last chorus of Jerry Jeff Walker’s 1975 song Night Rider’s Lament may be the perfect summation of both the world and the selling ecosystem we operate in today. I’ve seen enough on the news and in the selling world to know we are making a pretty strong case for the compelling argument that “They must’ve gone crazy out there.”
Is it possible that the songwriter, Michael Burton, had a crystal ball that held the stark reality of the future of the world, and the world of sales, some 40 years later? Probably not, but the song does make a good case for taking the time to reflect on what is taking place and how to keep us calibrated on what is most important and ultimately most fulfilling in life and selling.
You wouldn’t know it, but I’m a part of the less-than-one-percent-club that combines being a music junkie, a believer in cowboy heritage, and a strong proponent for creating unique value for clients. How’s that for a smooth combination? Personal experience has proven that the three intersect more frequently than you might think.
WHAT YOUR EMAIL TRASH FILE CAN TEACH YOU ABOUT GAINING ACCESS TO DECISION-MAKERS
“What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Several years ago (back when I was half as old and twice as cool), I used to love going to the movies that had incredible sound quality and the THX opener – “The Audience is Listening.”
The sound actually shook my popcorn and the room, and I always thought the “deep note” literally traveled in my right ear and came out my left. It basically meant that I needed to buckle my seatbelt because the sound quality was about to part my already great-looking hair for the next couple of hours.
In part one of the Trash Can series, we evaluated a portion of the current state of selling and the fact that much of the sales world is experiencing the opposite problem from that THX opener. The audience isn’t listening. And they may actually be wearing email ear muffs, at least as far as their communication is concerned.
The ambient noise that most sales people make today never even reaches the ear of the decision-maker. Decision-makers generally have an interest level somewhere less than zero for being pitched, prodded, or Power Pointed by sales reps, and yet thousands of people with business cards that read “sales consultant” keep using methods they have already proven don’t work. Isn’t there a word that describes what we are when we keep doing the same thing and expect different results?
In 'THE TRASH CAN CHALLENGE' FOR SALES PROFESSIONALS -PART ONE: THE BREAKDOWN we dissected this epidemic from an analytical perspective and challenged readers to conduct their own research. Now we are ready for some help-me sauce – the build-up. For those of you took the challenge and currently find yourself surrounded by a handful of Pulitzer Prize-winning examples of how to not get the decision-makers in your life to open up and become receptive to engaging with you, let’s help you start the shift, begin the restoration process, and get the audience listening.
ASLAN Training and Development is proudly celebrating the company’s 20th anniversary. To commemorate this momentous occasion, the ASLAN leadership team is celebrating past achievements and looking to the future.
ASLAN Training & Development is proudly celebrating 20 years of bringing truth to the marketplace. began as a modest startup, has emerged into an award winning sales training company.
ASLAN was established in 1996, in the basement of co-founder Tab Norris’s family home. The story of ASLAN’s rise to success is a narrative more often associated with the rise of an up and coming garage band. What began as the passion project of two sales professionals, on a shoestring budget, has grown into a celebrated sales training organization with a footprint in more than 25 countries. The ASLAN team is humbled by their achievements over the past 20 years and grateful for the relationships and partnerships that have made it possible. For the past two decades, ASLAN Training has established a reputation as strategic partner, helping sales organizations bridge the gap in their sales force execution. Amongst the company’s many accolades, they were named to Selling Power’s Top 20 Sales Training Companies in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 as well as Training Industry’s Training Companies Watch List in 2015 and 2016.
The ASLAN Other-Centered® Leader
Coaches Quiz Blog Series
Every winner has a coach, and every coach has a philosophy. The ASLAN Other-Centered® Leader Coaches Quiz matches your coaching style with some of the legendary coaches in sports. Here is a deeper look inside the philosophy of one of the best.
Pat Riley has an amazing list of achievements: he coached and managed three NBA teams to a total of eight championships during his 27-year career. He was five-time NBA Coach of the Year, and he coached the All-Star Game nine times. Plus, he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008, the year of his retirement.
Riley experienced early coaching success when his Los Angeles Lakers won two championships and narrowly lost in the NBA finals during his first four years of coaching. To keep his team from becoming complacent, Riley began to compile detailed statistics that represented their lifetime performance in a single number.
My wife is a fan of the TV show Biggest Loser – and according to the ratings numbers, she is not alone! Seems millions of Americans tune in weekly to watch fitness experts Jillian Michaels and Bob Harper tone up and thin down teams of overweight contestants.
The following article is written with apologies to and great respect for Alaska’s Inuit people who have historically been referred to by outsiders as “Eskimo” but who have never used that term to refer to themselves and view it as offensive. It is also written with apologies to the manufacturers of modern day refrigerators who no longer refer to their food storage units as iceboxes. And finally it is written with apologies to Dr. Seuss whose classic Green Eggs and Ham is blatantly ripped off in this article’s title.
