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Page 1: TSW News03 Mar12 - Amazon S3 · a customer with a need dialogue. When I posed this to Brian, he reinforced that the need dialogue was critical to developing the kind of “customer
Page 2: TSW News03 Mar12 - Amazon S3 · a customer with a need dialogue. When I posed this to Brian, he reinforced that the need dialogue was critical to developing the kind of “customer

contentsIn

this

mon

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issu

e

Editors: Jonathan Farrington & Linda [email protected]: Bill [email protected] by: The JF Corporation Communications House26 York Street London W1U 6PZ Tel: +00 44 (0) 845 026 4752

A Conversation with Forrester’s Brian Lambertby Linda Richardson

6

The Busy Person’s Pages 4

The Five Behavioral Stages of the SalesCycle & One Rep Error by Dan McDade

10

Four Common Destructive SalesManagement Styles by Paul McCord

14

Focus OnMark Hunter 16

Top Sales Article of the Month Announced– Plus the ten nominees for March 12

Top Sales Highlightsfrom the Past Four Weeks ... In case you missed them

20

2 Top Sales Associates Magazine March 2012

So here we are, almost at the end of “Mad” March, and that means many of you will bescrambling to close down business before month/quarter end. Hopefully, we canprovide you with a brief distraction, which will however be stimulating and educational– fun even!

This month, in her regular column, Linda Richardson interviews Forrester’s Brian Lambert –“If you want to know what your customers are thinking, Brian Lambert is a great personto ask.” The full interview is on Pages 6 & 7.

We have excellent articles from two members of the Top Sales Experts team: “The FiveBehavioral Stages of the Sales Cycle & One Rep Error” from Dan McDade and “FourCommon Destructive Sales Management Styles” written by Paul McCord.

As always we announce this month’s Top Sales Article, and then reveal the tennominees for March.

We also allow you to re-cap the best contributions from the past four weeks over at TopSales World and Top Sales Management, and we have to say that there have beensome outstanding articles, guides and interviews during the past month.

Finally, in his regular “JF Uncut” column, Jonathan Farrington is asking for your help, ashe attempts to identify the “Top 50 Sales & Marketing Influencers for 2012” He is startingwith a long-list of 150 names, so he really does need your input.

Enjoy!

Welcome

3Top Sales Associates Magazine March 2012

TSH

Who Are the Top 50 Sales & MarketingInfluencers in 2012?” by Jonathan Farrington

19

Come and Discover Us �

Page 3: TSW News03 Mar12 - Amazon S3 · a customer with a need dialogue. When I posed this to Brian, he reinforced that the need dialogue was critical to developing the kind of “customer

★ Top Sales BlogsHERE ��

★ Latest Top Sales Book HERE ��

★ Top Sales HardtalkInterviewEvery Wednesday.HERE ��

★ Top Sales TipsEvery single day.HERE ��

★ Top 10 Sales ArticlesHERE ��

★ And so much more …. Top Sales World HERE ��

March 2012

The Five Behavioral Stages of theSales Cycle & One Rep Error by Dan McDade

A couple of years ago, we created a lead for a sales rep who lived inPennsylvania. Our client sold a relatively high-priced software solution andgenerating quality opportunities for this company’s highly ... Read More�

Top Sales Article of the MonthAnnounced

Where do the articles come from? Each month we select the very best salesarticles from the major article sites, which have been written by top salesgurus from around the world. We cull through till we find ... Read More�

Four Common Destructive SalesManagement Styles by Paul McCord

I’ve had the privilege of working with many new managers whose companyhired me to help them transition from seller to manager or to work withexisting managers to become more effective. One of the ... Read More�

Who Are the Top 50 Sales &Marketing Influencers in 2012? by Jonathan Farrington

I believe it is highly likely that most frontline sales and marketingprofessionals today - being constantly bombarded by conflicting advice andcommentary from a host of sources - are totally confused! Read More�

Top Sales Highlightsfrom the Past Four Weeks ... In case you missed them

Enjoy the latest Top Sales Hardtalk Interviews, recent White Papers, recent“How to” Guides, Sales Team Development Sessions and the SalesManagement Issues Interviews. Read More�

Getting in the Head of Your Customer.A Conversation with Forrester’s BrianLambert by Linda Richardson

If you want to know what your customers are thinking, Brian Lambert is agreat person to ask. Brian is the Senior Analyst for Sales Enablement atForrester and works with product, marketing, and sales ... Read More�

OurPartners

4 Top Sales Associates Magazine March 2012

The BusyPerson’s PagesThe BusyPerson’s PagesHere is what you will find in this month’s edition.

5Top Sales Associates Magazine March 2012

TSH

Page 4: TSW News03 Mar12 - Amazon S3 · a customer with a need dialogue. When I posed this to Brian, he reinforced that the need dialogue was critical to developing the kind of “customer

creates a valuable meeting. Forexample, in a study of 299executives only 15% of buyersbelieved the conversations theyhave with salespeople are valuable.Why the major disconnect? Brianattributes this to customers andsalespeople having differentdefinitions of what a valuablemeeting actually entails.

When buyers were asked whatthey perceive the agenda of thesalespeople who call on them to bethey overwhelmingly described anagenda in which salespeople lookfor the need that triggers themtalking about their solutions. Butwhat customers truly want is asalesperson who is interested inunderstanding their business andhelping them become moresuccessful by driving their businessoutcome – meaning that needsbecome defined over the course ofworking with the salesperson

It is this disconnect betweenhow salespeople define whatcustomers value and what valuemeans to customers today that hasbeen a big part of the problem inselling. With self-educatedcustomers the gap ofunderstanding between buyers and

sellers are only getting moresevere. We have known for a whilethat senior decision makers don’twant a product pitch in whichsalespeople probe, listen for a“buzz word” and jump to theirsolution. In response to that Brianemphasized that customers wantsalespeople to help them identifytheir desired outcome and workbackwards from that to create ashared vision of success that willallow customers attain theoutcome they really need.

It is so important to understanda product need probing vs. abusiness need probing. Here’s anexample where this differencebetween a product need dialogueand a business issue dialogue issurfaced:

Product Need Dialogue

The salesperson who identifies thata senior marketing executive’s needis to “make the shopping cartbigger in both the physical andonline stores” and then whoformulates a response by describingwhy his or her product can help(let’s say they focus on pitching howtheir reporting capability is betterthan competitors’), will very quicklybe dispatched to talk with lowerlevel people.

Business Need Dialogue

Compare the above example withthe salesperson who meets with thesame executive, identifies the sameneed but engages him or her (and inthis sale environment this is wherethe decision and budget iscontrolled) to discuss the

complexities of what it takes to fillthe cart in the physical and onlinestores such as store displays,marketing, co-location (organizingall painting supplies together withsuggestions), data, and analyticswhere many moving parts needs towork together across the marketingexecutives organization to createthe desired outcome. It is highlylikely this salesperson will have theopportunity to work backwards toarrive at a solution by discussingwhat it takes to fill the cart, considerideas, and likely, only later, maybetwo levels down, cover the topic ofreporting capabilities. Thesalesperson will have an answer tothat but in the context of thebusiness outcome the executivevalues and is willing to pay for.

For salespeople to have thesekinds of conversations, a shift musttake place in a salesperson’sknowledge, skill, and perspective sothey can succeed in the newenvironment. Salespeople must beable to understand the differentlenses executives use to look atproblems and outcomes and beready to engage about businessissues.

It is very interesting to note thatBrian has found that he candetermine how successful asalesperson is by how thesalesperson describes his or herrole. Lower performing salespeoplequickly jump to describing theirroles by talking about theirproducts. In contrast, highperforming salespeople talk aboutmaking customers successful, notabout their organizations’ productsand capabilities and they can do thisfor a sustained period of time, not

To conclude Briansuggests that eachsalesperson, sales

manager, andmarketer ask

him/herself thequestion What roledo I play with my

customer?

Over the past year he and histeam have heard from 300+

senior level buyers in Fortune 500companies who make executivedecisions about buying technologyand also hundreds of technologyvendor salespeople who sell tothose executives.

What is it that Brian is hearingfrom customers? Most customersfind there are very few salespeoplewho can engage them in a way that

6 Top Sales Associates Magazine March 2012

Getting in the Headof Your CustomerA Conversation with Forrester’s Brian Lambert by Linda Richardson

Top of Mind

If you want to knowwhat your customersare thinking, BrianLambert is a greatperson to ask. Brian isthe Senior Analyst forSales Enablement atForrester and works withproduct, marketing,and sales groups toalign content,behaviors, and tools tothe value thatcustomers define.

7Top Sales Associates Magazine March 2012

Page 5: TSW News03 Mar12 - Amazon S3 · a customer with a need dialogue. When I posed this to Brian, he reinforced that the need dialogue was critical to developing the kind of “customer

just a few minutes.The challenges buyers have are

complex and Brian feels salespeoplemust “understand the reality of thecustomer” and be ready to developa “high level of intimacy withcustomers” if they are to deal withthe complexities. This will takeorganizational support andsalespeople who have to shoulderthe change alone will be at asignificant disadvantage. Best inclass organizations will providegreater support in the form of salesmanagement, marketing, and otherresources.

Brian described how in the newworld of sales, marketing must playa major role in preparingsalespeople to add value in salesconversations. For most salesorganizations this will require thatmarketing makes the shift from amarketing approach to a customerapproach which means treating thesales conversation as a marketingmedium along with brand and othertraditional marketing strategies. Thefocus must be on who is thecustomer and what the does thecustomer need to be successful.

Because the need for marketingto transition to a customer approachfrom a marketing approach isessential, I explored with Brian howhe saw that in terms some of thecurrent selling strategies thatadvocate that marketing providescripts that negate or marginalizethe need for a salesperson to engagea customer with a need dialogue.

When I posed this to Brian, hereinforced that the need dialoguewas critical to developing the kindof “customer intimacy” he sees asessential and that salespeople must

be more prepared to engage in aneed dialogue and leverage but notrely on over generalizations aboutcustomer needs or priorities that aremade available to them bymarketing.

Another important change Brianfocused on is the change that mustoccur in how salespeoplecommunicate internally. He sees aneed for them to clearly articulatetheir customers’ needs within theirown organizations without beingmade to feel like whiners. Whensalespeople consistently close thefeedback loop, they will providetheir sales organizations withinvaluable customer intelligenceabout customers and the changes inthe marketplace.

The three major changes thatsales organizations are facing –change in business, change inbuyers, and change in their ownsales organizations -- have allconverged at once to create the newand formidable challenges. But

Brian sees some good news in this:Because expertise has been resetand no organization has figured it allout (yet) and all are on the samelevel in the need to learn and adapt,a real window of opportunity fordifferentiation has opened up forthe sales organizations andsalespeople who step up their game.

With greater preparation,knowledge, and skill salespeople canprovide insight and ask focusedquestions around priority issues toget at the multiple perspectives andsee the root of problems. Far fromgoing in and telling customers whatto do, salespeople must be able tocreate a vision of success with thecustomer based on the preparation,probing, and value add.

To conclude Brian suggests thateach salesperson, sales manager, andmarketer ask him/herself thequestion What role do I play with mycustomer? The answer will bedifferent for each company andsales role but the key is to answerthe question from the desk of thecustomer.

Brian’s dedication to salesexcellence shone through withoutany pretense. I was particularly stuckwith Brian’s thought that in our newcomplex sales world all of us, nomatter how successful, experienced,struggling, or new to selling, take onthe mentality of a toddler – falldown, get up, ask a lot of questions,and keep on learning. ■

Linda Richardson is the Founder andChairwoman of Richardson, the global salesperformance company and is responsiblefor product and sales strategy.www.richardson.com

8 Top Sales Associates Magazine March 2012

Another importantchange Brian

focused on is thechange that must

occur in howsalespeople

communicateinternally.

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Page 6: TSW News03 Mar12 - Amazon S3 · a customer with a need dialogue. When I posed this to Brian, he reinforced that the need dialogue was critical to developing the kind of “customer

influencer to confirm authority andidentify actionable business pain.Discussions highlight the chasmbetween where they are now andwhere they want to be and includecause analysis.

2. Get agreement there is pain.Getting agreement on pain includesidentifying the motivations behindwhy a prospect wants to change.The three of the most commonmotivators are the fear of loss in thecurrent situation, the risk ofdeterioration of the currentsituation or an opportunity toimprove the current situation.Examples of impact areas for thesemotivators include revenue, costs,productivity and competitiveadvantage.

3. Agree to do something aboutthe pain. Movement stalls and thestatus quo wins if there is noagreement to do something aboutthe pain—it must have sufficientstrength and urgency attached (forexample, what is sometimes called a“compelling event”) to driveforward motion.

4. Agree to a generic solution.After the pain has been prioritizedand commitment to action

confirmed, the conversation movesto an exploration of the rightalternatives in the form of a genericor category solution. This stageincludes a review of specificsolution requirements and how theywould be successfully addressed bya generic solution.

5. Agree to a customizedsolution. Only after the precedingfour steps have been successfullyaddressed can the discussion shift toa focus on your offering as acustomized or branded solution.The strength of your understandingof the prospect’s pain andrequirements finally supports a fulland detailed presentation of yoursolution’s value, competitivedifferentiators, features andbenefits.

Too often, reps default to stepfive in this sequence. Theyerroneously believe that a singleevent—quickly closing a deal—isthe priority, and they fail to see anew engagement inside the contextof building a relationship and goingthrough a multi-step process.

Subtleties are important, andthey impact the overall success ofthe full spectrum of stages. Nomatter when a rep receives a lead, itis critically important to go back tostage one and confirm theprospect’s authority, pain andcommitment to do something aboutthat pain. This sequential revisiting

of each stage by the rep obtainsrequired prospect buy-in at eachstep.

I’d also like to make a note aboutlead handling when an opportunityis delivered as a marketing qualifiedlead (MQL) by a dedicated groupinside the organization or anoutsourced prospect developmentcompany. While the definition of alead would be determined by theservice level agreement (SLA)worked out between marketing andsales, a dedicated lead qualificationteam typically turns over an MQLafter step three so that the sales repideally works with the prospect todetermine what a generic solutionlooks like. Again, the rep wouldrevisit steps one, two and three toconfirm the prospect has the rightauthority, pain and commitment toaction.

When all five behavioral stagesare not addressed sequentially, repsrisk being seen by qualifiedprospects as pushing for a too-quick close. And they risk losingdeals because they have notconfirmed progressive buy-in.When all stages are correctlyrevisited, prospects sense a rep’sprofessionalism in presenting theright, comprehensive solution onlyafter their needs and situation arefully understood.

The importance of reps alwaysstarting in the right place—thebeginning—cannot be overstated. ■

Article written by Dan McDade.

To find out more about Dan, visit:www.pointclear.com

For this client we did warmtransfers of leads, and, before we

could even introduce the prospectto the sales rep, the sales rep said,“Some telemarketing company weuse in Atlanta said you wereinterested in our solutions – whatare you looking to buy?” As a sidenote, we actually recorded that call,and that sales rep did not last theday with his employer.

I wish this was an isolatedincident. But it is not.

The short version of the errorreps are making is relativelystraightforward: when they doengage with qualified prospects,they are skipping behavioralprecursors in the sales cycle andmoving too quickly to attempt toclose deals.

Finally engaged and eager tomove toward closed deal status, thesales rep assumes the next bestaction is to try to get prospect buy-in on his or her company’s solution.Unfortunately, this can mean the repmoves to a full-court-press overloadof features, benefits, valueproposition and competitivedifferentiators. Lost in this approachis the critical importance of the repbacking up to revisit, confirm andprogress through five behavioralstages to ensure that the prospect isconsciously buying into each step inthe process.

Years ago I worked for a guywho had a genius for sales. Heboiled everything down intoprocesses that I remember today asclearly as when I learned them

twenty years ago. His version ofthe sales process is as accuratetoday as it was then.

The five steps of the salescycle

There are a number of very goodsales training programs that workwell with consistent application andfollow up, and many address thesteps in the sales cycle in varyingways and depth. Following are fivesteps that take multiple viewpointsand net them down into a flow ofrequired outcomes. In somecompanies, these outcomes are alldriven directly by sales. In somecompanies, there are two and eventhree layers responsible for movingprospects through the steps (theselayers would include lead generationspecialists, nurture specialists and,of course, field sales reps).

1. Find the pain. The first steprequires engaging with a qualifieddecision maker or decision

10 Top Sales Associates Magazine March 2012

The first step requiresengaging with a

qualified decisionmaker or decision

influencer to confirmauthority and identify

actionablebusiness pain.

A couple of years ago, we created a lead for asales rep who lived in Pennsylvania. Our client solda relatively high-priced software solution andgenerating quality opportunities for this company’shighly compensated sales force took a lot of work

Behavioral Stages of theSales Cycle & One Rep Error

11Top Sales Associates Magazine March 2012

Page 7: TSW News03 Mar12 - Amazon S3 · a customer with a need dialogue. When I posed this to Brian, he reinforced that the need dialogue was critical to developing the kind of “customer

Your Attitude is Showing - Is It Killing Your Sales? Whether we like it or not, whether we want it tohappen or not, whether we believe it or not ...

By Paul McCord on EyesonSales �

Is Your Customer Taking Too Long To Buy? My 2 cutie-pie nieces definitely have some DivaDNA. (They have my IMPATIENCE gene!) ...

By Kim Duke on EyesonSales �

Are You FacingSales Fatigue? The past three years have been a challenge formost organizations. The economy has ...

By Ken Thoreson on Top Sales Management �

Build Relationships - Not Resistance As salespeople, we generally have between 4and 30 seconds to make a first impression ...

By Colleen Francis on Top Sales Management�

7 Cold Call Opening Statements from Hell When cold calling, the opening statement isTHE most critical element to your success ...

By Jim Domanski on Salesopedia �

Sales Objection: We are Already Working with Another Company Today's question was asked by a frustratedseller who kept running into the same ...

By Jill Konrath on EyesonSales �

The Nuclear Bomb of Sales Responses Questions are the power tool of sales.Questions lead to valuable answers that tell ...

By Gary Hart on EyesonSales �

Sales Meetings That Engage: Please Include Me! Want to increase the value of your salesmeetings? INCLUDE your sellers in the ...

By Nancy Bleeke on Top Sales Management �

Following Up after Your Prospect Says “NO” If your prospect declines or delays the decisionto do business with you, in other words, no...

By Dr. Tony Alessandra on Top Sales Management ��

Nurturing Prospect Opportunities You have made a call or two on a prospect,qualified them, and rate them as high ...

By Dave Kahle on Salesopedia �

We want to thank the following sites for supporting Top 10 Sales Articles:

13Top Sales Associates Magazine March 2012

● Salesopedia ● Eyes on Sales ● Sales Gravy ● Ezine Articles ● ChangingMinds ● RainToday

Authors: To be considered for Top 10 Sales Articles, please submit your articles to the above sites, which are theonly ones we select from. We do not accept any articles directly.

The March Nominations

Where do the articles come from? Each month we select the very best salesarticles from the major article sites, which have been written by top sales gurusfrom around the world. We cull through till we find the 10 best pieces of salesadvice – which we then share with you. The monthly winners compete for theTop Sales Article of the Year Award in December.

12 Top Sales Associates Magazine March 2012

Top Sales Articleof the MonthAnnounced

Top Sales Articleof the MonthAnnounced

The February WinnerThe Selling Power of the

Provocative Questionby: Michael Neray on: Salesopedia ��

Page 8: TSW News03 Mar12 - Amazon S3 · a customer with a need dialogue. When I posed this to Brian, he reinforced that the need dialogue was critical to developing the kind of “customer

eventually wither and die under aSuper Seller for they not only haveno chance to grow, if they do decideto exercise selling skills they aretypically scolded for the perceivedsin of costing the manager potentialscalps on his or her lodge pole.

Although the manager mayappear successful to uppermanagement if judged only by thenumbers, she is judged a completefailure and is resented by her teamwhich typically suffers largeturnover and discontent.

The Disciplinarian: Lessprevalent that the two previousmanagement styles but equallydangerous is the manager whocomes in with the attitude of “I’mgoing to whip these lazy good fornothings into shape if it kills me.”Most typically it does kill—both theteam members and the manager.

The Disciplinarian usually has achip on their shoulder anddisrespect for those they “manage.”This manager views himself asbeing not only a superior seller tohis team members but also morededicated to the company and hisjob than they are.

Sales teams under the thumb ofthe Disciplinarian suffer frommorale issues that eventually result

in high turnover and often outrightrebellion.

The Pal: The Pal manager hasmost often been promoted fromwithin the team and is friends withthe majority of team members. ThePal’s transition from peer tomanager changes virtually nothingin the team’s relationships as thesalespeople have a difficult timemaking the transition to viewingtheir old friend as their manager andthe new manager has a difficult timenow having to hold her former teampeers accountable for their actions.

Instead of making the transitionfrom peer to manager, the newmanager makes a transition frompeer to Super Friend, becoming theadvocate extraordinaire for her teammates, protecting them and coveringfor them no matter what. The Pal iscommitted to her friends and ismost concerned about how they feelabout her rather than managingthem.

Unfortunately for mostmanagers who take on the role ofThe Pal, the lack of discipline andaccountability results in the teammembers taking gross advantage ofthem—to the point that often theirtenure as manager is very shortlived. .

The common denominator thatbinds all four of these managementstyles together is a focus by themanager on themselves and theirwants and needs.

Certainly managing entailscoaching, and disciplining whennecessary, as well as helping close asale here and there; and needless tosay making the numbers isimportant. But managing involvesfar more than these few traits and itbecomes destructive when themanager becomes completelyfocused on their own needs andtheir perceived success rather thantheir team’s growth andperformance.

One of the keys to being asuccessful sales manager is having asolid understanding of humannature and in particularunderstanding what makes eachteam member tick. More thananything else, sales management isabout leadership, not about controlor being the big shot or even justmaking the numbers.

Manager, if you see yourselflocked into any of thesemanagement styles, by all meansseek out a quality coach or find aquality management trainingcompany and start the process ofbecoming a strong manager.

Seller, if you find that you areworking for one of the abovemanagers, consider your situationcarefully and make a consciousdecision as to whether you want tocontinue in such a situation whereyour growth as a salesperson may bestymied and you may live in aconstant state of frustration. ■

The commondenominator that

binds all four of thesemanagement stylestogether is a focusby the manager on

themselves and theirwants and needs.

This article was written by Paul McCord.

To find out more about Paul, visit:www.mccordandassociates.com/

14 Top Sales Associates Magazine March 2012

Whether I’m working with anewly promoted seller into a

frontline sales management positionor an established sales leader, I oftenfind someone with a warped anddestructive idea of what a salesmanager’s work is.

Generally I find these misguidedmanagers have adopted one ofthese four destructive managementstyles:

The Clone Coach: A commontendency of great salespeople whenpromoted to manager is to believethat if they could just train all of

their salespeople to be mini-me’s ofthemselves then everything will begreat—the salespeople will be happy,they’ll make their numbers,management will be thrilled,customers will be loyal forever, andthe new manager will be promotedagain in no time. Thus, the newmanager sets out to coach everyseller on his or her team to do exactlywhat they did to be successfulwithout regard to the individualsalesperson’s experience level,knowledge, personality, or skills.

Typically the harder the manager

tries to “coach” each of theirsalespeople to mimic the way theysold, the more frustrated each sellerbecomes and the more resistant tobeing “coached.”

Although the manager maysucceed in creating one or twoclones, they will alienate themajority of their team andeventually there will be a breakdownof trust and cooperation.

The Super Seller: The SuperSeller is the star salesperson whowhen promoted to manager tells hisor her salespeople to forget aboutselling, “you get the prospects, I’llsell ‘em” is the crux of theirmanagement style. They haven’t theslightest interest in seeing theirsalespeople grow as sellers; theironly interest is making THEIRnumbers because it’s all about them.

Salespeople languish and

I’ve had the privilege of working with many newmanagers whose company hired me to help themtransition from seller to manager or to work withexisting managers to become more effective. One of the recurring issues I’ve discovered is amisunderstanding of what a sales manager is.

15Top Sales Associates Magazine March 2012

Four CommonDestructive SalesManagement Styles

Four CommonDestructive SalesManagement Styles

Page 9: TSW News03 Mar12 - Amazon S3 · a customer with a need dialogue. When I posed this to Brian, he reinforced that the need dialogue was critical to developing the kind of “customer

All Sales Are Not Created Equal

In the high-pressure quest to make a sale, acquire a contract, and beatout other bidders, sales professionals frequently resort to cutting prices,offering discounts, or making other concessions that cut into theiroperating margins. These short-term strategies jeopardize profits andundermine the long-term sustainability of the business.

High-Profit Selling shows readers that their sales goal shouldn’t simply beto sell more, but to sell more at a higher price. In these times of shrinkingmargins and diminishing returns, this important book teaches readershow to win deals worth having.

Focus On

Mark Hunter

16 Top Sales Associates Magazine March 2012

You will learn how to:

● Ensure prospects are seriousand not shopping for price

● Confidently communicate value● Avoid discounting and sell at

full-price● Successfully execute a price

increase with existingcustomers

● Grow business and maximizeprofits

Discover How to Win The Sale Without Cutting Your Price

"Do you want more profits and more satisfied customers? Look nofurther than Mark Hunter's book High -Profit Selling. After decades in thesales industry, he knows what it takes to maximize price — and now he'sready to show you."● Ron Karr, author of Lead, Sell or Get Out of the Way

"The Sales Hunter is one of the most practical, professional and prolificsales experts I know. Mark’s knowledge and writing style result in a mustread for anyone wanting to excel in sales."● Clayton Shold of Salesopedia

FIND OUT MORE HERE ��

Page 10: TSW News03 Mar12 - Amazon S3 · a customer with a need dialogue. When I posed this to Brian, he reinforced that the need dialogue was critical to developing the kind of “customer

We therefore thought it wouldbe a great idea to play our

part in pointing them in the rightdirection, and so we are creatingwhat we hope will be the definitive"Top 50 Sales & MarketingInfluencers in 2012" list.

Effectively, we are extending outthe good work already published byour friends over at Openview Labs

So, who really are the sales andmarketing experts, gurus,commentators, authors andspokespeople that are genuinelyinfluencing the way we think, selland market our companies/products/solutions in 2012?

We are going to find out -notsubjectively, or for that matter,purely objectively.

During the course of the nextfew weeks, a small team of

professional researchers are goingto rigorously examine thecredentials of one hundred andfifty possible “candidates” to arriveat the top fifty.

We will also be asking theeditors of the most popular salesresource venues to give us theiropinion, and you too will have theopportunity to tell us what youthink.

The criteria we will be using tobenchmark each individual’simpact within the sales space willinclude:

● Social media presence – Twitter/Facebook/Kloutscore/LinkedIn authority.

● Quality, regularity and popularityof written work – books, blogposts, articles, EBooks etc.

● Active engagement withrecognized resource sites.

● And not least, a commitment tocontinually advance selling andmarketing practices.

Whilst this is not going to be apopularity contest based on a publicvote, we will still value youropinion, so do please share with uswho you think the real “movers andshakers” are HERE

Thanks for your help - JF ■

We will be announcing theresults on May 1st

To find out more about Jonathan, visit:

www.thejfblogit.co.ukwww.jfcorporation.comwww.jonathanfarrington.com

Top 50 Sales& Marketing

I believe it is highly likely that most frontline salesand marketing professionals today - beingconstantly bombarded by conflicting advice andcommentary from a host of sources - are totallyconfused!

19Top Sales Associates Magazine March 2012

This powerful event is limited to the first 50 people that register.

Influencers for 2012

Page 11: TSW News03 Mar12 - Amazon S3 · a customer with a need dialogue. When I posed this to Brian, he reinforced that the need dialogue was critical to developing the kind of “customer

Top Sales Highlightsfrom the Past Four Weeks ... In case you missed them

Plus don’t forget, we publish a brand new sales tip from the Top Sales Experts team every day!www.topsalesworld.com�

Plus we publish a brand new sales article every day:www.topsalesmanagement.com�

20 Top Sales Associates Magazine March 2012 21Top Sales Associates Magazine March 2012

Take Your Clients AsYou Find Them

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Differentiate Themselves?

Bringing YourTraditional Sales

Efforts Inside Anthony Iannarino �� Mark Hunter �� Michael Griego �� Elinor Stutz ��

Enjoy the latest Top Sales Hardtalk Interviews

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To Decide

Are You Persistent or Pushy? Persistence Wins – Pushy Loses

Turn Around andWalk Away

Dave Kurlan �� Dave Brock �� Jonathan Farrington �� Kelley Robertson ��

and recent blogs ...

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Styles

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Types

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of Work Life

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Outcome?”

Why Waste Time OnNon-Performers?”

New Manager?Look Out for TheseEarly Challenges

Sales and MarketingAlignment – A Management

Responsibility?”

Sales Management Issues Interviews

Anthony Iannarino �� Mark Hunter �� Michael Griego �� Tibor Shanto ��