Breathing your own exhaust stifles productivity
Owners and managers who work day-in and day-out in their own businesses are almost always guilty of breathing too much of their own exhaust.
Many salespeople send a misleading message
The most popular tactic salespeople use to get their foot in the door of a prospective account is to flash a few prices or to offer to do a detailed take off.
Maybe it’s time to reconsider your company’s return policies
Better management of just about anything begins with doing a better job of measuring, so you will not be guessing the size of the problem.
Looking to boost employee morale? Consider education
There’s one thing that employees value— especially younger managers and salespeople—and that is education.
In sales, confidence is half the battle
Believing in yourself and having confidence that you are in control of the direction of your sales call has a way of removing the butterflies from your stomach.
Follow this path to a dramatic increase in earnings
Negotiating is a skill. Some customers are experts at persuading salespeople to reduce the price they are authorized to quote.
Over communicate with customers and prospects
Most of us who landed our first LBM sales job began quoting prospects and contractors who had been assigned to us long before we had any idea how they might respond to what we had to offer.
Are a lot of sales meetings a waste of time?
Ask the outside salespeople in the LBM industry what they think about their company’s sales meetings and nine out of 10 of them will tell you they are a waste of time.
What is the cost when you fail to train salespeople?
What can the failure to properly train a salesperson cost your company? Unfortunately, this is a number that is extremely difficult to precisely determine, but based on my experience, it is substantial.
Is your team trained to deal with price objections?
Regardless of the crisis your business may be suffering, nothing will have a more adverse effect on your company’s gross margin than failing to prepare your people to deal with the price objection.