Jill's Fresh Sales Strategies Blog

In today's never-ever post, Joanne Black, author of No More Cold Calling, shares a critical mistake that salespeople make when asking for referrals. And, as the Queen of Referral Selling, she shares what does work too.

In today's never-ever post, Jonathan London, author of The Entrepreneur's Guide to Selling, tells how how he learned (the hard way) that being impressive in your sales pitch isn't always effective.

What a brilliant sales strategy! That's exactly what came to mind when I saw Rick Santorum's new television ad. But before you watch it, a little background:

If you follow American politics, you know that Mitt Romney's status as the "presumptive" Republican presidential nominee recently came to a screeching halt. After sweeping the recent caucuses in Colorado, Missouri and Minnesota, suddenly Santorum was surging in the polls.

But just a few weeks earlier, Newt Gingrich had been the frontrunner. That is, until Romney's super PACs spent $15 million in Florida and flooded the airwaves with negative ads. This onslaught nearly collapsed Gingrich's campaign.

So Santorum's team decided to launch a preemptive strike in Michigan, the newest battleground state.

Ron Karr, author of Lead, Sell or Get Out of the Way, learned a critical sales success strategy when his boss chewed him out after closing a big order. And, what really ticked him off was that another rep, who wasn't doing well at all, never got yelled at.

In today's words of "never" wisdom, Lori Richardson, author of 50 Days to Build Your Sales and CEO of Score More Sales shares an invaluable lesson a Chief Financial Officer (CFO) taught her about email prospecting and email communications.

In today's "never" article, Charles H. Green, author of Trust-Based Selling and The Trusted Advisor Fieldbook, shares a story about how his boss taught him a big lesson on engaging prospects and creating value without "pitching" your product or service. 

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I was young. I went on a sales call with a senior partner to a regional beer company in an old, rust belt manufacturing town. Sales were down, margins were low, and the beer had an undeniably downscale image. 

The owner told us about his proud third generation German family heritage and the copper tanks the beer was brewed in. I was thinking to myself, "Who cares! This is a marketing problem!"  

Never, in all my years in sales, did I ever think I'd write an article on this topic. But recently, I've been reading some interesting studies that show that liberals and conservatives have some real, genetically hard-wired differences. For example:

When Forbes magazine interviewed me about what salespeople should never do, the five "no-nos" below immediately popped into my mind. But it was so fun thinking about them that I decided to run a NEVER-EVER contest.

This is a wonderful opportunity to learn from each other's mistakes. 

• Post your "salespeople should never" advice in the comments section. Make sure you tell us how you learned this lesson.
• The best entries will be included in my upcoming ebook on this topic. 
• 10 lucky contributors will also win an autographed copy of SNAP Selling.

Don't forget to share your never, ever story below. And make sure you read my thoughts too!

Tom Brady, quarterback of the New England Patriots threw a long "Hail Mary" pass as a last-ditch effort to win the Super Bowl. But, instead of connecting with one of their receivers, it got batted down in the ensuring melee.

Of course, this got me thinking about sales and football. I actually know a whole lot more about the game than you might expect.

Most sales gurus will tell you to call your A prospects first. After all, they're the ones who are most likely to buy -- and you'll be closing orders before you know it. Plus, you're not wasting your precious prospecting time with low-priority opportunities.