Jill Konrath

Did you know that the maximum amount of time a person can focus intently on a task is 90 minutes? Any longer and your sales productivity starts to spiral downhill, your mind wanders and you lose your edge.

So then you start working on things that are easy to do, but not very important in the overall scheme of things.

It's time to get up and move. Go get some coffee. Take a walk outside. Have a chat with a colleague. Call a friend on the phone. Do some stretching. And, if you work at home, consider doing the laundry or something else that's totally mindless.

Asking good sales questions is pivotal to your sales success. But, that's not what I'm here to talk about today. Instead, we're going to focus on what happens AFTER you ask these questions.

And, it's no secret that you need to be a good listener. To most people, that's a big duh!

But here's the deal. After asking a sales question, if the prospect hasn't responded in 2-3 seconds, the average seller jumps in to fill the silence.

Find out how strategically planning for a sales meeting helped Heather land her company's largest contract. 

Heather*, CEO of a small training company, couldn’t believe her luck. Through a referral, she’d secured a meeting with a senior Pentagon leader to talk about her new management development program.

Waiting nervously in the lobby, she felt a bit out of place in her trendy outfit and edgy hairdo. When her name was called, she jumped up. Standing by the door to the hallowed halls was the General, who warmly greeted her. Several feet behind him stood his two aides de camp.

“Card,” the General barked. One stepped forward, handed him his business card and promptly resumed his original position. He handed it to Heather. Reciprocating, she fumbled in her purse till she found one, and then gave it to him.

Have you ever wondered how you’ll get everything done? That’s how I feel all too often. I get to my desk at 7:30 to tackle the emails. I work through my lunch hour. And, at the end of the day it seems like I’ve barely made a dent.

Here's the truth. I like telling people I'm crazy-busy. It makes me sound important. And, even worse, I’m a closet slug. All day long I make bad choices that contribute to this predicament.

But on the upside, I’ve learned how compensate for my slothful behavior. Here are 2 strategies to increase sales effectiveness that have worked for me:

Many consultants and professional services providers find it difficult to quantify the measurable results customers realize from using their offerings. Because of this, they think they can’t come up with a strong value proposition.

I understand why they feel this way. With 15 years of consulting under my belt, none of my product launch clients measured or assessed the effectiveness of my work. There are many reasons for this - not enough time to compare before/after results, the lack of a benchmark and the multiple factors that impact a new product’s market success. But like many of you, I lacked good hard data.

Here are a few examples of how to measure value propositions to get you thinking:

Sales Training / New Product Launch

Katie was excited. She'd just received a promotion. And, for the very first time ever, she was asked to do a presentation to a client who was in for an all day meeting on Monday.

She'd be doing her part right up front. 10 minutes. That's all she had on the schedule. But she wanted to make a good impression - on both her colleagues and the client.

How are VPs of Sales adjusting to today's changing business environment?  

Steve W. Martin, author of the Heavy Hitter sales book series and Harvard Business Review contributer, wanted to know. So he conducted in-depth interviews with senior execs from over 100 top technology and business services companies. 

So how does your value proposition look? Can you describe what you do in terms of tangible business results? Do you have documented success stories?

Or do you need to do some work to enhance your value proposition? If it’s not strong enough yet, don’t despair. Most people and companies have a much stronger value proposition than they realize.

Here are 3 ways you can unlock the impact your product or service has on on your customers' business objectives: