Jill Konrath

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:

I'll never forget the last talent show I was in. We were at a family church camp. My then 8 year old son insisted that I play a couple songs on the guitar. At first, I resisted. You might have too if you'd only taken three lessons, knew two chords and had never sung in public before. I didn't want to look and sound stupid in front of more than 300 campers!

But I finally said yes, after I realized that it was an opportunity to teach a valuable life lesson about taking risks.

What’s the best way to handle sales rejection? I don’t know about you, but I’ve hated it from the day I got into selling.

Some sales gurus say you need to embrace it because each “No” gets you closer to a “Yes.” Others tell you that it’s not personal – and you need to toughen up. Neither of those approaches worked for me.

But I’d like share what did.

If you're selling, you're most likely experiencing fear. I say that, because I've dealt with it my entire professional career. I've worried about meeting my quota. Then, when I did, I worried about doing it the next month. I was afraid of losing customers or worse yet, losing opportunities to competitors.

No one really talks about this fear, but it's underneath everything.

The other day I was at the Olive Garden talking to a prospective client over lunch. He was telling me about all the challenges his sales organization was facing.

Setting up appointments with new prospects was a nightmare. Decisions were taking longer and longer to make. Competition was everywhere, undercutting their proposals.

His reps were frustrated, discouraged.

“If only they could all be like Paula,” he said, shaking his head in frustration. “Can you clone her?

What if you were at risk of losing your best customer?

It’s time to get your thinking cap out again. I’m here to stretch you out of your comfort zone so you can see things in new ways. Today we’re going to look at your very best customer – the one you love working with and who contributes a fair share to your income. Got it?

Good, because now I want you to put yourself in your competitor’s shoes. You want this account really badly. And you know whose currently got the business.

So as you sit now, in your competitor’s shoes, here’s some questions I want you to think about: 

I was reading a non-sales related blog post the other day when suddenly I came to a screeching halt. Two words jumped out at me. And, I immediately thought – these words capture exactly what it takes to be successful in sales today.

I want you to think about all those prospects you’re planning to close this month. Pretty confident that you’ll get their business?

Well, I’ve got news for you. Research shows that 60% of the people you’re expecting to close – won’t. And they’re not going to your competitors either. They’re sitting there, mulling it over and asking themselves …. Does it really make sense to change?

The room was filled to capacity. Everyone was eagerly waiting for the conference to start. And I was so excited to finally hear Harvey Mackay speak.

He’s a living legend in the sales field. He wrote Swim With the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive, a #1 New York Times bestseller. He followed that with five more bestsellers including Beware the Naked Man Who Offers You His Shirt and Dig Your Well Before You’re Thirsty.

But, I wondered, how relevant is he today? It took me just a few minutes to find out. Harvey’s always talked about the importance of really knowing your customer – inside and out. And, that’s exactly where he started.

Although I’m naturally an optimistic person, I truly believe in the power of pessimism. I don’t care what all those self-help gurus tell you. If you only see the world through your rosy glasses, you’re going to run smack dab into sales-derailing situations that could have been prevented.

That’s why it’s imperative today to take time to be negative when preparing your sales strategy. For every sales opportunity you have, you need to ask questions like: