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Articles by Susan Enns

Browse every published article connected to Susan Enns, with exact attribution and full-archive search.

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28 articles by Susan Enns · showing 28

Browse every published article connected to Susan Enns, or search within this exact expert archive.

By Susan EnnsRecently published1 topic

The Right Place At The Right Time

This is a true story. Over the course of a year, a local branch manager had 7 separate photocopier sales people conduct face to face prospecting calls on her business. However, since the current equipment was on a lease with an expiry date far into the future, it was not the right time in the buying cycle to start the sales process. The branch manager asked each sales rep to call back on the same specified date in the future. Of the 7, only 2 sales reps called back. Only 2! Although this may sound unbelievable, it is more often the rule than the exception.

Primary topic: Sales Training

1,270 views3/5 (1)

By Susan EnnsRecently published1 topic

I Don't Have Time To Prospect

“I don’t have time to prospect!” There’s a line that will send your sales manager scrambling to search through their resume database. To survive in sales, finding the time to prospect is not optional! Every sales representative needs a steady stream of new opportunities entering their sales funnel if they expect the right amount of sales flowing out. Most sales people know they need to prospect regularly in order to be successful in the long term. In fact, virtually every sales professional could improve their results if they just did more prospecting.

Primary topic: Sales Training

2,124 views

By Susan EnnsRecently published1 topic

What You Must Do Immediately When An Employee Leaves Your Company

I have been trying to track down a billing issue with a company for over a month. After sending yet another follow up email to my account manager today, I finally received a response. It started out by saying “So-and-So is no longer with our company…” The first thing that crossed my mind was how long has So-and-So been gone, and more importantly, how long have emails from his customers been going unanswered.

Primary topic: Sales Training

5,338 views4/5 (1)

By Susan EnnsRecently published1 topic

How To Choose A Sales Training Program

Whether you are a corporate sales executive needing to increase company revenues, a sales manager wanting to improve your team’s results, or a sales professional looking to invest in your own self improvement, you need to evaluate any sales or sales management training course properly before buying it. All courses are not created equal and a high price tag does not necessarily guarantee results. Do You Really Need Sales Training? The first decision you need to make in choosing a sales training program is whether you even need sales training in the first place.

Primary topic: Sales Training

1,977 views4.5/5 (2)

By Susan EnnsRecently published1 topic

Stop Losing Your Customer's Trust

It's been said many times that prospects must feel they can trust you before they will buy from you. But what does "trust you" really mean? It's simple. Prospects need to know you and your company will do exactly what you tell them you will do, when you said you will do it. Every time you fulfill a commitment, you build trust. Every time you break a commitment, however, you lose trust. In fact, you do more damage than if you never made the promise in the first place.

Primary topic: Sales Training

2,598 views3/5 (1)

By Susan EnnsRecently published1 topic

Why Will Your Prospect Buy Today

What is it that will make your prospect buy today? Why didn’t he buy yesterday? Why won’t he wait until tomorrow? To answer that, you must first define what exactly a prospect is.

Primary topic: Sales Training

2,357 views3/5 (1)

By Susan EnnsRecently published1 topic

How Do You Know When It's Time To Search For New Employment?

There comes a time when many of us evaluate the past and look forward to a better future. For some, that means the question arises as to whether they should make a career change and start looking for a new postion. Should you move to greener pastures with a new employer? After all, we spend far too many hours at work not to be happy in what we do. On the other hand, changing positions is risky as you really don’t know what you would be getting into. The devil you know is better than the devil you don’t, as they say..

Primary topic: Sales Training

1,359 views

By Susan EnnsRecently published1 topic

My Perception Is Your Reality

Prospects buy products based on the perceived value they will derive from those products. However, what one prospect values is not the same as another. They both may buy the same product, but they can buy it for completely different reasons. For example, why do people buy cotton swabs? Whatever answer came to your mind is the correct answer, but it is only the correct answer for you. Fashion models may see these products as cosmetic applicators, whereas parents may see them as ear cleaners for their children.

Primary topic: Sales Training

2,282 views5/5 (2)

By Susan EnnsRecently published1 topic

Just Making More Calls Doesn't Guarantee Sales Success

Do you find that there are just not enough hours in a day? Are you working long hours, making call after call, but you still don’t sell enough to even come close to reaching quota? If you answered yes to these questions, you may be one of the many sales representatives who mistakenly believe that being busy is the same as being effective. You can be successful in sales and not have to work 24 hours a day. It may be an old cliché, but you just need to learn to work smarter, not harder.

Primary topic: Sales Training

1,392 views

By Susan EnnsRecently published1 topic

Why Most Sales and Sales Management Training Courses Fail

If you have invested in sales or sales management training, you probably have not been satisfied with the results. In many cases, after spending tens of thousands of dollars on sales training programs, there was no positive change in behavior or no measurable improvement in sales results. Why Most Sales Training Programs Are A Waste of Money

Primary topic: Sales Training

1,360 views

By Susan EnnsRecently published1 topic

Tracking Your Sales Activities

Chances are, as a job requirement, you must submit a weekly sales report to your sales manager. Some sales representatives, normally those not at quota, perceive these sales reports as a policing action. “The boss is only checking up on me to ensure that I am doing my prospecting calls.” Believe me when I tell you that your sales manager already knows if you are making your calls or not, regardless of whether or not you are submitting a sales report.

Primary topic: Sales Training

2,501 views

By Susan EnnsRecently published1 topic

Do You Set The Right Expectations

Every time a potential customer has contact with you or your company, an expectation has been set as to how the business relationship is going to work. If a website promises 24/7 technical support, it creates an expectation. Or if you promise installation within 24 hours, the customer now expects it. Why? Because you told them to! It’s been said many times that prospects must feel they can trust you before they will buy from you. But what does “trust you” really mean? It’s simple really.

Primary topic: Sales Training

1,347 views

By Susan EnnsRecently published1 topic

Control Your Sale's Time Frame

Many sales representatives absolutely dread their monthly sales forecasting meetings with their sales manager. Why? Often, it is because they really don’t know what is the next step to close the sale. More importantly, they also don’t know when that step is going to happen. As such, their forecasting accuracy is less than desired, and that makes for some unpleasant meetings! To eliminate this, as sales professionals, we have to do a better job of controlling the time frame of each potential sale.

Primary topic: Sales Training

1,526 views

By Susan EnnsRecently published1 topic

The Selling Year Is Almost Over!

When you look at the calendar at this time of the year, you start to realize that the selling year is almost over. In fact, when you take out the holidays, there are only about 45 selling days left in the year. That is not a lot of time left for your team to qualify for their annual sales incentive contest, and not a lot of time for you to secure your annual bonus! Are your sales representatives on track? Are you?

Primary topic: Sales Training

1,419 views

By Susan EnnsRecently published1 topic

Don't Be Your Own Worst Enemy

I participated in a few charity golf tou aments this summer. At each one, I kept hearing the same comments from some of the participants. “I never hit the ball well off the first tee.” and “I won’t make the putt because I am not a good putter.” Interestingly enough, everyone who made those comments was right! They didn’t hit well off the first tee. It wasn’t that they couldn’t hit the ball because they certainly did off the next tee, but why not the first? The reason is they kept telling themselves they wouldn’t.

Primary topic: Sales Training

1,817 views3/5 (2)

By Susan EnnsRecently published1 topic

Where Do You Prospect?

Have you ever been told, “Here’s your business cards, there’s a street. Now go and bang on some doors.”? Or how about, “Here is the phone book, start dialing!” Although these shotgun methods of prospecting may produce results, it really is sheer luck if they do. The chances that you happen to knock on the right door, or dial the right number, at the exact time when a prospect is ready to buy are actually quite slim. Granted, sales is a numbers game, requiring you to make a certain number of calls to find one prospect, but what if you could improve the odds?

Primary topic: Sales Training

1,217 views

By Susan EnnsRecently published1 topic

What Is Your Headline?

When people read the newspaper, it is very rare they read every line of every article. There are just too many articles and too little time! In reality, people only have enough time to scan the paper, reading only the articles where the headline has caught their interest. Similarly, it is rare for prospects to meet with every sales representative who calls. There are just far too many sales representatives and too little time!

Primary topic: Sales Training

1,250 views

By Susan EnnsRecently published1 topic

To Script Or Not To Script!

Whether it’s a prospecting approach, a fact find, or a presentation, there has always been plenty of disagreement among sales professionals as to whether what will be said should be scripted ahead of time. Those that say that every sales call should be scripted, regardless of its purpose, believe that without a preplanned script, important information will be missed, therefore decreasing the chance of making the sale.

Primary topic: Sales Training

1,338 views

By Susan EnnsRecently published1 topic

How To Write An Effective B2B Sales Resume

The purpose of your resume is to move you to the next step in the hiring process. Whether that is the initial interview, or to complete personality, compatibility or skills testing, if your resume moves you forward, it was effective. Over the years, I have seen hundreds, maybe even thousands of B2B sales resumes, the vast majority of which did nothing to help the applicants obtain employment. In fact, in most cases, it did the exact opposite! So why are even the best B2B sales professionals being passed over by their desired employers?

Primary topic: Sales Training

2,667 views4/5 (2)

By Susan EnnsRecently published1 topic

7 Things You Should Not Do On A Resume

Over the years I have seen hundreds, maybe even thousands of resumes and I continue to review resumes every day. Based on this experience, I can state that many applicants do nothing to help themselves gain employment. In fact, in many cases, it did the exact opposite! The amazing thing is that the reasons why their resumes did not help were completely preventable! 7 Things You Should Not Do On a Resume 1. Make your contact information hard to find. Your contact information, including name, address, phone and email, must be front and center on page 1.

Primary topic: Sales Training

2,081 views3.6/5 (5)

By Susan EnnsRecently published1 topic

Do You Always Have To Lower Your Price?

Are you always asked to lower your price? Does every prospect start to negotiate with you? Most sales people would answer with a very definitive yes! Of course we all face this! The reason is that consumers and buyers are trained to ask for a lower price, no matter what. Think about it. Would you walk into a car dealership and pay the price listed on the windshield? Probably not. Don’t be surprised if you are asked to negotiate to a lower price, expect it. What you can do, however, is change the way you handle it.

Primary topic: Sales Training

1,461 views4/5 (2)

By Susan EnnsRecently published1 topic

What Is Your Goal?

At the start of every year, we tend to look forward and set both personal and professional goals for the year. Take a moment and think back. Did you reach the goals you set for yourself last year? If not, it’s probably because you did not develop a plan of action to achieve them. When you are in a performance-based career like sales, goal setting is vital to your success. Vital yes, but without a plan of action on how to achieve your objectives, the annual ritual of goal setting is just an exercise in futility. So what are your goals?

Primary topic: Sales Training

1,380 views

By Susan EnnsRecently published1 topic

Watch Your Sales Language!

Ever since we were young, we have been taught to watch our language. “Mind your p’s and q’s, and if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” A sales person knocked on my door the other day. The experience served as a reminder that professional sales people must also watch their language, their sales language that is. Every time I asked a question, he responded with “don’t worry about it”. The whole experience reminded me that everything we say to a customer can affect their perception of us, and not always in a positive way.

Primary topic: Sales Training

1,314 views

By Susan EnnsRecently published1 topic

Productive Joint Field Work-A Five Step Process

Joint field work is where you and your representative make sales calls together. The sales representatives benefit and learn from your knowledge and experience, yet they are still are not working without a net, so to speak. The problem most sales managers have when doing joint field work is they end up taking over the call completely. Some even forget the sales person is in the room! This does nothing to train or develop the sales representative.

Primary topic: Sales Training

5,427 views3/5 (1)

By Susan EnnsRecently published1 topic

Do You Know Your Minimum Selling Price

Experience has shown no matter where you set your minimum selling price, a sales representative sooner or later will ask you to lower it. The question is not whether you will be asked permission to discount; the question is when should you say yes.

Primary topic: Sales Training

4,543 views3/5 (1)

By Susan EnnsRecently published1 topic

Procrastination - A True Enemy To Your Sales Success

Happy New Year! We are only a few weeks into the New Year and already the gyms are less full than they were the first week of January and many have already cheated on their diets. Similarly, sales people are already missing their daily sales activity targets, so they are no closer to earning their annual income bonuses this year than they were last year. Why is it we all start the New Year off with such high hopes, only to let them fall by the way side a short time later? In a word, procrastination!r

Primary topic: Sales Training

1,651 views

By Susan EnnsRecently published1 topic

A Diversified Prospecting Approach Works Best

As President of the Sales Professionals of Ottawa, I was lucky enough to moderate a panel discussion entitled “How To Hunt In Today’s Jungle”. Each panelist discussed the “how to’s” of lead generation in their field of expertise; telesales, social media, internet research, and print advertising. The discussion was lively, yet in the end, the consensus was clear. To generate leads, a diversified prospecting approach is what works best!

Primary topic: Sales Training

1,529 views

By Susan EnnsRecently published1 topic

Your Sales Team's Attitude heightens Their Altitude

One of the greatest gifts my sales mentor ever gave me was the belief in myself that I could be successful. I can still hear John’s Scottish accent ringing in my ear saying, “Once you have done it once, no one can tell you that you can’t do it again!” As he coached our sales team to greater and greater heights, I realized that John always made a conscious effort to keep us motivated as part of his daily routine. Later when I managed my own sale team, I also made attitude coaching a part of my daily routine, and my sales teams flourished as a result.

Primary topic: Sales Training

1,960 views

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