Sales tips, leadership communication skills insight and more from Steve Giglio, sales training professional for more than 25 years.

Giving Thanks for Clients

This holiday season I will be thanking my clients and followers.  While the time will come to plan for next year, and hopefully grow your business, this is the time to thank those who helped you get to where you are.  It’s important to acknowledge each and every relationship we have in business…or they won’t last.

Acknowledging Clients

When you acknowledge a client, do your best to thank them for their trust and confidence in you and the partnership you’ve forged together. It’s important that they know that you value that partnership. Sometimes a simple “Thank you for working with me this year and I appreciate your trust,” is all they need to hear.  As long as you mean it!

See the Future

Take this opportunity to also recap this year’s milestones and understand the 2014 direction your client must go in. Don’t fix anything just yet. Listen and just understand it. Think about it through the holiday season and then determine the recommendations you’ll present in January.

Every client relationship needs to advance so you are seen as a true steward of their business never their custodian.

Thank You

And speaking of thanks, I thank YOU for reading my blog this year. You may have noticed that I’ve been far more consistent with posts this year. A lot of that is because of the positive feedback I’ve gotten from you. I truly hope you gain value from reading these posts.  I value your opinion so, if there is any way I can improve this blog so that it is even more useful to you, please let me know.

May your family and you enjoy a fantastic Thanksgiving!

To Lead, Don’t Be a Friend…Be Frank

We all want to be liked. That’s especially true in an office/work environment. But good leaders know that sometimes, being honest and frank, keeps your employees moving forward. Too often a leader’smfirst desire is to be a friend to their direct report versus an objective observer who discerns behavior that can be strengthened.

Read more

Sell Like a Child Would…Be Persistent, Yet Likable

Ever been confronted by a child who wants something…really badly? How many times did the child get what he/she wanted? More times than not? That’s because children possess a skill that most of us have lost a long time ago…the ability to be relentless while still being likable, even lovable!

Why Children Would Make the Best Salespeople

Why do people say that children make the greatest salespeople?  Because they are relentless! Does this scenario ring true to you:

Monday: “Daddy can I have that X Box?” “No.”
Tuesday: “Daddy can I have that X Box?” “No.”
Wednesday: “Daddy, is today the day I get the XBox.” “No.”
Thursday: “Daddy, today sure would be a good day to get an XBox.” “No.”
Friday: “Daddy, if I had an XBox right now, I wouldn’t be bothering you.” “No.”
Saturday Morning: “Daddy, I really think that…” “Okay, okay, we’ll go! We’ll get the XBox today!”

Fascinating analogy isn’t it?

Death of a Salesman…Giving Up

A recent survey of sales executives by the National Research Bureau revealed that 80 percent of all sales are made after the fifth call. And yet…the same survey found that 48 percent of salespeople call once and give up. Further, 25 percent of salespeople call twice and quit. It gets worse. Just 12 percent make three calls and stop while only 5 percent make a fourth call before calling it quits. Only 10 percent of salespeople keep on calling. And, it is this 10 percent – the one salesperson in ten – that make 80 percent of all the sales.

Be Relevant and Persistent

Our job as salespeople/consultants is to be persistent, yet likable. To succeed at persistence, it’s essential to capture what’s important to your client. You need to play back to him/her what their challenge was to prove you’ve heard them. “You said that growing your West Coast division is mission critical.” Then, you create legitimate touch points that serve your client and illustrate your desire to resolve what your client said was keeping them up at night. “With the program I’m recommending, you can start building the West Coast division, see some quick results and grow it steadily over the next 3-5 years.” You’ve just become relevant in his world and you have his attention.You must be able to defend each touch point to your client. That way, they can see and appreciate your empathy.

And DON’T GIVE UP! Be the one of the last nine salespeople your client has seen who actually wins.

Account Management IS Sales Management

“Toto, I’ve a feeling we are not in Kansas anymore”
– Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz.

As all of us have experienced, business has evolved dramatically since 2008. One of the areas most affected is account management with business partners. For many years you only needed a team of reactive people who could effectively service the needs of business partners.

Not anymore Toto! Read more

Coaching Employees: Show Them You Care

I’ve coached many leaders and the one area that often is a blindspot is the area of deliberately caring about each direct report they have.

Many times I’m involved in situations where leaders have been directing their teams but haven’t built up any coaching equity. They merely set the team’s direction and monitor the output/deliverables the team produces.

What’s wrong with this picture? Read more

Handling Difficult Clients: Act Like Your Teacher

Throughout my work in executive development, I often recommend that clients think of one of their favorite teachers to get beyond a challenge they currently have. It’s an amazing process. You get in touch with the characteristics/behaviors you still remember even up to today and then see how your own behaviors match up. Read more

What Is a Mentor (and Can You Be One)?

Mentors are often assigned, but often not successful. Throughout my client base I have begun coaching mentors on …how to mentor.

It’s been my experience that rarely does a mentor understand their importance and the gift they have just been given. Coaching and shaping another person is an important responsibility. It requires a formal set of observations and meetings not an ad hoc series of tips. Read more

Developing Working Relationships with Millennials

Remember those millennials we’ve been speaking about? In a recent blog post on developing your future leaders, I spoke of the importance of understanding how to relate and develop younger executives on your team.

Lets look externally now. Whether you are in corporate sales, private equity or retail sales, meeting and creating professional relationships with this crowd is mission critical to grow your business and deepen your reputation. Read more

Three Effective Networking Tips

Business networking is considered by many to be a necessary evil. Many fear it, others just feel like it’s a great deal of effort. To be effective at networking, you have to understand the importance creating lasting connections will have on your professional life, just like it does in your personal life.    Read more

To Lead: Observe-Ask-Act

Way too often we, as leaders because we are human, make snap decisions and lead from the hip versus the heart. This can lead to confusion on teams and a lack of trust in your leadership because you don’t understand their world.  Read more