Don’t Just Sell

In my first sales job twenty years ago, my manager told me I should cut my hair to be taken more seriously. She wasn't being cruel, she was preparing me for an industry never built for women. For the last 100+ years...

"I'll be in touch." Four words that sound polite and mean nothing, and if you've heard them you already know how the meeting that earned them probably went. A client sent me a recording of exactly that kind of meeting...

You have to sell people on you before you can sell them anything else. I learned that the hard way, after years of thinking my job was to represent my company well. But knowing the product, building rapport, having the...

<p>Most of the sales advice out there is from men who are coaching other men, leaving us women to figure it out through trial-and-error or to try to be someone we're not. </p> <p>In this episode, I'm breaking my usual...

<p>Have you ever walked out of a sales meeting feeling like it went well, only to watch the deal fall apart and have no idea why?</p> <p>We've been trained to obsess over every word of our pitch, instead of focusing on...

<p>If you think your sales team costs more than they're worth, this episode is for you. Scaling back is one of the most expensive decisions a business owner can make, and the numbers back me up.</p> <p>I’m sharing what...

<p>Everyone in sales knows the feeling: leads dry up, yeses turn to maybes, and suddenly you’re questioning everything. For us women, it can be even worse because when we hit a slump, we're tempted to overhaul...

<p>Most companies hand their sales reps a script because they don't trust them to know what to say. If you've ever read those words out loud and thought “this doesn't sound like me,” you're right. It doesn't. </p>...

<p>Most women in sales aren't struggling with follow-up because they don't know how. They're struggling because they don't want to be a bother. </p> <p>Your instinct to be considerate (while completely understandable)...

<p>You've been taught to know your competition inside and out. Know their offer, know their clients, know what car they drive. The more you know, the better your chances of winning the sale.</p> <p>But what if that...

<p>I've seen some pretty terrible sales advice on social media lately, especially when it comes to the pricing conversation. When someone asks your price, tell them to guess? The person who names a number first...

<p>You know your product inside and out. You've memorized the features, studied the specs, practiced the presentation. So why aren't prospects buying?</p> <p>Well, when you rattle off features without connecting them to...

<p>You've been told that "people buy from people they like." So you scan your prospect's office for common ground, force small talk about their family photos, and waste energy trying to be likeable instead of...

<p>You've been taught to "always be closing." Use micro-closes throughout your presentation. Get them saying yes early and often. Push the sale over the finish line.</p> <p>But what if those tactics are exactly what's...

<p>You've been told since day one that "the customer is always right." But this 117-year-old advice from a retail store owner is exactly what's turning you into an order-taker instead of the expert your customers...