Maintaining sales results in a tough economy requires strong relationships and even partnering with clients, suppliers and prospective buyers.

We all know that people buy from people they like and trust. We also know that once a relationship has been established, it must be maintained to ensure ongoing business and beneficial sales results. If the relationship is not maintained, it is lost and precious sales results dwindle. The cost of finding a new customer is much more expensive than maintaining an existing customer.

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Tags: increase sales, marketing and sales strategies, sales tips, goal setting worksheet

Targeting for sales results in a tough economy is more important than ever before. It is essential that sales professionals clearly define their target prospects by supporting criteria. The supporting criteria should give them the best return on their time investment (R.O.T.I.) and positive sales results.

Begin affecting sales results by dissecting your data base of customers based on predetermined criteria. This should be criteria that you can use to identify your best customers. It could be volume, margins, profits, loyalty, etc, but it must be specific and utilized to distinguish between different levels of clients.

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Tags: sales strategies, sales techniques, goal setting worksheet, sales coaching

Tracking sales behaviors in a tough economy requires more discipline than ever before. Prospects are still out there and sales professionals need to step up, not step down, during these tough times. Tracking behaviors will ultimately keep you focused on the behaviors that acquire the best sales results.

You must step up your disciplines which is the key to sales success during tough economic times. It is essential you do more than what you have done in the past to maintain sales. It is necessary to do more dials, ask more questions, step up the visits, evaluate and qualify more often, write more prescriptions and proposals and the sales list goes on.

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Tags: marketing and sales strategies, goal setting worksheet, free sales training, how to sell

In my last blog I mentioned businesses need to be out in the market place in a more proactive way in search of sales results. We discussed not only how businesses need to clearly define their target prospects but they also need to know where to find them and how to approach them in order to nurture their sales results.

In this blog I would like to share how to engage them into a buying process and how to maintain and advance your sales results.

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Tags: how to sell, sales techniques, sales strategies, marketing and sales strategies

In my last blog I mentioned businesses need to be out in the market place in a more proactive way. They need to position themselves as leaders and lead the way for the long term sales results. It is not productive to be followers into a potentially short term crisis. They need to enhance leadership and to truly be in the sales result business.

Businesses not only need to clearly define their target prospects but they also need to know where to find them, how to approach them and how to engage them into a buying process in order to maintain and nurture their sales results.

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Tags: sales strategies, sales techniques, free sales training, sales coaching

Getting sales results in today’s uncertain economy requires a different strategy than was utilized in the booming economy of the past ten years.

Formerly many industries experienced order taking to generate sales results. There is little or no order taking during an economical slow down. Now is the time for sales people to intensify their approach to maintain and improve their sales results, particularly if they want to survive the downturn.

Recently, while in Dubai, I learned that new real estate developments have been shelved and that many organizations are downsizing their departments and specifically their sales force.

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Tags: sales techniques, sales tips, how to sell, goal setting worksheet

During good times, salespeople are more like order takers than sales people. In today’s economy, more sales training is required to help organizations make it through the tough times ahead. Without appropriate sales training, you will not be able to maintain your sales results, let alone your sales team.

Sales training helps sales professional understand how customers buy, and how they have created a system to protect themselves from sales people. If a sales person doesn’t realize that the customer is in control because of this system, they will be wasting time.

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Tags: increase sales, sales coaching, sales tips, sales techniques

The main sales tip for an uncertain economy, is to keep selling. If you are not conducting your daily sales disciplines, you will not be getting any sales results.

Sales tip #1
Stay in touch with existing customers - continue to maintain and build relationships. Partner with them and help them wherever you can. Ask for referrals and refer business their way too.

Sales tip #2
Stretch yourself to do 10% more sales disciplines. That means more time on the telephone, prospecting and qualifying, for appointments. Appointments may be fewer, but customers are still out there if you look for them.

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Tags: increase sales, how to sell, free sales training, sales strategies

You need to make a decision - go down with the economy or step up your sales disciplines to maintain or grow your sales results. If you stay as you are, you will be going down with the economy. However, if you step up your sales activities - sales disciplines, you will not only maintain but you will grow your sales results.

Salespeople become a product of their environment, just like everyone else. When things slow down, they too slow down too. However, one must do the opposite to succeed in today’s economy - Step up and do more. Refuse to let external forces take over daily sales activity - daily sales disciplines.

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Tags: free sales training, goal setting worksheet, sales techniques, sales tips

Goal setting is the foundation to self motivation and is applicable at all times. However, goal setting for uncertain times requires one to be even more realistic and determined.

Goal setting is all about identifying the dreams that you want to turn into reality. It starts with writing them out. This is the first step to crystallizing your dreams. Then the dreams should be grouped or categorized and set in priority. Once your top priority dreams have been identified you then need to determine if you are willing to pay the price to make them a reality.

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Tags: sales coaching, sales techniques, free sales training, goal setting worksheet