Sales Leadership with Jim Pancero

How many of your reps follow a “Ready – Fire – Aim” selling philosophy? Most are so action oriented they only think one selling move ahead. If you gave any of your reps a new sales lead, how many will go online and Google that customer's name to research their business before they call? How many would check your company records to see if they had been a customer before? How many, instead woul...

Effective questioning skills are the foundation of all persuasive communications. There are three questioning structures your team needs to be utilizing: 1st - Ask open-ended questions then moving to more close-ended questions. Open-ended questions (“What are your business goals for this year?”) encourage your buyer to talk. Asking Closed-ended questions (“ How many employees do you have? ”) ask a...

There was an old sales training exercise used for years called the “Match Test.” The test involved a sales rep lighting a match and then, before they burned their fingers, having to deliver their complete message of uniqueness of why a buyer would want to buy from them. This was a great exercise due to only giving the rep about a minute to deliver their message before burning their fingers. It’s a...

How aware are you of the physical comfort zones you have between yourself and your customers? Being too far away from a buyer could be seen as being aloof. But if you stand too close, you could be seen as pushy and aggressive. The first zone is your INTIMATE ZONE where you are in an intimate relationship, whether as a spouse, child or parent. You could be sitting next to them and even touching the...

Is there any seasonality to your team’s selling efforts? What can you do prior to a season’s start to coach, remind and fine-tune your team’s selling skills and messaging? Each industry tends to have a different peak time of year, whether it's the peak season for trade shows you attend, a holiday peak season, or because of weather-related sales. Most companies assume if a sales rep has been s...

Do the presentations being given by your sales team to your independent distributor or dealer salespeople have the best information possible so they can do their job more effectively? The problem is most sales presentations given to these people are very weak. All they do is focus on how great your stuff is, your latest models, and the support you offer. How can you make sure your team’s presentat...

Do your reps automatically go into “Presentation mode” when a buyer says they only have a few minutes to talk? A buyer starts off a call saying “You’ve got 5 minutes… what do you want?” or says “We're very happy with our current supplier, why should we talk to you?” Too many reps immediately go into presentation mode doing all the talking. Looking at the steps of a sales call, what they shoul...

Too many reps come back to the office announcing “We lost the Phillips proposal because our price was too high.” A critical responsibility as a sales leader is to understand price is never a reason you lost. Price is only a symptom.  The real problem is your customer didn't see enough value (compared to your competition). If you offered a higher value than the others, your buyer would be happ...

How buying decisions are made has changed dramatically in recent years. It used to be if you wanted to buy something, like a hot tub, the first thing you’d do is stop by a hot tub store, talk to a sales rep, pick up some literature and pricing and then go home to talk with your family about your options. Look how different buying is today. If you want to buy a hot tub today, the first thing you’d...

Where are your sales reps positioned in the eyes of your customers? Too many salespeople are not functioning as trusted advisers in their customers eyes but are just seen as order takers and fulfillers of what their customers need. This is a key differentiator in selling today between the successful reps selling as trusted advisors and those struggling as order takers and reactive responders. This...

I was speaking at a conference at a Disney hotel in Orlando. As my cab pulled into the hotel, the hotel valet got into an argument with my driver over who should pull my bags out of the cab. As I checked in at the front desk, I shared the confrontation between their valet and my cab driver. I wasn’t expecting anything, I just thought they’d want to know a castmate needed more training. Once in my...

Ever read the book “The Challenger Sale” by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson? It was one of the hottest sales books twelve or thirteen years ago that had a big impact on a lot of sales teams. The authors did research on the best personality styles for a sales rep to have to be successful and win the most business.  The book outlined five different approaches or styles of selling. The “Hard Worker,”...

Years ago I noticed my backyard was filled with moles. They were digging tunnels all over my yard making it look terrible. I spent a month working with my local hardware store trying to fix my mole problem. I put poisons down the holes and set traps but still didn’t get rid of the moles.  My uncle stopped by and asked what was wrong with my yard. I shared I had a mole problem. He replied “You don&...

Any low-motivated members of your team? The first challenge is not how we get them motivated but how we discover why they’re unmotivated. They could be unmotivated due to any of four reasons… Are they coasting to retirement? If within a few years of retiring, it’s likely they're not going to be motivated to try new ideas or to work harder. The second could be they're happy with their cur...

In the past, a sales rep with a strong set of existing customers could be successful reactively supporting their buyers by answering their questions and fixing any problems that arose.  But today we're selling in a hyper-competitive environment. There's so much more information available to buyers through Google and other search platforms. To be successful today requires salespeople to b...

A customer recently asked what to do when their products or services just aren’t working. It might be because of your service levels, scheduling, delivery delay or performance issues compared to your competitors. How does your company support your reps during these challenges? Too many companies do little to help their reps during these types of challenges except to demand they keep selling. As th...

Are your reps trying to take care of their customer problems themselves, and not asking for help soon enough?  This happened to me when I was new to selling. I was trying to fix a problem one of my customers was experiencing. I was working hard to fix their problem but wasn't being successful. I brought my manager on a sales call to talk with our customer (without me present in the room). As...

It's tough finding exactly what you want in a new salesperson. A great way to achieve better hiring decisions is to ask better questions. Consider including these four sets of questions to ask sales candidates.  FIRST ask about their attitude and energy. How do they keep working hard? How do they deal with rejection and stay motivated? SECOND, focus on their personal selling skills. Do they u...

Could any of your reps benefit from help improving their efficiency and effectiveness?  As sales managers we need to be helping our reps evaluate how much time they’re investing in each of their customers, what they’re doing, and asking if this is the most efficient and effective way to be utilizing their week/month/year in their territory.  Too many reps approach their territory in a rather react...

Are you leading your sales team…or just acting as the head doer? Too many managers today personally spend so much time selling and closing business that they’ve little time to be a coach and leader to their team. Are your “doing” efforts preventing you from investing in the “leadership” efforts of your team?”  Are you, as the head of sales, acting more like the head salesperson personally handling...

There are three multiple-step tactical tools sales reps need to master for long-term success in selling.  1st – NEW BUSINESS PLANS, whether selling an existing customer or new prospect. What do you do from the time you identify a new opportunity until you close on the sale? 2nd – MULTIPLE-STEP CURRENT CLIENT SUPPORT (and growth) plans from January 1st to December 31st. How are you improving their...

What kind of video sales aids and support are you providing your reps? Everyone now has access to Zoom and the other video conferencing platforms available…but are you effectively utilizing this new tool to increase your team’s customer-connectivity and competitive edge? Join me as I offer suggestions of how you and your team can take full advantage of today’s persuasive video capabilities. 

Are you pushing your reps to sell using WIIFM’s (“What’s in it for me?”)? Join me as I talk about a classic of sales coaching…teaching reps to focus more on the WIIFM’s of what you’re selling than the product facts and features.

How many of your reps, when given an opportunity, will just act without doing any research or account prep? Join Jim as he talks about how you can help your reps break this “Ready – Fire – Aim” challenge…so they can sell even more! 

Success in sales today is based on the strength of your sales coaching and leadership. So how much actual sales leadership training have you had? Are you even aware of all the skills critical to today’s successful leadership? Join Jim as he shares why most people became sales managers, and how strengthening your sales skills can make you a stronger coach and leader of your team.