Monthly Archives: May 2016

Great Salespeople Are Born. AND Trained.

By Kelly Riggs | Sales + Leadership

I think the idea of a “born salesperson” is exactly what keeps companies (or specific managers) from training their salespeople and improving performance. After all, if salespeople are “born” to be salespeople, and will be successful simply because they were born to that role, why would you need to train them? And that’s what people say: Salespeople are “born, not trained.” Which is the absolute worst excuse imaginable for failure: “S/he is just not a born salesperson.”

Continue reading

Regarding Performance and Happy Employees

By Kelly Riggs | Sales + Leadership

Most companies talk a good game when it comes to employees. They usually say the right things. Like: “Our employees are our most important asset.” Well, of course they are. Until they aren’t. Which usually happens when a company has to choose between happy employees and better performance. They are REALLY important…up to a point.

Continue reading

Your Salespeople Are Hiding Their Mistakes

By Kelly Riggs | Sales + Leadership

The odds are really good that many of your salespeople are ineffective in presenting a product or service solution to your customers. But you probably have no idea just how bad. They keep telling you it’s the customer, or the marketplace, or your prices are too high, or the leads suck or some such nonsense, and the reality is they simply aren’t very good.

Continue reading

You Probably Missed the Memo About Employee Engagement

By Kelly Riggs | Sales + Leadership

As a manager, you surely have become aware of the importance of employee engagement in the workplace, and its impact on the critical metrics companies care about – profitability, turnover, safety, and customer satisfaction.

Hint: As it turns out, engaged employees do better work. Yes, I know. Absolutely shocking. But, it’s true; those employees that feel genuinely connected to the company, feel valued by the boss, and derive satisfaction from their work, significantly outperform their disengaged counterparts.

Continue reading