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Do I really need a full-time sales manager?
The answer to this question is probably not. Consider these statistics: Most sales managers are unable to control over 80% of the metrics they are held accountable for Approximately 66% of sales people miss their quota Only 46% say their pipeline is accurate. Someone must be in charge, of course, but it doesn’t have to…
Top Seven Mistakes Every Sales Leader Should Avoid
“A team is only as strong as its weakest link” Mark Gray Do you remember The Weakest Link? It was a television quiz show featuring a team of nine contestants. They would take turns to answer general knowledge questions, within a time limit, to create a ‘chain’ of nine correct answers in a row. At…
Six things you can learn from tow-truck drivers: it’s all in the numbers
I live on a busy street in East Melbourne near the CBD (downtown area). To make sure the traffic flows smoothly during peak hours there are clearway zones; cars are prohibited from parking between 7:00 am and 9:30 am, Monday to Friday. Between 4:30 pm and 6:30 pm, the same restriction applies to the other…
9 Warning Signs That Every Sales Leader Should Know
It’s often said that great athletes don’t always make the best coaches and managers. They know what to do, but they cannot communicate how to do it. I often see this in small- to mid-sized financial services firms. The owners, partners or directors, who are effective sales professionals in their own right, are having difficulty…
Your Number One Job is To Sell
“The purpose of a business is to create a customer.” Peter Drucker Some financial service professionals seem to believe that they are paid for what they know. This is a big mistake. The reality is that you are paid for persuading people to buy from you. You may understand the technical details of your product; you…
Hunters vs Trappers Which is Better?
There are basically two ways to build a successful financial services business: the hard way as a hunter or the easy way as a trapper. What’s the difference? Hunters are product centered; they concentrate on anything that moves. In the process, they invest a lot of time and energy but get little return on their…
Pound That Rock… and Thrive
NBA team, the San Antonio Spurs is one of the most successful sporting franchises in the world. Since 1999 they have claimed five NBA titles and 22 overall division titles; they have won at least 50 games in 18 consecutive seasons. The Spurs’ staple is the concept of ‘pounding the rock’. The adage refers…
7 Tips for Getting More Meetings with Prospective Clients
Building a successful financial service business is not complicated, but then again, I won’t pretend that it’s easy. If it were, there would be a lot more top producing professionals. In the 20 years I’ve been advising, coaching and training professionals I have identified the biggest challenge for many professionals: getting meetings with qualified…
Why Aren’t You Doing More Business With Your Existing Clients?
“It never ceases to amaze me that companies spend millions to attract new customers (people they don’t know) and spend next to nothing to keep the ones they’ve got! Seems to me the budgets should be reversed!” – Tom Peters My clients often ask me whether there’s a quick and effective way to achieve…
Perpetuation: Taking A Long View of Your Business
The Talladega Insurance Agency in Talladega Alabama was founded in 1858. It is the third oldest insurance agency in the United States and probably one of the oldest in the world. There are few financial services firms anywhere that can claim to have operated prior to the American Civil War. That’s what I call a…
