Professional Development

Imagine that there are four sales professionals standing in front of you, all of them with records of success. On paper, they all look outstanding. One of them is going to end up closing a six-figure sale with your company today. After watching their body language for a few minutes before presentations start, you can already tell that you're not likely to work with salespersons #1 and #3. These two people won't make eye contact; in fact, they seem to work hard to avoid it.

Words are only a small portion of how we communicate with one another. Yet the value of other forms of communication is often overlooked. Learn more about four different types of communication, and how using them effectively can improve performance, morale, teamwork and success in your business.

Sandler Training released a new public and free podcast last week called, “How to Succeed.” It is an inside look at the attitudes, behavior, and techniques necessary to succeed at anything. Host, Mike Montague interviews Sandler trainers, authors, and experts about how to succeed at absolutely anything. You will learn how to get to the top and stay there!

Most people have one thing in common: the desire to “do better.” Of course, “doing better” means different things to different people. For some salespeople, it means closing more sales. For others, it means closing bigger sales. And there are salespeople for whom it means working less hard…or simply working less. What does it mean for you?

What makes “excellent” salespeople excellent? What differentiates them from “average” salespeople? Is it attitude? Is it skill? Could it simply be luck? Are there identifiable characteristics that define excellent salespeople and set them apart from the rest of the pack?

It's that time of year again when everyone is pondering their New Year's resolutions. Whether you're the type of person to let your resolutions slide after the first week or two of the New Year or the kind who embraces them wholeheartedly, accountability is the key to converting a resolution into an accomplishment. People set and achieve goals in different ways and, as a result, varying types of accountability come into play. One or more of the following might work for you, helping you to achieve a banner sales year.

When someone hands you a business card and says, "you should call this person", it's not really a referral. Without more information, it is more like they're sending you on a cold call. Cold calling is way down the list of favorite prospecting activities for most salespeople, and sometimes that frustration can spill over to referrals.

Does your workplace make you happy? Some 52.3% of Americans report feeling unsatisfied with their jobs, while 39.4% of people reported disliking the people that they work alongside. If you find a strong correlation between being unhappy at your job and weak relationships with your coworkers, follow these nine rules to develop interpersonal skills and become well liked by your peers.

No one trusts a simple handshake anymore. Agreements involve thick stacks of legal documents. Everywhere we look reveals a lack of trust in the world. Trust is important not just in our personal lives, but also in the workplace. Discover these six trust-building results that arise from developing a strong team in the office.

Every person in the workplace has gone through at least one job interview. While preparing for interviews typically leads to Googling common interview questions and answers, do not make the common mistake of using these canned responses. Cliché answers make an interview run smoothly, but they also cause you to blend in with other candidates. Stand out by avoiding these typical responses and creating tailored answers based on your specific past experiences.