July 21, 2008 
We are on vacation and you are with us!
Mike and Joe are taking some well deserved time off. We will be back with a regular schedule on August 4.
Listen to this weeks Sales Podcast
MP3 Stream
We published our first e-Booklet set
Titled “Killer Sales Questions” and “Coffee is for Closers - Deal or no Deal
Get Both for only $19.99
Sales Podcast and Sales Blog
SalesRoundup.com
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July 14, 2008 
How to make the most out of sales meetings
during the summer time lul in activity
Its summer (at least in the USA) which means people are more relaxed, going on vacations and loosing any sense of urgency about doing business. If you’re a sales person summer often has a negative effect on your ability to close sales. In this episode Joe and Mike offer up some ideas that might help you improve your sales performance over the summer.
Listen to this weeks Sales Podcast
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This week’s Master is Doug Aley, Vice-President of Business Development for Jott.com
Jott Networks operates a voice to text service that makes staying organized and in touch easy. Jott allows sales people and other consumers to easily and safely send emails and text messages, set reminders, organize lists, and post to web services with their voice.
Notes:
Fantasy Football if your interested send us an e-mail at joe@salesroundup.com
Brent Larlee’s Article on Pipeline Velocity - The Thrill of Speed
We published our first e-Booklet set
Titled “Killer Sales Questions” and “Coffee is for Closers - Deal or no Deal
Get Both for only $19.99
Sales Podcast and Sales Blog
SalesRoundup.com
Posted in Podcast, Sales Cycle No Comments »
July 6, 2008 
Casting a wide Net(work)
Our B2B Social Networking Show
The advent of Web 2.0 presents a whole new opportunity to leverage technology to reach potential prospects and partners. But where do you start? In this episode Joe and Mike talk about different social networking tools, how they use them to drive awareness and how you can leverage them to find more opportunities.
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This week’s Master is Chris Brogan www.ChrisBrogan.com
Among many other accomplishments and roles Chris Brogan uses social media and technology to build digital relationships for businesses, organizations and individuals. He shows organizations how to use tools to converse with coworkers, customers and even competitors. He speaks at conferences and for private organizations and blogs, writes articles and makes media of all kinds on the subject of networking and technology.
Notes:
Fantasy Football if your interested send us an e-mail at joe@salesroundup.com
SellingGeek Posts
Twitter
LinkedIn
We published our first e-Booklet set
Titled “Killer Sales Questions” and “Coffee is for Closers - Deal or no Deal
Get Both for only $19.99
Register for Mike Brook’s Webinar Cold Calling Success
What you will learn:
Most sales reps hate making cold calls (80% usually), but Top 20% producers not only know the most effective ways of making them, but they also know how to avoid, rejection, easily get past gatekeepers, and get to and qualify decision makers. You can learn how, too!
In this webinar, you’ll learn how to successfully cold call, set appointments, and get past the common objections that are blowing off 80% of your competition.
You’ll learn specific skills like:
The Benefits of Using Scripts
How to Eliminate Screening Forever
How to Successfully Deal With Assistants
How to Turn Rejection into Opportunity
How to Use Email to Your Advantage
Sales Podcast and Sales Blog
SalesRoundup.com
Posted in Podcast, Technology No Comments »
June 30, 2008 
Pop Goes The Forecast
It’s the end of the quarter for a majority of sales people which means it’s reality check time on how close your actual sales were to what you forecasted. Forecasting is a difficult process fraught with errors but its important to your success to get it right. In this episode Joe and Mike talk about why the forecasting process often goes astray and what sales people and sales managers can do to improve their forecasting accuracy.
Listen to this weeks Sales Podcast
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This week’s Master is Marty Clarke www.martyclarke.com
Marty Clarke is a very funny and painfully honest professional speaker sales consultant and coach, He’s written two books - “Communication Land Mines - Leadership Land Mines and is currently working on a third.
Notes:
Fantasy Football if your interested send us an e-mail at joe@salesroundup.com
http://www.bulldogsolutions.com
www.funnysalescartoons.com
http://www.engineerscansell.com/the-long-long-sales-cycle/ Joe’s Post on Engineers Can Sell
We published our first e-Booklet set
Titled “Killer Sales Questions” and “Coffee is for Closers - Deal or no Deal
Get Both for only $19.99
Register for Mike Brook’s Webinar Cold Calling Success
What you will learn:
Most sales reps hate making cold calls (80% usually), but Top 20% producers not only know the most effective ways of making them, but they also know how to avoid, rejection, easily get past gatekeepers, and get to and qualify decision makers. You can learn how, too!
In this webinar, you’ll learn how to successfully cold call, set appointments, and get past the common objections that are blowing off 80% of your competition.
You’ll learn specific skills like:
The Benefits of Using Scripts
How to Eliminate Screening Forever
How to Successfully Deal With Assistants
How to Turn Rejection into Opportunity
How to Use Email to Your Advantage
Sales Podcast and Sales Blog
SalesRoundup.com
Posted in Podcast No Comments »
June 23, 2008 Because of its direct impact on the bottom line hiring the right sales reps and sales managers is critical to the success of any company. However, there are few challenges as daunting as selecting people with the potential to be top performers. In this episode Joe and Mike discuss how to go about selecting top sales reps and sales managers including identifying the characteristics that are most important in determining their potential for success.
Traits to Look for in Hiring a Sales Manager
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MP3 Stream Download MP3
Sales Podcast and Sales Blog
Greg Alexander CEO of Sales Benchmark Index
With over 20 years of inside sales closing experience, Mike has been billed nationwide as Mr. Inside Sales. Once a bottom 80% producer, Mike learned and perfected the skills of Top 20% producers and became the number one sales rep out of 5 Southern California branch offices.
Notes:
We published our first e-Booklet set
Titled “Killer Sales Questions” and “Coffee is for Closers - Deal or no Deal
Get Both for only $19.99
Link to the Power Point presentation Selling in a Down Economy on Slide Share
Register for Mike’s Webinar Cold Calling Success
What you will learn:
Most sales reps hate making cold calls (80% usually), but Top 20% producers not only know the most effective ways of making them, but they also know how to avoid, rejection, easily get past gatekeepers, and get to and qualify decision makers. You can learn how, too!
In this webinar, you’ll learn how to successfully cold call, set appointments, and get past the common objections that are blowing off 80% of your competition.
You’ll learn specific skills like:
The Benefits of Using Scripts
How to Eliminate Screening Forever
How to Successfully Deal With Assistants
How to Turn Rejection into Opportunity
How to Use Email to Your Advantage
Sales Podcast and Sales Blog
SalesRoundup.com
Posted in General Skills, Podcast No Comments »
June 16, 2008 
Handling Incoming Leads
Are you tired of wasting your time following up on supposed sales leads that turn out to be nothing but a waste of time? Are you tired of Marketing complaining that those hard to get leads are never followed up on? How do you get your marketing department to qualify “leads” before sending them on to you? In this episode Joe and Mike talk about how to revamp your sales lead generation, qualification and follow up process to streamline the process, increase your sales and make more money.
The Seven Criteria For Lead Qualification
Do we understand the recommendation process to make a purchase?
De we have access to the people evolved in the process?
Is there a clearly defined timeframe?
De we understand the compelling need for our product or service? What bad thing happens if they do nothing?
De we understand the authorization process? Who signs the paperwork? Do you need a Purchase Order to get paid?
Have funds been allocated to make this purchase?
Does this lead have similar characteristics to the high quality leads based on our previous experience?
Lead Qualification Procedures for Sales and Marketing
Sales and Marketing need to agree on how to rank order
The lead follow-up process needs to be simple and easy for the sales organization No manual over burdensome process!
Sales Management must agree on the maximum number of sales leads an individual sales person can handle at one time.
You need to have different procedures for special inquiry handling Say a CEO of a company makes an inquiry
Minimize leakage! Sales needs to commit to a standard process and turnaround time for handling a qualified lead with the proper feedback to Marketing
Sales needs to close the loop. You must agree on when a lead is no longer a lead
Sales and Marketing must review the results on a periodic basis
Listen to this weeks Sales Podcast
MP3 Stream Download MP3
Sales Podcast and Sales Blog
This weeks Master :Mike Brooks , Mr. Inside Sales
With over 20 years of inside sales closing experience, Mike has been billed nationwide as Mr. Inside Sales. Once a bottom 80% producer, Mike learned and perfected the skills of Top 20% producers and became the number one sales rep out of 5 Southern California branch offices.
Register for Mike’s Webinar Cold Calling Success
What you will learn:
Most sales reps hate making cold calls (80% usually), but Top 20% producers not only know the most effective ways of making them, but they also know how to avoid, rejection, easily get past gatekeepers, and get to and qualify decision makers. You can learn how, too!
In this webinar, you’ll learn how to successfully cold call, set appointments, and get past the common objections that are blowing off 80% of your competition.
You’ll learn specific skills like:
The Benefits of Using Scripts
How to Eliminate Screening Forever
How to Successfully Deal With Assistants
How to Turn Rejection into Opportunity
How to Use Email to Your Advantage
Notes:
We published our first e-Booklet set
Titled “Killer Sales Questions” and “Coffee is for Closers - Deal or no Deal
Get Both for only $19.99
Link to the Power Point presentation Selling in a Down Economy on Slide Share
Sales Podcast and Sales Blog
SalesRoundup.com
Posted in Podcast No Comments »
June 9, 2008 
Measuring the Dollars in the Door
What do you measure to predict future sales performance? Is it the number of cold calls made? The number of face-to-face visits? The number of opportunities in the pipeline? Those gauges are important to monitor but how realistic is it to rely on them to forecast sales? Do those measurements actually help you figure out “the dollars in the door”?
In this episode Joe and Mike talk about the pitfalls of relying on traditional methods of predicting sales results and in some cases how measuring them can negatively impact your sales. They will also discuss what sales people and sales managers should be looking at and offer a method to determine if you are focusing on the types activity that will lead to “the dollars in the door”.
Listen to this weeks Sales Podcast
MP3 Stream Download MP3
Sales Podcast and Sales Blog
This weeks Master : Tim Sullivan from Sales Performance International
Tim brings over 20 years of sales, marketing and management consulting experience to his role as director of business development at Sales Performance International.He has extensive experience in development and marketing for advanced sales methodologies.
Notes:
We published our first e-Booklet set
Titled “Killer Sales Questions” and “Coffee is for Closers - Deal or no Deal
Get Both for only $19.99
Check us out at the Five Sevens Blog
Link to the Power Point presentation Selling in a Down Economy on Slide Share
Column Headings mentioned on the show…
In the first column put the company name
Relationship factor (vendor - Valued supplier - Trusted advisor )
Were you hunting or farming?
Next column put the purpose of the call
Is there an active opportunity Y N
The value of the active opportunity
List the main (top) contact you met with
Role in the sales cycle recommender decision maker authorizer etc
What specifically did you accomplish
What actions items do you have coming out of the meeting
What actions items does your Customer have coming out of the meeting
Sales Podcast and Sales Blog
SalesRoundup.com
Posted in Management, Podcast No Comments »
June 1, 2008 In tough economic times elite sales professionals follow a few basic behaviors to assure top performance. In this the final episode of the series “Selling in a Down Economy” Mike and Joe Interview Tim Wackel, founder and president of The Wackel Group, about the top three key sales strategies you should be deploying right now to ensure your success!
Hiring Top Sales Talent
