Practical Wisdom from Kahle Way Sales Systems

Because a salesperson's income is often unpredictable, salespeople need to develop some disciplines and principles to guide their personal finances. This article provides some tips and techniques to manage your personal finances.

Dealing with an angry or difficult customer is challenging for everyone. The stakes are huge, and the emotions can often get out of control. Here are nine proven tips to help you handle the next confrontation with dignity and competence.

We all know the feeling. Your key contact in one of your good accounts sheepishly admits that they have moved some business to a competitor. No problem with your service, it was just a price issue. Nothing is more discouraging. You've spent years developing this account, building relationships, working hard at meeting their needs, and then, in the blink of an eye, you lose the business to a price-cutter. Here are four proven strategies that will help you prevent your hard-earned business from disappearing into the hands of price cutting competition.

Becoming one of the master salespeople -- the top five percent in the industry -- doesn't happen by chance. It is the result of a disciplined approach to the project of improving yourself. In this podcast, I share some of what I've learned over my career as a salesperson and sales authority. Compare yourself to the five steps and put in place a set of behaviors that will eventually take you to the top.

One of the most common thing sales people hear is: "I'm happy with my current vendor." In other words, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Here's how to respond.

Call reluctance is the term used to describe a salesperson's hesitancy to make the next sales call. It's a common issue that can detract from a salesperson's performance. In this piece, we provide some solutions.

Customers always create a perception about the sales people who call on them. Sometimes this perception works for us, and sometimes it works against us. By intentionally influencing our position with the customer, we can influence the customer's perception and impact the sale. We can influence the customers' view of us by how we position ourselves.

What happens when you spend a great deal of time and effort creating a big proposal for a prospect, and discover that they gave it to their current vendor to match? Have you been betrayed, or is there some other explanation? In any case, what do you do?

In a misguided attempt to stay busy and see as many people as possible, too many salespeople subscribe to the theory that any activity is good activity. Sales people now must confront an overwhelming number of potential "things to do," and that requires them to make decisions about which customers in which to invest their time, to prioritize their activities every day, and to continually choose from a menu of possible activities. In other words, sales people must now engage in strategic planning.

Here's one of the foundational principles for sales success: You'll always be more effective if you think about what you do before you do it. In this podcast, I unpack that statement, and provide you with a step-by-step planning process you can use for to take your sales performance to a higher level.