Hamish Knox

The key to keeping our funnel full is our sellers maintaining their credibility with their buyers throughout their sales cycle. This is a delicate balance because trust in sellers is low, so if our seller steps offside from the buyer’s perspective at any time, our seller’s credibility is shattered. That doesn’t mean that they won’t close the sale, but they’ll have to work a lot harder (and longer) to get that opportunity across the finish line.

We’re halfway through January. It’s likely that our sellers have some zombie opportunities in their funnel that should be put to rest.

It’s becoming cliché to be “buyer focused,” however sellers still focus more on their messaging than their buyer because it’s easier. It’s also easier for sellers to miss buying signals (positive and negative) when navel gazing.

I loved watching Emil Lagasse’s show when the Food Network first launched. Yes, “bam” is the catch phrase that most remember him for, but it’s another, “you can always add, but you can never take away” that sticks with me given its relevance to our sellers for creating more successful interactions with their prospects and clients.

Following a cooking model for scaling the revenue generating side of our organization is likely to end in heartache and tears because we’re not following a model. We’re bouncing from shiny object to shiny object.

Goal setting tends to be on our minds this time of year. Goals setting, and goal achievement, are great, but setting goals without a clearly defined personal vision puts us on a hamster wheel that starts all over every January 1.

Positive buying signals from a prospect, or a client looking to expand with us, are great; however, too often sellers interpret positive buying “signal” as positive buying “confirmation,” attempt to accelerate the sale to close and end up driving that opportunity off a cliff.

As a sales leader, one of the most unmotivating phrases we can hear from the CEO is “stop selling.”

Around this time of year, buyers on a “use it or lose it” type budget tend to get itchy. The itch comes from having money left in their budget that they have no plan to spend this year, but they won’t get that money again next year if they don’t make a purchase before January 1.