Practical Wisdom from Kahle Way Sales Systems
289 episodes - English - Latest episode: 21 days ago -Focused on business professionals, sales leaders and professional salespeople we help you sell better, lead better and live better. Enjoy.
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Episodes
What is Your Most Powerful Selling Tool?
July 15, 2021 10:30 - 11 minutes - 9.99 MBThere is one tool that it so far superior to anything else, that it is in a class by itself. Asking a good question is the single-most effective thing you can do with a customer. A well-phrased, appropriately-timed question is your most powerful sales tool. In this podcast, we drill down into it. The Sales Leader's Excellence & Influence Course: https://www.thesalesresourcecenter.com/kahle-way-sales-management-system-course/
How to Sell When You Are NOT the Lowest Price
July 08, 2021 10:30 - 14 minutes - 12.9 MBHow can I sell when I’m not the lowest price? I wish I had a dollar for every time I was asked that question in a sales training session. First, let’s start with this premise: “Low price” is not the main reason people buy! In every survey of buying motivations I’ve ever read, low price is never the primary motivation. Yes, it’s important. And, when everything else is equal, it will be the deciding factor. But very rarely is everything else equal. And very few people in this w...
Q&A: Entertaining Customers
July 01, 2021 10:30 - 18 minutes - 14.4 MBQ. I have a problem. I still find a percentage of customers who keep me at “arms length.” How do I overcome this attitude from the select few of my customers? Q. You have convinced me that spending time face-to-face with customers is the best use of my sales time. How much of my week should I spend entertaining customers; taking them to lunch, ballgames, etc.? Listen to Dave's responses to these questions. Sales Leader's Excellence & Influence Course: https://www.thesalesresourcecen...
A Sales Process to Build Upon
June 24, 2021 10:30 - 22 minutes - 17.9 MBIn all of my training and consulting work, I’ve found it helpful to establish, right at the beginning, a big picture view of the sales process. Once we have an overview, we can understand every sales principle and practice, and use the big picture to focus our efforts to improve the effectiveness of our organization and our personal efforts. This podcast lays down that foundation. Sales Leader's Excellence & Influence Course: https://www.thesalesresourcecenter.com...
The Ultimate Self-Improvement Skill
June 17, 2021 10:30 - 15 minutes - 12.7 MBThings are changing at an unprecedented pace and will continue to do so. This is not an event, but a permanent state of affairs. The only way to assure that we survive and thrive in this environment is to become adept at the ultimate sales improvement skill – purposeful, self-directed learning. The XI Community: https://x-icommunity.com/groupb2bsalespros/
Q&A from Salespeople: Account Strategies
June 10, 2021 10:30 - 12 minutes - 9.82 MBThis podcast answers these questions: Q. What do we do when a customer wants to spread the business between several vendors, even though I know we can provide better service? Q. How can I get between my competitor, and these contacts that are, in some cases, close friends with him for 20+ years?
The Quickest Way to Impact Sales Performance
June 03, 2021 10:30 - 16 minutes - 13.1 MBOver the 30+ years that I have been working with B2B sales forces, I’m often asked this question: “If you could improve a sales person in just one thing that would bring the quickest and biggest change, what would it be?” My answer: Better time management. Here’s why. To learn about STRETCH – The Strategic Time Management Course for B2B Salespeople, click here: https://www.thesalesresourcecenter.com/salestimemanagementcourse/. To learn about Dave’s book, 11 Secrets of ...
Eight Rules to Supercharge Your Relationship Building
May 27, 2021 10:30 - 18 minutes - 14.7 MBMore than any other type of sales, B2B salespeople must be good at relationship building. You see your customers more often, and for longer periods of time than almost any other type of sales person. This means that you must build relationships that provide you a competitive edge over all of your competition. Here are eight powerful rules that will supercharge your relationship building. It's the Risk, not the Price. https://www.thesalesresourcecenter.com/risk-not-price/
Do You Have Your Own Style of Selling?
May 20, 2021 10:30 - 10 minutes - 7.85 MBMany salespeople harbor a set of beliefs that hinder their performance. These often sound reasonable and are held onto without question. Looking a bit closer at them uncovers how they limit a salesperson’s performance. One of the most harmful of these limiting beliefs is this: “I have my own style of selling.”
Take Back Your Life
May 13, 2021 10:30 - 23 minutes - 18.5 MBRemember the television commercial of the salesperson driving down the expressway with a cell phone balanced on his shoulder, a cup of coffee in one hand, and a laptop computer teetering on the dashboard? The voice in the background says, “You know he’s out there.” That’s a frightening commercial because of the element of truth in it. The life of a salesperson these days is a battle with an overwhelming number of things to do, ever rising expectations, and conflicting pressures. Time manag...
Abusive Customers & Negative Situations
May 06, 2021 10:30 - 12 minutes - 10.3 MBAbusive customers are not fun. They're stressful, and they make you feel like crap. I've been on the receiving end of verbal abuse several times in my career, and it's never pleasant. “The Customer Is Always Right” is a nice saying that works well for most businesses, but sometimes there will be an aggressive person who feels like he or she can get away with being rude to service professionals because “the customer is always right." This podcast talks about how to deal with this situatio...
Two Techniques to Build Relationships with Occasional Customers
April 29, 2021 10:30 - 15 minutes - 12.4 MBOne of the challenges for a B2B salesperson is staying in front of the customer who buys occasionally. In this excerpt from How to Sell Anything to Anyone Anytime, I share two specific techniques to keep yo at the top of your customers’ mind.
Your Most Powerful Sales Call
April 22, 2021 10:30 - 17 minutes - 13.8 MBThe most powerful sales call you can make is the one that goes on after the sale. In this podcast, we'll cover how to use your customer's satisfaction with their purchase as a way to create future opportunities for yourself and your company. We'll also discuss how to turn an unsatisfied customer into a satisfied one. This will help you build long-term relationships with customers who are happy with what they purchased from you in the past, which means more business for you in the future!
Eight Ways to Identify New Prospects & Suspects
April 15, 2021 10:30 - 15 minutes - 12.2 MBFilling the top of the sales funnel with likely suspects is a problem for every sales organization. Sometimes, it takes a bit of creativity as well as common sense. Here are eight ways to identify new suspects.
How to Deal with Your Customers Time Constraints
April 08, 2021 10:30 - 14 minutes - 11.6 MB"My customers don't have as much time to spend with me as they used to." That's a comment I'm hearing more frequently in my sales seminars. It's a growing phenomenon. Your customers used to be able to spend more time with you. But lately, it seems as though they are on tighter schedules and are harder to see. You just can't spend as much time with them as you'd like, because they're pressuring you to move on. The XI Community: https://x-icommunity.com/groupb2bsalespros/
Betrayed! A Q & A for Salespeople
April 01, 2021 10:30 - 13 minutes - 10.6 MBWhat 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? Check out the XI Community: https://x-icommunity.com/groupb2bsalespros/
Can Selling be as Simple as This?
March 25, 2021 10:30 - 15 minutes - 12.1 MBSelling is at the same time both simple and incredibly challenging. It is simple in that almost every adult of reasonable intelligence, who has just a modicum of people skills, can understand it and do it. It is incredibly challenging in that to become exceptionally good at it takes the better part of a life-time of effort and practice. In this podcast, I show you how to make it simple.
The Role of Accountability in Personal Growth
March 18, 2021 10:30 - 12 minutes - 9.85 MBI call it the ‘gap between idea and action,’ and it is one of the largest chasms in the road hindering our path to personal and organizational improvement. The gap between idea and action describes the ubiquitous phenomenon that we, all of us, have ideas and intentions, and yet turning those into actions – habits and routines that enhance our skills and smooth out our lives, only happens a bit of the time. As a general rule, we’re miserable at it. If we can bridge that gap, we ...
Introduction to Key Account Selling
March 11, 2021 12:00 - 13 minutes - 10.5 MBSooner or later, almost every professional B2B sales person comes to grips with the challenges of penetrating key accounts. Key accounts are different than the ordinary, and require some more sophisticated skills and strategies. Yet, they hold the secret to multiplying your income. In this podcast, I share four fundamentals for effectively penetrating key accounts. https://x-icommunity.com/
Is This the Greatest Success Principle?
March 04, 2021 11:30 - 13 minutes - 10.2 MBOur actions follow our attitudes. The relationship between actions and attitudes is so close, that the two go hand-in-hand, and our actions can be seen as outward expressions of our attitudes. While it is easy to connect the two in this example, the principle that it unveils – that our attitudes influence our actions – extends to every aspect of our lives, and particularly to our jobs, in even the slightest and most mundane portions of our work lives. And that leads us to one of the greates...
Everything Must Go Through Me
February 25, 2021 11:30 - 14 minutes - 11.5 MBIt’s a common mindset. The field salesperson wants every communication with the customer to go through him/her. However, that idea costs both the company and the sale person dearly and frustrates the customers. It is an insidious hindrance to sales performance.
Ideas that Limit a Salesperson's Results
February 18, 2021 11:30 - 14 minutes - 11.4 MBOccasionally, at a seminar or training program, I’ll overhear one sales person mention this to another -- “I have my own style of selling.” From my perspective, that idea is more detrimental to that sales person’s success than almost any other. Not only that, but that idea holds down entire sales forces, renders sales management impotent, and dissipates the sales team’s potential. Of all the ideas that detract from sales performance, this is the most malignant. The XI Commu...
Tricky Customer Issues
February 11, 2021 11:30 - 13 minutes - 10.7 MBHere are two questions about tricky customer issues that I respond to in this podcast: If you dropped the ball with a customer, how can you redeem their trust again? How do you know how far to push a sale without overstepping your bounds and threatening the sale and/or the relationship with the customer? Consider the XI Community: https://x-icommunity.com/groupb2bsalespros/
Why it is so easy to be an exceptional salesperson
February 04, 2021 11:30 - 15 minutes - 11.9 MBOver my career as a salesperson, I sold a variety of products in a variety of selling situations. From suits and sport coats in a retail men’s store, to capital equipment to schools, to surgical staplers to surgeons in the operating room, to 70,000 line items for a wholesale distributor. I always did well, and was the number one sales person in the nation for two different companies and two distinctly different selling situations. I was always a bit perplexed by my success. I ...
The Hidden Path to Sales Success
January 28, 2021 11:30 - 13 minutes - 14.5 MBIn my twenty plus years of educating salespeople, I have encountered tens of thousands of sales people, and worked with literally hundreds of sales organizations. The vast majority of them want to do better. Yet, the vast majority of them remain at a level best described as “ordinary.” They never make the transition to being a true master of their craft. In spite of their desire to excel, few do. The reason, for the overwhelming majority of sales people, is that they take the ...
Business Manners & Dress: Do They Matter?
January 21, 2021 12:00 - 17 minutes - 14 MBDoes your dress matter in professional sales? What are the rules of manners that you should be aware of? These are two questions I was asked, and I respond to them both in this podcast.
Closing the Sale
January 14, 2021 11:30 - 12 minutes - 18.9 MBThere is not a salesperson in existence who hasn’t repeatedly heard of the need to “close the sale.” That advice is incredibly overdone. There is no one aspect of sales (at least in the B2B world) that undeservedly receives more disproportionate time and talk than the subject of “closing the sale.” In my experience, closing has never been the result of verbal gymnastics on my part. It’s not my clever refrains, my slick tactics, my memorized “objection over-comers” nor my manipulative ...
Why set goals?
January 07, 2021 11:30 - 15 minutes - 12.1 MBGoal setting is one of the universal best practices for salespeople. Yet, many salespeople don't make it a part of their routines. The first step toward rectifying that is to understand why goals are such an important part of a successful salesperson' life. Join us to see how goal setting can focus and energize your efforts.
Three Most Common Sales Management Mistakes
December 17, 2020 11:30 - 16 minutes - 13.1 MBIn most organizations, sales managers are the essential bridge between the company’s sales goals and the realization of those goals. It’s an incredibly important and difficult job. Unfortunately, it is often the most under-trained job in the entire organization. As a long-time consultant and educator of salespeople and sales managers, I frequently see these three most common maladies suffered by sales managers. The Kahle Way Sales Management System
Is it Them, or Is it Us?
December 10, 2020 11:30 - 10 minutes - 18.4 MBIn this rapidly changing economy, everyone is looking for a simple fix to dealing with the uncertainty of our economic environment. It seems like few are happy with their situations. And all but a few point their fingers at the changing economy and vibrant competitive environment as the source of their dismay. Unfortunately, as long as our gaze is directed at “them” – those conditions in the market that have changed and are outside of our ability to control – we will never free ourselves ...
Light One Candle
December 03, 2020 11:30 - 11 minutes - 16.6 MBRemember President George H. Bush’s program to identify and recognize individual Americans who were outstanding in their fields, or who completed acts of bravery or selflessness, and in so doing, brightened the lives of those around them? It was called a thousand points of light. The idea was that one person’s act, doesn’t, by itself, do much. However, when joined together with a thousand others, like a candlelight, it can light up the entire country. It’s time for businesspeo...
Learning from Failure
November 26, 2020 11:30 - 12 minutes - 10.4 MBIf we chose to, we learn more from our failures than we do from our successes. Within every failure there is the seed of a lesson well learned, of a solid character trait emerging. It is our failures that contribute most intensely to our development. Let’s unpack this.
Answers to questions about low price
November 19, 2020 11:30 - 18 minutes - 14.5 MBQ. How do I ensure that I get the last look in a competitive bid situation? Q. Occasionally, customers may say they have seen or received a lower price for the same product in order to receive better pricing from us. How would you handle that type of call? In this session, we're going to answer these two questions, providing you with guidelines you can implement for the balance of your career.
Using Systems Measurements to Grow Your Business
November 12, 2020 11:30 - 15 minutes - 14.4 MBOne of the watershed moments in the life and growth of a business occurs when the executives design and implement a system of measurements. This signals the development of the business from an entrepreneurial effort to a serious organization that can exist outside of the hands-on involvement of the entrepreneur. In this piece, we unpack that idea and show you how to create and implement a system of business measurements. To dig deeper: https://www.davekahle.com/take-your-kingdom-business-...
How Important is an Elevator Speech?
November 05, 2020 11:30 - 12 minutes - 9.77 MB“Why should someone spend time with you?” That was the question I asked the six sales people who were the subjects of an intense week-long training session. The response? Blank stares. Some uncomfortable fidgeting. Nothing anywhere close to a coherent, persuasive response. That experience made me realize the need for what I call a “value-added proposition,” and what many people refer to as an “elevator speech.” It is a well-thought-out, meticulously prepared, and memorize...
Do you have the propensity to take risks?
October 29, 2020 10:30 - 9 minutes - 7.88 MBWhat sets the exceptional professional apart from the average? Regardless of what the profession, from sales to psychiatry, the exceptional professionals share certain characteristics. Here’s one: The propensity to take risks. Join with me as we unpack this character trait.
Are you part of the problem or the solution?
October 15, 2020 11:00 - 9 minutes - 7.3 MBWe’ve all heard the numbers: Consumer confidence is down, retail sales are down. And for many of us, the markets we serve are down, as well. There is an important relationship to note here. Confidence – an attitude – is down, so sales are down. When confidence is up, sales follow. The principle at work here is this: Our actions follow our attitudes. The relationship between actions and attitudes is so close, that the two go hand-in-hand, and our actions can be seen as outward express...
Can You Use the 5% Principle to Grow Your Business?
October 08, 2020 10:30 - 10 minutes - 8.85 MBWe are all familiar with the Pareto principle, which, when applied to the world of sales, says that 80% of the business comes from 20% of the customers. As a general rule, that 80/20 rule is accurate in lots of different situations. Whenever there is a large group producing something, 20% of the people produce 80% of the results. The “Five Percent Principle” states that five percent of the people produce 50% of the outcome. It can become a powerful marketing principle in you...
Are You Employed?
October 01, 2020 10:30 - 12 minutes - 12 MBHave recent events left you unemployed? I can empathize. I have been there. In my life, I’ve had three major periods of unemployment. I understand the uncertainty, anxiety and self-doubt that comes with that. You just don’t feel like life is as worthwhile unless you have a solid, fulfilling job. Because of my experience, I have made it a point to be available to friends and colleagues who are unemployed. I’ve met with dozens. Here’s some of what I have learned about finding your...
How to Create Long Term Goals
September 24, 2020 10:30 - 17 minutes - 15.4 MBSuccessful people – and successful salespeople – routinely set goals. In this podcast, we explain why and how. You'll master a process you can use forever.
Personal Finances for Commissioned Salespeople
September 17, 2020 10:30 - 15 minutes - 13.3 MBBecause a salesperson’s income is often unpredictable, salespeople need to develop some disciplines and principles to guide their personal finances. This article lays provides some tips and techniques to manage your personal finances.
Difficult Times -- The Gift of Down Time
September 10, 2020 10:30 - 16 minutes - 14 MBIn an earlier podcast, I suggested some strategies for effectively handling the changes wrought by the pandemic. In this one, I’m looking at your broader responsibilities. What about your business or organization? Are there some things you should be doing to prepare your business for life on the other side of social distancing? Here’s one person’s experience and wisdom. Get Kahle's Kalculation here: https://www.thesalesresourcecenter.com/kahles-kalculation-sales-productivity-measurem...
What's a Professional Salesperson?
September 03, 2020 11:00 - 17 minutes - 15.1 MBSales leaders often lament the lack of professionalism in the world of sales. Unfortunately, there is not a standard for what it means to be a professional salesperson. Let’s take a close look at what a professional salesperson is and is not. You may want to read: The Character of a Successful Salesperson https://www.thesalesresourcecenter.com/character-successful-salespeople/
The First Law of Sales Presentations
August 27, 2020 11:00 - 10 minutes - 9.36 MB: In my first professional selling job, I learned a fundamental principle which is all too often disregarded by sales people today. The principle is this: If you are going to present effectively, you must prepare thoroughly. Unfortunately, far too many salespeople fail to thoroughly prepare their presentations. There are a variety of reasons. In this podcast, I examine some of those reasons and offer some recommendations.
How to Navigate Difficult Times
August 20, 2020 10:30 - 16 minutes - 14.7 MBWe are in the middle of some difficult times. Rather than belabor that point, I’d like to come to the heart of the problem: What do we do? We need to answer that question in an immediate, urgent basis: What do we do right now? We also need to answer the question in a strategic, on-going way. What do we do this week, this month, this year? How shall we wisely and prudently arrange our activities – not just for this moment, for the next few months? Ultimately, as we sort th...
Q&A from Listeners: How many Appointments, and How to Get an Appointment
August 06, 2020 10:30 - 17 minutes - 14.3 MBIn this podcast, I respond to two listeners questions: One has to do with how many appointments a salesperson should make, and the other asks about being frustrated trying to get an appointment in an account. My answers may surprise you.
Questions to Ask Yourself -- Part Two
July 30, 2020 10:30 - 16 minutes - 13.6 MBThere are two types of questions salespeople should use: Questions to ask customers, and questions to ask yourself. In this podcast, we drill deeper into questions to ask yourself and develop a routine and a set of questions that will fuel your development for the rest of your career.
Questions to Ask Yourself
July 23, 2020 10:30 - 16 minutes - 14 MBA good question is one of the most powerful tools know to mankind. It certainly is a salesperson's most powerful tool. In this podcast, I dig into questions that salespeople (and other professionals) should be asking themselves. You may have never come across this before.
How to Add Value to Every Sales Call
July 16, 2020 10:30 - 8 minutes - 7.15 MBThe rules have changed. Now, you must add value to every sales call. This article unpacks that idea and provides two specific techniques to add value to every sales call.
Is Integrity a Sales Strategy?
July 09, 2020 10:30 - 9 minutes - 8.22 MBI believe that there are certainly practices in the business world where morality perfectly coincides with wise business. Integrity is one such practice. It is both good business as well as good morals. Here's why... You may also want to listen to: Just Listen! Adversity