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	<title>SPIA Official Blog - Coaching Business Professionals since 1971 &#187; sales</title>
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	<link>http://blog.spiainc.com</link>
	<description>Real Results You Can Trust</description>
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		<title>No time to build a training program for your salespeople?  Here are the steps you’ll need to get started &#8211; quickly.</title>
		<link>http://blog.spiainc.com/business/no-time-to-build-a-training-program-for-your-salespeople-here-are-the-steps-you%e2%80%99ll-need-to-get-started-quickly/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.spiainc.com/business/no-time-to-build-a-training-program-for-your-salespeople-here-are-the-steps-you%e2%80%99ll-need-to-get-started-quickly/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 19 Dec 2011 12:42:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Craig Stimmel</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Entreprenureship]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Leadership]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sales]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sales Management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Standards of Performance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Training]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Human Resources]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Process Improvement]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Systems]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.spiainc.com/?p=482</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[One of the first things that sales and company executives ask us when we meet them is; “We need to grow our sales, what can you do for us?” To that we always respond, “If you’d share with us some of the processes that you have in place now for the sales team to follow – we can then take a look at them and see if there might be a way that we can help.”]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://blog.spiainc.com/business/no-time-to-build-a-training-program-for-your-salespeople-here-are-the-steps-you%e2%80%99ll-need-to-get-started-quickly//feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Marketing or Selling?  Know Why It&#8217;s Critical To Know The Difference?</title>
		<link>http://blog.spiainc.com/marketing/marketing-or-selling-know-why-its-critical-to-know-the-difference/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.spiainc.com/marketing/marketing-or-selling-know-why-its-critical-to-know-the-difference/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 06 Sep 2011 18:47:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Craig Stimmel</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sales]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sales Management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Suggestive Selling]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.spiainc.com/?p=443</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[“I don’t care how many degrees you have on the wall, if you don’t know how to sell, you’re probably going to starve.”—George Forman

A lot of business owners think they are selling, when really all they are doing is marketing. Do you know the difference between the two?  It will cost you a lot of time, energy, and money if you don’t.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://blog.spiainc.com/marketing/marketing-or-selling-know-why-its-critical-to-know-the-difference//feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Anything Else&#8230;?  Suggestive Selling Works!  Here&#8217;s Why</title>
		<link>http://blog.spiainc.com/business/anything-else-suggestive-selling-works-heres-why/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.spiainc.com/business/anything-else-suggestive-selling-works-heres-why/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 01 Aug 2011 14:45:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Craig Stimmel</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sales]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sales Management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Suggestive Selling]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Process Improvement]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.spiainc.com/?p=423</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Every morning, as I stand in line (with way too many other people by the way) for a cup of coffee at Dunkin’ Donuts – I hear it over and over again: “Anything else?” asks the woman behind the counter in her somewhat broken English. Another customer, another “Anything else?” as she’s ringing them up. Finally, it’s my turn - “I’ll take a large French vanilla ice, skim milk, one sugar - extra light”, I shout over the 3 people in front of me.  Even as she’s walking away, she’s asking me those wonderful two words – “Anything else?” She doesn’t care if I’ve purchased a bottled water, Coolatta, or a dozen bagels – even if I’ve said no a thousand times before, she keeps asking and I absolutely love it.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://blog.spiainc.com/business/anything-else-suggestive-selling-works-heres-why//feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>7 Reasons Why You Need Social Media Management Now</title>
		<link>http://blog.spiainc.com/marketing/7-reasons-why-you-need-social-media-management-now/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.spiainc.com/marketing/7-reasons-why-you-need-social-media-management-now/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 29 Jun 2011 14:55:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Craig Stimmel</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Branding]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Communications]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sales]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Media Management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Value Proposition]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.spiainc.com/?p=395</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It’s a proven fact, today, that social media marketing has become one of the most important marketing tools influencing buying habits, company/brand visibility, and the size of the client/customer universe.

 This news is NOT NEW!  For larger companies, social media marketing has been aggressively pursued for years – ever since Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn came into being.

WHO IS EFFECTIVELY USING SOCIAL MEDIA AS A MARKETING TOOL?]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://blog.spiainc.com/marketing/7-reasons-why-you-need-social-media-management-now//feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>It’s A Good Time to Build A Marketing Machine &#8211; What &#8220;is&#8221; a marketing machine and why would I need one? … let’s examine the benefits!</title>
		<link>http://blog.spiainc.com/marketing/it%e2%80%99s-a-good-time-to-build-a-marketing-machine-is-it-time-to-build-a-marketing-machine-%e2%80%a6-let%e2%80%99s-examine-the-benefits-the-best-of-both-worlds/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.spiainc.com/marketing/it%e2%80%99s-a-good-time-to-build-a-marketing-machine-is-it-time-to-build-a-marketing-machine-%e2%80%a6-let%e2%80%99s-examine-the-benefits-the-best-of-both-worlds/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 27 Jun 2011 15:53:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Craig Stimmel</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Communications]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cost Control]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[E-Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sales]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sales Management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing Machine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Operational Efficiency]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Salesforce Automation]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.spiainc.com/?p=389</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[There’s marketing and there’s sales, and each has its pros and cons. To ensure your marketing and sales people work in concert with one another as teammates, like they should, you need a Marketing Machine.

A Marketing Machine combines the strengths of marketing and sales to create a powerful business development system – a combination of technology and process!

Marketing Pros &#038; Cons

Marketing allows you to deliver compelling communications at the lowest possible cost per impression to a large audience via a variety of different media. Through repetition, marketing can build brand awareness and increase the odds of reaching a prospect with the right offer at the right time.

But marketing generally doesn’t consider the sales cycle; it hits target audiences all at once with the same communication. Many salespeople wonder what marketing really does to help them sell. Yet, when marketing does its job, salespeople can do a better job!]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://blog.spiainc.com/marketing/it%e2%80%99s-a-good-time-to-build-a-marketing-machine-is-it-time-to-build-a-marketing-machine-%e2%80%a6-let%e2%80%99s-examine-the-benefits-the-best-of-both-worlds//feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The 1/3-1/3-1/3 Rule for Professional Firms &#8211; Is the Rule correct for all Professional Service Firms?</title>
		<link>http://blog.spiainc.com/sales/the-13-13-13-rule-for-professional-firms-is-the-rule-correct-for-all-professional-service-firms/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.spiainc.com/sales/the-13-13-13-rule-for-professional-firms-is-the-rule-correct-for-all-professional-service-firms/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 17 May 2011 17:40:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Craig Stimmel</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Compensation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cost Control]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Professional Service Firm]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sales]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Human Resources]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Incentives]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rain Making]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.spiainc.com/?p=372</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The 1/3-1/3-1/3 rule is defined as a formula that is used by many professional service firms – legal, accounting, etc. to give structure and incentive opportunities for their professional staff.

For many companies in the field of management consulting, the reward system mimics this well established and proven compensation program.

Beyond what happens within the management consulting firm is what firms do when outsiders – affiliates or sales professionals bring in new business.  In my research on this topic, compensation varies from a straight “finder’s fee/commission” to a percentage of the project on a on-going basis.  Inbetween is any number of permutations and combinations.

S]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://blog.spiainc.com/sales/the-13-13-13-rule-for-professional-firms-is-the-rule-correct-for-all-professional-service-firms//feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>TRAIN YOUR LINE STAFF TO BE SUCCESSFUL:  If your sales people are relying on &#8220;low price&#8221; to close the deal &#8230;..Here are the 10-steps you need to get started &#8211; quickly</title>
		<link>http://blog.spiainc.com/sales/if-your-sales-people-are-relying-on-low-price-to-close-the-deal-here-are-the-10-steps-you-need-to-get-started-quickly/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.spiainc.com/sales/if-your-sales-people-are-relying-on-low-price-to-close-the-deal-here-are-the-10-steps-you-need-to-get-started-quickly/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 14 May 2011 13:34:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Craig Stimmel</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Enhancing Management Efficiency]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Relationships]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sales]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sales Management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Training]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Human Resources]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Process Improvement]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Profit Improvement]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.spiainc.com/?p=368</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[One of the first things that sales and company executives ask us when we meet them is; “We need to grow our sales, what can you do for us?” To that we always respond, “If you’d share with us some of the processes that you have in place now for the sales team to follow – we can then take a look at them and see if there might be a way that we can help.”

What we’ve found is that most of the time the issue is always the same: There simply isn’t a process in place for us to look at - period. The salespeople almost always seem to be autonomous from the rest of the company. There are well thought out processes in place for finance, personnel and administration - but not for sales. When we ask the question of why the building of a business development process for the salespeople seemed to be pushed to the wayside, we almost always got the same response:

“It’s a huge undertaking and I know I should (Don’t you just love that word should?) be doing something – but where would I start?”]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://blog.spiainc.com/sales/if-your-sales-people-are-relying-on-low-price-to-close-the-deal-here-are-the-10-steps-you-need-to-get-started-quickly//feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>There were lots of prospects at this networking event &#8211; All of a sudden it hit me &#8211; it was wall-to-wall people! There just had to be a way to find out if anyone here needed my services.</title>
		<link>http://blog.spiainc.com/sales/there-were-lots-of-prospects-at-this-networking-event-all-of-a-sudden-it-hit-me-it-was-wall-to-wall-people-there-just-had-to-be-a-way-to-find-out-if-anyone-here-needed-my-services/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.spiainc.com/sales/there-were-lots-of-prospects-at-this-networking-event-all-of-a-sudden-it-hit-me-it-was-wall-to-wall-people-there-just-had-to-be-a-way-to-find-out-if-anyone-here-needed-my-services/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 10 Apr 2011 16:17:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Craig Stimmel</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Networking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sales]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sales Management]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.spiainc.com/?p=335</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[There I was in the corner talking to a lawyer “Here’s one of my cards” I said, “Why don’t I call you and we’ll set up a time to talk”.  “Is Tuesday at 2 or Wednesday at 11 better for you?” I pushed.

“No thanks, we’re all set” she said and walked away just as fast as she could – I’ve actually seen running backs in the NFL run slower than her.

This happened countless times to me over and over again that night. Something had to be wrong. I knew salespeople who got referrals from people that they met at networking events. That’s what I was told to do - keep asking, go for the appointment, be persistent, blah, blah, blah. Plain and simple – I was getting lots of enemies but not a lot of business with this approach.

I decided to ask some of my friends who also attended many of the same events that I attended – they obviously must be successful because they keep coming. I was amazed at what the painful truth was – they weren’t any more successful than I was. One of them actually told me he went because of the great chicken wings that they always had. I said to myself no wonder he has a job at Home Depot on the weekends (he doesn’t do it because he likes tools – I’ve never even seen him pick up a screwdriver!) to subsidize his unsuccessful sales career
]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://blog.spiainc.com/sales/there-were-lots-of-prospects-at-this-networking-event-all-of-a-sudden-it-hit-me-it-was-wall-to-wall-people-there-just-had-to-be-a-way-to-find-out-if-anyone-here-needed-my-services//feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The secret is in: It takes more than just talented sales pros to grow a business.  It takes effective training &amp; reporting systems that deliver critical performance info fast!</title>
		<link>http://blog.spiainc.com/business/the-secret-is-in-establishing-managing-and-making-successful-a-business-development-team-that-delivers-is-a-complex-sales-process-requiring-systems-technology-and-management-systems-procedures-a/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.spiainc.com/business/the-secret-is-in-establishing-managing-and-making-successful-a-business-development-team-that-delivers-is-a-complex-sales-process-requiring-systems-technology-and-management-systems-procedures-a/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 05 Apr 2011 15:07:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Craig Stimmel</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Enhancing Management Efficiency]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sales]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sales Management]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.spiainc.com/?p=329</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[No one that I know of will disagree with me when I say that it is new sources of profitable revenue that fuels a company's ability to grow and prosper.  For many business executives,  revenue only comes as a byproduct of sales pros delivering profitable business in large volume sufficient to generate a healthy bottom line profit.  It is this "bottom line profit" that is the energy source which grows a healthy businesses.

It is not only volume that counts.  It is profitability of the business delivered.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://blog.spiainc.com/business/the-secret-is-in-establishing-managing-and-making-successful-a-business-development-team-that-delivers-is-a-complex-sales-process-requiring-systems-technology-and-management-systems-procedures-a//feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
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		<title>Anything Else?</title>
		<link>http://www.example.com</link>
		<comments>http://www.example.com#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 03 Apr 2011 13:46:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Craig Stimmel</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Communications]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sales]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sales Management]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.spiainc.com/?p=322</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Anything else…? Every morning, as I stand in line (with way too many other people by the way) for a cup of coffee at Dunkin’ Donuts – I hear it over and over again: “Anything else?” asks the woman behind the counter in her somewhat broken English. Another customer, another “Anything else?” as she’s ringing [...]]]></description>
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