We are where serious sales professionals come to collaborate, learn, and connect at a higher level. From the CEO to the front-line sales representative, our freely available universal selling framework and professional selling ethical framework help the entire organization improve their selling abilities. We help individuals focus on the customer, achieve desired results, hire based on the the right competencies, and understand strengths and weaknesses.

How Do Customers See High Performing Salespeople?

We intuitively know there are skill and proficiency differences between salespeople who consistently achieve high results and those who don’t. The search for defining those differences has been a robust area of discussion and study for many years. The assumption is that if you can define the behaviors that correlate with success, you can hire and/or train to that profile. Competency studies, formal academic research, anecdotal stories, and insights from sales managers and executives have all been the bases of models of high performance that, in the final analysis, revolve around some level of customer focus as a salient, unifying concept as well as on face-to-face, product knowledge and relationship skills.

At C-Lens Index, after working for many years with different sales organizations, we recognize that all these studies and discussions describe a salesperson focused on delivering value through the sales process. That means the customer actually benefits from the sales experience, both before buying anything and throughout the relationship that follows. For example, the discovery process results in new insights about needs and their impact on the business, products and services can be creatively configured to the situation, the salesperson’s resource network can be brought in to help, and application ideas and examples from other sources in the customer’s industry are discussed. To put this example in plain terms, if you are a car insurance consultant then you need to use insightful questioning to ascertain the needs of a particular customer, and use your response to these needs to build rapport and present a solution to the customer’s need. You may add value to the customer’s experience if you compare bike insurance options as well as car insurance options. This is what a superior sales person does. In all, the relationship-through the sales process-becomes an added value from the vendor. Our point of view is that a salesperson who recognizes that delivering this value is the key to his or her role and whose actions reflect that philosophy will be a High Performer compared to those who are otherwise focused on product, fulfillment, or price-based selling.

We’ve been able to identify the behavioral indicators of that value-laden relationship and use them to measure what customers are actually seeing in the sales process. We call those indicators “Sales Actions,” and they mirror the behavior and attitude of a salesperson who is focused on customer value. In a recent C-Lens Index scan for a manufacturing company, we collected data from over 400 customers on their views of their salesperson. We asked them how frequently they saw the sales actions played out and how important those actions were to them. In analyzing the data, we compared the results of salespeople who were identified as High Performers with those identified as Low Performers. These were defined by our client in terms of consistent long-term results as well as reputation in the company for professionalism. In our sample of 58 salespeople, we worked with eight salespeople in each category. The results provide some insights into what customers are seeing High Performers do more frequently than Low Performers.

High Performers Seen Performing All Sales Actions More Frequently

Overall, customers see High Performers demonstrating each and every C-Lens Index sales action to a greater extent than low performers. While this helps to validate the C-Lens items and concept, it also shows that High Performers are seen differently in the eyes of the customer. The average frequency score of High Performers was 64.28 percent while the Low Performers scored 47.75 percent. The larger differences will be discussed below. However, it is important to point out that these sales actions are associated with success, and they are aligned with delivering a value-based experience to the customer. Apparently, customers see this difference.

The Largest Gaps Between High and Low Performers

We identified 12 Sales Actions out of 28 where High Performers scored 20 percentage points or more than Low Performers in terms of frequency as seen by customers. It doesn’t matter what products are being sold whether they are payday loans or investment properties or fancy dress or even an essay writing service, these figures tend to stay true in any market. Since the numbers in the sample were not large enough for statistical comparisons, we felt 20 percent was a sufficient arbitrary difference to note any trends or themes between the groups. The following are the Sales Actions which were the largest gaps between High and Low performers

1. Asks in-depth probing questions to better understand my business and my needs.
2. Discovers what is on my mind by focusing on what I say and how I say it
3. Reassures me that the vendor company’s team working with me has experience and expertise in addressing needs
4. Finds other valuable resources for me that also might help address my needs
5. Always remains diplomatically straightforward in describing issues
6. Tells me how the vendor company, its products and services are uniquely different from other vendors
7. Provides clear, easy-to-understand examples of how the vendor company, its products or services will help me and my own customers
8. Directly and creatively addresses real or perceived concerns that I raise
9. Takes appropriate steps within the vendor company to accomplish tasks for me in a timely manner
10. Uses internal/external experts and resources to maximize the value to me of the vendor company’s products and services
11. Ensures my company and I are receiving the promised benefits of the products and service provided
12. Stays current and informed about my business performance, its strategy, recent changes, and emerging needs

What this tells us about High Performers versus Low Performers is most interesting:

High performers more frequently practice basic face-to-face selling skills. [Asking questions (1) and Listening (3).] We presume that comfort in using these fundamental skills effectively is an indicator of High Performance. Euso The lower frequency by Low Performers may indicate a need for training, lack of experience, differences in coaching and supervision or poor execution.

High performers also are seen more frequently describing product or service uniqueness and examples of how these can be applied. [Tell how uniquely different (6), Provide clear examples (7), other basic face-to-face skills.] Fluency and confidence in product knowledge is apparently an indicator of high performance. It is one thing to describe features and benefits and quite another to tell convincing stories about how product or service uniqueness plays out and how applications actually work for customers.

High performers more frequently bring other resources and expertise that can help the customer to the sales process and, if needed, help solve problems. [Find other resources (4), Creatively address concerns (8), Use internal/external experts (10.] This suggests an openness to leverage value that salespeople have cultivated in their own personal networks as well as to widen out the scope of the customer’s situation and open it up to creative problem-solving. Seeing beyond the immediate set of facts and data is a sophisticated skill that not only requires product and service knowledge, but confidence and knowledge of other applications. Creatively solving problems-whether independently or with internal colleagues-shows a command of concepts and applications and fluency of thinking skills.

High performers show empathy as reflected in reassuring the customer that he or she is in good hands and acting diplomatically. For example a sales consultant for resveratrol would show sympathy with the problem of ageing and assure the prospect that others have had good results from using the product. [Reassures me the team has experience (3) and Always remains straightforward (5).] Is this a matter of higher emotional intelligence or experience in pre-empting difficult situations? These Sales Actions could signify the High Performer is more “tuned in” to the customer’s reactions as the relationship unfolds.

Finally, High Performers are seen as more frequently being invested in the customer’s company and the buyer. [Ensures benefits (11) and Stays current and informed (12).] These are higher-order Sales Actions, requiring an effort and a certain amount of risk by opening up the possibility that the customer is not getting what he or she bought. Hydroxatone Nevertheless, this kind of pro-active inquiry into the outcomes of product and service applications as well as customer status is a mark of being truly interested in serving the customer.

Emerging Profile of High Performers

This study is certainly far from definitive, but it suggests what customers see in high and low performing salespeople. For one thing, customers of high performing salespeople see them demonstrating all the Sales Actions more frequently than Low Performers. While a small number of these Sales Actions are seen only slightly more frequently in High Performers than in Low Performers, most Sales Actions show enough of a gap to stimulate questions about what drives customers to see these differences. It remains to be seen whether these behaviors are more “visible” because of experience, the deliberative nature with which they are applied, or other reasons.

When the more extreme gaps (20 percent +) are examined, an interesting set of suppositions emerges. We will present these as questions rather than as definitive statements that will hopefully create more dialogue about what is at the core of high performance in salespeople.

1. Are High Performers more comfortable and fluent with a broader scope of knowledge about customers, their businesses and how products and services are used than Low Performers?
2. Do High Performers have wider networks and effective working relationships with a variety of resources inside and external to the vendor company?
3. Are High Performers basically more empathetic or at least better able to identify what customers are facing both personally and professionally?
4. Is it possible that High Performers are more engaged with what it takes to make customers satisfied, ensuring the value of product and services and a long-term, profitable relationship?

While these answers are as yet not defined, the data from this study suggest that skills and knowledge go only so far in creating high performing salespeople. PMH If these data are on the right track, then perhaps the path to high performance needs to include educating salespeople about the role they can play in the customer’s business and professional success.

Michael D. Maginn has been working with and studying selling for over 25 years. He has interviewed hundreds of sales people in many different lines of business in developing custom sales training programs, always searching for the behaviors that define high performers. As Vice President, Research and Development for The Forum Corporation, he completed one of a number of landmark sales competency studies and subsequent best-selling sales programs. Since then, as the president of Singularity Group, Hamilton, MA., he has worked with many sales organizations in defining how the sales process can add value to the customer’s experience. He is the designer of C-Lens Index, a sales assessment tool which gathers data on the customer’s view of the sales process as well as the author of 5 Skills of Master Salespeople, available from Amazon.com.

Focus on The Buying Process

In order to increase your chances of making the sale, you must understand the buying process that the average customer goes through before making a decision. This is not a formal process, of course, but a mental process. Some buyers may skip some of the steps depending upon their situation and personality, but if you can determine where your prospect is in this process, you have a much better chance of closing the sale.

The Six Steps of the Buying Process

1. Satisfaction/Dissatisfaction. The prospect has recognized that he or she is either happy with the way things currently are and doesn’t want to make a change, or the prospect is unhappy with the way things currently are and is considering a change.

2. Maybe. The prospect is in an uncertain state of mind, thinking “I might want to do something different, but I might not want to do anything different.”

3. Deciding. The prospect wants to take action but is uncertain what action to take.

4. Gathering information. The prospect is interested in finding out what options are available.

5. Analyzing and comparing. The prospect wants to weigh all of the options before making a final decision.

6. Ripe to take action. The prospect is ready to make a decision.

Every time you come into contact with a prospect whether the product is outdoor furniture or a local product such as flooring Garland or SEO Dallas , their thoughts will no doubt be somewhere on this list of steps. It’s up to you as a professional salesperson to determine which step it is through the questions you ask and the observations you make. Some people go through the steps quickly, and some will spend a good bit of time in each area.

No matter your prospect’s pace, if you rush ahead of them, you will lose the sale. Just as you must learn to understand the prospect’s personality type, you need to understand his or her place in the buying process in order to tailor your presentation accordingly.

People who are in steps one and two, for example, need to be convinced that their current situation could be greatly improved. For example if you are a seller of the e cigarette you need to present a solid argument for why E cigarettes are superior to cigarettes that are simply purchased from the local store. In addition to simply presenting the features, ensure you emphasise the direct benefit to the customer. In the example above this would mean emphasising that E cigarettes do not contain tar or other additives so they are much safer to use and do not produce undesirable odors. A person in step three needs to know how your particular product will improve their circumstances.

For step four, be ready to answer detailed questions and highlight the product’s benefits that are specific to this person’s needs. For example a potential customer needs to hear exactly how Crescent Processing electronic payment services are going to make it easier for their clients to make payments and how it will make business processes also more streamlined before they are ready to move to the next step.

Customers in steps five and six are ready to hear why your product or service – above all others – is the one they should choose.

You have a much greater chance of making a sale if you can determine where your prospect’s mind falls within the six steps. You will be able to ask the right questions and offer the information they need to know without pushing them too far too soon.

J. Garces Jr. is an Internet marketer and author of http://www.myleadgenerationsecrets.com – a guide to getting more leads than you can handle using insider marketing strategies.Do you have marketing and sales skills? If so, then join my team helping to market our big-ticket product and start earning a CEO’s salary!

How to Choose a Sales Training Program

Whether you are a corporate sales executive needing to increase company revenues, a sales manager wanting to improve your team’s results, or a sales professional looking to invest in your own self improvement, you need to evaluate any sales or sales management training course properly before buying it. All courses are not created equal and a high price tag does not necessarily guarantee results.

Do You Really Need Sales Training?

The first decision you need to make in choosing a sales training program is whether you even need sales training in the first place. Is sales training really necessary? To answer that question, you need to look at the facts.

Numerous studies show that 25 percent of sales representatives produce 90 to 95 percent of all sales. Clearly, most sales people are not selling up to their potential and therefore not making the incomes they could, nor producing the revenues they should. Why is this case? It’s not that the job can’t be done because 25 percent are doing it, and doing it well. It’s because the other 75 percent either are not in the right sales position or they truly don’t know how to sell. If all sales people knew and did what the top 25 percent do, then all sales people would be selling more!

You want your mechanic well trained, you want your financial advisor well trained, you want your doctor well trained and yes, you should want your sales team well trained and you would want them to have the best online CRM tool to use for leads and customer management. It is amazing that some companies today spend more on photocopier maintenance than they invest in those employees in charge of driving revenue for the company, the very lifeblood of the business!

Both managers and sales representatives alike need to buy into the fact that, regardless of the years of experience in the trade, the learning should never stop. If most of the sales are produced by so few of the sales representatives, obviously there is room for improvement for the rest. Great sales people and sales managers are not born, they are made! They are the result of hard work, passion, motivation to excellence and most importantly, training.

Why Most Sales Training Programs Fail

Many sales representatives and companies who have invested in sales and sales management training have been disappointed with the results. Icon Res In many cases, after spending tens of thousands of dollars on a training program, there was no positive change in behavior or no measurable improvement in sales results.

The reason for these failures is not because of the size of the investment or the skill level of the participants, it’s because of the methods of the training program itself. As quantified in a study by Dale, the average person forgets 90% of what they hear in a lecture based training program. Yet most sales training courses still consist of only seminars given around a board room table.

When you think about it, lecture based training is like trying to train a professional sports team by inviting a “facilitator” to talk to your athletes about how to play the game and then sending them into competition and expecting them to be successful. Sounds ludicrous, doesn’t it? So why then do so many companies believe they can train their sales people by sending them to training programs where they only listen to a lecture for a few hours and expect them to be able to sell when they hit the streets the next day?

How You Should Evaluate Sales Training Programs

To achieve the desired results from sales or sales management training, you must look for programs that take into account how people learn. As summarized from Sullivan et al, there are eight principals required for effective adult learning:

1. The student should be ready to learn.
2. The program should build on what the student already knows or has experienced.
3. Students should be aware of what they need to learn.
4. A variety of training methods and techniques works best.
5. Opportunities to practice skills are essential for skill acquisition and competency.
6. Repetition is necessary to become competent or proficient in a skill.
7. The more realistic the learning situation, the more effective the learning.
8. Feedback should be immediate, positive and nonjudgmental.

The keys to success are ensuring that each participant has the opportunity to actually practice their newly learned skills (as opposed to just being lectured to), and that each new skill introduced builds on a previous one learned. It is also critical that the participants have access to their trainer/coach after the training course is complete for ongoing feedback and support. Unfortunately, most lecture based sales training programs do not provide any of this, and therefore ultimately fail to provide the desired results.

In addition to the need for practical exercises and ongoing coaching support discussed above, other questions to consider when evaluating sales and sales management training programs include:

• Do the techniques and materials being taught actually produce measurable results? Are the training programs guaranteed? Its one thing for a training company to say they have great programs, but it quite another for them to stand behind them with a guarantee.
• Are you learning from a qualified trainer? Anyone can attempt to provide sales training by reading a book and delivering a seminar. To be successful, your trainer should be experienced, knowledgeable, and have a proven track record of success.
• Are the programs customizable for you and your products? You don’t just want to talk about theories about how to sell any product, you want to be able to put those theories into practice so that you start to sell your product.
• Is there a mechanism like testing or accreditation exams in place to ensure that the participants are learning the materials? If you don’t keep score, how do you know you are winning?
• Are the training programs broken into sessions over a period of time or are they a one shot deal? Sales is a process that can be repeated, but no one is going to learn that process in one afternoon.
• Are the programs available in different formats, like self study programs, online interactive webinars, as well as just the traditional onsite programs? You must consider travel time and expenses when evaluating your training options, and today’s e-learning alternatives may be a better fit to your budget.

There is no question that investing in yourself or your team is the right way to go to point you down the road to achieving your sales potential. However, if you want to improve your sales or sales management training results, then you have to change the way you deliver your sales training!

For a free copy of the B2B Sales Connections Training Program Decision Matrix to help you choose a training program that is right for you, send me an email and I will send you a copy immediately. Whatever program you choose, we wish you nothing but success in your future.

Aim Higher!

Susan A. Enns, B2B Sales Connections

Susan A. Enns is managing partner of B2B Sales Connections, the online sales training website with free sales resources, a specialized sales job board and free resume listing services dedicated only to business to business sales professionals. She has a proven track record of success, with over 22 years of direct sales, management and executive level business to business experience. Her accomplishments include being the top sales rep in Canada, managing the top sales branch, and achieving outstanding sales growth in a national channel sales organization. She has written the downloadable e-courses “Action Plan For Sales Success” and “Action Plan For Sales Management Success”, as well as many automated sales tools, and as the B2B Sales Coach, she writes and edits the company’s newsletter, AIM HIGHER. Currently Susan serves on the Leadership Executive of the Sales Professionals of Ottawa as Vice President. For more information, visit http://www.b2bsalesconnections.com.

Is ‘Sales Profession’ an Oxymoron?

When you hear somebody say, “that Joe is quite a sales guy,” it is usually not intended as a compliment. Sales professionals have even been depicted as shady in children’s cartoons. They are typically saying that Joe is a fast-talking, glad-handing, person who can make you want something that you have heretofore had no need for, and will find no need for once you own one of each of the items he’s selling.

If you are in Sales, you have probably heard these before:

Q: “How can you tell a sales person is lying?”

A: “His lips are moving.”

Q: “Why do lawyers like sales people?”

A: “They give them someone to look down on.”

Sadly, the term sales professional is often seen as an oxymoron, in much the same manner as plastic silverware, accurate forecast, or affordable housing in the metro DC area.

In the interest of complete candor, many of our predecessors, and some of our contemporaries, have earned this less than stellar reputation for our profession. You know who you are, especially if you just felt the urge to stop reading. In the interest of fairness though, every profession has its bad apples. Would you want to face the IRS backed with Enron’s accountants? Or how about looking up at your surgeon to see that he is one of those weight loss infomercial doctors? An entire profession should not be judged by the behavior of a small minority.

The next time you meet a sales person, ask them about their thoughts on the “Ethics Triad.” The Ethics Triad is something that all professionals should have, and the salesperson is no exception. True sales professionals subscribe either consciously or unconsciously to the Ethics Triad – rooted in the trio of questions of “is it legal?” “is it moral?” “is it ethical?”

Is it legal? Are the actions you are considering, or the recommendation you are making conform to the laws of your community, your country, and the policies of your firm? If there is some question in your mind, then you owe it to yourself, your firm, and your customers to review what you are doing with senior management or legal council.

Is it moral? Is what you are doing fair to all parties involved? It is said that a person’s character is measured by what they do when nobody is looking. In the harsh light of day, are you pursuing a course of action that you would be proud to have broadcast on the evening news in your hometown?

Is it ethical? The ethics of the medical profession are rooted in three simple, yet powerful words: do no harm. The ethics of the sales profession can be rooted in three equally simple, and powerful words: serve your customer. The true sales professionals seek to achieve his goals, through helping his customers achieve their goals. By subordinating his wants to the needs of the customer, the sales professional demonstrates his commitment to service, and inoculates himself against the twin demons of temptation and greed.

The most precious asset of the sales professional is his or her reputation in the marketplace. By focusing on your customer, keeping the ethics triad in mind, and building a relationship with your client, you will earn a reputation for being trustworthy, honesty, integrity, and a commitment to service. These are the pillars upon which your professional reputation rests-think about it.

Brian Lambert is the Director of Sales Development and Performance at the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD). In this role, he is responsible for meeting the unique challenges of performance professionals focused on the sales profession. He is responsible for conducting primary research and creating resources, articles, and other custom content that helps individuals design and deliver sales training, manage and develop high performing sales talent, and improve salesperson performance. Brian has fifteen years of experience in sales, sales management, sales training, and sales consulting and is an internationally recognized expert on the state of the sales profession as well as current trends in transforming sales team systems, processes, and people.

Brian is a highly sought after world-wide speaker, author, and trainer on sales competency, sales performance, sales process, sales professionalism, sales ethics, and sales process.

Find out about Brian at http://www.salestrainingdrivers.com Visit ASTD’s Sales Training Initiative at: http://www.astd.org/communities/salestraining

Selling War – Only The Strong Survive?

Everywhere we turn these days – whether its the media, our co-workers, financial specialists – there is a continual stream of bad news. Horrible economic forecasts, rising costs, unemployment, sales slumps.

EXCUSES! EXCUSES! EXCUSES!

Some people just love to make excuse after excuse when times are tough. Some days are just harder than others – just as the difficulties of raising kids is more difficult at different stages in their lives. We just need to continue to adapt and grow and find new ways to forge through each “stage”.

Selling is selling. Granted, nowadays it harder. We all get that. NO ONE WILL BE ABLE TO JUST SIT BACK AND WAIT FOR A SALE TO HAPPEN. Sales should never be about that. Rather, being a salesman should only be for those who enjoy the process and know that it takes old-fashioned hard work.

In times of economic hardship, a “filtering out” of the so-so salesmen will occur, making room for the others who really strive to put the time in day after day – not making excuses – and do the job they were hired to do.

As sales leaders, we are NOT BUILT TO WAIT FOR THINGS TO COME TO US. Rather, we hunt – and hunt with a vengeance. We need to gather as much business intelligence as we can and use this to guide our sales efforts. We need to be proactive in speaking to our customers and in ”being out there” and present in the market through advertising our services. This doesn’t have to be through highly expensive giant billboards. It can be something much more subtle like custom lanyards with your company logo on them that can be handed out to prospective customers. They will appreciate the freebie and also appreciate the fact that you didn’t ram your sales message down their throats! Not in a negative way, but rather, we hunt with passion, and determination, and the desire to prove to our clients that we deserve their business.

I, personally, am someone who thrives in the current environment. THE WEAK DO NOT BELONG IN SALES.

When salesmen say that “customers just aren’t easy to find” and “it’s impossible to get a sale in this economy”, I fight back and say to myself that it is these times, and this applies to any business, that we begin to separate the strong from the weak.

I just recently did a major renovation to my property. After interviewing various contractors, I would eventually hire the ones who did not come to me all “gangbusters” – who’s ego’s I could feel before they even began talking to me. Rather, I respected the ones who asked many questions, and allowed me to let them know my needs. In other words, I felt as if “I” mattered. Look – in sales, of course it’s all about making money. We all need to make a living. However, this is never something that you want your customer to see or feel during the project. As I stress over and over in my book, relationship selling is the key. Never “over-sell” them. LISTEN LISTEN LISTEN. And then you tell them how you can get them to their goal.

Bad economy or not, we all still need to buy things and services. And we always will. People are just being more cautious about how and where they spend it. Which is why only the strong and competent and deserving salesmen will prosper. People and customers are looking at things with a keener eye. So as sales leaders, we need to sharpen our pencils daily, keep a line of effective communication with our customers, and continue to nurture the business relationship.

Only the strong will survive – as it should be. It sounds harsh, but if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.

And those who do survive? STAND PROUD!

Continue to sharpen your skills, ALWAYS LISTEN TO THE NEEDS OF YOUR CUSTOMERS, continue to focus on your strengths and work on areas that you need to improve.

THE SALES ARE STILL OUT THERE….

As a 30-year industry veteran, Marco Giunta has always had a futurist look at IT, and worked with many of the leading companies in the Outsourcing industry, in the likes of Tata, Accenture, Collective Technologies, Storage Networks, Cordiant Communications, Decision One and IBM.

Marco has held various positions of increasing responsibility in management, sales, technology, and business development covering Information Technology, E-commerce, Data Center infrastructure, Startup Companies and enterprise software and communications.

The Sign of a True Sales Pro – Admitting We’re Never Too Good For Coaching

Ringggg. Ringggg. Not my favorite sound in the evening when I am in the midst of all kinds of fun mothering activities – homework, cleaning, and moderating disagreements between teenagers. And yet I picked up the phone…

“Hi Nancy, it’s Virginia.”

Oh, okay, I know who this is…and after some pleasantries…

“I’m calling to tell you about my work because you asked me about my new job the other night.”

Hmmm. Okay.

She continued…”I’m so excited and want you to meet the guys I work with.”

And so the discussion went. Me justifying why I didn’t need to meet these “guys” as I don’t need their services and Virginia giving me more and more options on times and locations because I should meet them. She was determined that I needed to do this because they are so great! And I was determined that I wasn’t taking a half day of my life to meet with anyone I didn’t need to meet with.

I hung up feeling like I had dodged the bullet for now…and went on with my evening.

Forty-five minutes later…Ringggg. Ringggg. Now who?

“Hi, it’s Virginia again. I’m calling to get some advice. Do you have a few minutes?”

Of course…

“I don’t think the conversation went the best before and I want your advice on what I can do to have different outcomes in making my calls.”

What??? Calling a sales expert who trains people to be more successful in sales to ask for advice? Now THAT got me interested! We then had over an hour discussion on the objective of making calls, how to put the focus on the caller instead of our own excitement about what we do, asking good questions and being a great listener. Fortunately, all of these actions are critical skills she had already developed in her years in the medical profession. Now she needed to apply them to her new career in sales.

Virginia showed great professionalism. She did what so many sales professionals will not do. She:

• Evaluated her call objectively
• Acknowledged that it could have gone much better
• Asked for coaching to do better next time

Can you imagine how hard it was for Virginia to pick up the phone and call me back? She realized that these first calls in her new role – to the people she had existing relationships with – could make or break her future. She didn’t get defensive. She listened to the advice, asked for clarification and drilled down to specific actions she could take. And finally Virginia then committed to those actions.

What a great demonstration of strong emotional intelligence!

Rookie or not, Virginia’s willingness to call me back sets her apart from a lot of seasoned sales professionals. I think she has a great career ahead of her with that type of mindset.

What about you? What are you currently doing that isn’t producing the results you want/need? Who can you call for advice or coaching so you can do better? I challenge you to pick up the phone and call them and let us know what you learned.

Sharpenz is dedicated to providing sales managers the resources and tools they need to energize, engage and equip their sales team to sell each week. Our 30-minute power sales booster meetings help companies increase sales by providing the right tools and training – fast. Designed with the busy manager in mind, Sharpenz ready-to-go sales training kits will give your sales team the opportunity to grow and earn more – all in a half hour of power. To learn more, visit http://www.sharpenz.com and sign up for your free ready-to-go sales training kit today!

Three Core Competencies Sales People Must Have Or Develop

Sales training helps you keep it moving! What does it take to be a superstar-sales rep? It’s not easy. There are at least 51 competencies for which a sales rep must excel in order to produce stardom and maximize payouts. A competency is an aspect or the qualities people posses will cause that person to excel in sales. Awareness of competencies is the first step to improving your career. Three related top competencies include “Driving for Results”, being “Action Orientated”, and “Acting with Courage”. There is a fine line between too little of a good thing and too much. Let’s define how much is too much.

Drive for Result… What picture comes in mind when you think about driving for results? You may think about driving a huge truck down the road with the petal to the metal. This competency is about staying focused on pursuing a goal. A person who drives for results is able to appropriately set priorities than dismissing items that might distract him or her from achieving the goal. In achieving goals, the person who drives for results can be counted on for hitting goals consistently. This person is highly prized by her company and by the competition.

Be careful because it is possible to overuse the skill of driving for results. Movies are made up of people that overuse the skill of “Driving for Results”. You can picture the person who pursues goals, getting things done, so much so that they run over people in the process. There are plenty of dead bodies in the wake of this person’s pursuit of the goal. In addition, this person shows no regard for processes, thus, constantly shortcuts processes, causing problems for others to clean up along the way. I’ve managed these types of sales reps in my career. At first I was happy because we were getting sales in the door. The results were great, however, the dead bodies were piled up to the point where I couldn’t ignore that we had an issue. Soon after discovering the dead bodies, I found there were tons of broken promises made to customers. The sales rep that overused the “Drive for Results” had promised services we could not deliver; the customers were unhappy and became disenchanted with our company as a result. Not good.

What does it mean to be action orientated? Being action orientated means having boundless energy to get things done quickly, even difficult challenging items. It means having the ability to seize upon opportunities, even in the spur of the moment. Excellent sales reps know that they need to be prepared to take advantage of opportunities when the opportunities are presented.

As a sales leader, I could easily identify the direct reports were not action orientated enough. There were three signs that these folks were slacking. First, the list of accounts in the pipeline didn’t change and the sales process wasn’t moving forward. This meant that my direct reports were comfortable working with the same people while in the field and were not pushing the envelope to increase the pipeline or expanding the people they were meeting. Second, these sales reps were uncomfortable with trying new strategies. For example, if my direct reports required that a new strategy be planned out to in very concrete terms, then I knew that they were not pushing to expand their skills. Last clue was the inability to ask the client to help move the sales process forward. These sales reps were more comfortable making social calls rather than sales calls.

Is it possible to be too action orientated? You bet. From a personal standpoint, I have been guilty of overdoing it on occasion. How do I know when I am overusing this aptitude? I know I am overdoing it when I forget to follow up on the promises that I made to clients or when I can’t follow up on the promises because there is not enough time in the day to do so. Another sign is that I generated errors in my communications to others. When I review emails and find that the email are riddled with mistakes and make no sense, I know I need to slow down. I also find that when I am moving too fast, I lose my ability to listen to others and that emotionally I lose my temper easily. Be aware that are too much action is harmful.

Last, the word courage comes from the Old French word, “cuer” which means “heart and spirit”. Courage perfectly links with “Drive for Results” and being “Action Orientated” because in order to excel in sales; you must have the courage to act when your inner critic tells you differently and “Drive for Results” when most people would give up. The fact is you will need courage most when you are working with both your external and internal clients to surpass even the toughest goals.

Your inner critic can work against you as you work with your external clients. Each person’s inner critic has different messages of fear. My inner critic, for example, works against me whenever I have to deal with a specific customer type. Explicitly, customers that were highly analytical, skeptical, and short tempered. I usual hear my inner critic indicate that it would take too much time to understand this customer types explicit need and I that there is no way I can bring this person around. In turn, I am tempted to not approach these types of customers or to act timid. The result from listening to my inner critic is disastrous. I have heard the inner critic of others toil against them as well. For example, I hear things like, “This product will never sell” or “There is nothing we can do to stop that customer from leaving us and going to the competition” and “I can’t ask for a higher price, I will lose business.” Unfortunately, the inner critic’s mantras continue even in the face of evidence that says otherwise. It takes courage to question the inner critic and begin to act differently. Questions such as “How can I keep the customer and ask for a better price?”, “How can I keep the customer from going to the competition?”, and “How would I characterizes a customer that would love this product?” help to overcome the inner critic.

It also takes courage to work effectively with internal clients. Your internal clients are the people that are relied upon to get things done for your clients even when you are not there. These may be the people that put together bids, gather pricing, write up custom proposals, approve processes for clients, and act as customer or technical support for your clients. In general, these people, in all likelihood, do not report to you, however, you must be a leader among them. It takes courage to act as a leader. As a leader you must ask that these folks deliver information and deliverables on time and in a professional manner. You are essentially asking these folks to keep promises so that you can, in turn, meet the promises you made with your clients. If your internal clients break their promises, it will take courage to work through the broken promises in a professional, courteous, and effective manner. Becoming a leader among your company is where the average fail and the best sales reps excel. The average sales rep feels it’s the bosses’ job to hold people accountable whereas the best sales reps feel it is their job to hold people accountable.

The best sales reps have the courage to push through even in the most difficult of times and in the face of obstacles. It is because the best have the courage, the will, the heart, and the passion to take action. The best sales reps step up to the plate when working with difficult customers and when dealing with broken promises. The sales leaders step up in effective ways that spurs teams of people to success. In the face of hardship, when others pepper in resistant cynicism and doubt, or their inner critic puts them down, the sales super stars find a way to persevere. In the face of such challenges, the best sales reps are able to utilize their competency of courage, action orientation, and drive for results to produce sales growth.

How do you use this information to improve your career? First, stay balanced. Time management tools and priority lists helps to achieve balance. Stay steady, have a plan, don’t overpromise yet insure that you are moving your sales processes forward. Your goal should be to make sure you are getting right things done and completed correctly. Second, keep track of your stories. Collect stories illustrating the goal you were after, what you did to stay motivated to hit the goal, what you did to stay focused, how did you use others to help you hit your goals, your results, and how you celebrated. It’s important that you collect these stories in real time so that you are able to recant the most important elements of the story. Next, remind your manager of the stories when it comes to employee review time as these stories will help your boss obtain the best raise for you. Last, record these stories in your brag book so that should an awesome job opportunity come your way, you can present the stories during your interview.

Devynn King is dedicated to helping sales professionals meet their sales career potential. Helping people meet their full potential not only requires sales excellence, it also requires the ability to dream for more and ask for more. Devynn King has done just that. She is an excellent sales professional, delivering double digit growth for her company’s year after year and has advanced her career through many different positions, up to and including multiple leadership positions. Devynn wants empower you to achieve personal, professional, and sales career transformations. Claim the Sales Tips to take your sales results to another level today.

Richard Stone is a Director for Spearhead Training Limited (http://www.spearhead-training.co.uk/) that specializes in running management and sales training courses. Richard provides consultancy advice for numerous world leading companies.

You try everything. Be better. Do faster. More calls. More appointments. Feed the funnel. Fill the pipeline. Drive to close. Drive to open. Drive. Drive. Drive.

What can you do – to do more, with less? Is ‘more’ the right focus? Do you really have ‘less’? More what? Less what?

The answer is not to continue to beat yourself up over the myriad of reasons why a sale was booked or not. The answer is to better understand how your selling style and your target’s buying style can integrate.

What does it take to make a sale lately?

In Sales, we used to focus on the “Sales Cycle.” Maybe you still do? The problem with the traditional definition of the ‘Sales Cycle’ is that it is focused on YOU and not on your prospect. More recently, the focus has shifted to the ‘Buying Cycle’ and learning how to synchronize it to gain a win-win relationship. To sell successfully in today’s market, your focus must be on the integration of the ‘Sales Cycle’ and the ‘Buying Cycle’ into an overall sales system based on trust, ethics, win-win, and driving towards a transaction. This “commerce cycle” is rooted in the buying and selling relationship, with special emphasis on value – the value that both the buyer and seller each bring to the relationship.

Commerce is a much more applicable term to understand the complete nature of selling, where the acts of buying and selling integrate. Just like the laws of nature, for every action there is an opposite reaction. The same holds true for sales.

To leverage the ‘Commerce Cycle’ it is important to understand: 1) the buyer(s) and his/her buying cycle(s), 2) your sales cycle, and 3) how and when the two intersect. A variation of this approach used to be referred to as ‘reducing the sales cycle.’ In reality nothing was reduced, you just learned when to engage. Understand the buyer(s), and the buying cycle(s), and you will understand the commerce cycle – then you will be widely successful.

All sales professionals, no matter their functional area of expertise should be able to understand the strengths and weaknesses of their selling abilities in their various markets. Having a “universally functional” understanding will help you attain higher levels of sales success. Various examples of universal functionality may include: solution selling methodologies, commodity selling methodologies, high volume selling methodologies, and methodologies used when selling a service.

It’s a cluttered sales world out there, and you need to develop a model that helps you better understand the balance of selling and buying in today’s global economy. The model you develop must be rooted in an understanding of the seller’s activities and the buyer’s activities. Strive to make your model open and flexible to account for faster or slower sales cycles.

From the CEO to the front-line sales representative, the key is to develop an organizational understanding of the processes and framework of professional selling. Professional sales people are the revenue generating engines of any company. Yet few sales people are measured on standardized metrics of performance. Often, a “what works for you, won’t work for anyone else” approach is taken when it comes to training and nurturing the professional sales person.

Driving your sales means to understand “What” the sales profession is. To do that, you must continuously improve and seek the help of books, tapes, seminars, and others. Find the “what” as it pertains to you – the truth is out there.

Brian Lambert is the Director of Sales Development and Performance at the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD). In this role, he is responsible for meeting the unique challenges of performance professionals focused on the sales profession. He is responsible for conducting primary research and creating resources, articles, and other custom content that helps individuals design and deliver sales training, manage and develop high performing sales talent, and improve salesperson performance. Brian has fifteen years of experience in sales, sales management, sales training, and sales consulting and is an internationally recognized expert on the state of the sales profession as well as current trends in transforming sales team systems, processes, and people.

Brian is a highly sought after world-wide speaker, author, and trainer on sales competency, sales performance, sales process, sales professionalism, sales ethics, and sales process.

Pretend it is 1,000 years ago and you are brought into a cave and handed a sharp object to use as a scalpel. You are told to operate on someone laying on a table, and take out their “pain.” Of course, you have had no formal training in this–and you tell your mentor of your concern.

He doesn’t let you operate on your patient this time. You are told that you can watch him and others plenty of times, but there are “no silver bullets” to finding “the way.” After 1 week, you have watched some operations. Then your “VP of Cave Medicine” comes to you. She tells you that you must complete 1 operation a day in order to get paid, and no less than 30 operations in a month. Of course, your formal training will begin in 45 days.

You don’t start off too well. You “save” some, you “lose” some. “It’s OK,” you hear from your cave mates.

Then, the big training day arrives!

You are trained on:

• How to cut someone open
• How to take out their pain. It’s called an appendix, you learn!
• How to ask questions to diagnose their pain
• How to conduct more operations in less time
• How to fill out your paperwork using graphite rocks
• How to work your “cave operation funnel” so you always have an operation waiting!
• Back into the fray you go!

You’re really bad at this! You approach others that have been conducting these operations for years for help. You are told great sayings like:

• “Hang in there, you’ll figure it out!”
• “Be patient, you’ll find your way one day!”
• “The more you cut on someone, the more apt you are to figure it out!”
• “Increase the amount of operations you conduct and you’ll save more lives!”
• Again, you “save” some, and you “lose” some, it’s ok.

And then comes the shock:

“You are not conducting enough successful operations. You must now perform double the amount, and you’ll be more successful!” It’s all about how many operations you can line up. Don’t worry about the ones that didn’t make it. You’ll get better! at what, you wonder…
Then, you read some books. And the books tell you things like “only certain personality types will ever be successful at cave operating!” Of course, you think, it’s not everyone who can repeatedly lose someone on the operating table…

Welcome to the state of the Sales Profession today.

UPSA believes that if you are given the WHAT of the profession, you will learn how to plug in the “HOW” more effectively. Just as no doctor would ever cut on someone without truly understanding the “WHAT”, UPSA believes understanding the “WHAT” of Sales will lead to a much “safer” sales environment. Just as medicine is a serious field, Sales is a serious business.

Billions of dollars are at stake–welcome to the new paradigm, and the new beginning.

To complete the analogy, if we give you the information about the “digestive system,” “nervous system,” “cardiovascular system,” etc, you will have a framework that you can plug your knowledge into.

The UPSA Certification gauges your understanding of this framework. Just like the human body, it is universal, timeless, and able to be studied.

Companies in the US and abroad, as well as colleges and universities, are key players in creating this brand-new “education system” for Sales professionals.

—> Cops

Introduction

Many salespeople do not get formal training on what is “right” vs. what is “wrong” in business. With increased pressure due to legal, governmental, and environmental regulations, salespeople must ensure they protect the rights of all key stakeholders in the sales process as well as protect themselves, their company and the buyer from harm.

The guiding premise of an ethical focus in selling is found within UPSA’s standards document titled the Professional Selling Ethics Framework.

The UPSA Ethical Code provides a guideline for the minimally acceptable code of conduct for professional selling. The Ethical Code is overseen by the UPSA Ethics Committee a volunteer group of salespeople who will arbitrate any ethics cases brought forth regarding any Certified & Registered Sales Professional. All UPSA members must comply with the UPSA Ethical Code. Any UPSA member who witnesses a violation of the code has a duty to bring that violation to the UPSA ethics committee for action. Only UPSA members and certified individuals may face repercussions from UPSA (including “blacklisting,” lifetime bans from the association, etc), but all salespeople are strongly encouraged to comply.

The Code of Conduct expresses concise statements that summarize the Ethical Code and the Professional Buyer’s Bill of Rights. The Code of Conduct should serve as a guide for salespeople during their day-to-day selling activities. While the Code of Conduct is extremely relevant, it will not provide a “black and white” answer to every situation. When in doubt, salespeople should consult the ethical code and Professional Buyer’s Bill of Rights in their entirety.

The Professional Buyer’s Bill of Rights is a statement designed to guide individual sales professionals in their relationship with buyers during the pre-contracting (sometimes called ‘pre-sales’) phases of the buyer-seller relationship. While in the pre-contracting phase, buying and selling companies are not legally bound to each other, this document facilitates a professional commitment by UPSA members during this critical time.

After the contracting phase, when the buying and selling organizations are legally bound, the UPSA Ethical Code and Code of Conduct becomes the guiding document for UPSA members.

Introducing the UPSA Ethical Code, Code of Conduct and Buyer’s Bill of Rights for Salespeople

The UPSA Ethical Code

1.7.2 Member Standards of Conduct

1. These ethical standards identify those principles that should be followed by all members of the Association as set forth in the bylaws of the Association. Accordingly for the purposes of this code and the disciplinary rules the word ‘member’ refers to students, associate members and corporate representatives, as well as members of the Association as defined in its articles of Association. A member who contravenes the code may be guilty of professional misconduct or of acting in an unprofessional manner. In that case, a complaint may be made against him under the Association’s disciplinary rules.

2. There are members of the Association engaged in different aspects of the Profession (i.e. Customer Service, Pre-Sales, Tele-Sales, Inside Sales, Outside Sales, Solution Selling, Commodity Selling, etc.). Some members are self-employed either on their own or in partnership; others are employed by corporations and partnerships. As the principal object of the Association is to serve as the professional body for those engaged in a wide-variety of professional selling disciplines.

3. Throughout these standards, masculine pronouns are intended to refer to members of either gender.

1.7.3 Fundamental Principles

The fundamental principles governing the conduct of a member of the United Professional Sales Association are:

1. Integrity, which includes:

* avoiding conflict between the member’s private self-interest and that of his/her employer or clients;
* serving his/her employer, or, where applicable, his/her professional clients, honestly and in good faith;
* acting honestly and in good faith towards all those outside his/her own organization (in addition to those mentioned above) who deal with him or her;
* fulfilling the duties of trust owed by reason of the actual appointment or appointments held by him/her; and
* upholding, in whatever way is appropriate to the Sales profession, the standards of integrity and fair dealing required for the honest conduct of business and for the effective of functioning the financial markets in which the member or his/her employer(s) play a part.

2. Independence in making professional judgment and in giving opinions and statements with the best of intentions–and with the client’s or prospects best interest at heart.

3. Quest for true understanding of the needs, goals, and problems of a client or prospect.

4. Courtesy and consideration to all with whom he has contact in his professional work.

5. Professional competence, which includes:

* compliance with the technical and professional standards expected of him not only as a member of the Association, but also by virtue of the seniority and responsibility of his position; and
* carrying out his duties with reasonable care and skill, particularly where his failure to do so could adversely affect members of the public, persons, including corporate executives, dealing with his employer or, where applicable, professional clients or prospects.

* never prescribe a solution without completing the due diligence effort to fully understand the client or prospect
* confidentiality, which includes refraining from using for his own purpose, or for some other improper purpose, information obtained in the course of his employment or in the performance of his duties, or which he knows to be of a confidential nature.

* Compliance with the codes and rules of other professional bodies to which the member belongs.

1.7.4 Relationships and Duties.

1. A member who engages in the selling function has duties derived from the fundamental principles set out in the above section, to a number of different classes of people.
The first such class is his or her own employer. The nature of the sales professional’s employment can breed conflicts of interest, especially where other parties place special trust in the integrity of the sales professional by virtue of his membership and professional standing. The member must avoid misleading those parties not only by misstatements, but also by omitting material information. Where this type of conflict of interest causes difficulty, the member should seek legal advice or request guidance from the Association.
2. Another class of people to whom a duty is owed is members of the public or others likely to read and act on documents which the member prepares for use outside his own organization. Examples are an offer document, a proposal, a disclosure letter, an e-mail or an article in a newspaper.
3. A third class is represented by Corporate Executives and other authorizing buying agents and others with whom a member deals on his employer’s behalf in the course of his duties. Here too his professional duty is to honor the trust which such outside parties may reasonably place in him or her as a member and by virtue of his appointment. Whenever this causes conflicts of interest, he or she should ensure that the outside parties understand his or her position clearly, and, if he or she thinks it appropriate to do so, seek legal advice or guidance from the Association.
4. A fourth class is his or her fellow employees, and particularly his or her junior staff (if applicable), who look to him or her as a person of professional integrity. Particular care should be emphasized with fellow employees in the Customer Service, Sales Management, Sales Support, Marketing, and/or Fulfillment or Production areas.

2. The duties described in the principles above should be complied with, so far as applicable, by members working as sales professionals who are not members, or others engaged in selling activities, support, or training. All members of the Association must comply with the principles above.

3. Members who are employed but who are not engaged in the activities covered by the above will have analogous relationships. They too must conduct themselves in those relationships in accordance with the principles and duties contained in the above paragraphs.

4. Members of UPSA must comply with:

* the rules of any other profession to which they belong; and
* the normal standards of a professional in practice, including courtesy towards competitors, care on behalf of their client’s interests, safeguarding client’s proprietary information entrusted to them, and maintaining the respect in which the public holds their profession.

* In addition, every member has a professional and collegiate relationship with his fellow members of the Association.

5. He or she must avoid any impairment of his or her integrity and independence of judgment, especially in the choice of parties to deal with on his employer’s behalf.

6. He must ensure that his employer is aware of, and has agreed to, any personal business that he may conduct with parties who also conduct or seek to conduct business with his employer, and disclose any benefits thereby received or to be received by him.
7. Members not engaged in professional selling should follow the same principles where analogous issues arise.

The Professional Buyer’s Bill of Rights

This is my pledge to you as my buyer.

You are entitled to the following rights during the pre-contract (pre-sales or pre-purchase) phase of our relationship:

1. The Right to Have Your Needs Put First.
1. I will put your professional needs as a buyer in front of my own personal needs
2. I will put the needs of your company and your company’s needs in a solution first
2. The Right to Information.
1. I will provide information about the product or service in the manner that you request
2. I will make time to work with you and demonstrate my product and services according to your schedule
3. The Right to the Facts.
1. I will provide you with the benefits and drawbacks of the solution(s) I recommend without exaggeration or withholding information
2. I will advise you on each product and/or service I sell as it relates to your organization’s business requirements, financial capabilities, and usage requirements
4. The Right to a Fair Price.
1. I will offer solutions which are within reach of your organization’s financial ability and comfort level
2. I will offer my products and services at pricing that represents what is considered fair in the marketplace
1. I will negotiate in good faith
5. The Right to Respect.
1. I will uphold my duties of buyer loyalty, obedience, confidentiality, disclosure, accounting, and due care
6. The Right to Confer
1. I will respect your right to obtain advice from others on your buying team as well as others whom you trust
2. I agree to help you through the due diligence phase of your purchase by providing requested documentation and buying support (if requested)
7. The Right to Objective Advice.
1. I will make recommendations to you based on your needs as a buyer
2. I agree to make every appropriate solution available to you that meets or exceeds your stated needs and wishes and which my organization sells.
8. The Right to Confidentiality & Disclosure.
1. I will keep information about you and your organization confidential
2. I will disclose potential conflicts of interest to all relevant parties
9. The Right to Professional Competency & Integrity.
1. I will act in accordance to the UPSA Ethical Code and Code of Conduct at all times in our buying-selling relationship
2. I will do everything I can to make the transaction go as smoothly as possible for you
10. The Right to Expedient Service.
1. I will return calls and contact requests diligently, and I will keep you informed
2. If requested, I will give you a proposal of the actual deliverables and scope of our engagement before you make an offer to purchase it
11. The Right to Comfort and Confidence.
1. It is my desire that you are comfortable and confident in my ability to serve you at all times
12. The Right to Exit.
1. Therefore, if at any time, you desire to cancel this relationship before the contracting phase, I will honor your wishes

Member Code of Conduct

1.7.1 Member Code of Conduct

As an individual engaged in the selling profession, UPSA members pledge to uphold and abide by the following:

* I will maintain high standards of integrity and professional conduct
* I will accept responsibility for my actions
* I will continually seek to enhance my professional capabilities
* I will sell with fairness and honesty
* I will encourage others in the profession to act in an ethical and professional manner

PRIVACY POLICY & TERMS OF USE

This policy is valid for one month from the time you visit our site. If our information practices change in the future, we will use only data collected from the time of the policy change forward for these new purposes, or we will contact you before we use your data for these new purposes and offer you the ability to opt out of these new uses.

For Web site visitors who make purchases or otherwise sign on to our site

When you sign on to our site or make a purchase, we collect your name, company name, contact information, profile and preference information.

When you make a purchase we also collect your credit card information, as well as information about your current purchase and we keep information on your purchase history.

This information is used by us and/or our agents: to support your interaction with our site, to deliver your purchases and to contact you again about other services and products we offer. We may also share your name and geographic address with other reputable companies who have offers we think may interest you. These marketers may in turn contact you.

Addresses and phone numbers

If you give us your postal address, we will send you periodic mailings with information on new UPSA products, services or information on upcoming UPSA events. You may also receive business mailings from other reputable companies.

If you supply us with your telephone number, you may receive telephone contact from us with information regarding orders you have placed, new products and services or information on upcoming events.

If you do not wish to receive mailings or phone calls from the UPSA in the future or if you do not wish us to provide other reputable marketers with your mailing information, please let us know by sending an e-mail to admin  [at] upsa-intl.org (replace[at] with @.

E-mail addresses

We collect the e-mail addresses of those who communicate with us by e-mail. The e-mail addresses are used to contact existing or potential business customers. We will not share business e-mail addresses you give to us with other marketers.

If you do not want to receive future e-mail from The UPSA, please let us know by sending an e-mail to admin  [at] upsa-intl.org (replace[at] with @.

Cookies

All visitors we place cookies on all Web site visitor hard drives to collect aggregate information on the number of visitors to our site and the number of pages viewed.

Registered visitors we place unique identifier cookies on the hard drives of those who sign on which are used to maintain the visitor “sign on” status for the duration of the visit, for one-time customizing/tailoring of your visit and for long-term storage of user preferences. We also use cookies to track the pages visited by a visitor so that we can deliver UPSA Web content based on the visitor’s profile (as provided by the visitor) and the visitor’s past activity on the UPSA Web site.

General information cookie information is used only by The UPSA and our agents and is not provided to any other organization. It is used in aggregate for traffic analysis and to provide relevant information to our visitors. It is also used for Web site and system administration, including research and development, user analysis and business decision-making.

For Web site visitors who do not make purchases or otherwise identify themselves�

If you do not sign on to our Web site, our Web server does not have access to personally identifiable information about you. It does not know your e-mail address unless you volunteer it. At the same time, much of The UPSA’s communication comes in the form of e-mail, so by not sharing your e-mail address you will have limited access to The UPSA’s newsletters and other valuable information.

Clickstream Data

We collect click-stream data and HTTP protocol elements through access logs. This information is not personally identifiable and is used for Web site and system administration including: research and development, user analysis and business decision-making.

Access

Upon your request, we will provide you with a description of the information that we maintain about you. We will accommodate all reasonable requests.

Security

We use industry-standard encryption technologies when transferring and receiving payment data. We have security measures in place in our physical facilities to protect against the loss, misuse, or alteration of information that we have collected from or about you.

Terms of Use

Welcome to your United Professional Sales Association (UPSA) Web site, upsa-intl.org (the “Site”). In consideration of your use of the Site, you agree to the United Professional Sales Association Privacy Policy and the following General Terms of Use:

1. UNITED PROFESSIONAL SALES ASSOCIATION MEMBER ACCOUNT

You will receive a password and account designation upon completing the site’s registration process. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password, and are fully responsible for all activities that occur under your password. You agree to (a) immediately notify the United Professional Sales Association of any unauthorized use of your password or account or any other breach of security, and (b) ensure that you exit from your account at the end of each session. The United Professional Sales Association cannot and will not be liable for any loss or damage arising from your failure to comply with this provision.

You are responsible for ensuring that no unauthorized person shall have access to your password(s) or account(s). It is your sole responsibility to (1) control the dissemination and use of your passwords; (2) authorize, monitor, and control (a) access to, and (b) use of your UPSA account(s) and password(s); (3) promptly inform UPSA if you wish to deactivate a password(s). You grant UPSA and all other persons or entities involved in the operation of the UPSA Site the right to transmit, monitor, retrieve, store, and use your information in connection with the operation of UPSA Site. UPSA cannot and does not assume any responsibility or liability for any information you submit to UPSA Site, or for your or third parties’ use or misuse of information transmitted or received using the UPSA Site.

2. USE OF THE SITE

You understand that all information, including but not limited to data, text, software, music, sound, photographs, graphics, video, messages or other materials, (the “Materials”), are the sole responsibility of the person from which such Materials originated. This means that you, and not the United Professional Sales Association, are solely responsible for all Materials that you upload, post, email, transmit or otherwise make available (collectively “Upload”) via any portion of the Site. We do not control all of the Materials posted via the Site and, as such, cannot and do not guarantee the accuracy, integrity or quality of such Materials. You understand that by using the Site, you may be exposed to Materials that may be offensive or objectionable. Under no circumstances will the United Professional Sales Association be liable in any way for any Materials, including, but not limited to, for any errors or omissions in any Materials, or for any loss or damage of any kind incurred as a result of the use of any Materials Uploaded via the Site. You agree to not use the Site to: (i) Upload any Materials that are unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, tortious, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, libelous, invasive of another’s privacy, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable; (ii) impersonate any person or entity, including, but not limited to, an United Professional Sales Association representative, or misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity; (iii) Upload any Materials that you do not have a legal right to make available or that infringe any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright or other proprietary rights of any party; and (iv) Upload any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional materials, “junk mail,” “spam,” “chain letters,” “pyramid schemes,” or any Material that contains software viruses or the like. You understand and agree that the United Professional Sales Association does not pre-screen Materials, but that we and our designees shall have the right in our sole discretion to refuse or remove any Materials posted to the Site.

The United Professional Sales Association and their respective agents and representatives, both individually and collectively, make no representations with respect to the contents hereof and specifically disclaim any other warranties, including but not limited to implied or express warranties of merchantability or fitness for any particular usage, application or purpose. The material provided on the United Professional Sales Association’s Site is designed for educational and entertainment purposes only.

The information on the United Professional Sales Association’s Site is provided with the understanding that the Association is not engaged in rendering medical advice or recommendation. You should not rely on any information in text files, messages, or articles on this page to replace consultations with qualified health care professionals to meet your individual medical needs. Materials copyrighted by the United Professional Sales Association are for personal use only. Permission to otherwise reprint or electronically reproduce any document in part or in its entirety is expressly prohibited, unless prior written consent is obtained from the rightful owner or the United Professional Sales Association.

The compilation of information on the United Professional Sales Association’s Site, including the design and organization is copyrighted and may not be reprinted nor electronically reproduced. Information copyrighted or owned by any individual or entity other than the United Professional Sales Association is for personal use only.

3. TERMINATION OF USE

You agree that the United Professional Sales Association, in its sole discretion, may terminate your password, account (or any part thereof) or use of the Site, and remove and discard any Materials within the Site, for any reason. The United Professional Sales Association may also in its sole discretion and at any time discontinue providing the Site, or any part thereof, with or without notice. You agree that any termination of your access to the Site under any provision hereof may be effected without prior notice, and acknowledge and agree that the United Professional Sales Association may immediately deactivate or delete your account and all related information and files in your account and/or bar any further access to such files or the Site. Further, you agree that the United Professional Sales Association shall not be liable to you or any third-party for any termination of your access to the Site.

4. USE OF UPLOADED MATERIALS

The United Professional Sales Association does not claim ownership of Materials you Upload on the Site. Should you Upload Materials via the Site (either by offering suggestions via e-mail or participating in any interactive opportunities available on this Site from time to time), such information shall be considered non-confidential and the United Professional Sales Association shall have no obligation of any kind with respect to such information, and shall be free to use any ideas, concepts, or information contained in such Materials without any obligation and, for any purpose, including but not limited to developing, manufacturing, and marketing products incorporating such information. In addition, you grant the United Professional Sales Association a world-wide, royalty free and non-exclusive license with respect to Materials to use, distribute, reproduce, modify, adapt, publicly perform and publicly display such Materials on the Site (i) to provide and promote the specific portion of the Site to which such Materials were submitted or made available, and (ii) for the purpose for which such Materials were submitted or made available. You agree to indemnify and hold the United Professional Sales Association, and its affiliates, officers, agents, partners, and employees, harmless from any claim or demand, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, made by any third party due to or arising out of Materials you Upload, your use of the Site, your connection to the Site, or your violation of any rights of another. UPSA retains the right to turn over any materials if legally requested to do so.

FORUMS AREA

Information shared in the Forum Area of this site is not reviewed by the United Professional Sales Association (UPSA). This site is provided for you to share personal experiences about selling . UPSA cannot be held liable for any recommendations made by users and visitors to our web site. If you are aware of a copyright violation, please contact webmaster@upsa-intl.org.

Protecting the privacy of the very young is especially important. For that reason, children under age 13 are prohibited from entering the UPSA Forums Area. The UPSA adheres to the 1998 Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). (For more information visit the Federal Trade Commission’s COPPA site at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/kidzprivacy/adults.htm)

By using the Forums area, you signify your assent to site Terms of Use.

Your privacy is important to us. To better protect your privacy we provide a notice explaining our online information practices and the choices you can make about the way your information is collected and used. By agreeing to this Terms of Use, you also have signified assent to the United Professional Sales Association Privacy Policy.

If you participate in the Forums area within the UPSA Site, you cannot:

• Participate if you are under the age of 13.
• Advocate illegal activity or discuss illegal activities;
• Post or distribute any vulgar, obscene, discourteous, unlawful, obscene, defamatory, unwelcome, threatening, harassing, abusive,
• slanderous, hateful, or indecent language or images or embarrassing to any other person or entity as determined by UPSA in its sole discretion;
  Advertise, sell to or solicit others;
• Make any bigoted, hateful, or racially offensive statements;
• Use the Forum for commercial purposes of any kind;
• Post or distribute any software or other materials that contain a virus or other harmful component;
• Post material or make statements that do not generally pertain to the designated topic or theme of any chat room or bulletin board;
• Use a Forum for any purpose in violation of local, state, national, or international laws;
• Post or distribute any material that infringes and/or violates any right of a third party or any law, including the intellectual property rights of others or the privacy or publicity rights of others;
• Continue to post comments after receiving a warning;
• Post chain letters or pyramid schemes;
• Impersonate another person;
• Harvest or otherwise collect information about others, including email addresses, without their consent;
• Allow any other person or entity to use your identification;
• Post the same note more than once or “spam”; or
• Engage in any other conduct that restricts or inhibits any other person from using or enjoying the Forums Area of the Site, or which, in the judgment of UPSA, exposes UPSA or any of its customers or suppliers to any liability or detriment of any type.

You are solely responsible for your own communications within the Forums Area, the consequence(s) of posting these communications and your reliance on any communications found in the Forum Areas. In cases where you feel threatened or believe someone else is in danger, you should contact your local law enforcement agency immediately. If you think you may have a medical emergency, call your doctor or 911 immediately. When participating in a Forum, never assume that people are who they say they are, know what they say they know, or are affiliated with whom they say they are affiliated. Information obtained in the Forums Area may not be reliable, and it is not a good idea to make any decisions based solely or largely on information you cannot confirm. The UPSA cannot be responsible for the content or accuracy of any information, and shall not be responsible for any decisions made based on such information.

UPSA reserves the right (but is not obligated) to do any or all of the following:

Investigate an allegation that a communication(s) do(es) not conform to the terms of this section and determine in its sole discretion to remove or request the removal of the communication(s);
Remove communications that are abusive, illegal, or disruptive, or that otherwise fail to conform to these Terms of Use;
Terminate a user’s access to the Forums Area and/or the UPSA Site upon any breach of these Terms of Use; or
Monitor or disclose any communication in the Forums Area.

UPSA reserves the right to remove postings from any Forum at any time and for any reason. UPSA reserves the right to take any action it deems necessary to protect the personal safety of our guests or the public. However, UPSA assumes no liability or responsibility to users of the UPSA Site or any other person or entity for performance or nonperformance of the aforementioned activities.

5. GENERAL PRACTICES

You acknowledge that the United Professional Sales Association may establish general practices and limits concerning use of the Site, including without limitation, the maximum number of days that Uploaded Materials will be retained by the Site, the maximum disk space that will be allotted on the United Professional Sales Association’s servers on your behalf, and the maximum number of times (and the maximum duration for which) you may access the Site in a given period of time. You acknowledge that the United Professional Sales Association reserves the right to remove accounts. You further acknowledge that the United Professional Sales Association reserves the right to change these general practices and limits at any time, in its sole discretion, without notice.

6. LINKS TO OTHER SITES

The Site may provide links to other World Wide Web sites or resources. You acknowledge and agree that the United Professional Sales Association has no control over such sites and resources and is not responsible for the availability of such external sites or resources, and does not endorse and is not responsible or liable for any Materials, advertising, products, or other materials on or available from such sites or resources. You further acknowledge and agree that the United Professional Sales Association shall not be responsible or liable, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with use of or reliance on any such Materials or goods available on or through any such site or resource.

7. UNITED PROFESSIONAL SALES ASSOCIATION’S PROPRIETARY RIGHTS

You acknowledge and agree that the Site and any necessary software used in connection with the Site (“Software”) contain proprietary and confidential information that is protected by applicable intellectual property and other laws. You further acknowledge and agree that Materials contained in sponsor advertisements or information presented to you through the Site or advertisers is protected by copyrights, trademarks, patents or other proprietary rights and laws. Except as expressly authorized by the United Professional Sales Association, you agree not to modify, rent, lease, loan, sell, distribute or create derivative works based on the Site or the Software, in whole or in part. The United Professional Sales Association grants you a personal, non-transferable and non-exclusive right and license to use the object code of its Software on a single computer; provided that you do not (and do not allow any third party to) copy, modify, create a derivative work of, reverse engineer, reverse assemble or otherwise attempt to discover any source code, sell, assign, sublicense, grant a security interest in or otherwise transfer any right in the Software. You agree not to modify the Software in any manner or form, or to use modified versions of the Software, including (without limitation) for the purpose of obtaining unauthorized access to the Site. You agree not to access the Site by any means other than through the interface that is provided by the United Professional Sales Association for use in accessing the Site.

8. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES AND LIMITATION OF LIABILITIES

YOU EXPRESSLY UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT THIS SITE AND THE CONTENT ARE PROVIDED “AS IS”. THE UNITED PROFESSIONAL SALES ASSOCIATION, ITS AGENTS, AND ITS SUPPLIERS, TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, STATUTORY OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, NON-INFRINGEMENT OF THIRD PARTIES’ RIGHTS, AND FITNESS FOR PARTICULAR PURPOSE. SPECIFICALLY, THE UNITED PROFESSIONAL SALES ASSOCIATION, ITS AGENTS, AND ITS SUPPLIERS MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES ABOUT THE ACCURACY, RELIABILITY, COMPLETENESS, CURRENTNESS, OR TIMELINESS OF THE CONTENT, SOFTWARE, TEXT, GRAPHICS, TOOLS, LINKS, OR COMMUNICATIONS PROVIDED ON OR THROUGH THE USE OF THE SITE.

IN NO EVENT SHALL UNITED PROFESSIONAL SALES ASSOCIATION, ITS AGENTS, ITS SUPPLIERS, OR ANY THIRD PARTIES MENTIONED ON THE SITE BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, INCIDENTAL AND CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, PERSONAL INJURY/WRONGFUL DEATH, LOST PROFITS, OR DAMAGES RESULTING FROM LOST DATA OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) RESULTING FROM THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE WEBSITE OR THE CONTENT, WHETHER BASED ON WARRANTY, CONTRACT, TORT, OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY, AND WHETHER OR NOT UNITED PROFESSIONAL SALES ASSOCIATION IS ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

9. CHOICE OF LAW AND JURISDICTION

The United Professional Sales Association is a non-profit corporation located in the United States of America. The Site is intended for the exclusive use of residents of the USA. Access to the Site may not be legal by certain persons or in certain countries outside of the USA. If you access this site from outside the United States, you do so at your own risk and are responsible for compliance with the laws of your jurisdiction. These General Terms of Use are governed by the internal substantive laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia, without resort to its conflict of laws principles. If any provision of these General Terms of Use is found to be invalid by any court having competent jurisdiction, the invalidity of such provision shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions of these Terms and Conditions. You expressly agree that exclusive jurisdiction for any dispute with the United Professional Sales Association, or in any way relating to your use of the Site, resides in the courts of the State of Virginia.

There are several business relationships that are important to fully understanding and appreciating the sales profession. Every business discipline and profession in an organization is related to the discipline of sales in some form or fashion. No matter how an organization is structured, all the business units will interact with the sales organization or sales professional at some point directly or indirectly to support the sale.

Often an organization will create a revenue generation model that includes the sales force and outlines how this sales force will interact with the other departments inside the organization. This revenue generation model will often strongly influence the revenue and the percentage of growth attained in any given year. It is important that the selling organization recognizes that the following disciplines are important to the sales function and aligns them:

• Marketing
• Customer Service
• Information Technology
• Project Management
• Production and/or Fulfillment
• Training
• Administration
• Accounting/Finance
• Executive Management
• Human Resource Management

Some disciplines are more closely aligned to selling than others. They are highlighted in the following sections:

Marketing : Marketing is the most obvious choice for close alignment to the sales function. In fact, most of the marketing courses, textbooks, and training include a small sales component. The profession of sales is not a ‘subset’ of marketing. Both occupations are separate but equal in driving revenue for an organization. When both work together, an organization will achieve greater profits and drive more revenue. Marketing professionals should read and understand the CoPS in an effort to tailor their marketing material and support the revenue creation process in their organizations.

Customer Service : Customer service organizations work alongside sales professionals to create a positive buying atmosphere. Customer service is a value-added service that is often integral to the success of the sale.

Information Technology : Information Technology and the deployment and support of that technology will often make or break the effectiveness of a sales professional. Information Technology employees will enable the sales process and will often help troubleshoot field sales calls.

Project Management : Many solution-selling organizations and those organizations selling services rely on project managers to define the requirements, determine the scope, manage communication, and create the service offering. Project Managers work with sales professionals to create the right service or product for the customer.

Production Organizations : In order to produce any product some of �production organization� is required. A production organization is defined as the crucial business unit that produces what the sales professional is selling. This could be the actual production facility (for products), the organization that codes software, the custom database programmer, or the customization team to name but a few.

Training Organizations : Training organizations provide a crucial link in the continued advancement of the sales professional. Training should encompass the key areas outlined in the CoPS. Training sales professionals is imperative in order to help the sales professional attain the highest possible levels of achievement.

Administration : The administration of the internal forms, documentation, and other paperwork are crucial to properly selling the product and or service. Often times an organization will provide some sort of administration support for the sales professional or the sales professional may outsource this function to someone else. Obviously, the more administration requirements, the less time is available for selling.

Accounting/Finance : Accounting and finance organizations play a crucial role in helping the sales professional price their product accordingly, build a return on investment strategy that resonates with the buying organization, as well as maintain competitive advantage in the marketplace. The proper billing, collection, and finance functions alleviate unnecessary activity by the sales professional.

Executive Management : Obviously the proper executive level sponsorship and leadership is crucial to the overall alignment of the organization to support the sales professional. It is often said that the CEO is the most important sales person in the organization. It is imperative that an organization that seeks to become a high-powered sales organization aligns the organization to support sales activity. By understanding the CoPS (specifically Chapter Five Sales Cycle Management), senior level executives can gain further understanding of how to support the sales organization. UPSA also defines the levels of Sales Cycle Management Maturity in Chapter Five.

Human Resource Management: Human Resource functions are critical to the success of the sale organization. HR compensation, hiring, and development practices for sales professionals must encompass the entire continuum of the sales experience. The right talent must be hired into the best sales positions that fit individual strengths and weaknesses. The proper assessment, compensation, and training practices support the revenue generation efforts of the company.

Organizational Support of the Sales Profession

Business success requires revenue generation. The sales operation is responsible for generating this revenue. No other profession or business area is held more accountable for bringing in revenue and closing business in order for the business to survive than is professional selling. An analogy that UPSA uses to define this concept is related to an arrow shown in figure below. If you look at the figure 1.8, the focus arrow, you will notice that the sales profession is located at the �point of the arrow.� The other functions are extremely important to the success of the spear in flying correctly. Without the shaft, fletching, and balance of the arrow it would not be able to fly correctly to the target of understanding buyer needs and wants. Since sales professionals are the focal point for driving the organization’s revenue, proper support (or alignment) of the business functions inside the selling organization is crucial to achieving a competitive position in the marketplace.

The Focus Arrow

The challenge for any organization is to align itself to its sales force, from the CEO to the newest employee in the back offices. Each person in that organization, who believes in the mission of the organization, should understand his or her role and the impact he or she has on the overall sales effort.

UPSA defines Sales Cycle Management and the measures of maturity in selling that exist in organizations. To attain the highest levels of Sales Cycle Management maturity, organizations require the alignment mentioned above

“Every salesperson should join UPSA for three reasons: to ensure ongoing professional growth, to network with the world’s top sales professionals, to contribute to the growth of a meaningful and fulfilling profession. If we all join together, we can create more satisfied customers, greater sales and profits and a brighter future for everyone.” Gerhard Gschwandtner Founder and Publisher, Selling Power Magazine

Your UPSA membership brings you a wide range of professional and personal benefits designed to enhance your professional sales stature, expand your network of colleagues, and share best practices.

Each member benefit below has been carefully crafted and designed to support and reinforce UPSA Selling Ability Areas. These Ability Areas have redefined the sales profession and help UPSA (and you, as our newest member) deliver the new sales experience.

Because these benefits have been so carefully crafted, UPSA members are advancing their careers, increasing their earnings, achieving career promotions and making an impact in their organizations and community while advancing the overall profession of sales.

Your Membership Benefits Include:

The Compendium of Professional Selling
Use UPSA’s Compendium of Professional Selling to unlock your own personal and successful sales methodology. This inclusive document cuts across the academic, corporate, competitive, and sales training knowledge to create a global and universal sales framework upon which you can move your career forward.

FREE subscription to Selling Power magazine*
Selling Power magazine is the most trusted magazine for professional selling skills, motivation and sales management know-how in the business- to-business environment. Included in your subscription are 10 printed issues of Selling Power a year; the Sales Manager’s Source Book, and a complete listing by category of all suppliers in every market to the sales management field. Find out more about Selling Power.

* Due to international shipping costs, Selling Power is only offered in the U.S., unless a distribution/reprint agreement with Selling Power is in effect overseas. Contact UPSA for more info.

Access to the Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management (JPSSM)
The Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management ( JPSSM ), a quarterly publication, seeks to advance the theory and practice of personal selling and sales management and thereby simultaneously bridge the gap between the academic and business communities. In essence, JPSSM is a forum for “cross-talk” among sales educators, researchers, and practitioners. First published in 1980, JPSSM offers readers high-quality research and conceptual work that spans an extensive array of topics (e.g., motivation, performance, evaluation, team selling, national account management). The associate editors and review board consist of highly regarded individuals having in-depth expertise and knowledge in personal selling and sales management.

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FREE enrollment and E-Learning course at SalesUniversity.com
You will receive a complimentary 30-Day enrollment (including 1 entire E-Learning course!) at SalesUniversity.com, the first virtual campus of its kind dedicated to the sales profession. As a part of this FREE enrollment package you will be registered for 1 free SkillSoft Sales University e-learning course ; as well as unlimited access to the Sales University Campus Library & Bookstore, and online Faculty Mentoring system. Sales University is the first professional development institute in the world to be accredited by UPSA as offering an approved professional development curriculum in compliance with the universal sales framework presented in the UPSA Compendium of Professional Selling. This 30-Day FREE package represents a $175 value! Find out more about Sales University.

FREE “Sales EBook Bundle” that includes:

* Jeffrey Gitomer’s “Little E-book of Closing”
* David Kahle’s “Objection Handling Ebook”
* Eric Kerkhoff’s “Keys to Selling in a Crazy Market”
* Tom Hopkin’s “A Day in the Life of a Million Dollar Sales Producer”
* Zig Ziglar’s “Positive Self Talk”
* James Allen’s “As a Man Thinketh”
* Bob Kantin’s “How to Write Winning Sales Proposals”
* Jim Meisenheimers “57 Ways To Take Control Of Your Time And Your Life”
* Steve Waterhouse’s “Ending the Blame Game”
* Ron La Vine’s “Planning for Cold Calling”

FREE Personality Assessment & Self Evaluation
Completing the self-evaluation provided to UPSA members will identify your dominant behavioral style as well as some of your style’s strengths and weaknesses. You will receive an online link to your self evaluation and assessment. You’ll learn what makes you tick and what personality traits you should focus on as sales strengths. This assessment is used to help people develop stronger business and personal relationships and improve their interpersonal skills–a must in any sales situation. You will be getting along better with your family, friends, and co-workers like never before. Life will be much less stressful because you won’t have to deal with so much conflict. You’ll be able to nip it in the bud before it even starts.

FREE Book Reports on Top-Selling and Influential Books
Provided by Gary Tomlinson: Business Advisor, Educator, Author, and Professional Speaker, these book reports allow any salesperson or leader to quickly learn key elements of the book. As aAn entrepreneur and founder of four successful businesses, Gary Tomlinson is well versed in the areas of entrepreneurship, leadership, corporate culture, and effective communication skills. He knows what to look for and digest on behalf of today’s busy professionals. These book reports distill the collective wisdom of teachers, mentors, advisors and authors.

Opportunity for Networking in-person with Like-Minded Sales Professionals
When’s the last time you had the opportunity to tap the networks and experience of other sales professionals in a supportive, career-enhancing environment? Unfortunately, that’s not typically the norm. With UPSA, you’ll be welcomed and encouraged by others who share the desire to upgrade the sales profession, help you exceed your sales quotas, keeping you motivated and focused on what matters most in your career. Whether you’re just getting started in your sales career, a seasoned veteran, or somewhere in between, we are confident you will benefit from membership in the United Professional Sales Association.

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Access to Private Offices, Meeting Rooms, and Business Identity Programs Customized for Sales Professionals
UPSA, in partnership with Preferred Offices, is pleased to provide “on-demand” access to meeting rooms and private offices by the hour, day, or month, with wireless connectivity available in some locations! Preferred Offices offers five Centers in the Washington, DC metro area, with beautifully appointed private offices, professionally-equipped conference rooms, and a bright, stimulating coffee bar and meeting place. This special UPSA Member Program offers five levels of membership that you can tailor to suite your needs. They also have a world-wide affiliate network. To take advantage of this important member benefit, you must follow the processes outlined in the member only area. For pre-sales questions, contact Lisa Rivel, Director of Sales & Marketing at Preferred Offices, 703-462-5450. Find out more about Preferred Offices.

UNLIMITED Access to the Member-Only Directory
Sometimes you need to reach out the fellow salespeople for advice or industry-specific issues. Sometimes, you just need someone to talk with that really understands what you’re up against of faced with. All UPSA members receive access to the member-only search so you can find salespeople within your industry, in your local area, or even at a potential prospect company. Knowing you need to reach out for someone and having the ability to do so are two different challenges, with UPSA we facilitate the areas most important to you.

UNLIMITED Access to the Online Job Board
With an hundreds of active jobs from all across the U.S.A. and even the globe, employers want access to UPSA members. The online job board offers you the ability to find the most exclusive selling jobs in the country — where employers demand the most professional and proven talent they can find — and that’s why they turn to the UPSA job board to find them. With your membership, you can search these top-notch sales positions.

Network Virtually with Sales Professionals Throughout the World
UPSA is building the world’s largest network of Sales Professionals through online social networking powered by LinkedIn. This network provides access to over 900,000 people and thousands of sales professionals. This unique type of networking (included with your UPSA Membership) allows you to:

*
Find Sales Professionals in prospective client companies
*
Solicit advice or help in sales tips and tactics
*
Build camaraderie with other UPSA Certified and Registered Sales Professionals and UPSA Members throughout the world
*
Create alliances
* Solicit feedback on current resumes or job openings

Because this group is available to UPSA members (included in UPSA Membership), access is monitored and controlled to only provide access by UPSA members. Join UPSA get business done!

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POTENTIAL to Make Money as an UPSA Afilliate!
All UPSA members can quickly and easily include the UPSA membership affiliate program as part of their membership. With the affiliate program, members can link their existing pages to the UPSA webpage with unique links that identify them to the UPSA affiliate system. When a member is generated by coming from the member’s site, the affiliate program automatically records it. members can access the system at any time and commissions (10% of all memberships generated) are paid quarterly!

Opportunity for Continuous Professional Improvement
Show your commitment to continuous professional improvement through your UPSA CRSP (Certified & Registered Sales Professional) designation. This highly valued, highly coveted certification indicates to the sales community your commitment to moral, ethical and professional standards in the Sales Profession backed by an in-depth standards exam, continuing education requirements, and national and local chapter meetings.

It’s important to note that UPSA does not advocate one sales methodology over another. All programs, training, certification, books, tapes, etc. fit into their methodology, models, the Compendium of Professional Selling and the Selling Knowledge Areas. As a result, UPSA offers an objective standard for the Sales Profession–one that is measurable and transferable across all industries, verticals, and markets.

Become a sales leader through volunteering
Think about it… where do salespeople get their leadership skill?

Leadership skill by its definition is the ability to lead people and help them attain their desired results. Most salespeople have never had the opportunity to lead people throughout their entire career. As a result, when they do get promoted their are often ill-prepared. By volunteering in UPSA, you can learn by doing. You can hone your leadership skill in a non-threatening environment and become the sales leader you always wanted to be. Learn how easy it is to get involved an volunteer your time and your talents.

The next evolution of the sales profession is upon us…

This evolution will occur when each sales professional can customize their own selling system based on the entire body of sales knowledge available to them. We are facilitating this evolution through the objective definition of what professional selling is. Until this point, by focusing only on certain aspects of the sales process, training systems, books, tapes, methodologies, and approaches have not provided the overall framework for the structure of the sales profession. This makes it difficult for individuals to understand how an input (like new training) can fit into the overall context of what they know. Until today, a sales professional had to learn individual aspects of the profession on their own over years and years of selling. The Compendium of Professional Selling attempts to fill this void by providing a framework that represents the totality of the sales profession – a framework to provide structure to the entire body of sales knowledge.

An analogy offers another way to understand this.

How is the CoPS leveraged by people?

• Increased level of skill and knowledge
• Increased confidence and self-esteem
• Employee bonuses
• Improved productivity, efficiency and increased earning potential
• Improved career growth opportunities and advancement
• Credibility, with customers and within your company
• Competitive edge
• Recognition from peers

How is the CoPS leveraged by organizations?

• Set a measurable benchmark within the sales team
• Differentiate your sales team
• Decrease turnover
• Set a hiring standard for new staff
• Increase credibility of the sales team
• Assist with ongoing training and career development
• Demonstrate your commitment to the profession
• Give sales managers a tool for developing their team

Customization and Personalization

With the UPSA Standards as a personal competency framework, salespeople can begin the process of customizing their own sales system. This is because the training they receive from sales trainers (not UPSA) is more efficiently ingrained because our framework for organizing knowledge allows individual’s to process all the training and information they receive throughout their career. This means they get better, quicker, and faster.

Since we are not a sales training company (we only train people on our standards), UPSA offers compliance assessment of all sales training to help you determine those who meet UPSA’s “Seal of Approval” and comply with our sales framework and ethical code. The way we do this is through objectively measuring the program for compliance against the standards found in the Compendium of Professional Selling.

With these UPSA standards, all sales people across the entire organization have the same common understanding and common language. This means increased organizational effectiveness and corporate-wide focus. That allows the organization to can focus on making more money, driving more revenue, and making customers happier with (not against) the efforts of their sales team.

Each sales professional is unique. Learn from our research, experience and collective success. Leverage the 9 Key Drivers of Success (called the 9 Selling Ability Areas in our Compendium of Professional Selling).

Each sales organization is unique. Build best practices within the framework we provide. Achieve internal alignment and more accurately diagnose individual strengths and weaknesses of your sales team.