MN Perspectives Leadership, Sales, Talent Management

Three Tips for Increasing Sales

Covering these three items can help your organization rise above the competition, according to local expert Gary Braun. He provided these tips during a recent segment of One Take CEO Interviews courtesy of Platinum Group.

  1. Make sure you’re chasing the right prospects. “So often you set a strategy, you know who you want to go after but the salespeople will chase anybody who can fog a mirror,” says Gary Braun, co-owner and CEO of Pivotal Advisors, a firm that helps organizations improve their sales performance. “We got to make sure that we’re going after the ones that are giving us the best chance to win.”
  2. Have a process that works for all salespeople. “If you look at your top sales people in any organization and you look at the bottom people, they’re not doing the same things. The way they get in the door is different. The questions they ask are different. The commitments they get are different,” Braun says. “If you can standardize on that and get everybody doing the same things that are proven to be successful, it helps your organization rise above the competition.”
  3. Clearly and consistently differentiate. “You got to know what to hang your hat on and if you sound exactly the same as all your competitors, clients are going with the cheapest option,” he says. “You have to be able to differentiate and really know how to hold your value.”

Braun is co-owner and CEO of Pivotal Advisors, a firm that helps organizations improve their sales performance. He provides other useful tips and timely insights during his brief One Take interview, which is available by clicking here to watch, or here to listen or download (and for Apple users, here for a podcast).

One Take interviews are unscripted, unedited discussions on how Minnesota CEOs are leading during the Covid-19 pandemic and its unprecedented impact on their operations, and the economy.

The series of frank-talk conversations is produced by award-winning business writer Dale Kurschner (who publishes this site) and sponsored by Platinum Group, Minnesota’s most experienced advisory group helping business owners and leaders with extreme challenges including financial setbacks, lender and landlord re-negotiations, turnarounds and bankruptcies. Kurschner is a strategic communication and reputation management consultant at Platinum Group.

Catch up on All One Take CEO Interviews, which can be found on You Tube, and also on Spotify as well as Apple Podcasts. Recent episodes include:

 

Complementing the CEO series are interviews with key members of Platinum Group, who provide additional insights based on what they’ve seen in helping more than 2,000 companies through challenging times during the last few decades. All Platinum Group interviews, which can be found on YouTube and also on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Recent episodes include: