Four runners
Image by shaggy359 via Flickr

It has been years since I tortured you with a running analogy for sales. So, I think it is fair to apply my passion for running to the sales discipline again.

Several years ago runners and their trainers began to discover a bit of a counterintuitive fact-maximum performance is not all cardio fitness and strong legs. Turns out strong shoulders, arms, back, and core (abdominal) muscles have a lot to do with turning in world-class times and reducing injury.

That’s right, top performance requires a strong core.

The same applies to sales performance. Dialing the phone mindlessly all day is unlikely to build the strong core that you need to consistently fill the pipeline and close deals.

Let’s explore a few core strengthening exercises you should be doing on a regular basis:

1. Read and Learn-This needs to be a continual process. I am not just talking about books, magazines, and websites devoted to your sales niche. Your continual education needs to be broad. This approach, like a liberal arts education, is likely to give you the greatest opportunity for creative advantage in the market. It also increases you chance of finding something to talk about with a diverse pipeline of prospects.

2. Join the Conversation-Social media and networking has made it easy to directly engage and build an audience of “followers.” Each of these connections increases your opportunity for a referral, an inquiry, or a partnership that pumps up your sales pipeline and production numbers. However, remember that social networks thrive on conversations-make sure you are frequently engaging and exchanging within your social network.

3. Educate Others-Remember 90 percent of your prospects will come at you with the same questions. Turn these routine questions into sales materials, cleverly disguised as education materials. Answer the questions and give them a way. This simple effort will immediately increase the number of prospects that come to you already trusting you and finding you credible to advise them. Try a variety of channels to execute this core building strategy-a blog, eBooks, slideshare.net, Facebook fan page, etc.

4. Write, Speak, Network-Never pass up the opportunity to put your ideas and perspectives front and center. They are always opportunities to test your assumptions, broaden your beliefs, and uncover opportunities. Good or bad, right or wrong your ideas and efforts to communicate with others will strengthen your sales message and ability to counter objections. Every interaction makes you smarter about people, emotions, and behaviors-all unpredictable variables in a sale-that you become better at managing with practice.

Applying time and effort toward building a stronger core will increase your sales opportunities and make you more efficient at closing deals. What are some of your core strengthening training routines?

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Bill Rice is the founder and CEO of Kaleidico, lead management software provider and online lead generation consulting services. You can reach Bill on Twitter: https://twitter.com/billrice or via email: bill.rice@kaleidico.com.

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About Bill Rice
Bill Rice is the Founder & CEO of Kaleidico. Bill is an expert in designing online lead generation strategies and programs. Kaleidico blends web design, development, SEO, PPC, content marketing, and email marketing to generate leads for mortgage lenders, law firms, fintech, and other businesses looking to grow a consumer-direct online strategy.

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