AUDIO: Four ways to ignite your sales -- or sales career

AUSTIN, TEXAS
September 13, 2007 12:01am

Sales in a slump? Maybe it’s how you’re treating your sales people, says Gerry Cullen, a veteran of the sales wars and author of the new book, “The Coldest Call: Why Some Good Products Don't Sell.”

Mr. Cullen says there are four common barriers -- pain, promotion, price and policy -- to having a great sales department – or a great career as a salesperson.

One barrier is whether or not your company speaks in any language that normal mortals can understand, he says.

Because of such problems, some good products just don't sell despite the efforts of the salesperson, he says.

Another is not having prices readily available.

It would seem that some companies use “hooded monks wearing sandals and rope belts in their cubicles, speaking in Latin” to incantate prices, he says. “That’s a hassle.”

(Mr. Cullen talks about his book and real-life examples that illustrate the problems and the solutions he’s found in today’s CVBT Audio Interview. He also makes CVBT listeners an unusual offer. Please click on the link below to listen or for a free download of the MP3 file to your iPod or PC.)

Mr. Cullen is president of ITWatchDogs Inc. of Austin, Texas, which sells network monitoring hardware and software. Earlier, he was founder of two successful start-ups and served tours of duty as a vice president of marketing for several companies.