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Colleen Stanley

About Colleen Stanley

Colleen Stanley is president of SalesLeadership, Inc., a sales development firm that helps sales organizations integrate emotional intelligence skills into their sales and leadership processes.

She is the author of two books, Emotional Intelligence For Sales Success, now published in eight languages, and Emotional Intelligence For Sales Leadership now published in Chinese and Italian.

Can You Afford Another Bad Sales Hire?

13 May 2014 by Colleen Stanley

Can You Afford Another Bad Sales Hire? You’ve seen this movie before. In fact, you might have landed the starring role in this film. Sales manager hires new salesperson, with high hopes that this individual is a keeper. The résumé looks good, the interview went well, and the job is offered. After the new hire… Read More

Filed Under: Article, Recruitment & Retention, Sales Leadership

Did You Bring Your Face To The Sales Meeting?

17 August 2021 by Colleen Stanley

A recent break helped me find inspiration and themes for my blog/vlog. Vacation is when you engage with salespeople and service people. You eat at a restaurant, you rent a kayak or you buy a souvenir. These are different experiences with one common denominator between an average customer experience or a great one: A person’s… Read More

Filed Under: Article, Sales Coaching, Sales Leadership, Sales Meetings, Sales Training

Do You Need Sales Rejection Trainig?

2 September 2021 by Colleen Stanley

If you’ve been in sales long enough, you’ve probably experienced sales rejection. This rejection takes on different shapes and sizes, depending on your sales role. An inside salesperson connects with a rude, challenging prospect. The prospect ends the call early. (A nice way of saying they hung up on you.) Rejection. You’ve been courting a… Read More

Filed Under: Article, Sales Coaching, Sales Leadership, Sales Strategy, Sales Training

Do You Need to Stop or Start?

18 November 2014 by Colleen Stanley

The countdown is on.  There are approximately 34 days left on the calendar (depending on when you read this) to hit your 2014 sales goal.  For some sales managers and salespeople, there is little anxiety because the ‘money is in the bank.’  Not so much for others.  There are sales professionals looking for ways to… Read More

Filed Under: Article, Sales Forecasts, Sales Leadership

Do You Really Believe That?

8 February 2012 by Colleen Stanley

The self help guru’s are the best at teaching, “You are what you believe.  Your thoughts determine your outcomes and actions.  And what you think about most will manifest in your life.” These guru’s are right and many salespeople and sale managers still subscribing to old beliefs and ways of selling do not serve them… Read More

Filed Under: Article, Sales Leadership

Four Ways to Think More Like a Sales Leader

16 October 2014 by Colleen Stanley

Salespeople think like salespeople, when they should be thinking like leaders and CEOs. Top salespeople know this, and act every day like the CEO of their own business. Here are four principles to consider: 1. First in or last out? Every good salesperson knows the best time to reach the C-suite is early in the morning or after… Read More

Filed Under: Article, Sales Leadership

Is Poor Emotional Intelligence Preventing You From Gaining More Business?

6 June 2014 by Colleen Stanley

You’ve preached the importance of consistent prospecting and business development to your sales team. All heads nod up and down in agreement. You’ve dedicated a portion of each sales meeting to teaching your team new skills and strategies for opening up opportunities. Key performance metrics have been determined and are being tracked. So with all… Read More

Filed Under: Article, Pipeline Management

Is Your Monthly Sales Meeting a Motivator or Yawner?

13 August 2016 by Colleen Stanley

It’s costly to meet each month with your sales team, after you figure in the payroll expended sitting in a room and the time not spent dealing with prospects or customers. So, are you and your sales team getting a good return of investment on this time? Or is it just another roll call, a… Read More

Filed Under: Article, Sales Leadership

It’s Time to Update Your Sales Playbook(s)

1 October 2020 by Colleen Stanley

Can you imagine a sports team running the same plays year after year and still expecting to win? The answer, of course, is no. However, many sales organizations use the same sales playbooks year after year and then wonder why they aren’t closing more business. Is it time to update your sales playbook? Since the… Read More

Filed Under: Article, Sales Coaching, Sales Leadership, Sales Playbooks, Sales Team Development

Sales EQ and Sales IQ of Effective Sales Management Coaching

19 May 2019 by Colleen Stanley

I enjoy teaching and coaching salespeople about the hard skills of running an effective sales call, what I refer to as the “Sales IQ.” It’s challenging — and fun — to analyze and figure out the best strategies to unseat a strong incumbent, attract the attention of an overloaded prospect or eliminate price objections. But… Read More

Filed Under: Article, Sales Coaching, Sales Leadership

Sales Management: How Long Do You Hang On?

3 November 2014 by Colleen Stanley

This question has been asked by more than one sales manager.   When do I let a salesperson go?  Have I given the person enough time to succeed?  Look no further for the answer than the hit song from Kenny Rodgers, “The Gambler.”  “You’ve got know when to hold ‘em.  You’ve got to know when to… Read More

Filed Under: Article, Recruitment & Retention, Sales Leadership

Sales Managers: Draft Day

30 September 2014 by Colleen Stanley

I love movies.  My problem is that while watching most movies, I can’t help but connect most of the plots and messages to sales and sales management training! Draft Day is my new favorite.  The plot involves the NFL Draft and the important decisions made by general manager,   Sonny Weaver, in an effort to rebuild… Read More

Filed Under: Article, Recruitment & Retention, Sales Leadership

Sales Pipeline or Pipe Dream

15 October 2014 by Colleen Stanley

Monday mornings start off with sales meetings and the infamous sales pipeline review. The sales manager interrogates, the salesperson fabricates and the CFO wonders how she can run a company when the sales department isn’t able to accurately forecast sales. So what’s the answer?  There are several reasons for inaccurate sales forecasting, however, the two… Read More

Filed Under: Article, Pipeline Management, Sales Leadership

Should Your Salesperson Be Allowed To Stay On The Island?

8 August 2012 by Colleen Stanley

Reality TV shows are quickly becoming the new source of entertainment.  (Why, I have no idea.)  Perhaps it’s time to introduce a new show and contest:  Sales Survivor.  The concept would be centered on making sure only the best salespeople stay on the island because of their ability to sell and influence the right prospects… Read More

Filed Under: Article, Sales Leadership

Stress Management Is Sales Management

3 July 2021 by Colleen Stanley

I’m hearing this a lot from salespeople: “I’m really tired. Feeling a little burned out.” This is not coming from salespeople or sales managers that are whiners or professional complainers.  They come from normally optimistic, high-energy individuals with a high bounce-back factor. The reality is 2020 was hard. It didn’t matter if your industry either… Read More

Filed Under: Article, Sales Coaching, Sales Strategy, Sales Team Development, Sales Training

The Emotionally Intelligent Sales Manager

8 October 2011 by Colleen Stanley

Integrating emotional intelligence skills into the sales profession is a fairly new concept for most sales organizations.  Progressive sales organizations such as American Express and Motorola are adopting the knowledge and skills as they know it is an edge in a competitive market. So what is emotional intelligence and how can it help sales leaders… Read More

Filed Under: Article, Sales Leadership

The Five Selling Skills Sales Managers Need

7 April 2017 by Colleen Stanley

When you move from sales producer to sales leader, you must learn new skills in order to lead and develop your sales team. Some of those skills are hiring and selection, coaching and performance feedback. While you need to learn new skills to be a successful leader, don’t forget to apply the selling skills that… Read More

Filed Under: Article, Sales Leadership

The No. 1 Attribute of Emotionally Intelligent Sales Leaders

6 October 2021 by Colleen Stanley

Sales management is a challenging role, one that requires many talents and skills. The effective sales manager must have problem-solving skills in order to properly diagnose sales performance issues. They are excellent teachers because they’ve learned how to teach and transfer the habits and skills that create top producers. Let’s add another one to the… Read More

Filed Under: Article, Sales Coaching, Sales Leadership, Sales Team Development, Sales Training

The Sales Management Elephant in the Room

11 August 2021 by Colleen Stanley

There is great technology for helping sales managers review sales conversations and meetings. But sometimes technology is viewed as a magic wand for curing missed sales quotas. Tech tools can analyze who did most of the talking on the call, how a salesperson handled objections and whether or not the salesperson set up a clear… Read More

Filed Under: Article, Sales Coaching, Sales Leadership, Sales Team Development, Sales Training

Three Reasons Sales Managers Fail

3 October 2020 by Colleen Stanley

I’ve said it more than once in my role of coaching the coach: Sales managers get set up to fail. They’re promoted to sales management with little understanding, training or education about what it takes to build and develop a great sales organization. Selling to a prospect and customer is different than teaching a salesperson… Read More

Filed Under: Article, Sales Coaching, Sales Leadership, Sales Team Development, Sales Training

Three Ways Sales EQ Improves Bottom-Line Sales Results

22 April 2016 by Colleen Stanley

CEOs and sales managers always are looking for the one or two things that will set them apart from the competition. They invest in innovation and new products; they meet and talk about branding and marketing. Maybe it’s time for your sales organization to look at the best predictor of success: hiring and retaining salespeople with… Read More

Filed Under: Article, Recruitment & Retention, Sales Leadership

To Tell The Truth – Candor and Kindness

16 June 2014 by Colleen Stanley

I am a big fan of the magazine, SUCCESS. They do a great job with articles, interviews and relevant topics geared towards business and sales. In a recent edition, Darren Hardy interviewed Jack Welch. As always, Welch had a lot of great information to share. My biggest takeaway was his comments around the often misquoted,… Read More

Filed Under: Article, Sales Leadership

Why Sales Professionals Struggle to Demonstrate Empathy

3 November 2021 by Colleen Stanley

Empathy has been described as the ability to know what another person is thinking or feeling. It’s an important influence skill in business and life. However, to really know what another person is thinking or feeling, you first must develop another EQ skill: emotional self-awareness. The self-aware sales professional is in tune with the emotion… Read More

Filed Under: Article, Sales Coaching, Sales Strategy, Sales Team Development, Sales Training

Your Sales Team Came With The Building—and It’s Crumbling

3 October 2014 by Colleen Stanley

You accepted the offer of Vice President of Sales and are now charged with rebuilding the sales team. They haven’t hit quota in months and the excuses vary from: Our product isn’t the best in the market Marketing isn’t generating enough leads Our price is too high Your work is cut out for you in… Read More

Filed Under: Article, Sales Leadership, Sales Training

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