What Got You Here Won't Get You There in Sales: How Successful Salespeople Take it to the Next Level

ASK

The effective seller of the future consistently will ask a variety of key stakeholders for ideas, opinions, and feedback. Vital sources of information will include present and potential customers, suppliers, team members, cross-divisional peers, direct reports, managers, other members of the organization, researchers, and thought leaders. The sales leader will ask in a variety of ways: through inventories, satisfaction surveys, phone calls, voice mail, e-mail, the Internet, satellite, and in person.

The trend toward asking is already very clear. Twenty years ago too few top sellers ever asked for feedback. Today the majority of the most highly respected sales leaders in every industry regularly ask for feedback. As you’ve seen, they do so ...