Tag archive for ‘Selling’
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Pistachio Nuts and Sales Opportunities
Sally and I love pistachio nuts. We always race for the meaty ones bursting out of the shell. They’re the easiest, best tasting, and give the most for the least effort.
When the best picks are gone, we fish through the bowl and pick the promising nuts. They take a little more work for a little less meat.
Finally, only the tough nuts are left, the airtight sealed nuts that take more work. Out of desperation we may try cracking some to the disappointing hint of pistachio mixed with shell. -
Are You Selling Value Proposition or Cost Benefit?
Sally recently learned the difference between value proposition and cost benefit when one of her dance students did not return this fall. Jenny had been studying at her school for two years and was ready for a more advanced level. Sally told Jenny’s mother the exciting news and penciled her in the schedule after their conversation. But Jenny dropped out. (more…)
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It’s National Sales Day!
Back in the 80’s, I was fortunate enough to spend the evening with an icon in the machine tool industry at our monthly association meeting. Jay was an old school, NY sales pro in his 60’s. When I saw him, I told him I liked his tie. He immediately took it off, handed it to me, and invited me to sit with him. Jay turned to me and asked, “Do you know what day it is?” As I shrugged my shoulders he said, “National Sales Day”. As I pondered how that escaped me, he quickly asked, “Do you know what tomorrow is?” In New York harmony we both said, “National Sales Day”.
Barring Sundays, holidays, and vacations, every day is “National Sales Day.” The purpose of Sales Du Jour is to help you achieve your sales and marketing goals every day.
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Do You Know the Truth?
A linguistics professor was lecturing to his class one day.“In English,” he said, “a double negative forms a positive. In some languages, a double negative is still a negative. However, there is no language wherein a double positive can form a negative.”
A voice from the back of the room piped, “Yeah, right.” – From the Houston Chronicle via Aristotle Bancale
Words + Inflexion = Real Meaning (more…)
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Is Your Message a Painkiller?
The advent of summer meant baseball, beach, and crew-cuts. We sat inline in green leather chairs at the barbershop waiting for a promise that outweighed our disdain for the assembly line head shave. The insult was followed by the injury of a burning slap on the neck with the green tinted alcohol combs were cleaned in.
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Do You Really Give a Shit About Your Customers?
Do you care how they feel or how they are?Do you care about their future? (more…)
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Are We McSelling & McMarketing?
Is the quality of sales and marketing suffering at the expense of quantity? Balancing automation and metrics with customer centricity is the challenge of the decade. The quality of business relationships have become limited by volume-induced time constraint.
Henry Ford’s assembly line that delivered affordable quality automobiles in high quantities was brilliant! McDonald’s assembly line “Speedee Service System” that gave us billions of cheap, low quality, self-service burgers was not the boon of the Model T. (more…)
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Are You Selling Like Publishers Clearing House?
The first time a “You won a $1,000,000” showed up in my mailbox, my sales and marketing mind was piqued. Opening this treasure revealed I had not won anything yet and might only win a car or digital clock with a shortwave radio that doesn’t work. The pitch unfolded to a litany of stuff I did not want, yet subliminally suggested a purchase would help me win.
Sales people spend tremendous effort and expense to pay for the first meeting. Niceties are exchanged, the timing seems right, and the coveted secret value proposition is launched with something like this: (more…)
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Please Sell Me!!!
This Easter brought back memories of walking behind our 3 year old daughter, pulling eggs out her Easter basket, and placing them out in front of her to be picked up again. That only worked once. Everyone is tired of sales calls, sales presentations, and marketing using this failing strategy and are screaming, “Please sell me.”
How many times can the wolf cry promises of better features, greater performance, more revenue, bigger cost reductions, higher ROIs, and infinite results? Dropping redecorated pitches, presentations, and marketing collateral with fancy graphics or a new acronym is reconstitution that doesn’t fool anyone. Prospects hit delete. (more…)
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The Craft of Rainmaking: Conversations that Win Business – Book Review
“Rainmaking Conversations” is a colorful, personal, intelligent revival of great business conversations. The tone is set at the beginning with a quote from etiquette expert nonpareil Emily Post who agreeably they call in a later reference, someone who “could have been a sales consultant.”
“Ideal conversation must be an exchange of thought, and not, as many of those who worry most about their shortcomings believe, an eloquent exhibition of wit or oratory.” – Emily Post (more…)
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