This Day In Sales
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What is the Best Way to Break the Ice? A Networking Tip
“What are your top opening lines when you first meet someone at a biz event i.e., a speaker lunch (particularly if you are not a confident networker)?” was asked on Focus.com. I like to think introductions as warming or melting the ice rather than breaking it. Networking and meeting new people can be daunting and [...]
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Are Your Prospecting Results Disappointing?
Are you struggling with prospecting? My last post, “Stop Selling and Start Succeeding” was about relationship selling for sustainable, profitable sales results. Building quality relationships is a step-by-step process. The first step is prospecting, and getting it right is critical. When I first began selling in 1972, I was not achieving my sales goals. My [...]
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Stop Selling & Start Succeeding
When asked “What do you sell?” my answer is “I don’t sell, I develop relationships, many of which happen to turn into business.” Bob was the president of a manufacturing company in Kansas when we met in 1983. I was selling machine tools from Long Island. Life was geopolitical back then. Because he did not [...]
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The Nuclear Bomb of Sales Responses
No is a power word. No is inflexible. No is final. No is a relational nuclear bomb. No painted me into corners of embarrassing finality. Saying no without sticking to my guns always weakened my position and eroded my customer’s confidence in me. A blunt no hurt negotiations, killed deals, and damaged relationships. Adversity to [...]
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Book Review: “High-Profit Selling, Win the Sale Without Compromising On Price” by Mark Hunter
The battles over price are as old as selling. Can you picture the first dirt farmer negotiating for some livestock? Learning how not to flinch when a customer claimed “Your price is too high” took mentoring and practice. When I finally understood that price complaints are to be expected and a sign that the [...]
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My Best Closing Tactic
Getting people to laugh helped me close more deals than every other method combined. Steve and I were negotiating our first deal. He was pushing me to the wall for a big discount. First, I was unwilling to cut my price. Second; I didn’t need to, because he had already made the emotional commitment to buy, [...]
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Are You Selling to Phantom Buyers?
Imagine you’re running a retail shop. Twenty or thirty times a day, your front door opens and the entry bell rings “ding-ding.” You trace the path of depressions in the carpet and see products shuffled around your shelves. Most of these journeys through your store end with an invisible departure. This is what internet marketing [...]
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The Last Thing They See – Lasting Impressions
The importance we place on first impressions overshadows our last impression. Most people dress and check their front and maybe a side view in the mirror. Because we don’t have eyes in the back of our head, we pay little attention that side of ourselves. But it’s the last thing people see when we leave. A [...]
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Marketing Creates Lousy Sales Presentations
Guest post By Mark Hunter Too many marketing departments are still living in the 1990s with how they feel salespeople should be making presentations. Marketing departments are notorious for making slick presentations that do nothing but extol the virtues of how wonderful their company is. I call these “capabilities presentations.” Really they should be called “look [...]
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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 [...]
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