It was like selling to the United Nations when I sold manufacturing technologies. The stakeholders and decision makers ranged from machinery operators to the C-Suite. Every level and department dressed and spoke differently. You sell to people from different departments at different levels within the same organization. Each has unique styles and lingo. Do you meet each stakeholder and decision … [Read more...]
Can You Get Awesomeness From a Book? “EDGY Conversations by Dan Waldschmidt
April 3, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Add “EDGY Conversations: How Ordinary People Can Achieve Outrageous Success” to the list of classic motivational books. Then read it. How do I make such a bold statement? From the time I began selling, I read the great ones including “How to Win Friends and Influence People,” “The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People” and “Think and Grow Rich.” All of the motivational classics share three … [Read more...]
Don’t be a Sales Zombie, Ditch the Sales Tricks
October 31, 2013 by Leave a Comment
What’s your trick for overcoming objections? or What’s your best closing trick? Questions like these plagued me for years like the Masque of the Red Death. Salespeople haunted me for quick tricks that do not exist. Sales tricks are an illusion. Questions that manipulate your customer to say yes or agree with you are tactics that eventually fail. Some people may fall for these tricks, but as … [Read more...]
5 Ways to Prevent Buyer Brinkmanship – “ABN” Always Be Negotiating©
October 21, 2013 by Leave a Comment
At the 11th hour, the customer throws us a big curve. We invest months and years developing new business opportunities. We brainstorm with our clients to create valuable insights for them. We research their market conditions, customers, competition and their business plans. We help model ideal outcomes for them and mitigate their risk. We spend our company’s valuable resources only to find our … [Read more...]
ABN: Always Be Negotiating© – #Sales Tip
October 18, 2013 by Leave a Comment
When does negotiating begin? Does it start at the end of the sale or earlier in the opportunity? Like most of you, I was trained that negotiations happen at the end of the sale, just before the close. Contrary to this axiom, I always believed negotiations begin at the beginning of the buying process. Is your prospect drawing you in? One morning 30-years ago, an inbound caller requested … [Read more...]
Are You Having Trouble Sales Hunting?
October 3, 2013 by Leave a Comment
John Hart remains one of my favorite cartoonists and this one tickled me to write a very short post to help you hunt better with a simple sales skill. Do you know who your best and worst customers are? Has your company defined customer personas and have you defined your own personas? We all perform well, and poorly, with different customer types. Early in my career, I recognized that I … [Read more...]
What do You Want, “Likes,” Followers and Connections or Paying Customers?
September 26, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Are you collecting followers or developing mutually beneficial business relationships that convert into results for your customers and revenue for your company? Let’s face it, you don’t want countless followers. Who can manage all of that anyway? What you really want are gaggles of happy, paying loyal customers. Have you analyzed how many customers you need to achieve your revenue … [Read more...]
How would you like to read your client’s minds?
September 23, 2013 by Leave a Comment
There were times with clients when I felt like a mind reader, clairvoyant moments when I wondered if I was actually reading minds. Have you ever felt that way? Last night, I enjoyed my annual viewing of “The Third Man” with Orson Welles. I’m a classic black and white movie and film noir fan. Orson Welles was one of the greatest actors ever and a sales pro if there ever was one. He sold his … [Read more...]
Did You Forget?
September 11, 2013 by Leave a Comment
It was the last thing I thought about before falling asleep last night and the first thing I thought about when I awoke this morning. Yet I felt alone in my promise to never forget. Maybe I had the date wrong. I Googled news only to find updates about Syria and predictions of the anticipated effect of the Fed’s easing of QE3, but “IT” wasn’t there. Before editing this post, I visited the … [Read more...]
The Heart of Successful Selling: Align Yourself with Your Customers’ Customers
August 13, 2013 by 6 Comments
This morning, Daniele Moreschi asked me, “Do you have any tips on selling current clients more inventory?” Daniele's question inspired me to ask, “Why aren’t your customers’ customers buying more?” Last week, Dave Brock fired up a fantastic conversation about “The Essence of Selling”or purpose of selling. At the core is revenue creation. I made the case in my previous post that without … [Read more...]
