My most hated phrase: “Hi Mark, this is Sam from XYZ Company. I just wanted to check in…yada, yada, yada”. Or, the equally dumb variation “I just wanted to touch base…” The translation should be “I really have no good reason to call you, I’m hoping you’re going to tell me you want to buy… Read more »
Score and Rank Your Sales Leads
There’s a pile of sales leads from your last trade show or marketing event sitting on your desk. Your sales manager continues to ask you for a progress report and you try to avoid telling him you haven’t done anything with the leads. Any of this sound familiar? This can be a relatively simple process… Read more »
Do You Really Know Your Customer?
I recently read about a Gallup study claiming 71% of your B2B customers are NOT committed to staying with you and your company. More disturbing is that they are actively looking at your competitors. This may well be due to how we treat our customers (email blasts, one size fits all selling techniques, etc.). In… Read more »
Engage the Gatekeeper
I’ve always wondered why some salespeople unintentionally, or intentionally choose to ignore or dismiss the receptionist, entry guard, administrative assistant, or whatever the current terminology is for those charged with monitoring the flow of traffic to those we want to meet. It’s just stupid. On just a human level it’s rude. I can hear some… Read more »
Say You Are Sorry: Quickly and Effectively
Too many salespeople avoid having to say they’re sorry. They fail to see it as an opportunity to “turn lemons into lemonade”. Your customer service manager just came into your office with hair on fire to tell you that a customer’s angry. It could be a pricing issue, a delayed shipment, a quality problem or… Read more »
Is Networking a Waste of Time?
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been asked to attend networking events. Almost every conference I attend is preceded by “registration and networking”. By and large I have avoided these sessions. Recently, I read an HBR.org article by Derek Coburn titled Don’t Waste Your Time on Networking Events that prompted me to reflect;… Read more »
How do you differentiate yourself?
Who cares about your Experience and Qualifications? I read and listen to hundreds sales presentations each year. I am continually surprised at how ineffective salespeople are at differentiating themselves and their company from the rest of the herd. My favorite is some variation of “we’ve been in business for 25 years.” Does anyone really care?… Read more »
They Know You Before You Show Up
It’s no surprise that the speed of business has accelerated dramatically in the past decade. Our customers have more resources at their fingertips than ever before. What used to take an hour of research in hard copy directories now takes mere seconds online. Not only do they know more about what they need/want to buy,… Read more »
Joint Sales Calls for Fun and Profit
Recently, we have seen more and more sales organizations employ a practice formerly used only in training new sales reps. Joint sales calls have become more of an ongoing practice and not just part of training for the rookies. Sometimes referred to as “call shadowing” making a joint call with another sale rep provides the… Read more »
Lessons Learned From a Bad Sales Presentation
I’ve been at this sales game for many years, and I have to confess I listen to sales presentations long after most people have hung up or walked away. I know at some point I’m going to learn something worth remembering or find a topic for this newsletter. Not long ago I sat through a… Read more »
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