You may be focused on making your sales goals as the year ends. You should certainly maintain your sales focus especially if you’re almost on target. There’s something else you should focus on now. Why not also measure your sales success? Number 2 is not failure. An upcoming book, “The Formula: The Universal Laws of Success,” by Albert-László Barabási, contains insights on … [Read more...]
Your Sales Brand: Put More You Into Your Sales
What do you sell? You probably think it’s your product or service. While that’s correct, it’s not all you sell. Your prospects and customers are also buying you. Think of it as your sales brand. How are you including yourself in your sales? What’s your sales brand? Everyone knows Mercedes, Starbucks and Nike. They each have a brand personality. They are more than their … [Read more...]
Bogleheads Can Help You Sell: What Don’t You Know in Sales?
Attention Bogleheads! You know if you’re a follower of the founder of Vanguard Group, John C. Bogle, that he and his followers believe (and have shown) that investing can be simple and cheap. Bogle founded Vanguard in 1974 and introduced the first index mutual fund in 1975. Vanguard says that index funds have saved U.S. investors approximately $150 billion in fees since the … [Read more...]
Everything Old Is New Again in Sales: Apply Ad Principles to Sales
You may have heard people say, “Everything old is new again.” Claude Hopkins was the highest-paid copywriter of his day back in the early 20th century. What he said then about advertising also applies to sales today. Consider how you can apply his last century ad principles to your sales today. 1. Some ads are planned and written with a totally wrong conception. They are … [Read more...]
Sell and Work for a Difficult Boss
It’s not mutually exclusive. You can sell while you work for a difficult boss. Difficult bosses come in all types, whether verbally abusive, incompetent or worse. One of your options is to get another job. You might believe that as the victim it’s not right to be punished in that way. Here’s how to work for a difficult boss and still continue to sell. 1. Make sure you work the … [Read more...]
Selling Is Really Common Sense
“Well, that’s common sense.” Have you heard someone tell you that about something that’s so obvious to them? I hear it a lot. Selling is really common sense. Unfortunately, I notice that common sense is not all that common. That’s why some salespeople aren’t making their sales numbers. They need more common sense. You can only sell when a customer needs to buy. My definition … [Read more...]
3 Sales Pointers from Successful Salespeople for Negotiating, Price increases and Sales presentations
You can learn something from everyone to improve your sales results. Sometimes it’s what works and other times it’s what doesn’t. I believe that you can learn some important sales pointers from successful salespeople. Here are some sales pointers that have worked well for other successful people. They might work for you, too. 1. Sales Pointer: Close the sale instead of … [Read more...]
Annual Sales Checkup: What are you doing right and how can you do better?
Why do you go to the doctor for an annual physical if you feel good today? You go because you want to be sure you will continue to feel well and address anything that might be a cause for future concern. Just like you see a doctor for a physical, you need to look at your sales. It's like an annual sales checkup so you continue to do well. Here’s what I address when I work with … [Read more...]
Time Management for Sales: How Prospects Impact How You Spend Your Time in Sales
Great salespeople master time management to get the best results from their time. Sometimes the choices get tricky when you consider what you should do. You might waste your time when your prospect’s view of a deadline is different than yours. Here’s what you can consider to get the most out of your selling time. What does a deadline time mean? Just because you have a sense … [Read more...]
Ask The Money Questions When You Sell
It’s pretty obvious that if you’re in sales that the object of your work is to sell something. But what gets you sales? The money questions do. These are the questions that you ask when you sell that actually lead to a sale. These questions demonstrate that you have a viable prospect who can buy from you now. Here’s how to ask the money questions. Don’t waste time talking to … [Read more...]