Where are 70% of the companies who were on the Fortune 500 list in 1955? They’re out of business. Times change, but they didn’t. Have you noticed how selling has changed over the years? Groups making buying decisions used to be rare. Committees now decide who to buy from. Salespeople used to operate solo; now teams sell. Do you know how to make your team presentation successful … [Read more...]
Put Your Sales Manager To Work
How much easier would your selling be if you could partner with another great sales professional and sell? In sales, two heads are better than one. That second head just might be your sales manager. If you want to tap into another great selling resource, put your sales manager to work. Make sales calls. Are you always making sales calls by yourself? Now is the time to … [Read more...]
Smart Things Salespeople Do
A salesperson who tells a customer he doesn’t need to know the answer to his question is doing something stupid. Successful salespeople say and do smart things. Here are a just a few of the smart things they do. They learn what successful salespeople do. You may not know who Dan Ammann is. He’s the new General Motors Co. President. He’s made some strategic changes that have … [Read more...]
Confusing customers loses sales
Is Customer Confusion Costing You Sales? You confuse ‘em, you lose ‘em. That’s what a great direct marketer Paul Goldberg once said. It’s the same for sales. You certainly wouldn’t confuse your customers intentionally. But what about when you don’t know that you’re creating confusion? I recently needed to purchase a certified letter for a business document I … [Read more...]
Do you work for free when you sell?
I recently wrote a column on customers who want you to work for free. I never fault anyone for asking. I do blame salespeople who get intimidated and do things they don't want to do and aren't strategic for their selling. These sales people are sometimes afraid to tell a customer or prospect no. Sometimes they don't know how to or when to move on. As I wrote in the column, … [Read more...]
Women who sell need to manage their manager
I recently got a call from a female sales professional. She had been working for her sales manager for 7 weeks. I had a meeting scheduled with her male sales manager. She was calling to reschedule the appointment for him. Why was she calling when my appointment was with her manager? Her manager asked her to. It seemed odd to me that she was asked to do this. I thought it was … [Read more...]
What consultive selling questions do you ask to sell?
Are you wondering what consultive selling questions you can ask to sell? I have a consultive selling process that I teach that shows you how to learn about your customer, uncover business problems he cares about and motivate him to buy. Here's the process. It’s as simple as A,B,C and D. Consultative selling starts with what you know ABOUT (A) your customer. Rather than … [Read more...]
Small talk helps negotiations if you are male
Who knew? What women do so easily (make small talk) will get better results in negotiation. But, only if you're male. If you read the study it says that women don't benefit as much as men do with the small talk. Why? It seems that men are inherently less "communal" so the chit chat helps them be perceived more positively so they get better results with negotations. Here's … [Read more...]
3 Instant Sales Ideas
Here are 3 instant sales ideas for you to sell more now. 1. Live within your means. Don’t buy the foolish thinking that more stuff will make you happy. When you start to acquire stuff that you can’t afford you start down a path that might lead to becoming a desperate salesperson. Nothing causes a sale to fail faster than desperation. How do you avoid participating in the … [Read more...]
Be strategic when you sell with Thumbtack
One of the things you want to do is to be more strategic if you are in sales. Look for tools and apps that will leverage your work to acquire other new business. You want prospects to easily find you. It's almost like you get to have someone working for you while you sleep. Here's a wonderful site, Thumbtack that you can use to help prospects find you. I use it to help … [Read more...]