Sales Consulting and Services
Ask yourself daily – What am I providing my clients they can’t get anywhere else? If you can’t answer this question your clients won’t be able to either. Here is a big hint, it is not about product information or price. That they can find on the web. If you aren’t unique, you will struggle [...]
Don’t blow it – when they tell you their name, remember it. It is easy when you have scheduled a call, but what about the spontaneous meeting in the hallway, briefing room, restaurant, etc.? Sales people are supposed to be great at remembering names. How do they do it? Well, for many it is like [...]
You may be selling dollar bills for 50 cents, but your prospect needs a pocket full of quarters. The first sales person to recognize this, will get the deal. Here is another view of the same problem. You have a scheduled an hour sales call on a prospect you have been pursuing for months. This guy has [...]
The term “sales plan lawyer” is not related to jurisprudence. Instead it is used to describe the sales rep who knows the compensation plan like the back of his hand, knows every nuance and subtlety, and knows exactly how to exploit the plan. Highly complex compensation plans will encourage sales reps to build these lawyer like skills. [...]
Are you are risk if you blow a couple forecasts, miss a few internal sales meetings, upset your contract specialist, and exceed your expense budget? You will likely still be employed if you finish at 150% of quota. Miss your sales target, and death will come from a thousand pin pricks. Many transgressions can be overlooked or [...]
Have you ever tried to negotiate a signing bonus after you were hired? Similarly, have ever tried to renogitiate your stock option plan on your last day at a company? You likely already know that it is always easier to negotiate your exit terms when joining an organization vs. trying to do it when leaving. You have all [...]
Yes, you are laughing at this one because you are living an example of this one right now. If selling was like math or science, using a formula would always produce a sale. Unfortunately, selling is more like philosophy where no formulas exist and there may be a dozen different ways to succeed and a thousand [...]
You have seen many times before – the sales rep in the next office frequently asks for your help but never returns the favor. You are always generous with your time, helping a colleague with a tough sales situation, presentation, demo, etc. Yet when you ask, they are always too busy and can’t help. You [...]
Can you even count the number of times you asked permission to do something different and got the answer “NO” ? I am not talking about going outside the bounds of good taste, ethics, or acceptable conduct. Remember the time you asked that customer “gate keeper” for permission to go see his boss? When he [...]
Arrive 15 minutes early for a sales call and take a detour by the loading dock. What will you find there? Well, you might see boxes arriving from a competitor. You might even see products arriving to set up a new production facility, or lots of expensive supplies for a product you can replace. What [...]
