Sales Activities
Make Buying Easier!
As sales people, we want to make it easy for our customers to buy. We have endless amounts of data sheets, cases studies, presentations, and information about our products. We seek to be super responsive…
Customers Should Care About Your Profitability
Too often, we succumb to price pressure—even worse, we lead with price, making pricing the center of focus of our sales efforts, then being forced to discount to “win” the business. What if we started…
The Customer Buying Process is Not About You or Your Competition
I’m tempted to paraphrase the old Carly Simon song, You’re So Vain. Too often we think our customers’ buying cycles are about us, at least a choice between us and our competitors. The buying process…
You Name the Price; I’ll Name the Terms
I admit that my dad taught me this when I was just a fifteen-year old kid starting a business and negotiating with suppliers for the first time. But I learned it again and again in…
How to Handle 5 Common Sales Scenarios
The most successful entrepreneurs are great salespeople. Have you ever seen Steve Jobs, Elon Musk or Mark Benioff presenting in front of thousands of people, all eagerly listening and buying into their vision? If Jobs,…
Rescuing Deals!
Each of us has experienced it, we’re struggling winning a deal. It’s an important one for us and for the company, we look for help from our managers and others. Instead of providing help, the…
Are Your Sales Metrics Aligned with Your Business Strategy?
Not long ago, I spoke with a frustrated CEO. His company was doing OK, but somehow not meeting his expectations. Like many companies, the customers’ needs were changing quite profoundly. They were rapidly shifting their…
Do You Rush Things?
There’s a ride at Walt Disney World called Rock n’ Roller Coaster. At the very beginning of the ride, the car you ride in goes from a dead stop to over 60 mph in less than three…
What We Care About vs. What Our Customers Care About
There is a huge chasm between customers and our own sales and marketing initiatives. This is nothing new, yet it’s what keeps us from connecting with our customers and prospects. It’s what causes our customers…
Delivering Insight: What Happens Next?
The CMO and Sales VP were reviewing their latest programs to get their people delivering insight to their customers. They went through a series of provocative issues and insights—each tuned to a specific set of…