Posts Tagged ‘Sales Process’
Are You So Busy Selling Your Product That You Won’t Win the Deal?
Don Mulhern published a brilliant post in LinkedIn the other day. I thought I’d expand on his ideas. I spend innumerable hours doing deal reviews. 95% go the same way, they focus on the product the sales person is selling, not what the customer is trying to achieve and how we can help the customer do that.…
Read MoreThe 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. We may be very customer focused in our sales process, trying to understand and align ourselves with the customer buying process. But still,…
Read MoreRescuing 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 managers sweeps in to save the day. They take the deal away, rescuing it, saving the day! Whether it’s a…
Read MoreDo 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 seconds. What a rush! While that’s enough to get anyone’s heart racing, the folks at Disney don’t leave anything to…
Read MoreCustomers Aren’t Widgets
I’ve always thought sales is more science than art. I believe selling is a set of disciplined processes, many of which can be “engineered” to optimize our ability to engage the right customers/prospects, with the right conversations, at the right time. Whether it’s a recruiting/onboarding process, talent management/people development, account/territory management, opportunity/deal management, pipeline/forecasting, prospecting,…
Read MoreHow to Be a Dictator Enforcing Sales Offer Deadlines
Everyone who manages a company or its sales force wants to write as many new deals as possible, and is usually warry about doing anything that might threaten the positive outcome of a pending sale. So, it is common practice to leave an offer containing a discount open, following up periodically to attempt to nudge…
Read MoreWhat About My Goals? A Time for Selfishness
I had a call from a frustrated sales person. He said, “Dave, I read your stuff all the time. You are relentless in focusing on the customer, their problems, and their goals. I get it, but I’m in trouble, I need to achieve my goals! That’s what I really care about!” I really get where…
Read MoreSales Funnel: When Are They Going to Buy?
For the last few weeks, we’ve been exploring how you can use your website to move prospects into and through your sales funnel. In this week’s post, we’ll examine what needs to happen once someone has been in your sales funnel for a while and is continuing to show interest. Having the right timing matters. You don’t…
Read MoreSales Funnel: You Like Me, You Really Like Me!
Over the past couple weeks, we’ve explored how your website should be thought of as a selling tool and with some planning and vision you can use it to move a prospect through the know • like • trust = sales funnel and earn their business. Last week we dug into the top of the sales funnel and…
Read More3 Key Lessons to Improve B2B Customer Experience
Delivering great customer experience nowadays matters as much to B2B companies as it does to their B2C counterparts. The statement should not come as a surprise, really, considering how much the B2B world has evolved within the last decade, owing to the rapid advances of digital technology. There are now for instance, more potential touchpoints…
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