Last week, we talked about the science of selling to women and how our brains differ by gender and how that affects buying patterns and decision-making. So this week, I thought it would make sense to take that science and use it as a filter to think about how to create marketing that resonates with your female […]
Sales Strategies
Are Your Sales Suffering Due to These Common Faults?
If I make a mistake even a big one, as I’m typing this article, I can simply select the text, delete it and then correct it. You don’t always have that ability in sales. If you make a mistake, you can easily lose a sale or perhaps even an account. Let’s look at two […]
What’s the Customer’s Whole Problem?
Our focus, naturally, is on what we sell. More accurately, it’s on what problems our products and solutions solve. For the moment, I’ll ignore that most sales people don’t do well at this most basic areas of working with customers. One of the biggest challenges to our success in selling, is that we seldom solve […]
How to Make Your Sales Goals Real and Yourself Accountable
“A verbal contract isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.” Samuel Goldwyn. There are a lot of quotes and adages that reflect the idea Samuel Goldwyn was getting at. The heart of the matter is this: When we get serious about something, we put it down in writing. Until something is on paper (or perhaps the […]
Your Key to Success: Sales Preparation
Fail to prepare, prepare to fail. It’s an often heard adage that applies to virtually any situation, but with sales it’s especially important because failure isn’t a mere inconvenience—it can be the difference between financial success and financial ruin…or at least financial mediocrity. I once saw the results of a study that said 57 percent […]
4 Steps to Skyrocket Your Outbound Sales Call Closing Rate
Sales representatives are classic workhorses for businesses who want to skyrocket their sales or generate leads. We know this to be true since according to Discover.org, “78% of decision makers polled have taken an appointment or attended an event that came from an email or cold call.“ The figure is quite telling, isn’t it? If […]
Drive More Sales with Customer Problem Knowledge
I read an article entitled, “Drive Sales With Product Knowledge.” It was a good article, actually covering a lot a great issues, but focused on the importance of having strong product/solution knowledge. We know sales people have to be knowledgeable about our products and solutions, so I don’t disagree with the author’s premise. It’s just […]
Expand Sales by Going to Your Existing Customers First
“If we can keep our competitors focused on us while we stay focused on the customer, ultimately we’ll turn out all right.” ~Jeff Bezos So many business owners think they must reach for new customers if they want to expand sales. However, new customers require a lot of time and expense to acquire. A better […]
How Startups Can Take Advantage of Pop-Up Shops
You have what you think is a great business idea. You have identified a gap in the market. You have a passion and a belief it will work. It is a story that has been told hundreds of times over. We see it on our local high street, we see it on the web and […]
Speed Kills!
No, I haven’t become the spokesperson for the National Highway Safety Commission, I’ve had more than my fair share of speeding tickets (and actually far fewer than I deserve.) I just read a horrible piece of advice from a “guru.” The advice was, “Efficiency Drives Effectiveness!” How wrong can a supposed expert be? Efficiency is all […]