Posts Tagged ‘Sales’
What You’ve Always Been Doing Won’t Get You Where You Want to Be
I do dozens of business reviews with all sorts of organizations, globally. Many are struggling, they aren’t hitting their numbers—at least consistently. Or their markets/customers are changing, or their competitors are changing. They are all well intended, but too often, they are approaching these challenges in the wrong way. Most of the time, they are…
Read MoreGetting What You Get, or Getting What You Want?
Over the past several weeks, I’ve been sitting in a number of pipeline and deal reviews. While the companies are in very different businesses, different solutions, different sales processes, different sales force maturities, I’ve noticed some patterns: Deal quality is not where it needs to be. Average deal sizes seem to be eroding. Average sales…
Read MoreThe “Last Mile” in Selling
In the old days of telecom, the days when telecom was dominated by landlines, one of the most important strategies had to do with the “last mile.” (Actually, much of the conversation around net-neutrality is today’s version of the last mile.) The “last mile” was more figurative than literal, but it focused on who controlled…
Read MoreDon’t End the Perfect Sale with Unreliable or Unsafe Delivery Methods
Internet shopping has taken the world by storm; a whole variety of products and services are now available for people all over the world to purchase at the click of a button. This is great news for retailers who can now offer their products to billions of people; digital marketing can enhance this further by…
Read MoreDoes How You Sell Represent Your Company Well?
Customer experience is increasingly a key differentiator in acquiring and retaining customers. But, too often, we look at customer experience in a very narrow way, we think of it as their experience in using our products, after they have purchased them. The customer experience begins long before the first purchase a customer makes. Of course…
Read MoreIt’s Harder to Sell Within Our Own Companies
Tibor Shanto posed an interesting situation in a LinkedIn discussion: Got an interesting question or scenario for people who work with sales managers, presented by an experienced sales manager and her new company. She was invited to join the company because of her track record in the industry. They wanted her to establish a similar…
Read MoreYou Probably Shouldn’t Be in Sales If You Don’t Have These 5 Personality Traits
So you’ve watched Wolf of Wall Street and have decided you want to get in to sales. You’ve got your briefcase in hand and you’re looking in the mirror, imagining yourself in five years’ time cruising on a boat around the Mediterranean. You’ve started calling commission “commish” and you keep clicking your fingers when you…
Read MoreIf You Don’t Know Who Your Customer Is, Improving Selling Skills Won’t Help
Over the past few days, I’ve been participating in a discussion about a struggling organization. It’s a start up, the CEO wanted help in developing sales skills. But as the discussion progressed, it was clear the CEO didn’t understand who their customers were. They were responding to queries from whoever happened to find their web…
Read MoreGet Started in Public Speaking for Sales Leads
One of the best lead generation systems for direct sales professionals is to offer yourself as a free public speaker. There are literally hundreds of clubs, churches, schools and non-profit organizations near you that would love to have you come and speak to their group. There is nothing better than a system that generates an unlimited…
Read MoreThe 3-4-5 Party
When a customer at one of her other parties is hesitant about hosting, Leslie Adderhold, a manager with Pink Zebra, asks them what is holding them back from having a party. Most often it is a time issue so the 3 – 4 – 5 party is a perfect solution Simply put, the 3 –…
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