Posts Tagged ‘Sales’
Do Customers Really Want a Frictionless Buying Experience?
It seems to be fashionable to talk about creating “frictionless buying experiences?” I suppose the concept draws readers, perhaps it’s an extreme expression of removing barriers to the customer buying process. But does the concept make sense? Is it what customers want? And if we looked at the concept of “friction in the buying process,…
Read MoreNuance So Subtle We Often Miss It
Nuance is important to our ability to connect with impact to our customers and our people. Yet, too often, we miss it, or completely ignore it. Let’s start with what nuance is: 1 :a subtle distinction or variation “Nuances of flavor and fragrance cannot be described accurately …” —Scott Seegers “… these terms have certain…
Read MoreWe Claim to Be Data-Driven, Yet We Ignore the Data
Recently, I heard someone say, “We claim to be data driven, yet we ignore the data.” Nothing could be more true of much of what I see in the practice of sales and marketing. We are surrounded by data about what drives sales and marketing effectiveness. Hundreds of market research reports, done by thoughtful researchers…
Read MoreAn Alternative to High Pressure Selling
We’ve all been subjected to high pressure selling tactics. We see various forms of these high pressure or manipulative tactics, whether it’s the high pressure sales person focused on pitching products, the sales person that keeps moving the focus back to them and what they want to achieve, incentives to “buy now,” whether they are offered…
Read More5 Unfailing Cross-Selling and Upselling Strategies to Boost Online Sales
If you’re like most people, you likely have gone shopping with a grocery list a few times in your life. But how many times have you gone home with only those items in your cart? Perhaps you were a little hungry and the store had a sale on your favorite snack, or they had a…
Read MoreCold Calling or Email Prospecting? The Choice Depends on Your Audience
Business media is overflowing with advice about new marketing and sales strategies that result in a satisfactory ROI. There has been a lot of talk lately about the power of Big Data and complex analytics, about multiplatform and omnichannel reach to potential customers, while “stellar customer experience” is on everyone’s lips. However, entrepreneurs and managers…
Read MorePrinciple Based Selling
Are you training and coaching your people “principle based selling?” No I’m not announcing a new sales methodology or trying to infringe on a few companies calling their methods “Principle Based Selling.” We often use the word principle to describe values we hold, for example integrity, honesty, respect for others. Those are important, but not…
Read MoreThe Tragedy of “No Decision Made”
Depending on the research you read and believe, the number of buying journeys ending in “No Decision Made,” is around 50-60%. Think about what that means. Sure, we’re disappointed—it’s a lost opportunity for us. We may have invested a lot of time, resource, and energy in competing to win the decision from the customer buying…
Read MoreB2B Marketers: This is the Most Important Post You’ll Read in Your Career
Sales executives have been perpetuating a trick on marketing for the last 15 or so years. A trick that will make or break your career. You need to be cognizant of it and not let it happen… ever. There’s generally two types of marketing and sales organizations in the B2B space. I’ve professionally witnessed both…
Read MoreWhen the Customer Doesn’t Respond the Way You Want Them To
This afternoon, the phone rang, I picked it up, “Hi, this is Dave Brock.” Clearly, there was a sales person on the line, she said, “May I please speak to Dave?” (You can see this call going south already.) When I responded it was me, without taking a breath, she launched into a 97 second…
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