Both we, our customers, our markets, our worlds are getting more and more complex. We face rapid change/disruption, overwhelm/overload, risk/uncertainty, turmoil, constantly shifting focus/priorities/agendas. In the face of this, we struggle to respond, whether it’s to fix performance problems, address new opportunities, grow and expand. As leaders and business professionals, we must constantly seek to […]
Sales
How Does Your Customer Make Money?
Can you answer the question, “How does you customer make money?” By that, I don’t mean at a superficial level, like, “Well, dugghh, Dave, they sell stuff……” I mean really understanding your customer’s business. It includes things like: Who are their customers/markets? What drives success with them? How are those markets growing? How does your […]
Always in Good Form
You’ve now learned the first two Feel-Good Questions as well as the “One KEY Question” that will separate you from practically everyone else. Here’s one more type of question. They (because there are actually four of them) are called “F-O-R-M” Questions and they simply provide additional questions you can ask that will deeply strengthen the rapport with […]
The Art of the Bluff
I was stunned and appalled to read an article sponsored by a major sales publication promoting the “Art of the bluff.” The author was cautious to highlight the negative connotations around bluffing—the feeling of manipulation, the proximity to lying, and the knife edge a “bluffer’ must walk to avoid lying. Trying as hard as I […]
The One Key Question That Will Set You Apart
Over the past several brief videos we’ve been discussing how focusing on the *other* person (whom you just met) through what I call “Feel-Good Questions” helps you to quickly establish yourself as a “person of value” in their eyes; a person worthy of getting to know better and having as part of their network. Now let’s amp […]
Deepen Your Rapport with Feel-Good Question #2
In my Endless Referrals Action Tip #5 we discuss Feel-Good Question #2 which, as you’ll see, flies in the face of much traditional sales teaching. Yet, you’ll see why—as a follow up to Question #1 in the previous video (Action Tip #4)—this question will bring immensely positive feelings to your new contact; positive feelings about himself or […]
Sales Managers “Closing Business”
I was struggling to meet with a sales manager. He really wanted to talk, we had critical issues he had asked for help in addressing. He kept postponing our calls, “Dave, I’m running all out, I’ve really got to be out in the field closing business for my people…..” We finally had our meeting. I […]
Deal Strategies: Helping the Customer Buy
Recently I wrote, “What If We Kept The Target Close Date Sacred?” It focused on improving our pipeline management, discipline, and integrity. But the way we address these issues is in our deal strategies and how we engage the customer in each deal. Most of the time and too much of our training focus on […]
The Pipeline Review
I was meeting with a client, we were doing the first pipeline review as part of their implementation of the Sales Execution Framework. Pipeline reviews are a great starting point for the process, a good pipeline review helps identify and isolate potential challenges as well as the performance leverage points. The client was a very […]
What About the Forecast?
Forecasting is important to our business, we spend a lot of time (often too much) on forecasts. But too often, we get forecasting wrong. Some observations: We strive for forecast accuracy, but we will never be perfectly accurate. Even the dictionary calls it a prediction or an estimate. Yet we waste a lot of time […]
