It happened again. I got lazy, didn’t pay attention to the details, and found myself in the “friend zone.” This week’s tip is about something small and easy to overlook, though it makes a big difference. It’s the “call to action.” […]
Category: Meetings
Stop Asking How I’m Doing
Recently, I ended up on call list. Now I am getting calls from sales reps who work at the same type of company and who sell the same type of service. The calls don’t bother me. I completely get the game. It doesn’t even upset me that they all use the same approach and say the same thing. (Though I […]
Keys To Effective Demos and Presentations
It’s unbelievable how robotic sales reps have gotten when giving demonstrations and presentations and it’s driving me crazy. They’re offered up before reps have even qualified a prospect or know if what they are selling is needed. Lazy reps blast out template e-mails that basically say: “Hi, I don’t know if you’re the person I should be sending this to […]
Selling To Pleasure Or Pain
We’re all taught to dig for, find, and sell to pain. There’s nothing wrong with this approach other than the fact that people buy for pleasure, too. Most of us get stuck in the world of selling to pain when we sell to people below the “power line,” or to non-decision makers. These people are focused on today […]
My Favorite Nugget
For those of you who have been following me for a while you know that I tend to train and write about tips, nuggets, and ideas that you can apply immediately to see results. This is the way I approach learning: similar to the agile development process of small improvements, testing, and adjustments. With that, […]
Digest This
“I’ll need some time to digest what you just said.” As a younger, less experienced sales rep, I used to think this phrase was awesome. I would go into a meeting with a prospect, ask my basic doctor-check-up questions, wait until the client spoke approximately 60% of the time (it works every time) and would […]
Does That Make Sense?
“Does that make sense?” I hear reps ask this all the time during their sales calls, demos, and presentations and it drives me nuts. Has anyone ever said “No” to that question? Even if they said “Yes,” does that really tell you whether or not it made sense? No, it doesn’t. […]
The Sales Handoff
This is arguably one of the more important but least focused on points of the sales process. None of the handoffs throughout the sales process are smooth and almost all of them include multiple levels of miscommunication that tend to frustrate the client. Let’s breakdown each one. […]
Get Them To Think
Our job in sales has changed drastically in recent years. It used to be our job to educate the client on our solution: what it is, what it does, and how it can help them solve their problem. It’s not about that any more. The internet changed all of that. Our job is now about […]
One of the Worst Sales Meetings I’ve Had
A while back I had an in-person meeting with the CEO of a prospect that went so poorly it lasted less than 15 minutes. A good friend of mine joined this company as VP of Sales and wanted to bring me in to train the team on prospecting skills. It was a small and diverse […]
