2010 June | Todd Youngblood's "SPE" Blog

Monthly Archives: June 2010

Blog As Sales Education Tool

June 30, 2010 – 6:17 am

A client of ours who provides engineering and integration services recently established an alliance with a hardware/component distributor. It’s a great match, dramatically extending the value each company can provide to its customers. The challenge to our client is educating their new partner’s 1,500 sales reps.
While they’re great at selling hardware, selling services is a [...]

By Todd Youngblood | Posted in Documentation | Tagged Continuous Improvement, Education | Comments (2)

Cumulative Cash Flow + Payback = Committed Customer

June 29, 2010 – 9:02 am

This is the third post in a series about selling with Finance, the Universal Language of Business.

Part 1: Do you speak the universal language of business?
Part 2: Selling With A “Net Cash Flow” Approach

OK, here we go again… Doesn’t matter what they sell or what their SIC code is, ALL of your customers are [...]

By Todd Youngblood | Posted in Finance | Tagged Cash Flow, Finance, Value Proposition | Comments (2)

Quick Thought For the Week Of 6/27/10

June 27, 2010 – 6:31 am

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit.” Aristotle

By Todd Youngblood | Posted in Quick Thought | Tagged Persistence, Pursuit of Excellence | Comments (0)

“I Don’t Know.” – A Great Answer

June 26, 2010 – 8:28 am

Here’s my contention: Finding yourself frequently acknowledging, “I don’t know,” is a signal that you have become a superior sales rep.
Huh?
Before you conclude I’ve finally lost it completely, allow me to note that I’m not referring to situations where the question is about your products or services. Those answers, you need to have. Customers will [...]

By Todd Youngblood | Posted in Develop Relationships, Differentiation | Tagged Differentiation, Networking, Serve | Comments (2)

Do Your Customers Appreciate You?

June 25, 2010 – 6:26 am

Customers remember the things you messed up all by themselves. It’s your job to highlight the times you went “above and beyond” for them.
For some reason, human nature assures that all disasters large and small are memorable. Your customers simply will not forget. Conversely, you routinely stretch yourself and your company [...]

By Todd Youngblood | Posted in Differentiation, Documentation | Tagged Differentiation, Documentation | Comments (0)

Sales – What An Awesome Career!

June 23, 2010 – 11:15 pm

I’ll never forget my grandfather’s reaction just after I graduated from college when I told him I had gotten a job with IBM. He was thrilled! Thrilled and impressed that I had be able to land such a fabulous entry level job. Then he asked, “Doing what?” My answer literally devastated him. “Sales? You mean [...]

By Todd Youngblood | Posted in Learn! | Tagged Fun, Learn! | Comments (0)

Selling With A “Net Cash Flow” Approach

June 23, 2010 – 7:09 am

This isn’t the first time you’ve read about The Universal Language of Business on this blog. Doesn’t matter what they sell or what their SIC code is, ALL of your customers are in the money-making business. All sales reps must therefore learn how to communicate effectively using Finance, the universal language.
And don’t tell me it’s [...]

By Todd Youngblood | Posted in Finance | Tagged Finance, Metrics | Comments (9)

Think, Work And Act Like a Business Manager

June 22, 2010 – 6:05 am

The traditional role of sales rep as provider of information is obsolete. That role got outsourced to Google because it’s a lot faster and easier that way.
If customers can find the information they want using a Google search, why would they ever contact a sales rep? If it’s accessible via Google, [...]

By Todd Youngblood | Posted in Differentiation | Tagged Differentiation, Knowledge, Recommendation Summary | Comments (3)

I Might Never Say, “Near Atlanta,” Again

June 20, 2010 – 8:31 am

Georgia has an All-America City
OK, so this isn’t exactly a business-related post, but I just can’t help myself. Look, only a few of you grew up in Quakertown. You know, right between Richlandtown and Trumbauersville… You don’t appreciate the unwanted humility of needing to say, “Near Philadelphia,” every time somebody asks where you’re from.
So where [...]