Achieving success is really a very simple thing. It’s a three piece puzzle.
1) You need to be smarter than the competition. That doesn’t mean more intelligent in a general or universal sense. It’s about being smarter in solving one specific problem. And you only need to be a little bit smarter about it.
Of course, being [...]
Scenario 1:
Sales Rep: “With a 3% price cut, they’ll buy. Without it we lose. It’s a $100,000 deal and we cannot risk losing it for a paltry $3,000 of the company’s take. We must give them the price decrease they want.”
Sales Manager: “No.”
Sales Rep: (after leaving the manager’s office) “That @%#&* idiot! How can he [...]
Every now and again I get blown away by a great demonstration of sales and customer service. Had to share this one.
In August, it’s hot in Georgia. The thermometer has topped 90 nearly every day for what seems like forever, and as I write this, it’s 94 degrees out there. The A/C [...]
When developing a plan for operating a sales territory or chasing down a specific opportunity, both the Solution Selling and Consultative Selling frameworks have proven their value. I am far from alone in being a huge fan of the underlying concepts and best practices. These approaches and combinations thereof have supported the transformation of legions [...]
Back in January, I realized I was wrong about proposals. I don’t do them anymore. I admonish clients and colleagues when they talk about writing one. A Recommendation Summary, while extremely similar, is profoundly different. And it’s much more than semantics. As an outsider, I humbly submit my proposal for possible consideration by the all-powerful [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
The traditional role of sales rep as provider of information is obsolete.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, [...]
Bear with me through just a tad of fundamental economics. It’s a needed foundation for being honest with yourself about my real question in this post.
If you were mildly hungry and loved bananas, how many would you buy if they cost $9,000 each? Lots or none? (Point #1 on the blue curve)
Same [...]
Ingenuity and creativity are everywhere. No matter what the obstacle, somebody will figure out a way to deliver what the customer wants.
