Tag Archives: Customer Focus

Learning a thing or two about my own area of “expertise”

October 9, 2011 – 1:17 pm

Every time I begin think I really have a handle on this whole sales and marketing thing, somebody comes along and makes me realize I still have lots to learn.  Actually, that’s what makes my work with Dreamland Radio so challenging and interesting.
My cohort Todd & I recently interviewed Eric Marjoram, owner of Marjoram Creative  [...]

By Todd Youngblood | Posted in Differentiation | Also tagged | Comments (0)

Business Talk Radio. It Sells!!!

August 31, 2011 – 6:17 am

I hope this doesn’t come across as tooting my own horn too much, but it’s just too cool a story to not share.  And, oh by the way, it’s a great example of deploying a content marketing strategy…
My Dreamland Radio partner, Todd Schnick and I recently interviewed the CEO and a technical support specialist from [...]

By Todd Youngblood | Posted in Radio | Also tagged | Comments (0)

Death Of A Business Model (Yours too?)

July 29, 2011 – 8:12 am

Being in the railroad business made most railroads blind to the transportation business.  They missed the opportunities to gobble up market share nabbed by trucks and airplanes.  Most railroads are gone.  Easy to articulate the strategies they coulda’ woulda’ shoulda’ implemented.
Bethlehem Steel was in the steel business.  A realization they were in the durable materials [...]

By Todd Youngblood | Posted in Continuous Improvement | Also tagged , , , | Comments (0)

“Work with those ready to be worked with.”

July 22, 2011 – 7:37 am

“Work with those ready to be worked with.”  Pretty simple advice.  Pretty sound too.  Especially when it comes to embracing new techniques, technologies and tactics for selling more faster.  Or selling anything for that matter.
As usual, I came by this powerfully pithy insight from contact with someone way smarter than me.  This time it was [...]

By Todd Youngblood | Posted in Best Practices | Also tagged | Comments (0)

e-Rep: Do You Know Enough To Build One?

May 5, 2011 – 7:02 am

Are there gaps in your skill set?  Well, of course there are.  All of us have gaps.  Some of them are not so harmful.  Some of them though, need to get filled.
Are your technology skills up to snuff?  Do you really know enough to create, deploy and effectively use an e-Rep?

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By Todd Youngblood | Posted in CRM | Also tagged , , | Comments (0)

Pull Opportunities Through Your Sales Process – Don’t Push

February 15, 2011 – 9:31 am

This post is second in a series about applying “Lean” concepts in sales.  Read the overview.  This post will also provide useful perspective.

The idea of “Pull” as applied to the sales process is very counter-intuitive at first.  And realize, by the way, that to really make it sing, you first need a “perfect process,” which [...]

By Todd Youngblood | Posted in Lean, Process Thinking | Also tagged | Comments (2)

How To REALLY Alienate A Customer

December 7, 2010 – 2:56 pm

Screw-ups happen.  Sometimes it’s our own goof.  Sometimes it’s someone else’s goof, but we’re the party responsible. Sometimes we just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.   Doesn’t matter.  When the customer is upset or simply has unmet expectations, somebody has to step up and handle the situation.  Somebody has [...]

By Todd Youngblood | Posted in Develop Relationships | Also tagged , | Comments (9)

Customer focus must be ignored at all cost!

September 16, 2010 – 7:02 am

“Full Service!”  “Total Solution!”  “We handle everything!”  “We are a customer focused company!”  Virtually always, statements like these are a load of hooey.
I’ll start with the moral of the story.  Don’t claim to be customer focused or full service unless you are absolutely certain you fully and completely understand all the details of the customer’s [...]

By Todd Youngblood | Posted in Value Propositions | Also tagged | Comments (1)

Solution, Consultative, or Embedded Selling?

August 5, 2010 – 3:00 pm

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 [...]

By Todd Youngblood | Posted in Differentiation | Also tagged , , | Comments (4)