Posts from — August 2008

Jed (a hypothetical salesperson) keeps getting what sound like positive buying signals with his prospecting calls. Somehow, though, he’s not getting very far.

“People tell me to call back in two months, four months, six months, when they will be looking at this problem” he says, perplexed. “When I call back, I get people telling me how glad they are that I called … but my close ratio is low, and my sales cycles are way too long. What’s going on?”

In response, I would give Jed the following advice.  Read more...

Upgrades, changes, and new services create interest for nearly any business client. If the new product or service is seen as a ‘plus’ by the staff, they’ll be enthused and energized because of it.

Since keeping people motivated is one of the primary challenges of management, this close can hit on a decision-maker’s hot button that has little to do with the actual product or service itself. It has worked many times to “knock ‘em off the fence” when hesitating about a decision.  Read more...

The last several months have been very interesting if you’re a political enthusiast. I’ve watched candidates travel across the country, shaking hands, kissing babies and spending millions of dollars trying to win their party’s nomination.

There is an abundance of talking heads analyzing every move that the candidates make. Most of it has become information overload to me, but I’m very intrigued with the concept of the exit polls. These quick and painless interviews are used to collect data and find out why people voted as they did.

So how can you use exit polls to help sell more?  Read more...

Anyone who knows me… understands I am not a huge fan of whiners.

In fact – I try to get away from them as fast as I can get my stilettos moving ( and believe me – I can sprint !)

And yet – at this time of year and right up until September -I will hear these sad little comments from all sorts of business people:

• Summer is always slow for business
• We/I always struggle for sales during the summer months
• I can’t invest in my business/market myself/get a website etc as I don’t have cash flow right now  Read more...