Posts from — October 2008

An artist stands in front of a blank canvas, slowly mixing the paint for just the right color. Lightly touching the brush to the canvas, his creation starts, and something of beauty begins to slowly appear. Ok Joe, I thought I was reading a sales column, not Art 101!

I wanted to capture your attention with this example to illustrate (pun intended) that today with all of the complexity and challenges of selling, a sales professional must have a greater understanding of how to help their prospect succeed in business.  Read more...

Let’s say you’re on a sales call.

And in the back of your mind, you don’t care.

Which is not to say you’re apathetic. It’s just that you’re relaxed. With yourself. With your product. With your prospect. So, you “don’t care” insofar as you’re not negatively affected by the thought of failure.

If I don’t make the sale, no biggie, you think. You do the best you can, be yourself, and if you close the deal, great. If not, it’s cool. Onto the next prospect!

So, what often happens?

That’s right. You make the sale.  Read more...

As a salesperson, you don’t want to be a pest.

But you do want to follow up effectively.

So, what’s your approach?

Three Words: Gentle Reminder Selling.

It’s non-threatening.
It’s not overly salesy.
It’s a great method for delivering value.

For Example: let’s say a certain prospect hasn’t returned your calls or emails.

Maybe she’s busy.
Maybe she forgot to reply.
Maybe she has more important stuff to do that week.

No problem!

Your duty as an approachable salesperson is to gently remind them who you are AND how you unqiely give value … without being too pushy.  Read more...

Questions are differentiators.

With prospects.
With customers.
With total strangers!

So, if you want to become That Guy – and if you want to own the MAXIMUM amount of mindshare in your customers’ minds – start by asking better questions.

Now, by “asking BETTER questions,” I mean:

Asking dangerous questions.
Asking disturbing questions.
Asking dumb questions.
Asking guiding questions.
Asking judicious questions.
Asking killer questions.
Asking challenging question.
Asking penetrating questions.
Asking smarter questions.
Asking unexpected questions.
Asking upside-down questions.
Asking well-crafted questions.
Asking well-timed questions.  Read more...

Allow me to share a quick video clip I did where I discuss the importance of building and enhancing the relationship with your prospects, clients, and customers. I also share how a number of sales professionals have been (quite cleverly I might add ) using the booklet I authored, ‘Why Perfect Timing is a Myth’ as a gift to build value with their customers as well as those people they want to do business with.

I hope you enjoy it!

Yours in selling success, Josh Hinds  Read more...

“The people we find most ‘interestING’ are the people who seem most ‘interestED’ in us. So, be interestING by first being interestED.”

Have you ever been in a conversation with someone who let you do practically all the talking? When you left, you may have thought to yourself, ‘Wow, what a fascinating conversationalist that person is!” . If so, then you know how important it is to ask questions that allow the other to talk about themselves and what *they* find interesting.  Read more...