Posts from — December 2008

Richard Fenton and Andrea Waltz are owners of Courage Crafters, Inc.; creators of authors of Go for No! which reprograms the way people think about failure, rejection, and how they respond to the word NO.

The “go for no” ideas have been embraced by people in a wide variety of industries and organizations including Country Insurance, Labor Ready, American Express, Jennifer Furniture, Juice Plus, Pep Boys, and many, many more. You can Visit them at GoForNo.com.

It’s my pleasure to bring you Richard Fenton and Andrea Waltz — get ready to enhance your selling skills in a big way…  Read more...

I’m a big fan of a Canadian television show called the Dragon’s Den. The premise of the show has budding entrepreneurs pitch their product or business idea to five venture capitalists who then decide if they are willing to offer funding.

This is a great example of selling because the business owners are asking for large amounts of money (from 50-400 thousand dollars).

The smart entrepreneurs get it. The majority don’t. The people who get the funding generally have a much stronger approach and are more effective in their appeal.

Rendering exceptional customer service is both a responsibility and a smart business decision. Unfortunately, far too many salespeople view customer service as an administrative burden that takes them away from making a sale.

The truth is, providing quality customer service presents tremendous opportunities for cross-selling, up selling and generating additional referrals.

Dick Cavett once said, “It’s a rare person who wants to hear what he doesn’t want to hear.” If your clients were given a customer satisfaction survey, how would they rate the level of service they are receiving from you? Customer feedback consistently points to the fact that the little things make a big difference.

Recent research uncovered almost eighty reasons why customers dislike salespeople. Here are the top seven.

1. Not listening. This was the most cited reason customers dislike salespeople. Too many salespeople neglect to listen to what their customers or prospects say which means they fail to address the key issues that their customer has stated as being important.

If you are involved in sales, and who isn’t, you know the terms, techniques and tips for attracting potential customers, creating the desire to buy, gaining trust, closing the deal and maintaining relationship.

Each step in the process is critical to the desired outcome: productive and profitable customer relationships.

Acquiring a new customer costs more than five times as much as keeping an existing customer. Research validates the data, but good old common sense tells you this is true.

While you or your manager is spending time teaching salesmanship, one topic frequently overlooked is business etiquette, an array of skills that can set you and your product or services apart from your competition.  Read more...

Athletes Practice, Students Practice, Musicians Practice, Business Professionals Should Practice Strategic Selling Professionals Must Practice. If you tire of working so hard and not achieving, business performance perhaps now is the time to treat your profession like an athlete. Start thinking like an athlete so that you have the inside track for your profession. Here is a new seven-step formula to create your success.

Strategic account professionals lack a methodology to remain on track with clients. They like any professional need a global positioning system to comprehend the relationship, the pipeline, and the close. Similar to how an athlete practices to achieve success here is a method for strategic success.  Read more...

So, if the economy is down, why is there so much spending? While I do not suggest you ignore the issues, however, media outlets seeking viewers contrive much of the news. Selling professionals need ignore these unnecessary distractions and simply sell. Stop getting distracted and stop listening to the negative. You must find methods that provide the inside track and get your sales into 5th gear.

Put Selling into 5th Gear…

The largest singular issue with selling in a difficult economy is change. There is change in buying power, change in budgets, even change in decision criteria. However, what has not changed, are goals, annual commitments and a desire to excel.  Read more...