Posts from — February 2010

I hate long emails. They take too long to read and typically include action items I just don’t have time for. No doubt you’ve experienced it, too. Your customers are no different and it’s impacting your ability to close sales.

Sure, you carefully word your email, expanding your questions to avoid being misunderstood, or outlining a great recommendation. You format it with underlining and bolding to call attention to critical details. You use bullets to make it simple to read. You’re friendly throughout, sometimes even using a pretty color instead of boring black or blue.  Read more...

The past year was definitely interesting. Some sales professionals prospered while others suffered. I spoke to one person who doubled his income—and he works in automotive sales!

Yet, another well-established person experienced a decline of more than fifty percent in their sales. There are several key sales lessons that can be learned from selling in a recession. These will help you succeed in the upcoming year.

Companies are Leaner – This has been an ongoing factor for many years with continual downsizing and cut backs. However, the recession forced many companies to scale back even further than they normally would have. This has resulted in an extremely lean workforce.  Read more...

My wife and I were about to undertake our last remodeling project. Being a consummate consumer, I wanted several qualified companies to bid on our next project. After calling ten contractors, I scheduled an appointment with the five that called back.

Following our meetings, one gave me a price on the spot and two never responded with an estimate. Two contractors mailed an estimate, and one of them followed up a week later.

Guess who got the job. Just by making a five-minute phone call! What fascinated me most was that only one contractor called back to discuss his proposal and ask for my business.  Read more...

If you consider yourself a professional sales representative or executive you have undoubtedly worked very hard to overcome the stigma sales professionals have faced over the years.

For this reason I was very disappointed to read a newsletter written by a major international sales training firm entitled: “The Art Of How To Get To Any Decision Maker”.

I thought I would write about it this month in a newsletter that I will call: “The Art Of How Not To Get To Any Decision Maker”.  Read more...

Leave a voicemail? Don’t leave a voicemail? This is a question that sellers are passionate about. Many suggest not, but isn’t that a missed opportunity?

I always leave a message because how else will they know that you want to speak with them? In today’s world where it’s acceptable to screen calls, you may never reach your prospect if you don’t. Add to it that a message allows a prospect to hear your interest in talking with them and your professionalism.

So why not do it? Take advantage of the 40 seconds or so to grab attention, leave a positive impression, and start relationship building.  Read more...