Archive for September, 2009
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Sep 28, 2009
No CommentsReduce sales cycle by 50%
You know what happens then, right? You sell twice as much. Every month salespeople sit there with a few deals they are “working.” The client is deciding (avoiding a decision) or getting approval (waiting for someone else who is avoiding a decision) or in the signing process (sitting on some desk somewhere with someone who...
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Sep 28, 2009
No CommentsBuilding a selling machine
I went home on Friday feeling pretty good about where things were. The team was selling more – the economy seemed to be a little better – I was much closer to hitting my targets. In traffic, I thought about what got me there. Sure, the economy was better……but we had some other changes. When...
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Sep 22, 2009
No CommentsRazzle-dazzle…right…..
Geez, I have a shirt like this guy in The Onion. I like my shirts a little less blue than than, but I have plenty of those salesman shirts…. Razzle-dazzle is definitely over-rated…………but the salesperson does have a role in the “magic” that leads to a close. I was talking to a friend about this...
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Sep 22, 2009
No Comments5 Tips for handling difficult negotiations and customers
It’s going to happen eventually (if it hasn’t yet!), but eventually you are going to come across a customer that has no concept of “win-win” and believes it’s only a win if they get everything and give you nothing. These negotiations and sales cycles can be draining and challenging and it takes a lot of...
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Sep 21, 2009
1 CommentWhere is that slide?
Why exactly do we need...
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Sep 16, 2009
No CommentsIt takes two
We were kicking around ideas on how to run our demos. We came up with some great tactics – we worked on scripts and reached agreement. After the discussion, I sat there and wondered if any of it really mattered. You practice all these techniques because you want the demo to go a certain way. ...
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Sep 09, 2009
1 CommentDon’t be coy – be direct with your customers!
I was in a meeting today and what should have been a 30 min straight forward meeting dragged into an hour until it finally just fizzled out. Throughout the meeting I tried to stay low key since it wasn’t my meeting (although I did have to lead the meeting initially since the person who scheduled...
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Sep 08, 2009
No CommentsDirty Tricks…
This article in InfoWorld was interesting: http://www.infoworld.com/d/applications/dirty-vendor-tricks-909. Hmm…..dirty tricks from software vendors…. Absolutely, this happens. I would say that many companies actually encourage salespeople to do this. I remember someone telling me I needed to just show more PPTs and “sell everything as a solution.” For that person, they meant, “The product looks terrible –...
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Sep 07, 2009
No CommentsLabor Day Selling
Labor Day is a good thing – a day no one has to work (that’s how it should work). Salespeople can’t work anyway. No one is there to talk to, so there’s no “labor” needed. People always want me to know they are working hard: making calls, getting meetings, filling out RFPs, working on demos....
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Sep 05, 2009
1 CommentTop 5 reasons why you prospect for new business within existing customers
Many times I’ve worked for managers who have truly believed that the best thing a sales rep could do to generate business was to make a lot of cold calls. Non-sales people often do really believe that is what selling is. Calling people you don’t know, who don’t know you, who may or may not...
