Archive: Selling Methodologies
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Jan 03, 2011
No CommentsDoing the little things
I was working on a deal recently, and we got to a point where we were losing. There was no doubt about it – you have heard the customer say these things…. “Well, we did prefer the other product when we saw it, but we still are considering you.” “Price will be very important in...
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Jul 05, 2010
No CommentsRefuse to Lose
Our post last Friday, “Lights out – Guerilla Radio – turn it up“, discussed where in the sales cycle the desire to win can really help you close business (hint: it’s when something happens to delay or slow the sale). I was also recently reading a brief but interesting post from Maren Kate, “I Refuse”,...
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Jun 01, 2010
No CommentsIn challenging times, “velocity” matters!
Early this year I read an interesting article from John Cousineau’s blog entitled, “In Sales Productivity, Velocity Matters”. It was interesting and also described something that I believe wholeheartedly. The speed with which you act is the most important factor within your control! In good times this may seem to be less important, but when...
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May 01, 2010
No CommentsAre you riding a dead horse?
As you go through life, managing business, developing and executing strategy, and moving sales forward you want to make sure to always ask yourself am I Riding a Dead Horse? (from “A Guide to Implementing the Theory of Constraints”) Dakota tribal wisdom says that when you discover you’re riding a dead horse, the best strategy...
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Mar 31, 2010
No CommentsWhat if?
“What if? What if I call them, ask them to buy, and they say the budget is gone? Can I offer them another 10%? How about pricing terms? What if they want another demo? What if they cannot get it signed and need a coupleore days?” I hear this (and have said it) more than...
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Feb 16, 2010
No CommentsCustomer lifecycle
We spend a lot of time working out how we are going to sell a certain product. I’ve seen companies spend weeks working out the proper sales process, training the entire team, and then uploading this all into Salesforce. All this is good – you do need to get those wins. Once you have these...
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Jan 28, 2010
No CommentsSell provocatively
I read this post about selling provocatively in the Selling Power blog. The comments on tightening in budgets are absolutely true – I have seen it in action. Business is just being done in a different way now than 2 years ago. 2 years ago, we focused on all the classic solution-selling, Sandler-based techniques we...
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Jan 26, 2010
No CommentsThe “Thin Green Line” of sales – Caring about the Customer
The difference between being an average sales performer, consistently below quota, and a superstar is sometimes hard to understand. Sure there are some obvious signs (often displayed by consistent under performers) such as failing to work hard, not caring about results, asking the wrong questions, or the right ones too late. I could go on...
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Jan 19, 2010
2 CommentsScariest question in the world
I saw this tweet from the Go for No people about just not being afraid to ask a question. I’d say it even stronger…..ask the question you are most afraid to ask. You know what the question is when you are talking to someone. You’ve probably tried to ask “around” this question a bunch of...
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Jan 12, 2010
No CommentsThat’s just the way it is
Working in a collaborative environment is a great thing – you want lots of people to have input on your deals. When you are a salesperson, you discover a whole world of people who enjoy telling you all the things you should do. Once they are free of that quota, the opinions just flow out...
