One of the biggest mistakes I made in my sales career was assuming that what was important to me was equally important to my customer. I met a prospect in Birmingham, Alabama that wanted a presentation on why our computers were superior to our competitors. I decided to focus on what I considered our unique […]
Relationship Selling
The Customer’s #1 Reason to Invest With You
“The worst thing a sales person can do is start listing all the features and functions of their solution. You have no clue yet as to whether or not…”
Selling on Trust
Stephen Covey is known for his important and best-selling books starting with his 1st best seller “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”. As most of you know Stephen passed away last month, but his legacy lives on in more ways than one. His son Stephen M.R. Covey has become a respected author too, releasing […]
Relationships Trump Everything in Sales
Many moons ago I was competing for a large computer sale against IBM. This sale was ours to lose and we didn’t plan on losing. Our price was lower, our technology was superior, the service levels were better and there would never be any additional fees for upgrading to a larger system. Yet, we lost! […]
Why Customers Hate To Be Sold
You’ve heard it many times- customers hate to be sold, but they love to buy. Why is that? Think about it, don’t you despise people telling you what to do or giving you their opinion on what they think you should do? Are you happy or mad when a friend tells you what’s wrong with […]
The 3 Laws of Relationship Selling
Here’s an oxymoron – if you want to be successful in the world of sales, stop selling! You don’t need to convince the prospect to do business with you; they must convince themselves that you are the person they prefer to buy from. Prospects and customers don’t just buy the products and services they need, […]
What Do Customers Really Want-Really!
In the world of professional sales, we’ve all heard it before: sell the customer value; deliver great service. Sell benefits, not features. Handle objections and differentiate yourself from the competition. Close early and often and ask the critical questions. Blah, blah, blah and the beat goes on. So what do customers really want, really? Everyone […]
Characteristics of the “A” Player Sales Professional
We’ve all heard the term “A” player when it comes to putting your All Star team together. The question I’d like to pose is this, is it possible to hire a sales professional who is good at every aspect of the sales process or environment? If you say that the answer is yes, find me […]
3 Musts for Sales Success
I believe Sales is a competitive sport. As we enter 2010, the successful sales professional will look at the economy and say-this will be a great year! In other words it doesn’t matter if we are or were in a recession and it doesn’t matter if the forecast for 2010 is iffy or bleak. Successful […]
Self Awareness and Selling
Selling complex solutions always comes down to people buying from people they have a relationship with. Relationships are built on trust. Trust is developed by showing commitment, follow through and delivering quality solutions that provide value to the customer. It’s that simple right? Well, kind of. The sales professional’s greatest challenge is getting from the […]
