The science in selling comes down to a pretty straight forward formula. The bigger your pipeline, the better chances of success. A Robust Pipeline = Predictability + Power + Profit. The foundation of building a pipeline is about blocking out the time and being committed to focused prospecting. It’s getting back to the basics. Pause […]
Objection! Leading the Customer
Would lawyers make great salespeople? Well let’s think about it. Are they good at asking questions? Absolutely. Just watch a good trial lawyer ask the witness some questions. They lead them down the path they want while the opposing lawyer interrupts with “objection, leading the witness!” In sales, these questions are called positioning questions. Without […]
How You Buy
It’s known in sales that people buy emotionally and then back their decision with logic. Isn’t it funny though, that when clients have objections, they’re usually logical? Your price is too high. I don’t like the way the contract is worded. The specifications aren’t what I expected. Clients typically consider four criteria when deciding to […]
Simplicity Supports Clarity
Have you ever researched a new purchase only to find that there were too many options? What did you do? Sometimes people delay the purchase completely. Or they ask a friend for a referral or even let the product reviews help them decide. If you find the right company or product, you might run into another […]
Procrastinate Your Way to Increased Productivity
Taking the time to brainstorm and let ideas simmer can result in creative approaches with clients. Remember back in college when you knew you had finals lurking just a couple of weeks away and you committed to studying a little bit each night? You promised to be disciplined and not wait to cram everything in at the last minute. And what […]
Sales is Not Linear
Sales training has always emphasized what I would call the typical “Sales Cycle” – discovery, needs, qualification, solution, presentation and commitment. Many follow this methodology, but it’s missing a vital piece – timing! Where is the business in the pipeline and when will we get the commitment – that’s what we want to know. Yet […]
Features Don’t Sell
Facts tell, stories sell. If you want to influence your clients to act, tell them a story or give them an analogy. It’s a powerful way to paint a picture of what the client can have. It opens them to understanding how your solution can be of benefit. Years ago, one of the most popular […]
3 “Musts” for Customers to Buy
It’s three in the afternoon and you get a LinkedIn message from someone who wants to increase your revenues by 20%. You look at the person’s name, think back if you’ve met them and realize it’s someone you’ve never heard of. What do you do? Respond back interested? Say no thanks? Or just ignore? If […]
Three Traits of Top Sales Performers
One of the best sales people that I ever worked with displayed three traits that still hold true to this day. Let’s call him Frank. Frank was a professional seller long before the internet existed, before the onset of social media and yet he was skilled at selling a complex solution for a company that […]
Selling Outcomes
The eighties were a time of warring factions in the computer industry, especially in the PC category. I worked for Digital Equipment Corporation who was challenged as we went up against the powerhouse IBM. Both companies were focused on features: specs for main memory, size of the hard drive and the ancient “floppy disk.” Both […]
