Trade Shows: More than just a fancy booth
You have a pull-up banner, logoed apparel, and snazzy promotional products. Business cards and brochures are printed, and your booth backdrop is packed and ready to be shipped to the convention center. You’re all set for the trade show, right? Not quite yet! None of these items will guarantee a successful outcome — customers! — […]
Silence is a Sales Strength
In comedy, well-placed silence is crucial to evoking an audience reaction. These breaks – referred to as “pregnant pauses” — give the crowd time to absorb the joke and react with laughter. But comedians aren’t the only group that benefit from exaggerated gaps in conversation. Pregnant pauses are also useful to employ in the sales […]
Chemistry is great (but it’s not a sales strategy!)
We’ve all heard stories — and experienced it ourselves — of two people immediately hitting it off, perhaps even falling in love at first sight. This instant attraction, often referred to as “chemistry”, is a mutual feeling of connection that transcends the spoken word. Chemistry doesn’t have to be romantic. It can happen anytime we […]
Breaking Up with a Client
Happy 2018! January offers a fresh start, a time when we make resolutions to do better, to be better. It’s also an opportunity to take stock of your business by asking three “W” questions: WHAT: Are we doing the work we want to/should be doing? WHO: Are we working for the right customer? WHY: Is […]
How to Derail "Send me the presentation."
“Send me the presentation.” As a salesperson, these four words are equivalent to the kiss of death for a burgeoning business relationship. In my experience, this request is (polite) code for, “I am remotely interested, but not wowed enough to take this relationship further.” Or perhaps, “There are some good things here, so I’m going […]
Measuring the Hunch
Intuition is a powerful tool in a business setting. Sometimes, a situation just “feels” right (or wrong) and it makes sense to trust our instincts. However, relying on hunches shouldn’t be the basis for your sales strategy. But what if you could measure those hunches? What if you could take a feeling and turn it […]
How to (REALLY) Get Through to Your Prospect
Aim to find three prospects inside the company: decision makers, influencers, or someone who will refer you to the right person. When clients have databases built for the purpose of selling to their ideal prospects, most of what we see is an attempt to reach only one person, per company- a division head, VP, or […]
4 Simple Steps to Describe Your Company and Your Client
There’s that time when I walk into a room and see smiles or concerning eyes attached to a face with attentive ears and I hear the many voices sending a low, escalating rumble throughout the room. This is networking. At my left and at my right, there’s a hand to shake, a smile to give, […]
How to Set That Meeting Sooner
Selling – it’s about the speed. Many aspects you can’t control, but the parts you can, take charge, lead the process, wait for nothing you don’t have to. I’ve witnessed many sales professionals, be it the employee or the CEO (if they are the salesforce), be passive in getting that call or meeting with the […]
How Much Money Is In Your Pipeline?
Do you know? Can you quantify what’s in there? Can you reasonably estimate the likelihood of close and the time it will take to get there? A client had with a tall order to nearly double revenue during a specified period of time. My question: “What’s in the pipeline?” Their answer, “I don’t know”. How […]
