Hold ‘em, fold ‘em…And the difference So you delivered a great presentation that however didn’t end all that well. Your approach was on target. The presentation of it well tailored and delivered just short of masterfully. But still it fell short. Your honest review of it afterwards didn’t unearth a single change in strategy or […]
Objections and overcoming Roadblocks to success There are those self proclaimed sales ‘experts’ who tell us that objections are just the buyer saying, “Tell me more”. Then there are those who say objections should be sidestepped and pretty much ignored. Truth is both are partly correct – but mostly wrong! Let’s start with that first […]
A word for…and against spontaneity Spontaneity is an essential skill that we’d be hard pressed to be without. In its absence we’d be like the DMV clerk who can’t assist an applicant because a set procedure that won’t allow them to deviate from a “plain vanilla” request. On the flip side there’s the potential value […]
He who speaks…first probably loses If we hope to succeed in the end goal of our sales presentation, we obviously have to understand the importance of delivering a solid close at its’ conclusion. And we know that a good sales close means posing a question that can’t be easily answered with a simple “no”, or […]
You have…my attention As the saying goes, if it was easy anybody could do it. That certainly applies to our profession since it requires such a wide array of skills to succeed. And while being only just “dangerous” at a few of those can still allow for success, there’re a few where nothing less than […]
ELMEC revisited…a sales refresher In sports it’s called muscle memory. You know that amazing ability to return to a skill we were once proficient at? Take golf. Stop chasing that little ball for ten years and you can still pick up a club and that familiar hand grip and swing feels almost automatic. The problem […]
Making plans that …match the goals After establishing goals comes making plans to achieve them. Implementation follows and then evaluating how well it all worked comes last in the GPIE acronym. Assuming we’ve created goals that are indeed believable, achievable and measurable, that planning step is often the weak link in those four steps. All […]
The best goals …Start with BAM Ever heard a businessperson say something like, “We hope to grow sales by X% next rear”? It might sound like a goal, but it’s not. It’s an aspiration, a hope. And that’s fine, but hope isn’t a goal. A goal is a specific target that’s believable, achievable, and measurable. […]
Minor decisions …Major impacts When we think of a prospect call, our minds pretty much automatically shift to the dish or laundry machine or some other large objective. And that’s pretty much to be expected. But the rub is (assuming it’s a truly cold call) they don’t really know us, or our reputation. That means […]
Looking for more sales…In all the right places Okay so you’re thinking about the plans you made for a great 2024. That probably includes closing a couple of really juicy prospects and a few more in the mid to even small size. So far so good. But what about the lower hanging fruit that could […]