The headline above is an actual headline from BusinessWeek Online from August 13, 2007. The story that followed described new technologies which help monitor bridges and how experts who can analyze the results are in short supply. This article was written in the wake of the recent Minneapolis bridge collapse disaster. The message is simple:…
Many of us spend a lot of time thinking about what we want. This is true for career planning, negotiation, marketing strategy, and lunch. We are the center of universe, or so we think. In marketing and sales you must let go of what you want and put the focus first on the customer, or…
James Surowiecki wrote “Why the Many Are Smarter than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations” back in 2004. The book reinforced the now ubiquitous term called the “wisdom of crowds”. Used by academics and marketing gurus alike, the cliché tells us to listen to the needs, or better said,…
You beat the competition. You secured commitment from the customer. And you got the order. Congratulations, but the selling is not over. The next step is to go back and sell to your own company and it may be the hardest sales call you make. To fulfill your commitments to your customer will require that…
Negotiating seems easy, but actually doing it can be hard. The biggest mistake that people make is to focus on their own position instead of trying to understand the interests or motivations of the other parties. As simple as it sounds, you need to focus on the other party and their interests (and not just…
“Glengarry Glen Ross” is a riveting movie about selling that will both entertain you and make you cringe at the same time, particularly if you make your living selling. At the very least, it will make you question your own code of ethics. Based on David Mamet’s 1984 Pulitzer Prize winning play of the same…
Having managed sales people for many years while being a peddler myself, I have observed how sales people behave, both good and not so good. Sales people that are truly excellent behave the same way, more or less. Said another way, successful sales people tend to exhibit some common behavioral characteristics. Here are a few…
Objections. You have heard them all before: “I have no budget”, “I have no need”, “I am not interested” or “We are happy with our existing supplier”. My favorite objection is “Maybe later”. All are the customer’s way of saying “no”. Classical sales training tells us that you have to hear “no” before you can…
Run for the hills! We are being invaded by monstrous sea creatures! All is lost! This is an actual headline from the Associated Press on 7/25/2007, which describes the increased sightings of seven foot squid off the coast of California. Yet, if you take the headline literally, Armageddon has come. This is the power of…
“He would make a lovely corpse.” – Charles Dickens Eventually, we all have to call on difficult customers. You know who they are. They are grumpy, angry, confrontational, cheap, lazy, critical, and picky. No matter how hard you try, it is hard to meet their expectations. Just picking up the phone to talk with them…