We can argue about what constitutes a bear market, a recession, and when the economy will hit bottom, but it seems clear that 2008 will be a tough year. Oil looks like it might top $100 a barrel, real estate will continue the downward spiral, and we have a lame duck President. It’s time to…
When negotiating you will periodically encounter the “cry baby”, which is a negotiator who has learned that if they cry loud enough and long enough, he or she might get what they want. This behavior resembles a two year old screaming until you pick them up to shut them up. They scream because it works…
Hunters hunt and farmers farm. Both types of sales people are valuable, but which best fits your offering? Which of these sales profiles is the best fit for your industry? Which is the best fit for the territory and the accounts? A hunter is highly tuned-in to his or her surroundings and always on the…
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:…
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…
“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…
“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…
“Different isn’t always better, but better is always different.” – Marshall Thurber, entrepreneur I like this quote because it sums up my thinking about how customers will buy an offering because of its differences and not because it is similar to another offering. This is true even if the offering is a commodity or is…