Relationship selling is the bedrock for successful selling in the new millennium. However, most salespeople conduct themselves as if they were in a quaint Norman Rockwell painting, building relationships on a smile and a firm handshake, on friendship, on shared mutual interests, common background, charisma, personality and frequency of contact. This quaint, traditional and old…
DetailsIf you’re reading this article, you probably don’t need to. Confused? Good, I got your attention. The people I’m really directing this article to are those who probably got into selling by accident and don’t take it all that seriously. You know the ones. They’re glib, they’re good, and they treat selling like a game…
DetailsLet’s face it; everyone likes to get something for nothing, particularly if that something is valuable. What could be more valuable to a salesperson than receiving professional sales training? I mean sales training is something that can impact your wallet for the rest of your selling career. And to get it for free! Does it…
DetailsUnbeknownst to most salespeople is the idea that selling is all about getting prospects to make decisions, both small and large. Getting decisions that reach a conclusive “no” or “yes” and getting decisions that allow the prospects the freedom to decide “no,” without the fear of a salesperson’s full frontal counterattack. Therefore, selling isn’t as…
DetailsSalespeople are often faced with unresolved deals in their pipeline that they normally give up on or persist beyond any reasonable hope. There is a middle ground that is appropriate when you have reached the point of no return, your prospect is stringing you along in that they are taking you down the primrose path,…
DetailsMost salespeople don’t know when to quit. They don’t know when to quit talking… when to quit selling… and when to quit trying. They talk too much, sell too long and give up too soon. What’s worse, not only do some salespeople give up too soon, they often don’t even get started! In a survey…
DetailsMost companies and their salespeople covet their value add, their features and benefits, and their value proposition as if it were the Holy Grail. The reality is all value propositions are inherently valueless. The feature and benefit style of selling that has served companies so well in the past no longer works. It is tried,…
DetailsA sales call shouldn’t be something that happens by accident; it should be a planned event. When sales calls aren’t planned, they often result in wasted time and effort, resulting in a no sale. No matter how hard you try, you can’t make a sale on every call but, as a minimum, you should be…
DetailsThe most significant change in the selling landscape in the last 10 years has been the way prospects buy; sadly, not the way salespeople sell. It is just as important to understand and master the prospect’s buying process as it is for salespeople to master a systematic sales process.
That’s it! If it’s that simple, why aren’t more people successful in sales? Once again, the answer is relatively simple: They either don’t fully understand or know how to apply the basic fundamentals. So, just what are these mystical basic fundamentals of selling that seem to elude so many people? Well, before we explore some…
DetailsIt isn’t unusual that by the time salespeople get as far along in the sales process to learn how decisions are made, who are the players who make those decision and what is the timing of the decision, that they are so excited to have made it this far that they quickly skim over it…
DetailsWe all know that people buy from people they know and people they like. We also know that people send business to people they know and people they like. Having a strong network of people who can help you and who you can help is a valuable asset that many salespeople neglect to develop. One…
DetailsMost salespeople understand the concept of the sales funnel. It works just like an ordinary funnel that you might use to transfer liquid from one container to another. We all know that if you stop pouring the liquid into the top of the funnel, fluid stops coming out the bottom. We also know that if…
DetailsAt the beginning of every sales call your prospect is making two critical buying decisions. The first decision is about the salesperson. Behavioral research states that initial impressions are created within the first 20 seconds of meeting someone. So it is critical to differentiate oneself and one’s offering in the initial phase of a meeting.…
DetailsDo you know the major reason why prospects don’t buy? They were never asked! That’s right, no one asked them for the business. Strange as it seems, salespeople use all their superior selling skills to get in front of a prospect, qualify him, uncover his needs, match their product or service to those needs, and…
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