If you’re going to sell anything, you must deal with real prospects. Your challenge as a salesperson is to separate the real prospects from the unreal ones. That’s what qualifying a prospect is all about. Finding real prospects is not difficult but too few salespeople do it and end up wasting their time trying to…
DetailsOptimism is true moral courage. Determining to be hopeful and positive in the face of daunting circumstances is a gutsy choice effective leaders make again and again. It’s easy to give in to negativity and pessimism when leading on the edge of chaos. Yet, resisting the tendency to give in to despair, discouragement and defeat…
DetailsBy Dennis W. Bakke PVG, 2005 ISBN #0-9762686-0-4 Reviewed by Ian Cook In 1982 Dennis Bakke co-founded the energy company AES and led it, by the year 2000, to $8.6 billion revenue, over $33 billion in assets in thirty-one countries, 40,000 employees, and an energy provider to over 100 million consumers. He resigned in 2002,…
DetailsBy far the single biggest concern I hear from managers I work with is, “How can I get my people to do more?” Their number one challenge is how to ensure their employees are motivated. For the answer to this question we turn to the sales professional. Superior salespeople do many things well but one…
DetailsWe’ve all had them — the prospect that isn’t going to buy from you no matter what. It might be because he doesn’t need or want whatever it is you’re selling or perhaps you’ve rubbed him the wrong way and he simply doesn’t want to buy from you. The only problem is, he won’t tell…
DetailsNot every salesperson has a natural gift to quickly bond and develop rapport with prospects. Many try to succeed by ingratiating themselves with frequent contact, entertaining prospects, being responsive, reliable and helpful. However, what if you don’t have the luxury of the preceding and you are faced with a reluctant and guarded prospect who resists…
DetailsThe Four Drive Model of Employee Motivation was presented by Lawrence and Nohria in 2002. The model is a holistic way of looking at employee motivation beyond the typical “pay” model that is prevalent in the corporate world today. I will not go into detail regarding the model here, but just give an overview and…
DetailsThere is absolutely no doubt that persistence is a key element for sales success. But where does persistence stop and being a pest begin, and when is being persistent just plain dumb? This is not a problem for most salespeople because, as a general rule, they give up far too soon in the selling process.…
DetailsPrice Price is never the real issue for prospects. The real issue is that they may not believe you are worth the price. The reality is that many times your product and service isn’t worth the price. Not because it doesn’t justify itself, but because your prospect doesn’t value it. So instead of constantly fighting…
DetailsYou answer the telephone and hear the words, “My boss has asked me to get information and pricing on (whatever it is you sell)” and your heart sinks. It sinks because you know that dealing with information seekers is an even greater challenge than dealing with gatekeepers. You know that whatever price you quote will…
Details“Deep within humans dwell those slumbering powers; powers that would astonish them, that they never dreamed of possessing; forces that would revolutionize their lives if aroused and put into action.” Orison Marden It’s 9:01 a.m. Pacific Standard Time, Friday, May 18, 2001. I am writing this on an Air Canada plane flying from Toronto to…
Details$948.00 was the annual dollar value of each person in your work email address book according to a recent IBM study published in the Winter Information Systems Conference in February 2009. In other words, this means that every contact in your database has the potential of making you at least $948.00!
The winds of change are impacting the sales profession. These changes are being brought about, for the most part, by the changes that are occurring in the buying arena. Unlike selling which is a full-contact sport, buying has moved to being a non-contact sport for many things. The Internet and other media have replaced the…
DetailsSo much is changing in our economic and business environment these years, is it any wonder that the nature of leadership is changing too? We’re not talking a new fad, here, folks. Fads come and they go. Leadership—as it is progressively practiced today—is here to stay! If you manage, supervise, direct or formally influence other…
DetailsReferrals are an excellent source of new business but most salespeople don’t deserve to get them! Yes, you heard me right. Why do I feel they don’t deserve them? Because they do nothing to earn them. Too many salespeople are like waiters. You know the ones. They show up at your table to take your…
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