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Category Archives: Sales and Marketing
A Good Leader is a Good Storyteller
If only I could never open my mouth…until the abstract idea had reached its highest point – and had become a story! Zorba the Greek Since joining my current company, I have been emphasizing several concepts, such as “trust but … Continue reading
Posted in Communication, Leadership, Sales and Marketing
Tagged Communication, Leadership, Storytelling
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Selling When We are Not in Sales
No matter what our title is, we are all salespeople. Whenever we are trying to… persuade others lobby for our point of view satisfy a disgruntled customer ask for a raise… we are selling. Below I offer nine suggestions (from … Continue reading
Posted in Communication, Perform / Execution, Sales and Marketing
Tagged Communication, Persuasion, Selling
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A Time For Everything
“We all have times when we think more effectively, and times when we should not be thinking at all.” Daniel Cohen To be effective as leaders, we must do our good work in its proper time. We need to be … Continue reading
Posted in Perform / Execution, Personal Success, Sales and Marketing
Tagged Effectiveness, Golden Hour, Power Hour
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Experiment… A Little
To move our companies forward, we need to experiment. We need to try out new products, new sales/ marketing strategies, new processes, and new leadership styles. We cannot be certain if all of these will work. But, to not experiment … Continue reading
Checklists
Several years ago, a medical surgeon, Atul Gawande, wrote a best-selling book, The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right, that discusses the advantages of using checklists in all types of activities from surgery to disaster recovery to business. As … Continue reading
Posted in Improve / Turnaround, Perform / Execution, Sales and Marketing
Tagged Communication, Focus, Learning, Productivity, Project Management, Training
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World Class Selling
The book, World Class Selling, by Roy Chitwood (founder of the Track Selling sales process) is an effective and insightful sales book. It is well worth reading for both new and experienced salespeople alike. Below I have summarized the key … Continue reading
Sales Fun Facts
This month, I thought to share some sales “fun facts” to get us all thinking of what we can do better to drive sales growth and success and move our companies forward. Having the right people on your sales … Continue reading
What Does a Buyer Want?
I recently interviewed a professional buyer at a customer company who was looking to move into a sales role for our company. I asked how she would use her current experience as a buyer to be a better salesperson. Her … Continue reading
Don’t Upsell…Right Sell
“Would you like to supersize your order?” As I wrote previously (“Do You Want Fries With That?” – An Opportunity for Profitable Growth), upselling can bring additional value to our customers, create additional sales and profits, and cement our relationships … Continue reading
Coaching and Developing Great Salespeople
Wanted: Great Salespeople! All of us are looking for great salespeople to close business, grow revenue, and help drive our companies to success. What are some of the qualities of great salespeople? Professional and personable Responsive and lives up to … Continue reading
5 Steps to Improving Customer Service
Excellent customer service is a fundamental for success in our businesses. Unfortunately, it is all too often lacking. So, how can we improve customer service in our companies? Hire and Develop Employees that Actually Like People: Customer service starts and … Continue reading
Prepare Questions…Not Presentations
The sales meeting begins. The salesperson starts talking through a PowerPoint presentation slide deck (which took him several hours to complete) telling the customer how great the salesperson’s company and products are. 30 minutes later the presentation is complete. And … Continue reading
Ten Ways to Grow Sales Now
Despite the improving unemployment rate and positive economic indicators, many B2B companies are stuck in slow and no growth modes. How can these companies re-kindle growth and increase sales?
Go Where the Growth Is
In today’s low growth world, B2B companies need to be looking for those market segments and niches that are growing faster than the overall economy. ‘Going where the growth is’ offers our companies the promise of increasing sales to growing … Continue reading
An Open Letter From Your B2B Customer
Dear Mr. or Ms. Sales Manager, I am writing to remind you that I need you. You and your salespeople provide products and services that I need to help me succeed in my business. Unfortunately, many of your salespeople do … Continue reading
Be Easy to Do Business With
In a previous blog, Lessons from a Customer, I related my experience in dealing with 106 companies while I moved from Arizona to California. My conclusion was that most companies provide inadequate customer service and make it too difficult to … Continue reading
Five Questions to Ensure a Successful Sales Call
In his book, Spin Selling, Neil Rackham defines the four outcomes of any sales call: Win – the customer makes a firm commitment to buy Advance – the sales process moves forward towards a decision Continuation – the sales process … Continue reading
Do We Spend Enough Time Selling? – The Cost of Chaos
We have and need salespeople in order to sell, that is, in order to move deals forward. But, how much time do our salespeople really spend selling each week? Rick McPartlin, the CEO of The Revenue Game (and someone with … Continue reading
To Sell More, Sell Less
Today’s customer is overwhelmed with too much information and not enough time and attention span to digest it all. As such, the best salespeople have evolved and simplified their sales approach to be more responsive to over-burdened and over-saturated customers. … Continue reading
David M. Shedd - Move Your Company Forward 