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When Was The Last Time You Got Thanked for Making a Cold Call?

Posterous — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 08:42:01 PST

It’s time to seriously ‘question’ traditional approaches. In fact, isn’t it amazing how some of the strategies and techniques of yesteryear end up, in hindsight, being exactly the opposite of what actually makes sense? Tom Freese explains how some of the traditional sales approaches for dealing with prospects and customers are antiquated.

Have You Lost Your Ability to Talk to Customers Without Pitching?

Posterous — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 06:37:21 PDT

Many sales people are used to calling customers either in response to a specific need, or about a marketing initiative and pitching a new program. It's a great opportunity to just talk to a customer and learn from them. Yet many ask questions like "What do I talk to them about” or “What should I be presenting” - Dave Brock gives the answer.

Making Audiences More Receptive to Your Sales Presentation

Posterous — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:23:27 PDT

I don’t teach presentation skills like voice inflection, gesturing, or how to utilize visual aids in front of an audience. That doesn’t mean presentation skills aren’t important. They are! But so is another aspect of the sales presentation that nobody talks about, which is how to make your presentation audience more receptive to your message.

Working Backwards From Your Goal to Get Ahead

Posterous — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 08:16:08 PDT

When you ask sales professional what their numbers are, they usually tell you their goal, where they are vis-à-vis their goal, perhaps how many sales they have that month, how many accounts they currently have, but usually not much more. But sales professionals need to track much more if they want to consistently outperform.

The One Thing Sales People Can’t Stand

Posterous — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 04:00:56 PDT

Sales people always ask me “what do I say when they say…” this, that or the other thing. I am not sure how it is with other professionals, but since I work with sales people most of the time, I can tell you that sales people hate – and are really frightened when the obvious choice is ‘nothing’; nothing to say, nothing to add, nothing that fits the situation.

What Your Prospect Says Is More Than Just A Distraction

Posterous — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 04:48:31 PDT

My observation from dealing with hundreds of sellers on the phone—and please don’t assume this is a cold caller issue alone as a great many sellers make these mistakes whether on the phone or in-person although they seem to be more prevalent in phone conversations—is they cannot distinguish between a straightforward question about their product or service, an objection to purchasing, and a direct statement ending the conversation. But if we sellers want to be relevant to prospects, we better learn the communication skills that have always been one of the hallmarks of the top sellers.

Are You Helping Your Prospects Discover What They Don’t Know?

Posterous — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 09:47:03 PDT

Probing our customers, understanding their problems, quantifying and qualifying their needs is critical to proposing solutions to their issues. Customers appreciate sales professionals who provide value based and business justified solutions to their problems. But what happens when the customer doesn’t know that they have problems, or doesn’t recognize opportunities? What happens when they don’t know? No amount of good sales questioning and probing will get the customer to know what they don’t know.

3 Suggestions For Great Customer Sales Meetings

Posterous — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 04:56:42 PDT

You’ve scheduled your first meeting with a new prospective customer! You’re hoping for “beginner’s luck,” eager to make a stellar first impression—but what’s the best way to make that happen? Do you jump right into questioning if your prospect knows little if anything about you?

Will You Be a Sales Person of the Future?

Posterous — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 04:52:23 PDT

We all know the role of sales professionals is changing. The sales person used to be an important channel to educating and informing customers about products and services. The wide availability of information on the internet changes this–though it doesn’t eliminate this. Most customers are more informed about products and services. They do their homework, searching the internet, leveraging the opinions of others to select a few alternatives they will consider. What does this mean for sales professionals and their evolving role?

When Markets Pick Back Up, You Can’t Let Up!

Posterous — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 05:37:53 PDT

Slowly we’re beginning to hear about an improved bit of economic news here, a better than expected economic thing there. Some of the sellers and sales leaders I’m speaking to are asking about when I think the markets will really pick up and what are other clients saying about their sales and what they see [...]