Archive for May, 2010

The language "overcoming objections" doesn’t work for me. First, the idea of an objection is often too strong to describe what it is we encounter in sales. Second, the idea of “overcoming” brings with it the idea that by doing so you win and…

The ability to diagnose your dream client’s needs is a critical skill that is required to succeed in sales. But four common problems destroy the ability to conduct a good needs-analysis and prevent you from making a great diagnosis.

Here are the…

Is This The Right Call To Make?

Now that you have scheduled your sales call, it seems as if it might be too late to ask this question. It’s not. It is still a necessary question to ask, and it often prevents wasting your time and your dream…

I know the hard sell. I have done the hard sell myself. I have seen it done by others. I have had it done to me. I have had it attempted on me. And I have studied it. The pendulum has swung too far from hard selling, in part because we are really…

Inevitably, you will be late to a meeting at some point; an important sales call will run over the time you allotted, there will be an unexpected traffic problem, the school will call you about your sick child at the most inopportune time. These…

Most of the mistakes we make on sales calls seem to be small mistakes at the time we make them. They are rarely glaringly big, disastrous mistakes, and most of the time salespeople and sales organizations don’t spend enough time analyzing what…

In my senior year of high school, I was required to take a class called Principles of Democracy. The class was an American History class, and it included material on the formation of the United States, as well as the principles and formation of…

The ground truth is information that is gathered on location, rather than from up above. The military uses this idea to describe the tactical realities on the ground in contrast to what their reports or briefings may have provided. It stands for…

To provide proof that we can achieve the outcomes that we sell and that we promise, we often use case studies. Case studies also tell the story of how we found our dream client, the dissatisfaction that were struggling with, and how we have worked…

Long time readers here know that as much as I love technology, I don’t believe that it is a substitute for the right sales attributes and behaviors. A couple of my friends from across the web, however, are getting things right by better enabling…