“Every profession expects the serious practitioner of that profession to continually seek out the best practices of that profession, and then to roll them into his/her routine with discipline.”
That statement comes out of my mouth in almost every seminar or key note that I present. Sometimes I follow it up with the ironic observation that [...]

[Read more →]

Are things changing rapidly in your business?
Silly question, isn’t it? Of course they are changing. Rapid change is the distinguishing characteristic of the new millennium.
Take that rapid change and add to it growing competition, increasing complexity, consolidations at every level, and increasing demands from customers and you have the recipe for a business climate that [...]

[Read more →]

There are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of different sales closes. They all work. At least they all work at one time or another. Obviously, when closing you do everything you can to create urgency. You use all the honest tools you can muster and all the options your company provides. You use your favorite assumptive closes, [...]

[Read more →]

Closing a sale doesn’t always happen as easy as we hope. It’s great when it does, but there are times
when the prospect wants to negotiate. Sometimes, they need to negotiate because they have a true requirement that still needs to be addressed. Other times the prospect just wants to feel like they won something and, [...]

[Read more →]

The Close doesn’t have to be a big event that’s intimidating or uncomfortable for the prospect and the sales person. It shouldn’t be treated as a major occasion that you approach after overcoming painful hurdles and then confront the prospect in an adversarial way. The Close is actually the opening of a new relationship and [...]

[Read more →]

You’re probably like every other sales person on this planet and get your fair share of objections about your product or company. Regardless of how many objections you receive, there are techniques you can use to handle them in a positive and an effective manner. Here are 6 tips on how to handle objections.
1. Find the [...]

[Read more →]

Arguably, the most important skill in selling is listening. Some of us are better listeners than others, but we all must work on our listening skills if we are going to maximize our success in the business world.
• If you are going to be effective in selling, serving customers or managing others, you will need to [...]

[Read more →]

Over the past few years the sales environment has changed in a number of ways. The reasons are vast but typically relate to the changes in our society, economy, business models, technology and more. When it comes right down to the actual selling environment, there are a few distinct attributes that stand out today that [...]

[Read more →]

Alan Alda, in his new autobiography Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself, said that some of our most important conversations are conducted in the doorway and follow the phrase, “Oh, by the way.”
Alda says that after spending the evening with the family there may have been something you’ve wanted to say for the last [...]

[Read more →]

I’m confused. But not alone. As sales and marketing people we too often fail to clearly distinguish the difference between feature and benefit when presenting to customers.
An advertising headline in Sunday’s paper says, “
Maybelline – Foundation, Pressed Powder, Blush, Eye Shadow or Eye Liner”. Another, for a feature-heavy mobile phone reads, “Introducing [...]

[Read more →]