Revealing Cost: Questions to Ask a Financial Decision Maker When you have an opportunity to work with a prospect to build a business case, it’s important to involve the financial decision maker to co-build the business case. This is imperative to success because we have to let them do the math on the cost/benefit analysis. If they do not do the math, they don’t believe … Read more
4 Negotiating Tips to Handle an Impromptu Sales Conversation When faced with an unplanned negotiating moment, an unsophisticated negotiator will choose a position and cling to it. A strong negotiator, on the other hand, will have several alternative approaches in mind, and will share these options with the buyer without arguing or offending. Becoming a great negotiator requires practice to develop good habits, and it’s … Read more
Why Reviewing Sales Call Recordings is Essential I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: reviewing your game film is essential to improving your performance as a salesperson. Why you might be asking? I was on the call, I know what happened. I would challenge you to listen to a sales call and then go back and read the call summary you wrote after … Read more
Sales: A Scientific Method Most people would argue that sales is an art, not a science. I don’t disagree, but I do believe you can apply the scientific method to the sales process. For those of you who’ve been out of school for a while, here’s a refresher on the steps: Ask a question Do background research Construct a hypothesis Test with an experiment Analyze … Read more
The Problem of Pressure Software sales can be described as a pressure cooker. Wall Street and private equity firms put pressure on the company CEO, who in turn puts pressure on the CRO. The CRO then pressures the sales team, which forces them to pressure customers. Pressure is often applied in order to accelerate revenue, but this approach can lead to dysfunction. Ultimately, pressure will … Read more
Tactical v. Strategic Selling Tactical selling Tactical selling is what you do when you are with a customer. Tactical selling is about doing things right; it’s about action; it’s about execution. A tactical selling system provides structure for the sales conversations that move a customer through the buying journey. A prescribed process for delighting the customer and ensuring that buyers become promoters is vital to … Read more
Don’t be a wimpy seller How do you respond when a buyer puts pressure on you? As a salesperson, it is important to realize your response can impact the outcome of the sale. Most salespeople fall along what I call The Response Spectrum. Have you ever been a wimp? When the buyer asks for concessions and you give them up immediately without a fight, you … Read more
The Origin of the Unique Selling Proposition Rosser Reeves (1910–1984) was an ad executive and early pioneer of television advertising. He was committed to making ads that were simple, direct, and often annoying (I can’t swear he was actually committed to being annoying per se, but one wonders). His most typical ad was probably that for Anacin, a headache medicine. The ad was considered grating … Read more
Sales Principle: Demonstrate, Don’t Assert Have you ever noticed that two people can say essentially the same thing, but it can be received in wildly different ways? Assertion: The only way to eat a hot dog is with ketchup on top. Demonstration: Wow! Have you tasted how good this hot dog is when you add ketchup? Try it! The point of both statements is that … Read more
More Marketing! When your current sales team asks for more marketing, beware. They may ask for: More campaigns Better literature Lower prices New features More pre-sales tech support These things are crutches. If your salespeople don’t know how to sell, you can never give them enough crutches. You will spend a lot of money and time doing things that don’t address the core weakness. Sending … Read more