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What Commoditized Products Can Teach Us About Selling

davebrock — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 06:01:01 PDT

I have a confession, I grew up selling high tech systems, software and complex solutions. I spent much of my career in selling very complex capital equipment. For years, I had an arrogance that real sales people sold these solutions, everything else was order taking. A number of years ago, several companies having commoditized products managed [...]

How to Connect Your Products and Solutions to the CEO’s Priorities

Jeff Thull — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 13:22:08 PDT

How many sales have been lost because your competition had inroads with the senior executive and you didn’t? How often did you find out, too late, that the middle managers you had been talking to didn’t have the power to make the final decision to buy? The hard truth is, many times it’s very difficult to [...]

The Power of Word of Mouth in Sales: Testimonials & Referrals

Colleen Francis — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 01:26:02 PDT

So far in this series on boosting your sales and thriving in this new economy, we’ve looked at the importance of leveraging who you know, of considering carefully what you say and how you say it. Let’s turn now to what your customers have to say about you, and why it is vitally important that [...]

Risk-Busting Communications Skills for Tough Economic Times

Colleen Francis — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 01:18:42 PDT

In the new economy that is emerging around all of us, one of the key shifts we’re seeing is in the area of buyer motivation. Today, from consumers to corporate clients, the people who make the decision to buy have one big question on their minds: “how can you help reduce my risk?” There are all [...]

Selling in a Tough Economy: Focus on Existing Relationships

Colleen Francis — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 12:59:25 PDT

It’s a different market out there today from the one that many of us have known for the last several years. There’s no disputing that this new economy presents plenty of challenges, and yet by adopting the right approach, it’s also an opportunity for sales professionals to actually thrive…even in a tough market. The secret to success [...]

How to Keep Your Current Clients & Customers

stevekraner — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 09:40:38 PDT

There are few things more critical to a firm’s long-term success than its ability to maintain a stable and growing customer base. While many companies focus on finding new customers, it is a futile exercise if you do not retain the customers you won. The impact of customer retention is felt in three ways: 1) Profitability. We have [...]

How to Prevent Last Minute Negotiations

Jeff Thull — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 17:58:53 PDT

One of the enduring myths of negotiation is that it is back and forth struggle with your customer that occurs in the final stage of the sale, the “close.” Negotiation, at its best, is comprised of open, honest and straight-forward communication based on mutual respect and mutual trust. When you recognize it in this form, it [...]

How to Handle the Price Question Early in the Sales Cycle

Paul McCord — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 03:10:13 PDT

The price of your goods and services is always a primary concern to your prospects. Whether you like it or not, price is top of mind with the majority, if not all, of your prospects; and you probably find the question of price comes up in your conversations with prospects long before you have had [...]

How White Board Sales Proposals Will Help You Close More Deals

stevekraner — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 18:42:33 PST

Steve Reznikoff, President of Micro Systems Consultants, has extended the Sandler Selling System concepts to something he calls The White Board Proposal. He made a decision to stop spending hours writing extensive, fancy technical proposals in favor of meeting with the customer to sketch out a proposed solution on a white board. He said this decision [...]

Now is the Time to Master Financial Conversations

kendralee — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 16:53:14 PST

While these are admittedly challenging times for many, I still see a lot of sales being made among the companies we are working with. The biggest difference in selling today is the amount of time it takes for sales to close, especially compared to the last few years. But some sellers aren’t feeling any pain – their [...]