Sales & Marketing

True Story: I was a 20-year-old college student 200 miles from home selling door-to-door in rural Indiana. Lonely, homesick, and missing my girlfriend, I wasn’t doing too well selling Bibles.  And I wasn’t making any money.   Call Reluctance Reluctantly, I  knocked on doors, but my heart really wasn’t in it.  I was discouraged. My next stop was a pretty little clapboard house with a neat white picket fence in front.  After letting myself through the gate, I screwed up courage to knock on the door. The biggest, dirtiest, hairiest man I ever saw jerked open the door.  He was wearing an undershirt and restraining a growling Doberman. “Who let you through that gate?” he grunted. “I let myself in, sir,” I said meekly. “Well, let yourself out...

Companies that employ a formal sales process get these results: Close 48% more sales. Reduce sales cycle 37%. Generate double the revenue per salesperson.* These companies consistently produce above-average results because a formal sales system empowers them to manage  sales opportunities. A sales process focuses on: A clear understanding of the customer buying process. Aligning their sales process directly to customer buying process. Tracking sales opportunities from open to close. Managing the process accelerates the opportunity from one stage to the next. Following a sales process produces these results: Improved forecasting accuracy. Repeating the successes. Converts sales managers from administrators to effective coaches Improves sales representative...

When I was just starting out as an investment salesman, many years before computers and the Internet, I had a personal meeting with a prospect that proved much more valuable to me than the no-sale that resulted. My company in those days invested heavily in return postcard advertising inserts in Reader’s Digest, perhaps the most widely circulated magazine at that time.  The returned postcards were distributed to salespeople all across the country. I followed up on one of the cards, setting an appointment at the home of a woman, who turned out to be an elderly widow.  She was very gracious on the phone, and I looked forward to what I thought would be a profitable sales interview. After she and I exchanged pleasantries, and before I had a chance to begin my...

Many years ago I attended a sales convention where a crowd of salesmen surrounded Alex, the top salesman in the company by several million dollars annually. Everyone was eager to ask Alex how he did it. I only remember two questions and two answers from the exchange that went on for nearly an hour. Q: Alex, what do you do that gets the best results? A: Cold calling. Q: Alex, what do you like the least about this job? A: Cold calling. I’ve been in sales, sales management, and sales training for nearly 40 years, and I’ve never proven Alex wrong. Cold calling is hard, but it is simple. Selling is simple.  Selling is not easy, but it’s simple! People win a lot of business with cold calling.  It is the only sales technique over which you have total and...

  When you approach a person with a business proposition, product or service, they evaluate every bit of information you dole out with just one question: “What’s in it for me?” If you initiated the contact, your prospect is probably cold as ice.  Not only do they think they don’t need your product or service, they don’t trust you either. Their distrust is based on six fears. 1.  They fear you. This is a trust issue.  Your first job is to help them realize that you’re just like them.  You’re a regular person.  You’ve been in their shoes.  But even better, you are someone who is dedicated to helping them make decisions that are good for them. Adopt the attitude of servitude and people will like you, trust you, and listen to you. Think of...

Picture your satisfied customer sitting on a three-legged stool.  If all three legs are the same length, your customer sits upright and comfortable.  If either leg is shorter or longer than the other, your customer will not sit comfortably, and is likely to slide off your stool and right out your front door. The three legs on a satisfied customer’s stool are: Price Quality Service Your price should be justified by the quality of your product and the adequacy of your service. A customer cannot reasonably expect your company to have the lowest price, the highest quality, and the best service.  That is an unrealistic expectation. You cannot reasonably expect to fetch the highest price without the finest quality and the best service.  That also is an...