Sales Calls Are Like A First Date “You want to work with people who you like and have an easy rapport with.“ White, M. (n.d.) During my recent holidays, I came across an article written by Erica Stritch, Vice-President, RAIN Group, comparing first sales calls to dating. This comparison raised my curiosity, and I read the article and found it interesting, so…
Find A Customer Need And Fill It “Asking the appropriate questions means understanding exactly what your customer is trying to achieve” Murray, C. (2016) As salespeople, we constantly hear, find a customer need and fill it. But how do we find a customer need? In a simple answer by questioning and listening, find the gap between what the customer has and…
Complacency In Sales Is Life-threatening In my 20-years sales management career, winning a contract or being an incumbent supplier on a contract was always bittersweet. First the sweet, as an incumbent or a winner, our firm gets the revenue, profit, and prestige of a large deal. Now the bitter, once we’ve secured that mega-prestigious contract, we must keep it; month-after-month, year-after-year, and contract…
Prospecting Is Essential To Sales Success With the advent of the internet and growth of inbound marketing, sales 2.0 and social media selling, many supposed sales gurus claim prospecting is passé. Their pitch to us, salespeople, is “never cold call again!”, in my opinion, they are wrong. “True sales prospecting is creating business. Your job is to identify qualified prospects, help…
Provocation Selling In 2008 during the financial crisis, most companies laid off employees and restructured. This impacted all business sectors, with most of our customers and clients postponing investments and reducing chemical spending. During this period, it was pretty common to hear them say “no budget” or “cuts across the board” or even worse “, I’m no longer the sole…
Be The Last To Speak As salespeople, we love to talk and often forget to listen actively.One of the most challenging aspects of winning a sales negotiation is listening actively to our customers. You’ve probably been on the receiving end of objections like: “I don’t have the budget”, “I’m not willing to purchase at this time”, or “I need to consult…
Winning With Innovation More than ever, customers are seeking solutions to their most challenging problems. Whether it’s increased operational costs, water scarcity, GHG emissions or ongoing protection against safety incidents, you should be ready to help your customers with their most pressing challenges. “When launching something new, you have to go for it – ‘playing not to lose’ can never…
Winning Is A Habit Winning in sports and business is in our culture. Winning must be earned, and if you want to win consistently, it’s essential to plan to succeed. A big part of that is preparation. “Winning is not a sometimes thing; it’s an all-time thing. You don’t win once in a while, you don’t do things right once in a…
