You will recall that in late 2009 we looked at how to set sales goals for 2010. Well it may have escaped your notice but it’s getting to the end of Q1, so how are you doing? With a week and a half to go, now is about the right time to start worrying if [...]
Posts under ‘sales tips’
A prospecting no no
It’s a amazing sometimes how you find new prospects. The other evening I was in the pub with some friends and introduced a new acquaintance, Bert, to an old friend of mine, Fred. After a minute chatting it turned out that the organisation Fred worked for was a prime prospect for the service that Bert was selling. [...]
I hear you knocking…
I hear you knocking…
Most sales trainers advise you not to knock the competition and in general that’s very wise advice. Early in my career I’m embarrassed to admit that I ignored it (as most inexperienced sales people do) and came a cropper. I was competing for a good size deal and from previous experience thought [...]
It’ll be alright on the night… the art of the demo
It’ll be alright on the night…
Being in tech sales has certain pluses and minuses. One of the pluses is that you get to see lots of cool technology before the guy on the street. One of the minuses is that you sometimes get to demo to state-of-the-art stuff before all of the wrinkles have been [...]
Minuting customer meetings
The great Sir Winston Churchill once said “History will be kind to me for I intend to write it”. He was true to his word, writing “The Second World War”, “A History of the English-Speaking Peoples” and winning the Nobel prize for literature in the process (as you do).
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Likewise for us the importance of getting [...]
When the deal gets to legal…
You’ve worked with the customer for months, closed the big deal, even enjoyed the adulation and now the agreement is with legal. A month later the agreement is still with legal and you’re getting nervous. A conference call is arranged with the customer’s lawyers to go over it. Someone is off sick, so it gets [...]
It’s rude to point!
Tonight I was happening to be vegging out in front of the TV (sorry… call planning for tomorrow) with a glass of Valpolicello Repasso. The programme happened to be a thing called “Antiques Roadshow”, which I’m sure most Brits will be familiar with. The debaniar presenter was holding forth about the exquisite nature of the [...]
Five ways to build trust with your customers
You will always have a problem selling if your customers don’t trust you. In fact if you are selling products that have a long sales cycle or managing major accounts you will be dead in the water without trust. Here are five ways to help build trust…
Have the customers best interests at heart. If your [...]
Hunter vs. Farmer
Many years ago a colleague of mine told me that he thought I was more of a farmer than a hunter, which he said was fine. At the time I didn’t agree because being a hunter sounded a lot more macho, active and plain fun.
With the benefit of hindsight I think he was probably right. [...]