CareerJournal.com offers up this article – Avoid These Email Blunders To Prevent Career Derailment – that speaks to some simple-sounding errors. You know, email has been around for some time now, but I am still impressed by how many blunders are still made today. This particular graph grabbed my attention: Don’t spoil your boss’s image. If your boss asks you in an email to speak to a coworker about a problem he or she has with that individual, forwarding the message blindly (and the incriminating language in it) is like setting it in stone. It will not only offend the recipient of the email but could also get you in… Read More
Continue ReadingBuckling Under A Price Discussion
Money is a difficult topic for many salespeople to handle with a prospect. Some salespeople buckle and collapse with large discounts while others simply avoid the topic as long as possible. As a sales manager, there are few things as uncomfortable as watching one of your salespeople crash and burn when qualifying money. Lee Salz offers a good article on Salesopedia covering this topic. Salz cuts right to the bone on why this topic is so critical: If you don’t believe you are providing a fair, competitive price for the solution, my question is why are you presenting it anyway? One would hope that you have integrity so why present… Read More
Continue ReadingFact Or Fiction About The Google Generation?
I haven’t heard that moniker until now – “Google Generation.” These are kids born after 1993 so they are a handful of year away from hitting the workplace. Yet, there is some interesting research out there that debunks some conventional wisdom and reinforces others. First the debunking (emphasis mine): It’s true that young people prefer interactive systems to passive ones and that they are generally competent with technology, but it’s not true that students today are “expert searchers.” In fact, the report calls this “a dangerous myth.” Knowing how to use Facebook doesn’t make one an Internet search god, and the report concludes that a literature review shows no movement… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Perfect Stall
Our local Pioneer Press offers an article about HD radio which intrigues me. There are some interesting developments in the technology. One of them is this: More important, the radios have an iTunes tagging feature, developed with Apple’s help and being tested in the San Francisco Bay area. This means users can press a button to tag songs they like, save that information to their docked iPods, and later transfer this info to their iTunes software on their computers. They then can buy the songs on Apple’s music store. That is a fantastic idea. However, I truly enjoyed this perfect stall that comes later in the article: “We’re definitely taking… Read More
Continue ReadingUse Anti-Bonding When Hiring Salespeople
Here is an interesting article from Columbia Business Times titled The Mysteries Of Hiring Salespeople Unlocked. Good title. The short article has some excellent advice and some marginal suggestions. From the excellent column (emphasis mine): 3. Unlearn your present interviewing system. First, throw away the hiring profile assessment you are using now (are you using one?), and instead find one that measures sales skills, adversity, toughness and, most important, whether this applicant will sell for you in your industry. Second, remember this applicant was someone else’s salesperson. Salespeople who “turn over” get good at giving you answers you like to hear. Third, instead of using your natural bonding skills, try… Read More
Continue ReadingCue Up For Dinner
I’m not British so waiting is not my specialty. This factoid is from the JustSell.com daily newsletter: According to the National Restaurant Association, the average consumer is willing to wait 23 minutes for a table for dinner. That number rises slightly to 31 minutes if it’s a weekend. If you replace minutes with seconds, you will know my threshold for waiting at a restaurant. My wife, who will wait 45 minutes to get into a good restaurant, has initiated a behavior modification plan to correct this weakness in me.
Continue ReadingBest Cities For Jobs In 2008
I always question how these lists are compiled, but they are interesting nonetheless. Forbes.com recently released their list. A quick preview of the top 5 cities: Salt Lake City, UT Wichita, KS Austin, TX Atlanta, GA Forth Worth, TX My sister and her family lived in Wichita for a couple of years and I took my family down there a couple times to visit. I liked the town and it seemed to be quite busy for a smaller city. I have to confess, I am surprised it is number 2. There is a large aviation sector down there so that may be driving it.
Continue ReadingSelling Is Not Telling
Conventional Wisdom = The best talkers make the best salespeople. If I could rewrite that to make it accurate, I would state it like this: The best questioners make the best salespeople. Yes, I know that is oversimplifying things, but it is an attempt at rewriting conventional wisdom. The key takeaway is that the person asking the questions is in control of the conversation even though they are not doing the majority of the talking. This is a fundamental principle in sales that often gets ignored, overlooked or worse. In that light comes an excellent article from the weekly Salesopedia newsletter: Initially you need to ask questions to uncover whether… Read More
Continue ReadingA Red Flag Job Title
I came across a sales resume this morning that listed this title for the person’s current sales position: Bid Writer Every siren at Select Metrix simultaneously went off on that one. If you are in sales and this is your title, change it on your resume. This title reads of someone who simply responds to Request For Proposals (RFP). Yet, this salesperson describes himself as a “High Performance Salesperson.”
Continue ReadingDressed For Success
I’m no slave to fashion so this CareerJournal article – Aspire to Become a CEO? You Have to Dress the Part – struck me as being quite superficial when it comes to hiring. The thought that attire could eliminate a candidate seems trivial. The deep analysis from the article: “People don’t understand the messages that their clothes send,” says Ms. Waldt, a recruiter with CTPartners. Women sometimes don’t realize how often a tight shirt or a low neckline comes across as seductive. People who meet them are likely to assume the sexual innuendo is intentional. It’s harder for men to goof, but they do — for instance, by being sloppy… Read More
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