Boost Your Conversation-to-Appointment Ratio from Selling Power reads like a companion piece to our post from yesterday. Conversation-to-appointment ratio is what we take a step further and refer to as a connects-to-close ratio. We wrote about this topic in great detail back in January of last year (click here to read the article). The Selling Power author speaks of a truth we have encountered many times: Do you know your conversation-to-appointment ratio? Most sales managers don’t. Moreover, most sales managers probably couldn’t define the metric without some thought. This fact is something we see play out time and time again when we are defining a sale. Many sales managers can… Read More
Continue ReadingJust Like Milking A Cow
Marketingprofs.com posts this fine article – Telling Ain’t Selling. The article is well-written and quotes some fine points from Spin Selling that we are familiar with at Select Metrix. The author provides some wide-ranging references. Check out these excerpts: Like milking a cow, selling can be a delicate operation. While a customer probably won’t threaten you with a hoof, you’re still faced with the fact that the harder you push, the more pushback you get. We’re from Minnesota so this simile is well understood. A reference from later in the article: The ancient Greek philosopher Diogenes had it right when he said, “We have two ears and one tongue so… Read More
Continue ReadingHow to Hobble a Sales Day
Justsell.com has a helpful daily sales email that contains practical tips. Today’s offering (no link available): Top 3 activities that can hobble a sales day… talking with people who cannot move the sales process along unnecessary research activities What’s too much? There’s really no definitive answer — it’s particular to your sales world. Most people start to get a gut feel for when they should move on — the key is to act on it and make the call. You’d be surprised what you can learn by asking a straightforward question of the person who answers the phone or responds to an email. crafting” or “drafting” a letter, email or… Read More
Continue ReadingWhat We Cannot Have
Dan Tudor has a great post on his Landing the Deal blog – “The Takeaway Close”. The takeaway close is a powerful tool for a salesperson when used properly. I used to work for a sales trainer who taught this technique and it is most effective. Here is the gist of why it works: Human psychology is funny: The more you tell somebody they can’t or shouldn’t have something, the more they want it. As powerful as it is, let me explain when it doesn’t work. I’ve gone on sales calls with many salespeople to observe their techniques. The takeaway close is an embarrassingly clumsy technique if there has not… Read More
Continue ReadingThe End of Trade Shows
As someone who has attended many trade shows in my career, I was most intrigued by this short note in a recent Sales & Marketing Management email (sorry, no link): How bad are trade shows? A new survey by transportation-services provider BostonCoach reveals 70 percent of attendees harbor some negative feelings about their experiences. From boring presentations to the hassle of travel, trade shows are getting low marks.”The results of this survey have important implications for organizations staging events,” says BostonCoach president and CEO Jonathan P. Danforth. “Producing a truly successful event requires focusing on activities and logistics that extend well beyond the show floor or a meeting room.” Here’s… Read More
Continue ReadingActive Writing
This may be a bit self-indulgent, but writing style is a favorite topic of mine. Dan Tudor over at Landing the Deal authored this post – Great Sales Copywriting a couple days ago. The tip in the post are applicable to all writing, not just sales copy. The takeaway tip: The opposite of active voice is “passive” voice. Here’s an example: “While visiting China, a brand-new idea in vitamin supplementation was discovered by Dr. Smith.” You feel like Dr. Smith just stood around until he accidentally bumped into the idea, right?Now let’s change that sentence to active voice: “Dr. Smith discovered a brand-new idea in vitamin supplementation while visiting China.”… Read More
Continue ReadingTop 10 Sales Killers
CareerBuilder put out a well-written newsletter this week that I am still trying to find time to read. This article by Tom Hopkins provides 10 fundamental sales points that apply to all selling situations. My favorite: Sales Killer #5: Lack of a qualification system. A certain percentage of the people you talk with won’t be good candidates for your product or service. If they don’t have the need or the money for your product or service, there’s no sale. Your challenge is to figure this out as early in your communication with them as possible. Come up with at least three or four questions, the answers to which will tell… Read More
Continue ReadingSelling’s Taboo Topic
Sales&Marketing Magazine briefly approaches one of sales most taboo topics – Cutting Your Losses. Sometimes customers that you worked so hard to close are simply not a good fit for your business and you have to end the relationship. Tricky stuff but there are some good suggestions in this short article. We had a client 4 years ago who had just purchased her technology company and needed to hire a salesperson. She hired us to find their first outside salesperson but we never completed the search. We presented one strong candidate after another, but she couldn’t pull the trigger. It finally got to the point where we had to end… Read More
Continue ReadingSelling the Complex
Jeff Thull is a successful sales trainer in the Twin Cities who works extensively with companies that have a complex sale. I just read this article – How to Prevent “Unpaid Consulting” – and found it full of tactical advice for salespeople. A few gems from the piece (emphasis mine): Unpaid consulting starts when sales professionals cross the line between diagnosing the problem and explaining the solution. When they start designing solutions, they start acting as unpaid consultants. In past decades, this was not a monumental issue. Generally, there was limited competition in complex sales. If the salesperson figured out the problem and designed a unique and valuable solution for… Read More
Continue Reading“Staging” Value Propositions
This might be a stretch (maybe not for a Monday morning), but Staging a Sale is an article about companies that “stage” homes that are for sale. For some reason, I am intrigued by this whole premise. My wife watches a show on HGTV or A&E that is list large guy who stages a home for sale. I get drawn in to the show everytime she watches it. From what they reveal in the episode, the staging appears to make a tremendous difference (my wife informs me of this fact). So I am drawn in to this article and I read this line: A key part of their sales pitch:… Read More
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