The Northwest-Delta airlines merger is the talk of this town as you might expect. There has been much posturing up here as people and politicians realize that Northwest will probably leave this town as Atlanta becomes the new company’s headquarters. I was reading an article on the merger in our local St. Paul Pioneer Press when I came across this quote (my highlighting): As for the covenants Northwest signed with the state in 1991 on maintaining a certain number of jobs, the airport hub and Northwest’s Eagan headquarters, Anderson said “we think we can get to the spirit of the original covenants that were struck.” That is a fat-worded, or… Read More
Continue ReadingRelationships Drive Sales
Selling has always been about relationships, but it is becoming more significant in today’s world. According to a recent study referenced in this Selling Power.com article – The Relationship Imperative – product superiority is not as big a driver in customers’ decision-making process. “Product superiority used to be a big advantage for companies,” says Jim Dickie, partner at CSO Insights. “But collapsing product lifecycles is changing that. If a competitor doesn’t have a feature or function today, they can catch up a lot faster than they could in the past.” The result: product superiority has dropped down to the number three reason companies win deals with just 35 percent of… Read More
Continue ReadingWhen To Close
This topic comes up often in sales discussions – when should I go for the close? Or hiring managers often ask, “Is he a closer?” Or articles state that most salespeople fail because they don’t ask for the order (i.e. close). So what are we to make of this topic? Selling Power offers a bit of an enigmatic article titled Knowing When to Close. The responses are from a sales meeting from 1929 (I don’t know why). The pull quote: A still smaller minority expressed the opinion which I believe to be the correct one, that while there is undoubtedly one moment that is the best time to close any… Read More
Continue ReadingWords To Avoid
JustSell.com offers a list of words to avoid in your qualifying activities (both written and spoken). This is a pet peeve of mine so I was elated to see such a comprehensive list. A few of my favorites, or should I say least favorite? a lot better cheap close early expensive in a minute / second / while occasionally probably soon sort of very I would add “really” to the list. Ok, why is this important? I’ll let the JustSell guys explain: Asked, “When can you have that for me?” in a business setting, a specific date and time is your best answer. Anyone in a leadership role will tell… Read More
Continue ReadingWomen Sell Better
That isn’t my commentary, it is from the author of the Inc.com blog Sold!. His reasoning: And there are some very good reasons why I believe woman are better suited for selling. Among them: o In their personal lives and in business they tend to create relationships better. o They tend to sell based on personal input and business input rather than just business. o They listen. o They don’t have a sales history that they are tied to, so “new” works for them. o In many areas, women who are good in sales are still enough of a rarity to create a buzz. Ok, it pays to be provocative… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Power Of Seven
From Selling Power’s How Much to Present to Your Customer: Experience shows that to the human mind there is something peculiarly satisfying about seven pieces of information. Seven questions, seven benefits, seven anything define the optimal attention span for most people, regardless of education or intelligence. Is it coincidental that we talk of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the seven fat years and the seven lean years in the Bible, the seven days of the week, the seven primary notes on the musical scale, and the seven subordinates who represent the ideal span of control for their manager? Did you know that? I didn’t. Further into the article:… Read More
Continue ReadingCandidates That Do Not Wow
We’ve been on this topic a bit lately, but it is mission-critical to successful selling. Asking questions…asking the right questions is tantamount to qualifying prospects. Most sales managers know this, yet we often see them displaying selective amnesia when it comes to interviewing sales candidates. Case in point: Lee often observes sales managers who are underwhelmed with a candidate because the candidate didn’t “wow” them. That’s understandable, but many times the manager isn’t wowed because the candidate is qualifying the opportunity instead of spewing feature/benefits. It is at this point that Lee has to mention the different questions that the candidate asked in their responses and the information that candidate… Read More
Continue ReadingPrime Your Customer References
Lee Salz offers an article on ManageSmarter.com about reference checks performed by prospects at the final stage of a sale. We go back and forth on this topic often at Select Metrix. Many times prospects want references, but often they do not follow up on them. However, when they do contact references, this is what occurs: Many buyers look at the reference step of the buying process as their opportunity to validate the potential supplier’s message. In essence, prospects are searching to ascertain whether a supplier can deliver on the promises made during the buying process. Can the supplier really handle this size account? Are they really that fast or… Read More
Continue ReadingSales Resource – Sales Gravy
Don’t you love that title, Sales Gravy? This site is a sales resource that I was not aware of until I received a call from Jeb Blount who runs the site. Sales Gravy is the fastest growing international networking community for Sales Professionals. Sales Gravy is your portal to All Things Sales.We believe that Sales Professionals are the Elite Athletes of the Business world and this site is designed and dedicated to helping our members gain the Winning Edge! There are many resources on the site and I have to confess I have not had a chance to browse through all of them. The Sales Tools and Resources is the… Read More
Continue Reading6 Sales Myths
This article is from ManageSmarter.com and it debunks 6 very common sales myths. My absolute favorite from the short article: Myth: If sales understood the product better, sales would increase. Reality: Actually, if everyone in the company—e.g., marketing, product developers, IT, and fulfillment, to name a few—understood sales better, sales would increase. That reality is perfectly stated and true. Successful selling, or should I say unsuccessful selling, has more to do with sales technique than it does with product knowledge. However, we have encountered many companies where the other departments felt they could direct the sales department. The common theme in those companies is that these departments believe they know… Read More
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