Practical Tips

There’s an old axiom that a confused prospect never buys.  Well, the same applies to us as vendors. The first sale is always to ourselves. If we’re confused as to the problems [...]

A major mistake I see in business is confusing efficiency with effectiveness and productivity.  Streamlining a process without considering if it produces the results you want.  Especially in sales. 20 years ago [...]

Have you ever caught up with a friend for “coffee” only to find they launch into asking you for business?  You weren’t expecting this so how did you feel?  Possibly somewhat misused? [...]

Want to get your message heard?  To masterfully persuade?  Build your business by attracting high quality clients? People buy from people they trust.  When buyers trust sellers, they depend on them, listen [...]

Donkey’s years ago I heard this from a friend’s mother, “The man may think he’s the head of the household, but we’re the neck that turns him”. Never a truer word was [...]

Over 60 years ago Japanese buyers made an art form of winning negotiations.  Western companies meeting with Japanese businesses would find themselves negotiating with a room full of people. Vendors interacted and [...]

Speaking about sales with lots of business owners, there’s a common theme emerging.  The sales process has become more complicated.  Things are taking far longer.  It’s harder to get people to make [...]

In sales we all talk about “adding value” to our clients.  But what constitutes value?  At its core, value is in the eye of the beholder – your prospect and client.  They [...]

Objection handling.  It’s a major focus in any sales training.  Type it into Google and you’ll get about 134 MILLION results! At their core, there are only 3 reasons people raise objections. [...]

Barbara and I have been thinking a lot about sales lately. Specifically, when the sales process actually starts. And it’s far earlier than you might think. Traditionally we think selling starts when [...]

There’s a common trap I see lots of technically based organisations fall into.  They believe their technology is the be all and end all and the reason people Hand trying catch [...]

Every gardener knows there’s a lag between planting and harvest.  Which is exactly the same in sales.  Your activity today will reap clients in the future.  Do nothing today and your future [...]

Ever been in a meeting where the salesperson whipped out their laptop and insisted in going through a long presentation? Slide after slide of boring detail of how their solution worked.  While [...]

If you sell highly complex, technical products or services, should you hire a salesperson with relevant technical and industry experience and train them in sales, or hire someone with sales aptitude and [...]

I speak with a lot of business owners about growth.  A surprising number say, “We’re doing really well – got lots of big projects in the pipeline.  Don’t need to worry about [...]

There’s a major misnomer about sales.  Sales is not something you “do to someone”.  Sales is about helping someone make a decision to buy from you. So here are 7 rules which [...]

What do you do when a prospect says, “I’d like you to present your solution and you have 30 minutes”?  Do you immediately jump in, create a 50 slide PowerPoint presentation and [...]

I love this description of sales from Col Fink. “Sales is the process of coaching someone through a buying decision.”  I would add that “all sales is leadership”. Our job in sales [...]

“Could you send me some information?”  How many times have you heard this from a prospect you’ve just contacted?  And how do you answer this?  Do you say, “Sure – where would [...]

What’s a client really worth to your business?  It depends on whether you take a transactional or long term view. Every new client costs you time, money and effort to bring in.  [...]