Sales

We live in the information age where you can get educated on just about any topic – free!  Just Google it. Back pre-internet, the meme was “Knowledge is power”.   But given that [...]

Selling to senior executives?  Ask thought provoking questions which help them evaluate their challenges and opportunities in a new light. The “old” sales model of “What keeps you awake at night” suggests [...]

There are only 2 categories of people in your world.  Those you know and those you don’t.  And guess which is the bigger one! This translates directly to sales people.  There are [...]

Do a job, get a job!  It’s a great mantra shared by a colleague, Lauren Jones.  Put simply, every time you deliver a piece of work for a client think about what [...]

Many years ago I was being interviewed for a senior management position.  I’d been through a number of interviews when my prospective boss said he’d LONDON, UK - 19TH DECEMBER 2014: [...]

There’s a great saying, “If you assume, you make an ass of you and me”. Making assumptions can be dangerous, especially in sales. Thinking you know what your clients really value about [...]

Some of the very best salespeople I’ve known are raging introverts.  Quiet, introspective types who are never the life of the party. They all share one thing in common.  A deep curiosity. [...]

There’s a wonderful saying, “Opportunity dances with those already on the dance floor”.  Translate that into a business setting and there’s often opportunity to sell more when you’re delivering services. Open your [...]

Speaking with a client recently reminded me of John Gray’s book Men are from Mars, Women are from Venue and how it applies to sales. Put simply men like to solve problems.  [...]

Why your product is irrelevant!   Okay, let me contextualise this. Your product is relevant and your clients will want to know what it is but and this is a big but, [...]

How often do you contact a prospect to move a sale forward?  How persistent are you?  Do you give up after the first “no”? Most people give up way too early. So [...]

It’s international Women’s Day.  Which reminds me of a great quote from the mother of a friend who said, “Our husbands may think they’re the head of the family, but we’re the neck who [...]

I have a mantra in sales.  Seek first to understand, and only then to be understood. Your job as a salesperson is to get to the heart of what’s happening in your [...]

We’ve all played hide and seek as children.  Your friends all hide and you need to go find them. I think it’s a great metaphor when it comes to getting new clients. [...]

“If you see something, say something”.  It was a common refrain in the 2 decades after 9/11.  It was meant to keep us safe. Detective Character Following Footprints Showing Investigate Investigation [...]

All successful salespeople know exactly what problems they solve and for whom.  They’re efficient at qualifying out rather than in.  So they quickly sort through the caff to get to the wheat. [...]

When speaking with a potential prospect drop your agenda.  Never go in with a pitch.  You have absolutely no idea if they have a problem and that even if they do, they [...]

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could “build it and they will come”. Unfortunately that only happens in Kevin Costner movies. In business if you wait around for clients, you’re likely to [...]

There are only two reasons we buy anything.  We either want to get rid of a problem or we want something we don’t have yet. Your job in sales is to lead [...]

Commercially smart business owners understand the concept of leverage and the 80/20 rule.  Concentrating 20% of their effort to give them 80% of their results. In sales this translates to 20% of [...]

If you’ve been in business for a while I’m sure you’ll have clients you love to work with and those you wish you’d never taken on. So what makes the [...]