Sales

If you sell technical solutions one of the biggest mistakes is to sell your technology.  Huh?  But surely that’s what your clients are buying? They’re not! Over 30 years working with technology [...]

You sell a SAAS service and have just received a lead asking for a demo.  What you do next is crucial to winning the business. One of the biggest mistakes we see [...]

One of the easiest and neglected ways to increase sales is to go back to your current and old clients. Think about it this way. You’ve already built up a relationship and [...]

Muhammad Ali famously spruiked himself – “I am the greatest”.  Which is fine if you’re a world-famous boxer trying to intimidate your opponent.  But it’s hardly something to emulate in a sales [...]

Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus is a classic book by John Gray.  In it he describes how both sexes interact.  I’m going to put this into a sales context. [...]

Last week coaching a technical team moving into sales roles, I stressed their job was to bring insights to clients. Highlight issues clients might not know they have - yet! That they [...]

Sales 101 teaches the importance of features and benefits.  But before you talk about them, you need to identify the value an individual stakeholder is looking for.  And they're going to be [...]

If you provide any form of consulting, one of the most neglected (and arguably easiest) ways to grow is to go back to your previous clients, telling them what else you can [...]

Ultimately sales is a people business. We want to buy from people we like and trust. So most sales training focuses on people skills. How to create rapport, make people comfortable with [...]

Would you challenge a client if you firmly believed they were going down the wrong path? How about a prospect during a sales conversation where you know they’re barking up the wrong [...]

The biggest impediment to a sale is the status quo! It’s often easier to live with something than spend the emotional energy on changing. Even if it’s in your best interest to [...]

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 [...]