Would you "hire" yourself based on the value proposition you communicate to your prospects? Just how clear are you? Could a prospect immediately recognise themselves having the problems you can solve? We [...]
It’s 6 months into 2021. Hopefully Covid is on the retreat with the vaccine rollout. Business will open up. Which is why you should adapt your sales and business strategy so that [...]
“Winter is coming” – has become part of the vernacular. Business goes in seasons and cycles. There are times when you’ll be consumed by delivery, wondering how you’ll get everything done. But as sure [...]
I’m sure you’ve heard the proverb, “For the want of a nail the kingdom was lost”. I’m going to use it to describe a sales context where an act of [...]
I’m sure you’ve heard the cliché “No one wants a Drill. What they want is a hole”. But really, who the heck wants a hole for the sake of it? [...]
Do you always go for the cheapest price? Or do you look for value for money – knowing buying the cheapest now may cost you dearly in the long run? I often [...]
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 [...]
All sales and marketing is based on effective communication. Effective means the other person easily understands what you’re saying. Which means keeping it at an 8th grade level or that of the [...]
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: [...]
Status and recognition is a fundamental human driver. As Napoleon Bonaparte put it eloquently, “Recognition, babies cry for it, grown men die for it”. Status and recognition is often a major [...]
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 [...]
There’s a saying in marketing, “The more you tell, the more you sell”. In other words, the better you educate your prospects regarding your solutions, the more interest and engagement you’ll create. [...]
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 [...]
Let me start by saying “In business, nothing happens until you sell something”. Which means picking up the phone and actually speaking with a prospect. Finding out if they have a problem [...]
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 [...]
What would you do if your one method of communicating with your prospects and clients dried up, overnight? How would you cope? It’s a question a heck of a lot of businesses [...]
To chase or not to chase, that is the question! As a young man trying to attract interest from the opposite sex, I made a lot of mistakes. The biggest [...]
What do you do when a prospect calls you out of the blue and one of the first things they ask you about is what you can do for [...]
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 [...]
Have you ever sent a proposal only to never hear from the prospect ever again? Crickets. Your prospect ghosts you. If so, listen up. Let me paint a common picture [...]
Well, it's November and it's almost the end of the year. It's mission critical time! Why? Because it's the time where you either set yourself up for a great 2021 or you [...]
Sales has got a bad rap. Most think it’s about ramming your message down someone’s throat, having clever comebacks for objections and continually trying to close. Frankly nothing could be further from [...]
Commercially smart business owners understand the concept of leverage and the 80/20 rule. Concentrating 20% of your effort to give you 80% of your results. In sales this translates 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 [...]
In sales I’m sure you realise the importance of qualification. Whether a prospect has a need or not. Which starts with prospecting, a number’s game. You have to sift through [...]
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 [...]
There are very few professional consultants who like cold calling. In fact, I’d say 99.9 percent hate it and would do anything to avoid it. But the reality is unless [...]
Many business owners express confusion regarding the roles of marketing, prospecting and selling. While they are distinct activities, think of them as three “safe tumblers” locking the door to a stream of [...]
