The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

When analyzing history, we can sometimes predict what the future will bring. I'm not talking about a Sci Fi adventure series or even the new fall line up of reality shows on History Channel. I'm talking about realizing and accepting that mobile, if not part of your digital sales vernacular today, should be tomorrow.

It's not often that you will see us post someone else's work on our blog but this one we could not pass up…. our good friend Dana VanDen Heuval has written a sensational article that is certainly worth sharing. In his post, Dana says, "We’re often advised to ‘work on our elevator pitch’ for the business, yet I can’t recall ever making a purchase decision, or purchasing anything from anyone where their elevator pitch actually had an impact on me. Now, I’m not saying that having a concise and descriptive phrase to explain your business in a few seconds isn’t worth having, it absolutely is, but in a world abound with perceived commoditization around every corner, it’s critical to establish as many points of differentiation as possible to set you apart in a field of sameness."

When a client does not want to renew a campaign due to lack of results, it usually comes down to a single issue: the seller did not properly set expectations prior to the campaign launch. Some of the things you will want to discuss ahead of time:

I make a habit of researching and evaluating all of the opportunities out there with respect to Internet and Digital marketing. If you do this too, then you can empathize when I say you can easily be overwhelmed with all the commentary, research and application you read from multiple experts in multiple fields.

Every day last week, I received at least two flyers on my door and another two telemarketing calls from roofers trying to cash in on the hail damage claims in the Kansas City area. One of the vendors caught me outside and engaged me in this conversation, which made me think about The Budget Question when it comes to the sales process.

Why is that “role play” has such a bad rap? It’s as if these are the dirtiest four-letter words that a salesperson might hear, and I really don’t get it.  When did practice become a bad thing?  

In Part One, we talked about some mainstream uses of Twitter. And, that’s all swell, but what everyone really wants to know is  how do you MAKE MONEY with Twitter?

When I talk to salespeople, there is a lot of resistance to using Twitter. Twitter is noise, a waste of time. You might be surprised to know... I agree! Twitter is a waste of time—until you know how to use it effectively.

Everyone has a Great Aunt Martha who safeguards her secret family recipe. She makes a special item— perhaps an out-of-this-world cookie—and brings it to every family gathering, causing relatives to rave. She goes on and on about the “secret ingredient” and years later, when the recipe is finally handed down, the family discovers there was no secret ingredient. Great Aunt Martha’s “secret” recipe was available to everyone all along: It was a recipe taken from the back of the chocolate chip package. The same is true with selling digital advertising.