Kathleen O. Celmins, on November 14, 2014
What a great week! There are some great gems from our writers here, and wonderful news from around the web. Read on!
The Center for Sales Strategy Weekly Wrap-Up
Mike Anderson, on November 11, 2014
Truly professional salespeople have long known that it is foolish to squander valuable needs analysis time asking questions that could have been answered by scouring the target account’s website and other conveniently available sources. Years in business, origin of the company, number of locations—and other very fundamental information—can be easily found on most client websites. Spending any meeting time on these issues—aside from kindly acknowledging the organization’s heritage—is not only a waste of time, it can be taken as an insult by the prospect. It signals that you did not find this meeting worth diligent preparation.
Jim Hopes, on November 10, 2014
If you read any of the advertising trades these days you are seeing strong evidence that programmatic buying is making significant strides in the media sector. Programmatic buying allows advertisers to have direct access to the publisher’s (and now the broadcaster’s) inventory, and transactions are completed in nanoseconds with very little human interaction. In the online display advertising sector, programmatic is already accounting for nearly half of all transactions and predictions are being made that over 83% of display advertising will be bought and sold programmatically by the year 2017. Advertisers and publishers are building out trading desks to accommodate this huge flow of business.
So far, those selling traditional media have felt some degree of insulation from this wave, but that is changing as well. Last week Media Post ran an article about the rise of “programmatic TV” and this week Inside Radio featured an article on how Strata has put together a platform and an agreement that allows advertisers direct access to inventory on a number of media platforms including radio. The future is now, folks.
Kathleen O. Celmins, on November 7, 2014
What a great week! There are some great gems from our writers here, and wonderful news from around the web. Read on!
The Center for Sales Strategy Weekly Wrap-Up
Matt Sunshine, on November 6, 2014
It seems somehow intuitively appealing for a manager to spend more time with those salespeople who need more help. People are almost invariably amazed when we explain to them that the opposite is true. To really see ROI on your sales team, you must spend more time with your top performers.
Greg Giersch, on November 4, 2014
Good salespeople are asking questions all day long. They ask clients Will you meet with me? What are your challenges? and Will you invest in this solution? They ask their managers and coworkers Can we deliver this solution?
The question salespeople are not asking enough is How am I trusted and valued by my clients?
Your best clients have shown they trust and value you when they reorder. Prospects have found some reason to trust and value what you might have to offer when they give you that first appointment.
Knowing how you are trusted and valued by your clients is the essential element, or sin qua non, of your personal brand. The struggle to write your LinkedIn profile becomes easier when you’ve asked others to help describe you, to identify what makes you you.
Here are questions you can ask of your manager, your coworkers, and your clients about your personal brand:
Kathleen O. Celmins, on October 31, 2014
What a great week! There are some great gems from our writers here, and wonderful news from around the web. Read on!
The Center for Sales Strategy Weekly Wrap-Up
Matt Sunshine, on October 30, 2014
Earning that first appointment with a big prospect can be difficult. But you persevered. You were smart enough, creative enough, prepared enough, and persistent enough to nail it. He said yes. The date, time, and location are on your calendar and his. Getting this appointment was especially sweet because the guy has a reputation of being tough and demanding.
If you think the most difficult phase of the selling cycle is now behind you, I have some bad news. Now you need to measure up—to your claims and his expectations. I can’t tell you how often I see salespeople work hard and smart to get the meeting and then saunter in to his office, largely unprepared.
You “sold” the appointment. Now you need to deliver. Here are six things you can do to ensure that your first meeting with that big prospect goes well. There are no second chances with prospects like this.
Greg Giersch, on October 28, 2014
Have you ever started the day feeling that there was so much to do that you didn’t know where to start? If you’re in sales, it’s not uncommon to feel you have too much to sell, too many follow-up tasks, and too many deals that haven’t closed. Which activities will allow you to hit your goals?
Focusing on just the next step is the permission you need to focus on reaching an achievable goal. And an achievable goal is motivating. We use a 7-step process in How Selling that makes it easier to decide the next step in the sales process.
Kathleen O. Celmins, on October 24, 2014
What a great week! There are some great gems from our writers here, and wonderful news from around the web. Read on!
The Center for Sales Strategy Weekly Wrap-Up
