It's Pop Culture Week on The Center for Sales Strategy blog. This week, we are taking our sales strategy lessons from the pages of pop culture. Today, we're talking children's books...
Kimberly Peek, on March 29, 2012
It's Pop Culture Week on The Center for Sales Strategy blog. This week, we are taking our sales strategy lessons from the pages of pop culture. Today, we're talking children's books...
Mike Anderson, on March 21, 2012
We often say that "the client's needs provide fuel and focus to the entire sales process." What better way to gain an initial picture of those needs than through the prospect's website, advertising, or publicly-available corporate reports? Some of the best prep work you can do might be hiding in a commonly available website.
Emily Estey, on March 14, 2012
You've done a great job in your first appointment with the client. You've exposed lots of areas where they'd like to see improvement. You've also eliminated areas of focus that aren't important. You've asked the client’s help in narrowing down which challenge or challenges they'd like your help with. And that challenge may sound something like this:
John Henley, on March 1, 2012
Our company’s reason for being is to help our clients turn talent into performance, and I spend most of my time making sure we have everything operating in such a way that we can delight customers. I don’t get to sell that often, but recently I found myself in conversations with a friend who runs his own business. After a few conversations and a meeting with a few key managers, I presented the owner with a pre-proposal and asked him to review it with his management team.
Matt Sunshine, on February 27, 2012
If you’re like me, you can't help yourself when it comes to a Top 10 List. I don't know what it is about a list—let alone a Top 10 List—but every time I see one, I feel compelled to pay attention. The following will link you to five Top 10 Lists that are worth your time.
Kimberly Peek, on February 23, 2012
Kimberly Peek, on February 14, 2012
I recently started taking swimming lessons. I love telling people about it because the response is priceless. First there is a confused look. Then, a gasp, followed by, “You don’t know how to swim?!”
Demrie Henry, on February 8, 2012
Can you imagine what would happen if you told your sales manager that you absolutely refuse to make cold calls? Thinking back to my days as a sales account executive, I know that my boss would have thought I was being insubordinate if I walked into his office and boldly made the proclamation, “I refuse to make cold calls ever again!” He is a great guy and an incredible sales manager, so I’m sure he would have given me a short window of opportunity to explain my proclamation and then an even shorter window to “prove” my new lead generation tactic successful.
Jim Hopes, on January 26, 2012
My wife and I subscribe to Consumer Reports and recently I was leafing through the pages when I came across an interesting article outlining the best and worst values among cars. They calculated the cost of ownership over a five-year period taking into account factors like cost of acquisition, reliability, maintenance cost, fuel efficiency, depreciation, etc. Turns out the Honda Fit is THE best value on the market at a cost-per-mile of 44 cents. That's pretty impressive considering a Mercedes S550 costs $1.70 a mile to own and the vehicle I drive, the Acura RDX, costs 84 cents a mile to own, nearly twice the cost of the Honda Fit.
So, why doesn't everyone own a Honda Fit? On a cost-per-mile basis, it's clearly the least expensive vehicle to own and operate. The reality is people most often don't choose the lowest priced car because myriad other vehicles satisfy other objective and subjective needs within their lives affecting their value perception. And, so it is with the products and services you sell.
It's your job to uncover the needs truly unique to your particular prospect and to understand the subjective personal wins that might help drive their choice. Are you doing that? Well enough? What could you commit to this year to get better at that? It would be a good investment on your part.
Jim Hopes is CEO at The Center for Sales Strategy.
Kurt Sima, on January 17, 2012
2012 is here! Time to start a new year. Time to start selling more! Most sales leaders and sellers agree that it is a good idea to sell more from one year to the next. Unfortunately, accomplishing this goal can be a challenge in these turbulent economic times. It's time to break the cycle. Here's a list of 5 simple steps that will help you start the year off selling:
