Always be on Alert!

So I have a quick Mr. Shmooze story for you . . .

A few years ago I was meeting one of the best relationship salespeople I have ever known for lunch.  I was a little early so I stopped across the street at a bookstore and picked up an autobiography of Joe Frazier, since I like boxing.  The time passed and I met my friend, a fellow sports fan, for lunch.  I told him about the book and we had fun reminiscing about some of the great matches we had seen. Read More

Real Selling . . . A Vanishing Art?

I have been house hunting lately and I must say I have been surprised at how little “real selling” I have seen from many of the listing agents.  For the most part, a lock box is put on a house and you can stop in and look around with your broker. Often times the listing agent either isn’t there, or he/she gets out of the way to let the buyers wander around without any commentary whatsoever. This leaves me scratching my head because these moments present so much opportunity for a listing agent . . . who really knows how to sell . . . to sell.  Read More

A Memorable Saying

I saw a great saying the other day . . . I wish I could credit it but it did not have a name attached.  I love it, because it really captures the essence of what we try to consistently broadcast and teach at our workshops . . .  Read More

K.I.S.S.

In our workshops, we always take some time to talk about K.I.S.S. . . .”Keep It Simple Stupid.” We emphasize this because many salespeople are extroverts, and gregarious, and they love to fill up their presentations with all sorts of features, benefits and choices. Unfortunately, according to a study done by psychologists Tversky and Shafir, too many choices can actually paralyze the buyer, who may wind up picking none of them. The reason this occurs is that the salesperson may inadvertently be adding “uncertainty” into the analysis. Read More

Sage Thoughts From a Big Producer

I ran into an old friend of mine recently who has been a top-producing salesperson for many years.  I mentioned to him that I have been getting some feedback in my workshops lately about how it is getting harder to establish relationships with buyers because things like email and social networking are replacing face-to-face communication in many cases.  My friend smiled and said . . . Read More

“We Don’t Know What We Don’t Know” -Donald Rumsfeld

Remember when Donald Rumsfeld was Secretary of Defense and he was trying to explain to the press that, “We know what we know, we know what we don’t know, but we don’t know what we don’t know.”   Everybody had a lot of fun with that but underneath the rhetoric was an important thought when it comes to any type of competition. The most dangerous situation is when a competitor may be planning or executing a winning strategy that is completely off our radar . . . Read More

Serving

Most of us would agree that serving others is our highest calling as human beings.  Service lies at the core of many philosophical value systems, and certainly obvious service work ranging from the medical profession, at its finest, to first responders, for example, is held in high esteem.  Read More

The Words We Love to Hear

We are going to start our weekly column in a moment, but we wanted to quickly direct you to something new we are doing if you have an interest.

One of our companies, SalesDrive, has developed a very powerful assessment program to help determine core potential in salespeople. It is an online sales assessment and is becoming very popular with companies who include it in their recruiting and interviewing processes.  For the first time, we are drawing in co-promoters that can help us bring this process to new clients.  This is primarily a referral program so the actual work is minimal and the potential profits are high . . . $100,000 per affiliate is the target.  If you have any interest in understanding more, please click here for details.  Now, back to the column . . .

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The Words We Love to Hear

You are probably way ahead of us, but what do you think are the words that get our attention the fastest and we like to hear most? You’ve got it . . . our own names. Let’s face it, we all have egos and we are conditioned to pay attention when someone says, “Hey Bill!” Or, “Mary, can you check this?” Sounds simple and basic, but this can actually be a big deal when you are in the process of communicating or presenting to a client.   Read More

Budget Season – Golden Opportunity to Engage

Moving into the Fall selling season, you will probably encounter a number of buyers who are working on their 2014 budgets.  Depending upon your relationship with the buyer, often a great way to enhance your relationship is to offer to help him/her with the process.  Read More

“The Customer is Always Right” . . . Right?

“The Customer is Always Right.”  It is a saying that has been around forever so it must have some truth behind it, and it does. Basically, if the customer is not satisfied, it is a pretty good bet that we are not meeting his/her expectations, so it’s then up to us as sellers to rise to that occasion or give up the business. But life and business are not quite that black and white.  What I want to talk about today are situations in which a customer is moving beyond reasonable boundaries, and what we, as salespeople/advisors, need to consider doing about it.  Read More

“Know-It-All” Buyer? Here is How to Make His Ego Work for You

We all know a few blow hards . . . you know, the guys and gals who grab the proverbial microphone and never share it.  They want to tell you how much more they know than we do about, well, everything.   And hey, we can tolerate anything for a few minutes at a dinner party, but what if one of these “experts” on everything happens to be a prospect, we are trying to do a transaction with, and he/she will not give us a chance to engage?  Here is a great way to close a big ego. Read More

Maintaining Emotional Momentum

In today’s hyper “efficient” and often fragmented stream of sales and customer service, I have been shocked several times recently by how abrupt the drop off can be between the enthusiasm of the original salesperson and the communication that follows after the deal is closed. Part of this comes down to the M.O. of the individual salesperson, but often, as a culture and a rule, companies are frontloading the sales process with all sorts of investment, time and energy, but once they have the fish in the boat, it’s on to the next sale.  Read More