Economies, companies and the people within them, prosper when buyers and sellers cooperate. They falter when they don't. Buyers, how do you respond to communication from salespeople? Are you pleasant and open-minded or surly, or do you prefer to avoid them entirely? Sellers, do you approach buyers in ways they appreciate or do you suddenly appear like [...]
Selling liabilities threaten the prosperity of established Fortune 500 companies as certainly as they do sole-proprietor start-ups. One, or more, or all of these generations-old, business-killing selling habits is usually to blame. Which habits describe your company? Your salespeople are still paid a bounty (commission.) Your salespeople are expected to perform other company duties [...]
The valuation of a company rarely, if ever, takes into account 'prospect equity'. Prospect equity is the value of top-of-mind awareness and relationship depth companies have cultivated with their prospects. The equity earned from a prospect introduction that does not generate an immediate sale is all too often discarded by most companies. Instead of leveraging [...]
Your intention is to increase your company's market share. To that end you've decided your salespeople should become more adept at selling. You Google sales trainers. STOP; ask yourself these questions: 1. Do you want your salespeople trained or educated? ('Training', associated with repetitive actions as in dog-training and potty-training, may not be the your best [...]
Having just signed a one year contract with a new client before the holidays I was anxious to begin working with them. My job would be to restructure their selling strategy (for inside and outside sales) to reach a $4million sales target by January 2016. I called the owner to set up our first education [...]
The arrival of a new year carries with it so much promise. I believe 2015 will prove a pivotal year for so many of your companies, for Halifax, for Canada, for our planet and for the profession of selling. Here are my predictions for 2015. First I see an implosion of ISIS. They will not [...]
'Selling is about building relationships.' This vacuous, five-word cliché floats nicely off the tongue at most sales training seminars, networking events and cocktail parties. The harsh reality is that North America's selling model does little to ingratiate seller to buyer. It incites salesperson avoidance. While avoiding salespeople may seem as logical as locking our doors [...]
I am looking down at a book cover sticker marking down the price of the book from $24.95 to $6.99. Does the retailer actually believe the book will sell faster at $6.99 than it would at $7.00? The other day a sales manager employed by an international security company casually spoke of one of their [...]
As I read a chapter of Gregg Braden's New York Times best-seller DEEP TRUTH each morning I can't help but reflect on Ray Ivany's dire warnings for Nova Scotia. Braden contends that issues such as war, terrorism, disease, genocide, poverty, economic collapse, climate change and nuclear threats ... are actually related. He further asserts that [...]
The Government of Canada may have, unwittingly, revolutionized Canadian marketing by bringing into law its so-called anti-spam legislation. As of July 1, 2014 the new law authorizes the CRTC to fine any Canadian or Canadian company a maximum of ten million dollars. The law targets anyone who sends an email to another Canadian if said [...]
