What Can You Learn From an Infomercial?
Have you ever bought something and later regretted it? No doubt, we have all had that happen to us with something we have bought, whether small or large. Once a buyer has a bad experience naturally, they want to avoid having a similar thing happen again. You know the saying, “Fool me once shame on …
Conveying Values
Do your prospects know your principles? It seems like a strange question, but what you stand for, or your values, is core to who you are as an individual and has an impact on whether people like you or want to do business with you. The ideas that I am sharing are not “entry-level” sales …
Show Me… What?
I grew up on a farm in Kansas, and as a kid, one of the great things about living on the farm was the trucks. Yes, we had several on our farm, and our neighbors and my extended family had some nice trucks as well. One of my favorites was my grandfather’s 1949 Ford, which …
“Groups Within a Group”
Recently I was reading HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Emotional Intelligence (from Harvard Business Review’s “10 Must Read” collection of best practices in business). This collection of articles discusses the theory of “groups within a group.” The idea is that within any organized group of people, there are sub-groups within the larger group. The contributors …
The Mind Reader Effect
If you want to meet people, you may want to consider a career in sales. Yes, salespeople meet a variety of people, and over time these connections may cause one to think that they are good at “reading” people, but is that true? According to the book, Talking to Strangers, by Malcolm Gladwell, the reality …
The 2020 Sales Process: The Customer’s Journey
Most likely, you would agree that how people buy products and services today is far different than it was twenty years ago. If you visit any (remaining) shopping mall, you quickly realize that the shopping scene has changed dramatically. Why? The main reason is e-commerce – which, in many cases, causes individuals to be informed …
The Proposal and Negotiations
“You’ve got to know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em, know when to walk away, and know when to run…” You probably recognize these lyrics from the Kenny Rogers song, “The Gambler.” In sales, we are not gamblers, but we are proposal makers and negotiators, and the best salespeople are excellent at …
