Cold Calling for Success

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; selling is a life skill. Regardless of your profession, you will have to use selling skills to get ahead. In this essay, we are going to explore one of the
more terrifying aspects of selling. The Cold call

There are a number of activities that go into selling. Arguably, the most challenging is “Cold Calling”. Talk to almost any salesperson and ask them what their least favorite part of the game is and
they will tell you cold calling. And yet, if we don’t …

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Managing Expectations

Recently I read an Article in the Customer Collective by Kevin Eikenberry that spoke to the idea that as we engage with
customers it is important that we ask the question, “What do you expect?” We often engage with clients and colleagues and we don’t ask what do you expect we make assumptions. And Eikenberry’s
advice was to ask this question early in the buying process so that everyone is on the same page.

Yesterday I was reading Forbes on line and …

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Can You Make Meaningful Connections On-line

For a long time I thought that Social Media and online communities like Face Book, Twitter, etc were just for people with nothing else to do. However, I heard enough about it from people I respected
that I dipped my toe in several months ago. The way I dipped was on Face Book, Twitter and Linked in.

 I also started to follow individuals and engaged them on line. Essentially I said “Hi, I Like your material.” And just like in our day to day world some responded and some did not. At the same
…

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Are We Getting The Best From Our Team

Recently I have been following and participating in a discussion on LinkedIn regarding the question of “What is the root cause of the mindset that fails to put customers first”. There are a whole
host of good observations and viewpoints on the topic. These, range from, the greed of executive leadership, to ivory tower thinking to the lack of “servant” mentality and so on. I think we could ask
this question of all of the organizations we work in. Recent studies have pointed out that, customers expectations continue to fall with respect to customer service. This does NOT …

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Intent is More Important Than Capabilities

How often have you lost a sale to a competitor that you know you could out-perform? How did you respond? Did you blame the “stupid buyer?” Or,
perhaps you affirmed that the competition lied to get the business? What if you stepped back and asked yourself, “Why would they have bought from me?”

I have observed hundreds of sales calls and selling cycles in my career. And, I have seen sales won and lost by the intention of …

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