Category: Sales

Putting Your Best Foot Forward: The shoe saleman who didn’t

I went shopping with Nancy yesterday and as we walked through a large, well-known Department Store at Park Meadows Mall, an incongruity struck me. There were two very well dressed salesmen in the Women’s shoe department looking to help women by shoes. These two men were wearing $1,000 suits and their shoes were worn, scuffed and had obviously not been shined in some time.

They were selling shoes and (forgive the punHow are you polishing your skills? …

Continue reading

More to The Value Proposition

A few weeks back I had a post on the idea of the Value Proposition. A friend suggested that this was a richer vein than a single post.  I got to thinking. Besides the problem you solve, the expertise or technology (secret sauce) that you bring to the equation and the value, which the buyer feels, as that problem is solved; what else goes into the Value Proposition?

Lately for me it has been the how of the delivery. How do I deliver that value? Is it with joy in my heart or am I feeling bothered or …

Continue reading

When Persistence Doesn’t Pay

When I started in selling, it was a truism that you had to be persistent. Studies seem to show that most buyers won’t buy until they have had 6 – 8 contacts with a sales rep. Most sales reps give up after 3 calls.


I know that early in my career persistence worked. I heard through tbhe grapevine that my persistence was making an impact and people were starting to do business with me.


Lately I have been hearing buyers tell me about sales reps that they will NEVER do business with. Why? It is because they are …

Continue reading

Sales 2.0 Is It Real?

Gerhard Gschwandtner,  founder and publisher of Selling Power Magazine, was recently the keynote speaker at the Sales 2.0 conference in Chicago. In his address, he claims that technology is replacing the sales professional. I find this hard to believe; yet, I have been around long enough to see a lot of things and people replaced by technology. So, I want to explore this a little.

I remember when airlines and grocery stores put kiosks in place vs. agents and cashiers. I thought great this is going to be challenging. Yet now these operate smoothly for most people and in …

Continue reading

Selling for the Non-Sales Professional: The Value Proposition Part 1

This is the beginning of a series of posts designed to help peole that don’t see themselves as sales people develop the tools to sell.

I don’t know about you, but if I can get someone to let me talk to them about my business, I believe strongly enough in it, that I can often transfer that belief to them. However, getting to the point where they will want to have a conversation takes a lot of work.  I recently heard a trainer say, “I would do the work free, people pay me for the aggravation of getting to the location”.  …

Continue reading