You know the story of how canaries were used in coal mines–miners would take the birds down because their metabolism was sensitive to poisonous fumes. If the canary died, that was a leading indicator of danger for the miners. As an advanced sales professional, you have to have your own set of canaries to serve […]
Since the name of this blog is called Advanced Selling Strategies, I can think of no better post than to coach you a bit on “habits to break.” I see these habits so ingrained that you may not even think they are ‘bad.’ But they are. [1] Talking Excessively. I know–this doesn’t sound very advanced–but […]
Calling the game is a strategy that you use when there is something going on in the sales process that could qualify as a ‘game’ being played by the prospect. It typically happens when they begin to see you as a ‘salesperson’ who is interested only in getting the sale. In essence, many times when […]
Forget whether or not you know your product–or know your customer. The question is “do you know your value?” And most, I find, do not. The other day, I was training a group of stockbrokers who call on high end investors (+$1,000,000 in assets). Even though they all were earning high sums of money, none […]
"But Bill, you say I need to be detached–but I don't want to appear uninterested!?" Well of course you don't. I don't want you to be uninterested either. It's just that I want the prospect to feel the pressure to admit their problems to you, prior to you feeling pressure to solve them. Here is […]
Sometimes a client will ask a question that I don’t know how to answer. I had just such a situation last week, which prompted me to write this and add an Audio. “What is The Ideal Sales Process?” As long as I’d been in training I don’t think I’d thought about that–from the very beginning […]
Why do we make business so damn hard? It doesn’t have to be. Take the idea of referrals. Every company I know is struggling with “new business development.” People whine: “there’s never enough in the funnel; there’s never enough of the right business in the funnel…” On and on it droans. If you have just […]
I got the proposal via email a week after the sales person and I had talked at length. It was well designed. It was well laid out. And it came with a fabulous letter introducing it. (I presume all from some template that a higly paid consultant had devised). BUT….. It didn’t hit the mark […]
Link: A Simpler Way to Beat the Competition. STRATEGY is hard, and most business books that have tried to explain it haven’t made it easier. I like the idea that the traditional strategy is dead. I prefer these three books, all of which I’ve purchased.