After writing SNAP Selling, I was continually accosted by salespeople who said,
“Your advice on selling to crazy-busy buyers works great. But, I’m frazzled too. How can you help me?”
I was stumped. I had nothing to offer since I wasn’t a time management guru.
If you're selling, you've been on conference calls. And honestly, they can be a bit disruptive. That's why I thought you'd enjoy this video that provides a great simulation on what actually occurs.
This is the most important blog post I’ve ever written. It’s about what happened exactly one year ago today. Please read it and share it with others.
Last week a friend told me about a recent fender bender. While driving, he’d been dictating an email on his cell phone. He wanted to get a few extra things done before he got to the office.
We all do things like that. Multitasking is a way of life. It’s our strategy to keep up with our whirlwind of a job. In the car, we’ll make calls, catch up on messages and text people when we’re running late.
That’s exactly what Carla Brennan was doing on the morning of March 4, 2013 – the day her life collided with mine (and others). Literally.
Here’s what happened. My husband, Fred, left our house about 9 AM. Fifteen minutes later he called. His voice was weak, shaken. “I’ve been in an accident. I think people were hurt -- badly.” After assuring me he was okay, he told me where he was.
Ever made a big whopper of a sales mistake? I sure have! Let me just share one.
When I began selling at Xerox, one of the first things we had to do was to memorize a demonstration script that included everything you needed to know about using a copier. We had to learn it perfectly before we were allowed to make sales calls.
Yesterday I was challenged to write a blog post on "This is How I Work." This series, inspired by LifeHacker, was moved into the sales field by Anthony Iannarino, who tagged Charlie Green, who tagged Dave Brock, who tagged Dave Stein and who then tagged me.
Have you ever wondered how you’ll get everything done? That’s how I feel all too often. I get to my desk at 7:30 to tackle the emails. I work through my lunch hour. And, at the end of the day it seems like I’ve barely made a dent.
Here's the truth. I like telling people I'm crazy-busy. It makes me sound important. And, even worse, I’m a closet slug. All day long I make bad choices that contribute to this predicament.
But on the upside, I’ve learned how compensate for my slothful behavior. Here are 2 strategies to increase sales effectiveness that have worked for me:
I wish all my prospects were just like me. It would be so much easier to sell to them. But, that’s not the case. People are who they are and it’s our job to get them comfortable working with us.
One very effective rapport building technique is to mirror your prospect's behavior. It quickly puts them at ease with you.
The toughest person I ever had to deal with was Don Diggerman. He was a wonderful man. Seriously. A real nice guy. But I dreaded talking to him.
I'll never forget the last talent show I was in. We were at a family church camp. My then 8 year old son insisted that I play a couple songs on the guitar. At first, I resisted. You might have too if you'd only taken three lessons, knew two chords and had never sung in public before. I didn't want to look and sound stupid in front of more than 300 campers!
But I finally said yes, after I realized that it was an opportunity to teach a valuable life lesson about taking risks.
I live in Minnesota, Land of 10,000 Lakes. Water is everywhere. That's why, when I saw this video about Charity: water at the HubSpot INBOUND 13 conference where I spoke, I was touched deeply.
Every once in a while, I come across an article that makes my day. That’s exactly what happened when I read The Rules by Mark Gibson which I’ve included below. They explicitly state how prospects should interact with salespeople. After all, we’re a hard-working bunch and deserve to be treated better than we are!
Personally, I think we should hand these rules out to all our prospects. What do you think?