The Competitive Advantage

April 28, 2015

‘Thanks, but no thanks’ is an OK answer.

This past week… after a number of emails, a proposal and a couple of phone conversations, a sales prospect (a.k.a. a potential new client) got back with me and said, “Thanks, but no thanks.” And guess what? While it wasn’t the answer I wanted, I was actually OK with it.

March 17, 2015

Hey business owner… sales success takes time!

Have you ever hired a sales rep for your firm?

What were your expectations for his or her success?

I am amazed by how often I’ve heard something like, “Our new rep didn’t bring us any new projects in his first two months – this ‘sales’ thing isn’t working out!”

Seriously?!

January 13, 2015

Stop it already with the bad marketing, part 5: Selling!

Over the past several weeks, we’ve explored several common marketing tactics (websites, email marketing, advertising and LinkedIn) and discussed many ways in which they are each being executed poorly in our industry… and several ways to improve them.

In this last post in the series, we take on SELLING. Whether you’re a dedicated sales rep, a researcher/consultant who does some part-time selling or the principle of a firm charged with revenue responsibility… this blog post is for you. And because we have all been on the receiving end of someone’s [bad] selling effort, I’ve written this post from the buyer’s perspective. I hope you find it helpful.

November 4, 2014

Why take that meeting? Because you never know…

I took a road trip to Atlanta last week… to make a few sales calls and spend some time with two of my remote employees. I also met with a couple of industry contacts (who I know only through LinkedIn) who would never be a client, a vendor or a partner.

So why bother? Why take a meeting and spend the time when there’s no “value” in it? Answer… because you never know!

October 28, 2014

Best networker ever?

I had coffee this past week with an old friend. John is a very successful management & sales consultant and trainer who works with clients around the world. We get together once a year or so to get caught up on each other’s families, businesses and so on.

And with John, it’s always the same thing… somehow, we end up talking about how he can help me – with connections, ideas, recommendations. I leave my meetings with him better informed and even a little inspired. He’s incredible.

October 22, 2014

When selling… put people first.

I have a client on the west coast who is very fond of saying, “Good things happen when I’m out of the office.” While we giggle when he says it, the fact is, when Ken (the founder) is out calling on clients, attending conferences or networking… good things really do happen. He generally comes back to the office with some sort of agreement or RFP.

Ken is a little old school… he likes and uses face-to-face more than any other tactic (and more than any other principal I know). He’s not much for email or social media… or even phone calls. He believes that for someone to want to do business with you (repeatedly), they have to get to know you… like you… and trust you. And the only way to do that is face-to-face.

September 30, 2014

Nurturing isn’t just for sales leads anymore.

If you work in this industry (or any industry, for that matter) for any length of time, you make all kinds of contacts… clients, vendors, people you meet at conferences, ‘friends’ on social media and so on. And for the most part, the people you meet are nestled in your CRM database or in your LinkedIn connections. You might also run into them in the fall during conference season and maybe they receive your e-newsletter every once in a while. And that’s about it.

But I received a reminder last week of the power of staying in touch – in a personalized way – to maintain and enhance relationships.

September 24, 2014

Stop cold calling… follow-up on warm sales leads instead.

I met with a client a few weeks ago that had one sales rep… an experienced and, by all accounts, pretty good rep. Over coffee, I talked with this rep about his day-to-day activities. I expected to hear about his calling on existing clients, responding to inquiries, following up on leads from conferences, etc. And while he did do some of that, he spent the majority of his time (the vast majority) digging through directories for new names, sending out letters of introduction (along with sales collateral) and then following-up by phone. Yup… he was cold-calling.

For a sales rep, nothing is more difficult, induces more fear or is less productive than cold-calling. If you are having your sales rep cold call more than 5-10% of his/her time… STOP IT! It is not the responsibility of sales reps to find leads… their job is to follow-up on leads and close deals. It is the responsibility of your marketing to generate those leads.