When to talk to your customer like you’d talk to an 11 year old
Two years old is a great age. My two year old, “A,” still talks, walks and runs funny. And she has that pure-joy smile that most of us lose at around three or four. Her awareness and understanding grow daily. Latelyy, she’s been surprising us by making a relevant contribution to what my wife and…
It’s NOT the economy. It’s you.
Any serious entrepreneur knows that if they’re stuck today – it’s not the economy. It’s them. They ‘get it’ that this is not a statement of blame. The opposite: It’s an acknowledgement of a power and ability to do and achieve far more than they’re achieving today. If you’re running a billion dollar business, then…
The fruitless crusade to turn prospect Hyde into customer Jekyl
Can you turn a lousy prospect into a great customer? Of course not. But I bet you’ve tried – more than once. I have. Who hasn’t? So why do we waste our time talking to people who will never buy? To answer that, I’m afraid I need to get a tad philosophical. We humans have…
Sales trainers still peddle this hooey. Don’t buy it!
It is hard to believe that sales trainers still peddle this hooey. It is even harder to believe that a company as large and sophisticated as Orange – a large cell phone provider – fell for it. Here’s the story. About five years ago I was between meetings at an upscale mall in the Tel…
Is not finishing projects self-sabotage? I think not…
An entrepreneur in a mastermind group I belong to was frustrated – and wrongly he blamed himself. He started to wonder: “Is my pattern of starting and stopping projects subconscious self-sabotage?” Same for his tendency to be reading four or five books at once. There were a flurry of responses from others affirming the tendency…
The winner of the scholarship to “How to Master the Elegant Sales Conversation.”
Two very quick things. 1. Thank you to everyone who filled in the “Where do you get stuck in the sale conversation” survey. As promised, we put all the respondents into a raffle and picked one winner, who gets a full scholarship to the “How to Master the Elegant Sales Conversation” training. And the winner…
How to close more sales by not answering your prospect’s questions. Elegantly. + Registration now open.
A few years ago, after a really promising meeting with the partner in a sizeable firm, he wanted to introduce me to his brother, the senior partner. All looked promising. But then sent me an email asking about my background, education, degrees, favorite color. All those meaningless questions. Now here’s what you need to notice:…
Our new baby, and your tough sales problems.
When your wife is due and you need to schedule something, what’s the best day to schedule it? Her due date, naturally. “Let’s make it for July 25th,” I told my operations manager, Shayna Roth. “That’s the due date, so it’s least likely to be the day anything happens.” And so we scheduled a small,…
If your prospect doesn’t buy, is it your fault?
Two kinds of mistakes derail sales conversations. The first class of mistakes is some version of winging it. It’s walking into a conversation and not having a clear idea of how you’re going to lead it. You generally let the other side do a lot of talking (good) and they tend to go all over…
Re-branding and ice cream in your gas tank get you the same result.
Dean Jackson said something that makes so much sense: “I want a boring business and an exciting life. Most people have an exciting business and a boring life.” Indeed, the simpler you make things for yourself, the greater your results per time and effort expended. But most people overthink and overcomplicate. So your business has you…