14
Feb

Much Bigger Sales: How to Make Them Happen

Are you competing for larger sales but just not winning them? Help is at hand. One of my favorite success stories is how we helped a pharmacy benefit management company break through to win much larger sales. PBMs serve as third-party administrators of prescription drug programs. The CEO of this particular PBM called us, explaining that he didn’t need our help

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20
Jan

Yes, You Can Differentiate a Commodity

Here’s how. Research what your market likes and dislikes about your product, understand specifically why customers come to you, and, the old standby: “think creatively.” A producer of a graphite oil additive for the car dealership market was taking the company in a new direction and knew they needed to build a much more effective sales organization. They had recently

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19
Dec

Sales Reps and SMEs Working Well Together

Team selling with subject matter experts can be the best sales experience you’ll ever have–or the worst. Training and practice for sales reps and SMEs can benefit everyone, especially the prospect. Over the years, I’ve sold with nuclear power-plant engineers, lawyers, real estate developers, software designers, and other highly talented and knowledgeable subject matter experts, or SMEs. There’s nothing like

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19
Oct

Will Your Salespeople Finish Strong? 2023 Is Closing Down Fast

Q4 is just beginning and with less than 90 days left in the year. Are your sales where they should be? Is your marketing turning up the right leads? Is your growth plan on track? Check out these proven ways to sharpen sales. It’s true. Slow, challenging, or uncertain times call for more investment in sales and marketing, not less. But few businesses bite that

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17
Aug

Build Bridges to Build Sales

Who should control prospect and customer relationships to maximize revenue? The obvious answer—the salesperson—isn’t necessarily the right answer. While someone must lead and manage an account, controlling all aspects is not the best use of a salesperson’s time. For larger accounts, especially, building as many bridges between buyer and seller as possible is almost always the best way to serve both

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18
Jul

Take Off Like Top Gun

Are you feeling a “need for speed” right about now? If so, that probably means one of two things. With just six months to go in the year you might not be on track to meet your sales goals. Or, maybe you see an opportunity to surpass your goals and put even more points on the board. Getting on either track

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18
May

Team Selling Magic: Sales Reps and SMEs

An old joke defined experts as “people who know more and more about less and less until they know all about nothing.” If that joke were ever funny, it isn’t any more. That the word has become an almost meaningless communications cliché is bad news. Real-life experts are no joke because they’re critical to our well-being today and tomorrow. They

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17
Mar

Nature and Nurture: Making Lead Generation Pay Off

Do your sales leads have the right DNA? Do you know how to make the most of it? We do and can help you get there, too. Today, popular psychology holds that the personality of an individual human being is shaped not by genetics or by environment alone but by an uneasy collaboration of both. We’ve found that similar collaboration applies

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15
Dec

The Best Business Gift Ever?

To increase revenue and build your business in 2023 ask the “twelve questions of selling.” Creating value for your customers, prospects, and colleagues is perhaps the best business gift you can give them. A particular set of business development and communication skills is the key. Do you and your team have them? This time of year giving and receiving command

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21
Jun

Do You ‘Earn’ the Right to Close?

Do you earn the right to close? We find that probably 75 percent of salespeople and other business developers do not. They may think they do because they show up, ask a few “probing” questions, and make presentations—often elaborate ones—as if to say, “I’m here. Isn’t that enough?” Showing up is of course essential—in fact, one rule of thumb people like

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