Tim J.M. Rohrer is a eighteen-year veteran advertising sales manager and trainer. An award winning writer, Tim is always available to answer questions and brainstorm ideas. Reach him at timrohrer@comcast.net.

I am watching American Idol and I am bored.  Now it is Simon’s turn to critique another generic singer.
He says, “The problem is that you are completely forgettable.”
Exactly.  Although there are thirty-six finalists, maybe three of them are memorable.  This is bad news for the other thirty-three.
Here is the deal – when you gain the stage you [...]

Consultative selling is just about the only kind of selling anyone talks about anymore. We don’t push products – we solve problems. We don’t sell stuff – we form partnerships.
I realized how far the pendulum had swung the other day when a sales manager told me that his team is trained to find the customer’s [...]

My wife hates it when I talk to telephone sales people. She thinks I’m rude and she would rather that I just didn’t answer the phone at all instead of being rude to the working stiff on the other end of the line.
But, I’m not rude. I’m giving sellers an opportunity to sell me without [...]

Sellers are trained to overcome objections.  As a result, they don’t listen carefully to what is being said to them by a prospect and they assume that everything said is an objection.  My observation is that prospects make comments that can be classified into the following four categories:
1) Statements
2) Concerns
3) Blow offs and
4) Objections
A statement is [...]

In the classic sales movie, Glengarry Glen Ross, there is a scene in which Mr. Blake is brought in from corporate to lead a meeting to introduce a sales contest to the sellers.  And it goes like this:
Blake: We’re adding a little something to this month’s sales contest. As you all know, first prize is a Cadillac Eldorado. Anybody [...]

Perhaps nothing is as confusing to me as the seller who blames his poor performance on his sales manager.  To me, it’s like a baseball player drawing a similar correlation to his batting average.
So, you don’t like your sales manager.  Big deal.  That’s not where your focus should be anyway.  A seller’s focus should [...]

When I first started in radio advertising sales my training consisted of watching a series of video tapes produced by a guy named Norm Goldsmith.  My fellow sellers enjoyed making fun of the Norm Goldsmith tapes because his entire presentation consisted of him sitting on his desk in front of a bizarre, psychedelic painting and monologuing.  [...]

A common occurrence in the media sales business is the follow-up.  That event in which a seller must re-contact a decision maker and ask the status of the sale they are trying to consumate.  Many sellers find this event an awkward moment – filled with anxiety and trepidation.  I’ve often heard a follow-up phone call handled [...]

Unless you’re a construction worker or a coal miner or someone else that physically abuses his body to make a living, then burnout isn’t physical – it’s emotional or pyschological.  In other words, it’s in your head.
The questions we need to explore are:  1) How did it get there? and 2) What are you going to do [...]

Have you ever bought shoes at Nordstrom?  Besides greeting you pleasantly like everyone else; and having dress socks to substitute for your athletic socks like everyone else; and besides having their shoes on pedestals and expensive wood tables like everyone else; they do something I haven’t seen done anywhere else.
When you’ve tried on a pair [...]