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Have you ever had a sale that closed really quick?
One that resulted in a core, loyal, customer that will gladly act as a reference and give you referrals.
How did you make that happen? I will argue that you had two things working for you timing and a relationship.
When you have the right timing the sale [...]

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I know you are going to think I am weird when I say this, but your presentation is NOT about your product! It’s about your client, silly!
The trick to giving a rock solid presentation is not to memorize every feature and benefit of your product and puke them up on your [...]

I had just transitioned from inside sales to my first outside sales position where I was selling some high end estate planning vehicles in the home. My clients all had net worth’s in the 5-10 million ranges, and appearance was everything. After a week or so it became clear to me that my lifted Jeep [...]

I will admit that ‘follow up’ isn’t one of my strong points. I have a natural tendency to dislike and shy away from doing something that I myself don’t like happening to me. I don’t like being followed… which is basically what follow up calls are all about. In the same way that as a [...]

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 [...]

While they may not always admit it, sales people are really gatherers and hoarders at heart, that is why there is premium paid for real hunters.  When you ask most sales people what they need to do better they say “I need more accounts”,” I need more territory”, as though more stuff equals more results [...]

Knowing that some of my fellow bloggers specialise in the area of pipeline management, I’m going to focus this post quite tightly on 3 simple guidelines for sole practitioners and small businesses.
Many organisations still rely heavily on instinct, guesswork and “seat-of-the-pants” management to control their sales pipelines. As a result, they get trapped in a [...]

The purpose of business is to find weakness, highlight strengths and improve. So why are we not fully helping those who want to achieve, do so?
If there is anything to be learnt from the ongoing fiasco of the banking industry it surely must be that with targets and pressure to achieve comes the temptation to [...]

I was asked to write a post on pipeline management and I seemed to have written the best part of a book! So those with a low threshold for reading long posts be warned… but as I was bemoaning to Nesh earlier today he sympathised with me by saying… “if you are asked to write [...]

Sometimes people start talking to me about different visual concepts for the sales pipeline. Obviously the recurring theme is the funnel. A wide mouth with lead after lead at the top, slowly sloping inward through prospects to opportunities and finally to the small trickles of sales. On the newer, more Landslidian (man I love making [...]