Everyone can be seduced by a zero price. But those who react most eagerly to the word “free” rarely pause to consider the value of your offering. Could they become customers who actually invest in your product or service? People reacting to a zero price rarely stop to consider if the offer is worth it. Because they don’t assess the value of your free offer, they will never be your customer. So why invest your precious resources …
What’s the most vital ingredient of enduring relationships? Your first instinct might be to answer that trust is the most essential ingredient. But in today’s “connection” economy, there’s an even more primal element that enables trust and benefits everyone in the relationship. Before trust can grow, there must be generosity. Generosity creates trust. Generosity is more than offering discounts or giving products or services away for free. If we don’t know you, why would we invest valuable time …
The daily demands on your time – meetings, email, personnel management, etc. – can distract you and destroy your plans for a productive day. Before you know it, there is little time for the proactive tasks you had planned to pursue like following up with customers and collaborators, asking for referrals, reviewing your key performance indicators, goal setting and planning. Time management is a challenge for every business leader. Filling your day with “busyness” instead of …
When you’re looking for the next order, it’s easy to slip into a small exaggeration to attract attention. “Our Service Plan covers everything.” “Our price is always lower than the competition.” “We always exceed your expectations.” These half-truths destroy your credibility and alert the prospect that you may not be trustworthy. Use these tips to make your selling efforts more genuine: Have Positive Expectations Positive behavior often inspires positive responses. People tend to mirror each other’s …
Perhaps they lack the required experience, confidence or competence. Perhaps their goals are unclear. But often, it’s the behavior of the employee’s leader that is the primary cause for constraining an employee’s performance. When a leader acts differently than the employee expected – neither being nor doing what they believe is appropriate – then the employee is likely to get discouraged and fail to meet his or her potential. Leaders don’t do this on purpose, …
In business, technology is the indispensable enabler of communications, customer service, productivity and other functions. You cannot compete without it. But people want to do business with other people, not with faceless companies or their technology. If technology identifies a new opportunity, how can you transform it into a personal interaction? Years ago, our parents and grandparents knew the people that sold them their food, hardware, shoes, etc. and B-to-B transactions were conducted across a …
Change is inevitable. Organizations are always adapting to meet shifting market conditions, to enable their growth, etc. Resistance to change is also inevitable. It takes more than a memo containing a few bullet points to overcome this resistance. What seems crystal clear to you regarding a pending change initiative is often less straightforward for those impacted by the change. Expect it to take much longer than you imagined to implement a major change. Plan your …
Extensive research has documented 3 key traits of top salespeople that directly influence their selling style and ultimately their success. Top sales performers rely on the following “C” attributes to drive their selling process. 1. They CARE…about their customers and their work associates. Top performers set goals, commit to achieve them and continuously measure their performance in comparison to their goals. Their goal orientation drives them to understand their customer’s decision-making process and to meet …
In an economy filled with noise and distraction, how do you capture attention? Why should a prospect or customer listen to your message? Why should an employee follow your lead? Here are 7 “connecting” concepts that pay dividends. Share knowledge to earn opportunities. Learn something new that challenges your assumptions. Seek to create value for others. Always do more than is asked of you. Elevate your credibility by trusting someone else. Enhance your worth by …
The most critical part of any sales process is Discovery – seeking to uncover a prospect’s needs and goals. Prospects become customers once they confirm that you have heard their story, can meet their goals as well as their needs, and could actually exceed their expectations. Productive sales Discovery does much more than uncovering a prospect’s needs and goals. It: Encourages prospects to do the talking; Provides an opportunity for you to demonstrate empathy; Enables …