Skip to Content

Author Archives: [email protected]

It’s the Risk, Not the Price!

It’s the Risk, Not the Price! “Low price, low price, low price.” It’s the mantra that sales people in every industry segment are hearing more these days than ever before. Customers, looking for ways to contain costs, naturally pressure their vendors for lower costs. But, is low price the motivating factor in a customer’s decision […]

Just Listen!

I just came across some research that confirmed what many of us in the profession of educating salespeople have known for years: That purchasers would be “much more likely” to buy from a salesperson if that salesperson would just “listen” to the customer. The survey found that some of the worst offenders were experienced salespeople. […]

Effective selling begins with information

Most salespeople love to be active – out in our territories, seeing people, solving problems, putting deals together. This activity-orientation is one of the characteristics of a sales personality. A day sitting behind a desk is our idea of purgatory. Unfortunately, this activity orientation is both a strength and weakness. Much of our ability to […]

The Question Is The Key

Focus, focus, focus. That’s the phrase that I find myself repeating constantly in every sales seminar that I present. I believe focus is the greatest challenge for salespeople today, and the greatest single solution to their challenges. There are so many demands on our time, so many tasks calling for our attention, and so many […]

Beliefs That Limit A Salesperson’s Performance

I have great relationships with my customers “I have great relationships with my customers.” That is one of the most debilitating myths around — one that cripples the performance of the average corporate salesperson. And, yet, it is endemic within the population of salespeople. I am not sure that there is a salesperson anywhere who […]

Thinking and Questioning Your Way to Sales Success

Part II In part one of this series, I made the point that thinking better is the ultimate success skill for a sales person, and that good thinking always came from asking yourself the right questions and writing down the answers. Sounds so simple. Yet, only a handful of true professionals adhere to that discipline. […]

Thinking and Questioning Your Way to Sales Success

Part I For a sales professional, there are two basic sets of questions with which a dedicated sales person should gain competence: Questions to ask prospects and customers; and questions to ask yourself. Questions we ask ourselves are just as important, if not more so, than those we ask our prospects and customer. The reason […]

The Practice of Sales

“Every profession expects the serious practitioner of that profession to continually seek out the best practices of that profession, and then to roll them into his/her routine with discipline.” That statement comes out of my mouth in almost every seminar or keynote that I present. Sometimes I follow it up with the ironic observation that […]

Seven Ways To Build Rapport With Anyone

Building rapport with customers is like squirting oil into gears. Imagine some gears grinding together. When you squirt lubricating oil into the gears, you reduce the friction and make everything work smoother. So it is when two people interact with each other. Rapport, like lubricating oil, reduces the friction and makes the interaction work smoother. […]

Preventing The Price Objection

Preventing The Price Objection: “Your price is too high!” The infamous price objection. Wouldn’t sales be a great profession if we could somehow wipe it out and never hear it again? Unfortunately, that will never happen. Too many of the people with whom we deal are paid to get the best deal they can. And […]