The Coronavirus pandemic has impacted us all. Some to a greater degree than others. All the plans for business that we had, all the opportunities we expected to close, those orders just ready to sign have all been thrown into disarray. Welcome to the world of doughnut planning.Doughnut PlanningEvery salesperson has been in this position before maybe not to the…
Know your target One of the costliest exercises for any sales person in terms of time used is prospecting. Not all of us have huge marketing departments and budgets to rely on for lead generation. The majority of us have to get off our backsides and do it ourselves. Who to look for It is very easy just to get…
Planning We all know the 7 p’s don’t we? Maybe not, but it is very true that proper planning and preparation prevents particularly poor performance. This is something that is really true within the sales arena. You will find that the more prepared you are the better the outcomes tend to be even to the point that you get the…
In the thick of it Sometimes when we are in the heat of the battle we don’t always take time to stand back and review what the current position is. Where are we against our strategy? What tactics are going to move us forward? Etc, etc. This situation can be caused by our competitors moving into a leading position and…
Timeframe When selling complex technology solutions it is never done in a short timeframe. Quite often once you have done your demonstration there will be a lengthy period before any decision is made. During this time many things can happen including your competitors doing demonstrations, business issues and a plethora of other items. All these things will conspire against you…
I have found over the years that it is very easy for sales people to focus too much on themselves, their company and their products. They are all great, apparently!!Successful sales people although realising that a good company, good products and even being a great sales person are important these elements are only part of the success that they enjoy.What’s…
Motivation, what is motivation! A little research will show you that the dictionary definition of motivation is “the psychological feature that arouses an organism to action toward a desired goal; the reason for the action; that which gives purpose and direction to behaviour”. Motivation is the fuel to our desires not the route or destination. Most people confuse motivation and…
The telephone is a fantastic invention, be it traditional land line or a modern mobile, the phone allows us to communicate immediately with anyone at anytime when we want to. Brilliant, or is it! From a sales perspective the phone should make life much simpler and more efficient, but for many it does not. Making that call be it prospecting,…
Selling is easy (apparently) the hard bit is closing. There is all sorts of garbage out there on how to sell and close business. Although a lot of it sounds great and should work it is often just theoretical or even worse out of date. There is a great deal written on the art of selling and closing. This quite…