There was a time when life was simpler. When the marketing team were about customer avatars, crafting key messages, getting in front of the right audience with advertising and PR and creating promotions to drive customer trial and sales. What was left for sales to do was the relatively simple task of converting! Of course, … Continue reading Where does marketing end and sales begin?
Category: Sales
Prospects can be frustrating. We have all had the experience of thinking that the business is in the bag and then what comes next is radio silence. They appeared keen to meet and find out more about our products and services. We burned the midnight oil to prepare a proposal and then – nothing. So … Continue reading How not to follow up in sales!
A traditional view in sales and marketing is that we have to choose between a high volume, low quality lead generation formula and a high quality, low volume alternative. But is it not possible to have a third option – both high quality and high volume? We think there are ways of getting closer to … Continue reading Volume or quality in sales – or both?
‘I’m not selling you anything.’ ‘I just want to ask you a few questions.’ ‘It will only take a few minutes.’ It is not unusual for any of these to be the introduction to a telesales call. They can be perfectly polite but they are still not a good start to a sale. However, for … Continue reading Earning the right to be heard in sales
It’s a question I have often been asked in the context of working with teams to improve their business development processes. 10 years ago I would have said that you can probably train most people in the skills to sell, however, that doesn’t mean they will use them. Negative perceptions of sales, an unwillingness to … Continue reading Can Anyone Be Trained To Sell?
We may not normally think of vital signs when reviewing and planning our business but what if we did? What would we notice and would it be useful? Here are a few for each of the key business areas. Do any of these ring true for you? Finance Margins are so tight that any unexpected cost … Continue reading Know your vital signs
I recently had a query about an interest charge on my bank account and phoned directly to my branch. They initially couldn’t explain it, and asked if they could put me on hold while they investigated. They came back to say they needed to speak to someone else – at which point I suggested they … Continue reading Get your sales priorities right
This has got to be one of the most commonplace challenges for small businesses. Their favourite and best clients use them because they trust them – the person behind the business. However, in order to grow – or to even take a short holiday – they need to be able to say, ‘It won’t necessarily … Continue reading How to scale up when your business is just you!