Influenza and pneumonia kill 16X more Kenyans than Corona. ‘Dehydrated’ slum areas, are choking with school-going children, face masks are being used as chin guards, and still… nothing. Fellow Kenyans, were we sold a bill of goods? This is the question we are asking. Were we conned about COVID-19? Or, are we Divinely protected as…
Continue readingMake a customer, not a sale; here’s why
Lessons from landlords, private schools and the matatu crew Tenants, parents and passengers. Do you suppose those that sell to them have ever saw them as customers? Those that sell to them are, respectively, landlords, schools and the matatu crew. Do you suppose an upside to this pandemic will be that the three will rethink…
Continue readingAdapt your selling to this uncertainty
“If business unfolded In real life as it does on Microsoft Excel, then everyone would be in business.” Planning is a science. Implementation is an art. This was true ‘BC’ (Before Corona) and is truer in these times of uncertainty we are in. Unfortunately, most sellers interpret uncertainty to mean, “Why bother planning? It just…
Continue readingSelling dos and don’ts in this pandemic
Only three months ago, online learning was all the rage; now, parents aren’t sure whether they want to continue with it or wait for January Here are three selling activities sellers can salvage or activate sales in this pandemic. Spell it out Don’t assume buyers understand the problem with the purchase simply because, “Everyone knows…
Continue readingExploit pipeline management system
Sales management systems and sales administrators serve the institution, not the individual; they help in making management, not sales decisions. Pipeline management is a salesperson’s nemesis or ally. Pipeline management refers to a system that tracks every sale, at every stage, from initial contact with prospective buyer, all the way to its completion (a close)…
Continue readingDial into your sellers’ emotions
“Employees are not hugely motivated by their employer’s reasons for change.” As askaris continue to check our body temperatures, so too employers should, their sales people’s emotional temperatures. This article is for those employers that have chosen to retain their sales force in this crisis. We may be mentally settling into the acceptance stage of…
Continue readingDeploy passion to prospect online
Will it be easy? It’s your lifeline. Just start. Deploy your passion to prospect successfully online. Prospecting is the lifeline of successful selling so I’ve said, repeated, reiterated and will continue to evangelize. Prospecting is identifying the right person to sell to. Successful sellers dwell on this foremost activity in selling because they understand that…
Continue readingAdapt your Zoom presentation to the audience
Listening and reading are wildly different forms of consuming content. Content intended for one audience must be adapted to the other if it is to achieve its intended purpose. You’ve just sat down to watch the 7’oclock news on NTV. The newscaster comes on. He is holding that day’s Daily Nation. Your face spells, “Huh?”…
Continue readingSpread your prospecting like a COVID-19
The internet allows sellers, selling sandals or owning a shoe shop, to affordably cast their nets wide, and spread like a pandemic. There’s business bloom to be found in this pandemic gloom. This is what those that have migrated online are finding and mining, and that those that haven’t should quit dithering and start discovering….
Continue readingProspect and approach buyers differently online
It cannot happen with the seller incessantly calling up up the buyer, sending unending emails or insisting that the buyer should accept the pandemic is here and move on. Prospecting and approaching the online buyer is different from how it is offline. The offline, traditional, approach offers numerous opportunities for prospecting. Prospecting is the continual…
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