“When I first heard about the cloud, I thought the information was held somewhere in the skies.” I was told this by the CEO of a thriving I.T solutions firm. If you know what ‘the cloud’ in computer terminology means, you must be laughing. Don’t! That’s how you lose sales. By assuming buyers know, and
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“You can’t sell to everyone, and because you must sell to someone, you don’t want to pick anyone. Prospecting remains the most important step in sales. All others cannot manifest if there’s no one to work them on.” So, forget closing the sale; just get the appointment. What is the most important skill in selling?
“Research and explore to get close to the need with the focus of a rifle than hope for the best with the pellets from a shotgun” The umbrellas are on sale in the streets. With the chronic blackouts lately, lanterns and emergency lights are too. Hawkers seem to always have just what you need. And
It is the consummate seller who is able to resist the urge to volunteer (unnecessary) details of what the product can do. A business to business sale many times requires the presentation to be done across different cadre before it is consummated. Few sellers do this. Many, for lack of trying; others for lack of
How to sell to the C-Suite, Professionals and Lay employeees, Targeting my presentation, Tweaking presentation to different cadre
Trapped between charity and commerce, charitable organizations strive to embrace a quasi-commercial outlook. Therefore, it is imperative for their salespeople to morph at a faster rate. When the dire credit crunch happened in the West a few years back, many charitable organizations were forced to interrogate how they do business. Before, donor money would flow,
Donor funding in Kenya, Donor funding in Third World, Effects of the Credit Crunch in NGO World, NGOs in Kenya
To thrive, sellers must take debt collection in stride. Or would they rather Finance does? If the ultimate objective of sales is to generate income, then debt collection is in itself a salesman. A reader friend of mine told me of an interesting experience he had a few years back. When he joined this firm
Is debt collection the Salesperson job?, Non Performing Loans (NPLs) in Kenyan Banks, Why salespeople don't like collecting debt
How do you get to speak in the language that connects with the buyer? By asking, “So?”. Virtually all in-house sales training busy themselves with product knowledge. So if I’m selling waste-water treatment equipment, my in-house training will focus on the types of plants we have, their specifications, what they can do and how they
As long as access to information is lopsided to the seller’s advantage, buyer-beware will still trump. With information access being equal, seller-beware comes to the fore. The terrorist attack in Garissa was followed globally as it was happening, yet newspaper sales are on the decline. How? 21st C readers prefer other ways of consuming news.
Garissa Terrorist Attack, How the Internet has disrupted selling, Selling In The Internet Information Age, Terrorism in Kenya, To Sell Is Human
One of the challenges many salespeople face is the inability to think like a businessman.This happens because their buyers are businessmen and they are employees. One of the challenges many salespeople face is the inability to think like a businessman. In most instances they get by without having to, but in some they struggle when
Drawing a Business Plan, entrepreneurship, How to Start a Business, how to think like a businessman
Human Interaction, Managing Sales Process, Negotiations, Personal Growth
Today’s article is the 101st and marks this column’s 2nd anniversary. As with any milestone, reflection is advisable. Only editorial space limits the depth to which we can reflect and so we’ll look at twelve ways in which we can connect with the buyer. After all connection is the underlying theme of Sales Pitch. 1.