Archive for Category: Believing in Product/Service

Are your employees sabotaging your sales? Here’s what to do

“Wow! That’s less than half price? That’s a very good deal. Especially in this economy. I’ll take 4 packets. Yes, I love biscuits that much,” the shopper confesses to the saleslady (merchandiser) at the supermarket. Taken in by his enthusiasm and innocence, and yet internally conflicted she whispers to the shopper, “Are you OK with

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Procurement officials should sell, not buy

How can procurement officials sell, not buy? How can they improve their negotiation skills? By learning how to sell Officials in the procurement function repeatedly engage in the selling process, with suppliers. But, they refrain from admitting that they are selling-preferring instead to call it negotiation. In my view, they can keep the procurement label,

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Why most sales people survive and few, thrive

If practice makes perfect, choose carefully what you practice. Iterate. To perform, or utter repeatedly. This term was used by a Head of Sales learner in my class after we’d just completed a sales course recently. It was in reference to repeating the lessons learnt to habit status. Her “iterate” hit the nail much more

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Sell to solve the buyer’s problem, not to seek elusive product perfection

Did you know that your competition sees your weakness as strength? It never ceases to amaze me how, when doing a comparative market analysis, sellers (say, of This Company) are quick to lament thus: “Competitor J’s product has a higher torque than ours”. Or, “Competitor K’s service is priced lower than ours.” Or, “Competitor L

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Product and price are only two of seven P’s you can use to close faster

You were lied to. The 7Ps of marketing, for which product and price are a part of, aren’t. They are also the 7Ps of finance, of administration of human resources, of ICT, of operations, and even, of sales. They are the 7Ps of business. As a reminder they are product, price, place (distribution), promotion (marketing),

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