Archive for Category: Pitching/Presenting

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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Big brand name not automatic selling advantage

Selling a big brand name? Just as with glowing academic papers, that reputable name won’t work for you, if you don’t. Could you be wallowing in the miasma of your company’s renowned brand name? “Watakuja tu” you reckon. (Customers will always come). “We needn’t put in much effort in selling. After all, we are (insert

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Three lessons in selling from writing a weekly column

Language, editing and persistence are your tools of trade. Today’s piece starts the sixth year of this column. And today I wish to universally respond to those who desire to sell their ideas through writing for a publication like this one. Lesson 1 First. Readers of this blog know that it challenges salespeople and institutions

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Exploiting the customer’s inexperience for personal gain is short-lived

And many formal sellers (consultants, for instance) would be happy to charge, than show you, how to resolve a problem you can, yourself. I love my plumber. As for my (former) mechanic, not so much. Twice my plumber has refused a job, instead insisting that I resolve it myself. No, he wasn’t being rude; just

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Why a quantifiable goal is crucial to a successful client meeting

A goal crystallizes the purpose of the meeting; it focuses the seller to a specific thing and with this, he will most likely find himself customizing his presentation accordingly To make your client meetings productive, have a quantifiable goal. Office meetings are a common tool of business. Paradoxically, many attendees (even sales people in sales

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How To Successfully Sell Your End Of Year Party

Usually, that’s the easy part especially if it’s in memo/email format where all one has to do is complete the ‘To’, ‘From’ and ‘Subject’ fields. The challenging part is the why, when and how. Who, what, when, where, why and how. The five Ws and one H are such a basic structure of effective communication

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Speak at the end of year party, and get promoted

Speak at the end of year party with confidence. I see in my presentation classes, that the trouble with most “I have nothing to say” or “I fear speaking in public” speakers, is this. They suffocate themselves by confusing knowing how to say (structure), with what to say (content). Now then. Opportunities to speak (voluntary or not) abound this

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