Archive for Category: Planning

Adapt your selling to Coronavirus uncertainty

“Even in Coronavirus 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

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Exploit sales pipeline management system

Sales pipeline management systems and sales administrators serve the institution, not the individual; they help in making management, not sales decisions. Sales 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

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Continual prospecting is key to successful selling

Continual prospecting is key to success. This eternal search can take many shapes.  A fan of this column says they are required to spend 60% of their selling time, prospecting. If you don’t prospect you die. Not in the literal sense but the professional one. Prospecting is the never-ending search for potential buyers for your product or

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Cash in on January blues to jumpstart your sales

Your buyers can afford wallowing in the January blues; you can’t. Snap out of it! Perhaps the only active sales in January are back to school, transportation back to the city and the crooked traffic cop hoping to find your car insurance expired. Most of the other sellers are ‘recharging their batteries’ from December’s ‘shut

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Win with an unfair selling advantage by getting in early with the buyer

“Getting in early with the customer means being proactive, not reactive; generous, not selfish; relational, not transactional. It also propels your career and usefulness.” I’m told that by 4.30am you will find owners of business on the road with traffic nowhere in their sights, nor thoughts. By 5.30 am, MDs have driven to work, traffic

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What winning salespeople and firms have in common

I was recently invited to a sales achievement awards ceremony and a few things stood out for me. The most prominent one (selling ethically) was the topic of last week’s column. Today we focus on the other five on what winning salespeople and firms share. To begin with, the event was held at a prestigious

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Three activities that will see your sales thrive

You can list many activities on your daily to-do list, but I submit that they really boil down to just three activities to thrive in sales: monitor-facing, customer-facing or “air”-facing “What’s in your cup?” a common advert inquires. “What’s in your day?” I usually pose to participants in my workshop. “What activities would I see

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Five Steps To Delivering A Successful Presentation

Over the years, as a firm we have sieved Delivering A Successful Presentation into five tips; representation, repertoire, research, rehearsal and repetition. In 1996, I was a life insurance agent and had just landed my biggest prospect to date. I was now in his office, this chief engineer of a multinational firm.After the flawless presentation

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