In football (or soccer, depending where you live) one of the former favorite game tactics used to be “kick & rush”. You can describe it with getting the ball as quickly as possible in front in the opponent’s end zone, using long kicks, quickly passing the midfield, to strike a goal within minutes or rather…
Tag Archive: leads
Successful Selling To Small Business Owners & SME [u]
Small businesses differ from larger corporations. Not just the size of their business differs, also the way they make purchasing decisions.
Small businesses really have only two levels of management within their organization: The owner and their trusted advisers: Members of the family and friends. To sell to entrepreneurs you must consider their circumstances, their thinking, and mostly their values in doing business. Become part of their ecosystem to participate in getting business from them in return.
It‘s A Cruel – Cruel Summer – For Cold Calling
It‘s not that you can‘t speak to decision makers during summer time. You may find it harder to find them (you do look for direct dials and mobile phone numbers, aren‘t you?). Use the summer time to learn more about your prospects‘s situation. Who would be benefit from your product. How would that translate to benefits to them? How would that translate to a need for the decision maker? And some big picture stuff: Does it help increasing profits or profitability?
Knowledge equals creditability. You are no longer perceived as „just“ a sales person.
The Biggest Challenge In Modern Prospecting: Selling Against The Status Quo
The status quo describes the situation when the prospect is happy with what he has. The prospect is happy with the current supplier; the company is happy with what they have got. They see no reason to change a running system.
In this situation you don‘t compete against a competitor, but against the status quo. Where prospects see no need to have a „need“ in the first place, it is difficult to argue the benefit.
So how do you deal with that?
The Leads Are Weak??? You Are Weak!
The problem of today’s sales professionals is that leads are are mostly regarded as weak, as they haven’t turned into a deal (just yet). The Question: Are the leads really weak, or are we weak sales professionals?
An ex-colleague of mine used to jump up and down all day, demanding “I need more leads!”, but seldom did he really generate business from them. Why? The secret lies in the devil’s detail: Because we don’t engage properly.