Sep
16
Trust is reciprocal and empowering. Trust imbues trust.
In order to expect to be trusted, being trusting is essential. Give first and you’re likely to get. In fact, we all know someone who, without precident, is not trusting. It’s hard not to doubt that person’s intentions. It makes you wonder what they’re afraid of and believe if they’re likely to do unto you as they believe you will do to them.
How does this relate to trusting your prospect?
I’m not suggesting you trust that they will call you back necessarily; although you can allow them to do so as long as they agree on how you’re allowed to follow-up if they get to busy and forget — always have a gracious, proactive back-up plan.
On a higher plain, trusting there’s a deal in place without a contract yet may be in order. Don’t spend the money yet, but that’s not the point — we’re talking about fortifying the relationship by being trusting.
How do you extend trust to your prospects and clients?
Dec
31
Taking the link advice of Jason Womack's post on Wordle, here's Alliance Science blog as of the end of 2008. Create your own based on your values.
Dec
20
Sometimes a No is better than Yes.
In a recent post, Two ways to deal with "no", Seth Godin describes extremes of how to react when you don't win your prospect's business.
- Point out their mistake, challenge their judgment or their process or castigate their decision
- Thank them for their time, compliment them on their choice, share with them what you've learned in the process and assure them you appreciate the relationship and are available to help them with anything they need
Then, he asks two questions which are really four and are really questions asked no matter the outcome. Phrased slightly differently, do you ask yourself the following questions?
- What do you to be invited back no matter the outcome?
- What do you do to be considered as the backup solution in the case that you're not chosen?
- How do you, no matter the outcome, increase word of mouth?
- What do you do that will improve how your organization feels about itself?
How do you turn the engagement of winning business into more business?
When is "no" better than "yes?"
At times, not being the first to be awarded the business is to your strategic advantage:
- When the risk of failing is hiring than succeeding
- When the road to negotion looks long and complex; there's still hope in coming in after early negotiations with your competitor fail
when do you like to not win the business?
Photo Credit: Stefan Elf
Nov
24
As a Sale Professional, like an athlete, your performance is dependent on Powerful Daily Routines.
Jason Womack of Your Best Just Got Better asks the question, "When are YOU at your best?"
When are YOU at your best?
Oct
14
Others have misused the words: Collaborative Selling, Partner Selling… I call it Alliance Selling
Social Selling is more than "word of mouth," more than "accidental spokespersons," more than promotion via social networks and social media. Call it Advisory Selling, Collective Selling, Community Selling, Group Selling, Connection Selling — you get the point (I hope).
Specifically: Where professional salespeople or spokespersons or marketers consistently and collectively SELL each other's services and products through the mechanism of consultative sales process .
It starts with your own ability to establish credibility as an Advisor established in your Initial Consultation with a prospect. During your Needs Analysis phase, you uncover the needs for other services and products available from your partners. Through proper matching and recommendation, you don't just "refer" your prospect — you set the appointment.
Through collaboration with other trust Advisor Alliance Partners, you will build your business 200% and 300% faster and more effectively.
It's easy.
So, why aren't you doing it?
Jul
08
What’s the difference between Selling and Negotiating?
- Selling is when the prospect buys with your terms and your price
- Negotiating is when you modify your terms and/or price or offering to make the sale
What are you better at, selling or negotiating?
Jun
18
Inspired by the picture of what Jason Womack's reading, here's a picutre of the stack of books currently on my bed-side table.
What are you learning?
More importantly, how is it influencing your selling behaviors?
Jun
16
Potomac Blog was the Washington DC, Metropolitan area's first collective attempt to bring Social Media experts under one roof for an unconference.
Initiator, organizer, champion and MC, Geoff Livingston, proudly announces Blog Potomac a success, as I agree. Largely an audience of marketing professionals with a healthy attendance of PR and communications professionals, the event was an excellent inside look at how the "other" communication disciplines — PR, Advertising, Marketing, Branding — use New Media to create dialog with the prospect and customer. As a representative from the Sales camp, I walked away with the question, "aside from having a social networking account, how much does the focused field rep need to understand and use the plethora of Web 2.0 communication and media organizational tools becoming available every day? Here's a small sampling of the techie tools post-lunch keynote, Frank Gruber, professed to love and often uses:
Gmail - AOL Mail - Remember the Milk - AIM Instant Messenger - AwayFind - AwayFind details
Facebook - Twitter
- Flickr - TubeMogul - Viddler - Blip.tv - YouTube - eyespot
- Typepad - WordPress - Tumblr - Evernote - Mixx - Digg -Delicious - StumbleUpon - Shareaholic - SiteMeter - FeedBurner - Google Analytics - myAOL - FeedHub - AideRSS - Summize - Google Alerts - Filtrbox - Lijit - SocialThing - MyBlogLog - FriendFeed - TwitterFeed - Dopplr - Tripit - Basecamp -Quicken Online
If you're a committed Sales Professional, you are accountable for public relations, branding, marketing, advertising and customer service, whether or not they are another's responsibility.
Social media tools are about engaging in the conversation with your public. They're having it with or without you.
Yes, it can be overwhelming. So, to get started, here's a couple of suggestions, opinions and observable options:
- Start reading about Social Media and Social Networking to understand the fundamentals — if you're lost, use Google Reader and subscribe to Alliance Science
- At least join LinkedIn and use it (Facebook is becoming popular to the selling professional, too)
- You're responsible for your brand and building your credibility as an expert — consider blogging if you can keep up with the responsibility of research and content creation at least once a week.
- Ask the most successful Sales Professionals you know how they're embracing Web 2.0 (there, I said it). If they're not, find out who is and ask them what they're doing.
If you're not growing as a sales professional, you're dying. The worse part — you won't know it until you're dust.
Photo Credit: Jared Goralnick
Jun
02
Break-ups can be hard — make sure you do it right.
It's OK to fire a prospect, client or a networking referral partner — just make sure do it correctly. You never know what the future has in store for you and the other party. You may encounter them again so make sure you can greet with them with a confident smile.
- Nurture, nurture, nurture. Remember, no one likes feeling rejected. It's important to be kind and empathetic. Don't disengage in an email. Have more couth, courage and business-smarts than to email a "Dear John" letter.
- Get the other person to disengage. If it's not working out, you owe it to the other person and yourself to decide together. Have the courage to bring up your objections and allow the other person the chance to fix the issues or decide to withdraw. Whether or not your mind is made up and there's little chance to move forward, put your ego in the passenger seat and allow the other person to participate. This approach is actually easier and less risky than the quick and easy, take-flight alternative and will diffuse potentially dangerous confusion or resentment.
- Always leave the door open. People change. Situations change. Impressions change. Relationships change. Insensitive or brisk break-ups burn bridges. So sketch a possible future with your personally delivered final words. You never know, the future with that person may surprise you.
Photo credit: putitonashirt
