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Showing posts from August, 2013

Corporate Prospecting

Prospecting isn’t as frightening as you would think. In corporate sales I like to teach people 3 things. Establish the key players When you are prospecting find out who makes the decisions. Start at the top and work your way down. Is it a VP, an owner a CEO or high level manager? Have them release the names of the people in the trenches to you. You won't step on anyone toes and people will tend to listen when you are able to name drop. You can say, “Victor Barns suggested I speak with you." It's important to introduce yourself to a high level person so that there aren’t any surprises down the road when the company starts doing business with you. They’ll remember your phone call to them. Which department takes care of buying your products? You could be dealing with multiple departments. For example in Information Technology you could be dealing with the Purchasing Department and the IT Dept. There are often many players involved. It could be 3-5 people

A Teen’s Perspective

You call it gallivanting, we call it fun. You call it mischief, We call, just hanging out with our friends. You call it disrespect, We call sticking up our ourselves; sorry we don’t have it perfect yet. What you call sense of entitlement, We call providing. Is there a misunderstanding? What you call caring, we call control. What you call advice, we call self-righteous. What you call rebellion, we call anger. What you call rage, we call suffering. What you call curfew and boundaries, we call conditional love. “I’ll only love you if you act a certain way.” What you call drama, we call wanting to be deeply seen. Dear Parents: Do I have to be wrong in order for you to be right? If lessons and mistakes make me stronger, let me make them. I give you permission to let go. I need emotional risk and uncertainty, to help me find my own courage; to feel my own joy. Do you feel yours, or are you too entrenched in raising me that you forgot about your own life. We see things d

Don’t Sweat the Sales Stuff

Selling is really quite simple and not nearly as scary as some people think. You get a list together of why your service or product is of value to your prospect and are willing to promote it. What’s in it for them? How are you going to make their life wonderful? Many people think about telemarketing and all those relentless calls you get at home when they think about selling products or services. It can be lawn maintenance, newspapers, carpet cleaning or just about anything else that you might find annoying to talk about after a full day of work. Usually the calls happen on your way out the door or when your right in middle of making dinner or, God forbid, relaxing for 5 minutes. I had a telemarketer call me the other day to sell me some magazines from MacLean’s. He was offering such and such and this and that and blah blah and I finally I had to interrupt him, "I’m sorry I’m not interested." What he said next surprised me. "You Don't Read?" Rule