Archive for the ‘Sales’ Category

How do you stop nurturing and start selling?

Posted on June 14th, 2011 in Lead nurturing, Sales | 1 Comment »

Do you surprise the prospect based on their behavior? Or, do you ask for permission to move them into sales? Or, maybe you have a “good relationship” already so it isn’t really a surprise?
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Sales and marketing should be combined into one department

Posted on May 4th, 2010 in Marketing, Sales | No Comments »

We spend a lot of our time working very hard to get sales and marketing teams to work together. And this involves questions like the following. What is an effective way in which marketing teams can refer leads to sales teams? What do sales teams do with the leads handed to them from marketing? What happens if the leads are not fully qualified, or if, after qualification, it is deemed that the client is not ready for a company’s services but soon will be?
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Is your sales process like a mission or a revival?

Posted on February 27th, 2009 in Marketing, Methodology, Sales | No Comments »

Both missions and revivals try to attract converts, but they work in different ways. The “downtown mission” of movie lore attracts people by offering food and shelter. And, usually in unspoken exchange, they seek to convert these people. A revival directly caters only to those people who want to be converted. Which one is more like selling today?

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Do you have a ‘trampoline site’?

Posted on April 1st, 2008 in Business, Communications, Marketing, Sales, Technology | 1 Comment »

Do you own the compelling content on your web site? One of the key things that you want to make sure of when developing a site is that the most interesting information on your site lives on your site. That is, don’t have lots of links from your site to other sites. Chances are that you’ll never get them back to your site once they leave.
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Generating leads without paying any money?

Posted on November 13th, 2007 in Marketing, Sales | No Comments »

I just talked to a prospective client. He’s in a B2C services market and his only marketing or advertising right now is direct mail based on purchased lists. This used to work fine, with decent ROI, but it doesn’t anymore. So, he’s naturally looking around for other options. How to respond?
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Is Selling Logical?

Posted on November 9th, 2007 in Sales | No Comments »

Many salespeople take a “logical” approach to sales. They think of themselves as engaged in an argument (not in the sense of “argumentative”). The prospect doesn’t think that their solution is required. The salesperson does. The salesperson sets out to convince and persuade the prospect to adopt his/her position. The backbone of this approach is logical argumentation. But, the question is “does logical argumentation work in sales?”
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Why do salespeople make their own sales tools?

Posted on November 1st, 2007 in Marketing, Sales | No Comments »

It’s a common occurance. Sales people in the field spend a good deal of time creating their own sales tools. This can range from editing the corporate “deck” to writing and designing entire ads or brochures. Why does this happen? Probably not for the reason you think.
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Selling without branding? Don’t waste your time.

Posted on October 9th, 2007 in Brand awareness, Marketing, Sales | No Comments »

Most B2B companies want to increase their revenue. And most of them do it by increasing sales effort. This can take the form of adding staff or increasing advertising. The question is whether this is the best approach.
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Should you hire more salespeople?

Posted on August 29th, 2007 in Marketing, Sales | No Comments »

When you need new sales, there is usually a period of decision. You need to decide how you’re going to do it. The first impulse of most business leaders is to hire new salespeople. But, is this the best choice?

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Sales VPs: Don’t Forget the Sales Tools

Posted on July 6th, 2007 in Marketing, Sales | No Comments »

Sales managers and VPs have a tough nut to crack. They have to get a bunch of people to sell more. The focus of this effort is usually on getting the people to work harder. I would suggest that their focus should be on making the salespersons’s job easier.
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