Sales and marketing professionals, pay attention – this is important. I never believe: what you tell me. I sometimes believe: what you show me. I always believe: what I tell myself. It’s my perspective that counts, not yours. If you want to change my mind, don’t talk to me about features and benefits – it’s [...]
Present Like Steve Jobs
The purpose of a presentation is to change minds. Yet this won’t happen if the presenter uses PowerPoint or Keynote to hide behind a wall of bullets and graphs. Of course, that doesn’t mean people still won’t try. If you want to improve your presentation skills, there is no one better to study than Apple [...]
Improve Your Follow-Up
Most businesses look at follow-up as something that’s easy. Wait until someone shows interest in your product, then call or email in an effort to push the sales cycle along. But that’s a call about you, not them. There is another kind of follow-up that seems hard, but really isn’t. And since it takes place [...]
How to Lose Customers (and Employees)
How many people work for your company? If more than a handful, chances are that you have a few policies. And the odds are just as good that one or more of these policies have irked a customer or two. I run into these policies all of the time. So do you. But yesterday, one [...]
Perspective…
…is one of the most important elements of success. Yet it is rarely talked about. Consider the following fable: There was once a farmer who had a strong, hard-working horse. This horse could plough fields all day and carry heavy loads. The farmer’s neighbors, who did not have such a prized animal, often said to him, [...]
Persuasion & Surprise
Sooner or later, you’ll need to persuade someone to take action they may not have taken before. To hire someone with an unusual background, buy a product they’ve never used, or embrace a new idea. One approach is to play it safe. Outline features and benefits. Put together a PowerPoint with fancy charts and bullet [...]
The Sales Pitch, Take 2
A lot of people think that sales are intentional. I will sell this product to that person. So what happens? A salesperson naturally thinks he or she must take action, that they have to do something to someone. They almost always start by making a pitch. They pitch while making cold calls, at networking events, [...]
The Sales Pitch, Take 1
I listen to sales pitches all the time. This one, though, was a bit different. “Do you speak English?” The man who approached me looked familiar, but I couldn’t place his face. “Do I speak English?” I asked. I didn’t try to hide the fact that I was annoyed. He threw up his hands. “I’m [...]
