Salespodder (Page 323)

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Coffee Dynamos Entrance

In Cape Town, I learn that in the multitude of cafés, the brands of coffee most prevalent are Illy and Lavazza. One group of young friends, headed by an Italian devotee, sought to gain a foothold for Bristot beans. They position themselves as a young, dynamic new entrant. Their first

Effective Business Writing Trio

I came across this three-part plan accredited to a speaker named Tom Ehrenfeld. > TheWHAT? is (& explains) the content. TheSO WHAT? is why the content matters. And thePROVE IT! provides the credibility. One of my crusades rails against the all too often woeful documentation produced by salespeople. Applying even

Microtrends

[http://www.microtrending.com/] Here’s an easy read from 2007. With 75 bite-size sections only a handful of pages each, you can leisurely dive in and out of Microtrends [www.microtrending.com]. The book aims to show how counter intuitive trends eventually buck conventional wisdom. They manage this after

Is Your Unique Relevant?

[http://www.thegrand.co.za/gb_main.html] I stood at the gates of a relatively new Cape Town venue on a glorious Summer’s evening. I asked the young pair on the door what it was all about. Proudly, one of them gushed, > “it’s South Africa’s

The Prospect Whisperer

Here’s a cuddly parallel that struck me as I enjoyed festive downtime. Now, I’m not one for pets. So I was amazed when National Geographic’s Dog Whisperer telly program held my attention. Our hero Cesar Millan [www.cesarsway.com] ‘rehabilitates dogs and trains people’. He takes on

Acetate Ideas

I recently found a folder of work I did almost twenty-five years ago. It’s now been packed off to recycling. I couldn’t resist a rummage, and found a batch of old-fashioned ‘transparencies’. In the days before omnipresent computers, if you wanted to pre-prepare slides, you could go through

Paul S. Goldner Price Or Value The Choice Is Yours

This was the title of a presentation given at a ‘software for sales’ event I attended in Chicago way back in 1998. It in part deserves recollection as being a needle of personal selling skill discussion in a haystack of mainly technical monologues. [http://www.redhotsales.com] Despite the ancient

Old Sales Activity Survey

A quick blog on a mid/late Nineties survey into how the average sales person spends their time. Attributed to sales trainerCargill [http://www.gilcargill.com], it encompasses five straightforward possibilities. > 34% Admin tasks 32% Waiting, Travelling 15% with Customers 14% with Prospects 5% Service Calls Recognise these figures

Engaging Question

Here’s a reminder of a well-used and highly effective presentation tactic. This time it comes via dusty old notes from a 1998 Chicago conference I attended. The speaker was then assessing sales system projects, called Timothy McMahon at Labyrinth Research. Outlining his optimal ‘7-step implementation plan’, he sought to

Reduce Defections - Chicago SFA Show 1998

Here’s a way to end the year. Celebrate when you’re over 100% of target. Throw out a wadge of old papers. The latter generated a week’s worth of blogging too. Happy New Year! I cleared out an old box of work gubbins, only to find a huge