Salespodder (Page 413)

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What's The Return, Again?

With a decent glass of Piemonte vini rossi, I was happily snug in a Torino bar around midnight and glanced over to see a copy of the International Herald Tribune. Make no mistake about it, this paper is useless. So many have tried to make an ‘international newspaper’ and failed

Stand Up, Think On Yer Feet

Waiting around for the Ashes coverage to kick-in on the radio (Sunday 26 Nov 06) I happened across Off The Page [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/offthepage/]. They spent most of the time talking about the paradox between the uselessness of mobile phones and their inevitable ubiquity. New York

Overcoming Voice Mail Barriers

Here’s a frightening quote I picked up just now; “statistically, about 87% of sales reps give up after a single half-hearted attempt, about 95% give up after a second message.” People that hide behind their voicemail are becoming ever more prevalent. How do you get around it? It’s

Bigger Bullies Crash Louder

Waiting in reception of a potential supplier (those guys trying to persuade me to go with raw grads for new sales positions that I thought were a touch too pricey) I flicked through a mag called Director [http://www.director-magazine.co.uk/October06/lions.den.html]and an article about

What Kind Of Rep Are You?

When trying to recruit newbie sales people this week, I visited a firm that purports to offer something different in the way of graduate sellers. I feel their prices are at least 30% too high (especially considering you can recruit such resource at zero cost via milkround type initiatives and

Approaching A New Prospect Pool

I’ve just had to let one of my boiler-roomers go. No need to feel too sympathetic, the hit-rate for young bucks isn’t great I know, although no-one likes a mercy-killing. It’s always surprised me how initial enthusiasm can wane when another idea enters someone’s head. And

Quick Win Enabled

I often come across a nasty objection, which is basically “I’m new in the role, call me in six months”. Talking with a pal of mine last night over a cheeky pint, he’d encountered something similar. He works for HP, who have a £30m a year customer in

Your Own Little Presentation Helper

By fluke I came across a site called Presentation Helper, which has a fella talking about his 10, 20, 30 [http://www.presentationhelper.co.uk/10-20-30-rule-powerpoint.htm] message on Powerpoint presentations. It’s got cracking insight, as he’s a bloke that’s clearly suffered several useless pitches for venture

Is Cold Calling Beneath You?

I’ve done a couple of meetings with a 3-rep business recently that’ll never buy from us, eventhough they’d really benefit from my services. They were the first entrant into the English search engine optimisation arena a decade ago. Last time out I met the MD, fresh from

Always Room For Another Diet

I spoke earlier today with a fella that seems courted by the likes of Microsoft and salesforce.com as an SaaS guru (that’s software-as-a-service, or web-accessed gear if you prefer). He made an interesting comment that people running sales teams are possibly the most put-upon, miserable people on the