Topic

grapevine

A collection of 635 issues

Is Your Opener Pitch Unruly?

> What do you do? Such a simple question. One that pretty much kicks-off any brand new discussion you might have. Yet it is a camouflaged assassin. At a highly unsociable hour to start the week, I listened to a radio report on London as a super-growth 44,000 worker-strong tech

Report Avoidance Of Tax Scheme Words

[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02sg6ql] A disturbing five minutes of excellent radio reporting caught my ear. Broadcast 29 May 2015, BBC Radio 4 Today’s Zoe Conway secretly recorded [http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02sg6ql] someone selling a tax dodge scheme. It alleges that what is captured

Rebuild: The Vile Tele-Chugging Cold Call Tactic

The country’s longest-serving poppy seller, 92-year old Olive Cooke, threw herself to death in the Avon Gorge. Reportedly driven in part by the exhausting pursuit of charities. She appears to have received countless contacts, including 180 letters a month, from various ‘good causes’. Her friends say she was hounded

What Do You Call Your Contracts?

I was talking with a business owner recently. They aimed to have lots of foot soldiers. Account Managers (also known in their company parlance as Ambassadors) on the road. Physically walking from door to door. The masterplan was to get 1,600 of them up and running. I wondered what

Sales Management Framework From £20m Achiever

[https://salespodder.com/content/images/wordpress/2015/02/laramorgan6mgtkeys.jpg] Reading the business section of London’s Times in a reception Monday, I came across Lara Morgan (click pic to enlarge). She apparently built Pacific Direct, supplying hotels with branded bathroom disposables. Started on her own with nothing but a

Till-Top 5 & 10 Percent Upsell

[https://salespodder.com/content/images/wordpress/2014/09/lonsdale-GBP1-carrier-bag.jpg] The shame of it, I found myself buying from Sports Direct. I’d already been asked if I’d like special insoles, for just £7 reduced from 20, by the lad that’d got my shoe size. Then at the

Face-To-Face Promotion Propels Trust

[http://paidpost.nytimes.com/cathay-pacific/business-travel-and-the-boost-to-your-bottom-line.html] The PR department of airline Cathay Pacific [http://paidpost.nytimes.com/cathay-pacific/business-travel-and-the-boost-to-your-bottom-line.html] splashed a fair few quid lately to ensure their message “slash travel budgets at your peril” was read by business leaders. I’m interested in this as a Sales

Carpet Bomb Email Shows Glimmer Of Promise

This little treasure had the temerity to sneak through my spam filters the other day. How’s this for a blind, cold mail. Straight to the point; > [firstname] Can we schedule a few minutes to discuss our video production work and pricing structure? We work with hundreds of technology companies

Are Prospects Feeling Values Love The Linkedin Way

[https://salespodder.com/content/images/wordpress/2015/01/bloomberglinkedin.jpg] A screenshot from Bloomberg tv’s Studio 1.0. Proof that the most lame sounding pitch can turn an (eventual) profit. “Friendster for business” LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman doesn’t seem to like that tag, nor “the startup whisperer”. I

Don't Hide Behind Two-Point-Zero

Over brekkie this morning I caught the promotion of ‘soft skills’ in schools. One time UK telly Dragon’s Den investor, James Caan [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Caan_%28entrepreneur%29], is the drive’s figurehead. On that show his performances were largely underwhelming. Yet he made a mint