Sign in Subscribe

Topic

quirky

ideas and experiences with a selling angle that come from left-field

Biscuit Boom

A pal of mine sent me a link to suggest that the choice of Boardroom nibbles can make or break a deal. To get ahead, simply have a plate of chocolate covered digestives [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7432092.stm] on hand. If you’re selling, then

Slaying Procrastination

I met up with a pal of mine for a couple of cheekies in a new Soho juicer the other night. Inevitably, as it was a school-night, we spent a few moments banishing the evils of the day. We soon discovered that we were both exhibiting an alarming tendency to

The Clever Offer Campaign

With a new product to pitch, I’m keen to know what issues are currently relevant to my chosen target market; sales teams. I deduced that one way of researching this, was to check out online job ads for new reps. My reasoning was that with a cheeky half-hour of

Being Businessey

Entertaining chat with a customer in the ‘report writing’ software space this morning. Their main business development honcho was bemoaning how England was going down a useless voicemail culture route. Apparently less people that lead sales teams are answering their phones in person lately, just like in America. He went

Single Number Alignment

Flying back from an awesome trip to Copenhagen, my pal in the adjacent seat reminded me of the perils of setting a sales target. With a downturn inevitable in his technology-driven partly American marketplace, it turned out that his success in hitting 207% of his (profits-related) sales target the previous

Old(New) School Prospecting Approach

I’ve teenage excitement coarsing through me at present due to a new product I recently conjured up. My initial market research with existing customers received plenty of encouragement and take up. The product can give salespeople on the road anywhere between 2 and 3 days extra selling time each

Client/Prospect Newsletters

I can’t believe I’ve never thought of this before. We’ve all heard of DM. By whatever trendy sobriquet is popular at the time, communicating regularly with your customers is always a winner. Yet how many of us as reps do this ourselves? I overheard an informal coffee

Flirting With Mirror Concept

The weekend broadsheets no longer benefit from my patronage. This is not because they post their articles online immediately, but rather that I prefer to follow more niche subjects in the precious time sitting down with all those column inches used to take up of my valuable weekend relaxation. So

Never Accept Beyond The Horizon

During February, one of my cold-callers ecstatically informed me of a new first meeting they’d nailed into the diary. When I enquired as to the date, it turned out to be for 2 June. My excitement and attention quickly diverted elsewhere. I then realised that I must explain myself

Corporate Social Responsibility

The great Ken Welsh at one of my customers first brought this to my attention. He sells print and document software solutions and actively encourages his reps to play the Green card. Often firms will have some kind of statement about the environment on their website and in his case,