quirky

Something so simple I cannot believe it didn’t occur to me before.  In my current cold-calling crusade almost 25% of my sample’s receptionists wouldn’t pass on their firm’s ‘head of sales’ name, claiming some ridiculous policy or other. In England, such people are usually referred to

So last week I sent 14 emails to firms (suspects) where their receptionist told me they had a ‘no names policy’.  My email was sent either to a specified address given to me by said first-line answerer, or one I had to get off their website.  Typically, these addresses start

I’ve been back in the saddle reminding myself of the very beginnings of the sales process.  My intention is to secure a customer for a recent product addition from a totally cold start.  To this end, I accessed a listing of firms from the ‘software and services’ sector.  The

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

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

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

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

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

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