quirky

Typically big hooha about the Premier League’s investigation into a 39th round of footie matches to take place at international venues.  The sooner we get a proper Euro League the better.  Anyway… the Sundays welcomed such a debate so they could fill their pages once more.  One of them

Here’s an interesting angle for getting a prospect to think along your lines.  Absent-mindedly listening to a debate between two Members of Parliament on talk radio, I overheard a woman ask roughly “can you prove that this has never happened to me?”.  The reply was instant and smacked of

Just done some impromptu training-cum-problem solving on a cold-call quandry.  Remember the old days?  A pats used to run along the lines of ‘send me your brochure’, then every time you’d ring back, you’d get ‘I’ve not had chance to read it yet, but I will then

Establishing rapport with a prospect is of course essential.  Making someone feel comfortable with you is a vital pre-requisite towards getting an order, especially if you’re not the cheapest player in town. But trying to work out how to initiate such front talk can be tricky the first time

One of my cold-callers is having success by explaining what we do, through stating what we do not do.  All our suspects run sales teams.  They often (mischievously) claim to receive hundreds of calls a day trying to woefully peddle them stuff they already have and don’t need replacing.

I fondly remember my addiction to all things John Harvey-Jones in the early 90s.  The genre-starting Troubleshooter was essential viewing for anyone remotely interested in proper business.  His consultative successes soon racked up.  These included: * Apricot Computers were told to ditch hardware and focus solely on software; next year profits

Anyone taking more than a passing interest in the Gordon Brown inspired gloomy UK retail expectations will know that among others, M&S are experiencing less growth than many analysts consider achievable. Cognisant of this terrific commentator Jeff Randall devised the Pants Index [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/