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The Rave Blog - A Sales Perspective: Index

05.05.10
The Polished Presentation: Canned or Well-Prepared Improvisation
Dale Carnegie is quoted as saying, “There are always three speeches for every one you actually gave. The one you practiced, the one you gave and the one you wish you gave.
 
Like speeches, sales presentations can be summed up by the same quotation. After your presentation is history, you always seem to remember things you should have said, but either forgot or discarded during the “heat of battle.” All sales professionals can recall how much better their presentation would have gone had they said everything that needed to be said, made every point that needed to be made and anticipated and answered every possible objection.
04.29.10
Follow Your Intuition: Your Gut Feelings Are Soundly Based

Whatever we do the most of during our waking hours is information that we store. The more experiences that are stored in our subconscious, the more hunches we get, so most of our gut feelings involve our day-to-day activities. A professional gambler who follows his hunches is often very “lucky.” His subconscious mind is steering him in the right direction because of all of his past experiences. He is subconsciously counting cards or calculating the odds on a particular bet. His winnings are based upon experience, not luck.

04.27.10
Top Selling Mistakes: How To Lose The Sale Without Really Trying
 
If you were able to poll all of the people who had just been the recipient of a sales presentation, yet didn’t buy, the common denominator will be that salesmen’s errors caused the negative decision. It is seldom the product or lack of a need that precipitated the turn-down, but rather somewhere in his pitch, the salesperson screwed up.

There are a number of very basic rules in the unwritten and unpublished, “Old Salesman’s Big Book of Knowledge.” These are timeworn, but still appropriate truisms that are or should be taught to every fledgling salesperson

04.19.10
Increase Your Sales Dollars
Increase Your Sales Dollars
The Magic Word for Salespersons: Up-selling
 
Years ago in my misspent youth, I was taught that there are three ways to increase your sales numbers: Get new customers, reactivate former customers and get more business from existing customers. The latter being the easiest and fastest means to bigger commissions.
 
What my tutor didn’t tell me is that there is another adjunct to those three principles; Up-selling. Increase the dollar amount of your sales by showing the customer how they can actually save money by spending more at the moment of sale. As every car salesman knows, no one buys the “Sally Rand” (a stripper) model of any vehicle, at least no one other than a person who understands that a car is just transportation. 
04.14.10
Some Notes On Productivity
Implementing Just One Or Two Of These Can Increase Your Sales
 
There are a few basic rules in the selling game and all professional salespeople know them. Too often, though, they are relegated to a dark corner of their minds, brought out only when something joggles their memory. Yet, these simple thoughts should be in the forefront of their minds every Monday morning . . . early.
02.22.10
Skill Versus Luck

Real gamblers don’t rely on Lady Luck, they study the game, know the odds and play the percentages. Good sales people don’t rely on luck, either. Being in the “right place at the right time” is not a matter of luck, but rather it is about preparedness.

02.11.10
Referrals: A Bane or a Blessing?
According to conventional sales wisdom, the best sources of sales leads are usually the people who are already buying from you, but the truth of the matter is, few salesmen ask for referrals. Those that do ask, do so in such a manner that it may become a burden to their client with whom they lodged the request. Asking for referrals usually ends up producing nothing, in fact, the occasional good referral received from a client or friend is often a surprise. 
 
02.03.10
The Eleven Rules For A Successful Career (Life)
There is an e-mail going around the internet, forwarded by well-meaning friends, that claims to be a commencement speech given recently by Bill Gates to a High School class. The class is not identified and a check with Snopes.com and TruthorFiction.com disclose that the revered Mr. Gates is not the author of the article/speech/commencement address. No one knows who authored the piece, but it still rings loud and clear as good advice to late teens (and anyone else who have yet to hear the sound of reality). Rule 3 gives some indication that this piece was written before the modern era of everyone carrying a cell phone.
 
01.28.10
Refining and Defining The Sales Plan: Improve Your Sales Volume With A Focused Approach

Every sales manager has a number of horror stories about misdirected sales efforts. We all know about salesmen who have spent a lot of time pursuing a prospective client only to find out that they weren’t qualified to buy or in need of his product. Then there are the salespeople who pitch and follow up on people who are not empowered to make buying decisions. In times of economic crisis, a sales manager and his salespeople cannot spend time in unproductive efforts. Everything they do every day must count. But how can they be sure they aren’t wasting time and effort? Make a list of a few simple rules, and then follow them.

01.21.10
It’s A New Year: 2010 Will Be A Year Of New Focuses And Beginnings

The economy sucks, there's a bunch of ignorant boobs in Washington, DC, the Federal deficit is stupendous and higher taxes are looming . . . doesn’t sound like 2010 will be a good year, does it? Take heart, the economy will get better, an awakening public will vent their collective spleen on Congress and the Executive Branch forcing them to do something about deficits and taxes . . . and selling professionals will advance us towards a “pre-boom” economy.