The Hammer Isn’t Always the Right Tool

Problem: Mark was a high tech salesperson, selling complex hardware and software solutions to distribution companies. Relatively new to the job, his ability to close was frustratingly poor. But he was in good company, as the other salespeople in the company suffered from the same problem. Diagnosis: Bernie was Mark’s sales manager, and was “old [&hellip

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Another Lousy Appointment

Problem: It was a gloomy day and had just started to rain when Rick left his second lousy appointment of the day. “Man,” he thought to himself, “it’s pouring down rain, my car is at the other end of the parking lot, and this appointment that I drove 40 miles to see was a total [&hellip

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Assign Your Prospect Some Homework

Problem: Mitch’s company sold data storage solutions. A five-year veteran of selling, he called the other day for some coaching. He said that he had just completed a one-hour meeting with one of his top prospects, a large retailer who was a key prospect for his company. He explained that he had experienced difficulty getting [&hellip

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Death of a Salesman

Problem: Most salespeople hate cold calls and aren’t very good at making them. As a result, cold calling activity is limited and they never seem to improve. We all get cold calls on a regular basis and most result in failure. See if you can relate to any of the following. Diagnosis: The first 10 [&hellip

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Why Should They Give You an Appointment?

Problem: One of the biggest challenges that salespeople face is getting appointments. People are constantly bombarded by marketing messages via the media enticing them to purchase. Prospects receive daily calls from salespeople who want to see them, so it’s no wonder that they treat most requests for meetings with skepticism and suspicion. This unfortunate fact [&hellip

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Trade Show “Selling”

Problem: Companies invest many thousands of dollars attending trade shows annually. Often the results are disappointing. When asked why they continue to attend, we hear things like, “if we don’t attend our customers will think we’re in trouble” and “our competitors are there, so we need to be.” Hardly an offensive strategy, wouldn’t you agree? [&hellip

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The Incumbent Strikes Back

Problem: The deal was consummated and Troy had finally displaced his number one competitor at an important account. Having received a promise that the initial order would be sent the following week, he departed, congratulating himself on his good fortune and ability to land the tough ones. Then, several days later, he received a voice [&hellip

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All’s Well That Ends Well

Problem: Radio stations typically get “freebies” from local merchants in partial exchange for advertising time. These freebies are used for a variety of promotions and are an important way for radio stations to create interest in their stations. It seems KZAP had a few sets of tickets for a Shakespearean play at a local theater [&hellip

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