You’re In! Now What? 5 Tips for the First Meeting
What should happen when you first meet with a new prospect? Here are five tips to make that first meeting a good one.
Think Big, Act Big…and Own It!
If you’ve been in a room with me for more than an hour or so, it’s almost guaranteed that you’ve heard me say the title to this blog post. If you’ve been in a sales meeting or a goal setting session with me it is certain that you’ve heard it. The words lead right to an important thought – in order to be truly successful you have to have some big goals. You’ve got to Think Big, Act Big, and Own It.
Advice from the Big Apple – Don’t Look Small
New York City: The Big Apple filled with big buildings, big businesses and big egos! The line “If you can make it here you can make it anywhere” is a mantra. If NY bravado does one thing it is to keep people from thinking small. Everyone has to be prepared to be on a razor sharp competitive edge all the time.
Learn How the Biggest Companies Buy
What would you pay to sit down for coffee with the Chief Procurement Officer of Coca Cola and learn about how they buy? If you’re trying to sell to Coca Cola, you’d probably pay a pretty penny. What would he likely tell you? “Be Different,” said Ken Carty in this 2010 article by Inc. Magazine. His other basic advice? Get in early. Do your homework. Follow the process. Want more insider info on how to sell to big corporations? Here are links to all the articles published by Inc. Magazine.
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Effective Prospecting – Investing for the Long Term
In today’s world “instant gratification” is a very strong mindset. It seems we may not have learned enough from the economic collapse of the past few years. “Instant gratification” is especially prevalent in the sales world these days, as well. It seems that the teachings of “getting to no” in conjunction with management pressures to close deals today have created a sales professional that is only interested in spending their time with prospects who are ready to buy now. Effective prospecting in sales has become what day trading is to the stock market – no one is investing for the long term.
Today’s prospecting behaviors involve finding someone who is ready to buy, submitting piles of proposals, or responding to RFQ’s (Request for Quote) that have little chance of being won.
The Shortest, Most Relevant First Outreach
Today I was reading the blog post by Sam Richter on Jill Konrath’s blog about sales intelligence. It reminded me about all the time I devote to researching prospects. I’ve been asked before what I do to prepare for a call, so I thought it would be helpful to document some of the searching that can help you get your foot in the door. Afterall, sometimes getting that first contact is the hardest part! See some of my advice on prospect research below. The goal is to send off or call with the most high impact outreach possible.
Big Deals in Professional Services: 9 Strategic Considerations
Today’s Guest Blogger is Joseph Olewitz . Joseph has been there & done that in the area of new business development. In addition to being CEO and Principal Consultant at 22nd Story Strategies, Inc., Joseph currently shares experiences deriving from years of pitching large professional services deals on his Intentional Growth blog. As I […]
Is Everyone in the Same Boat on Sales?
Are sales professionals trying to sell out of fear instead of quality? It seems they sell to “stay alive” just because they want to keep their jobs. More than ever, this is when we need to be sure everyone is on the boat! Sales team members can’t be expected to sell alone. If we expect sales professionals to land bigger deals, then we need to send them out with the tools to be successful, and the most powerful one, is a full boat!
Constantly Improve Your Sales Process
Unlike the majority of the sale optimization posts out there, we’d recommend not focusing on lead management, some sort of funnel, or your web traffic. That’s not whale hunting. Instead, focus on mapping a process to go after bigger customers. Once you have exact steps and players at each step defined, go about making incremental improvements to what’s working. As Scott said in his article, you should focus more on what’s working than on what’s not working. A truly great sales process will come from continual improvement of what’s working… not just fixing what’s broken.
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How to Overcome a Whale-Sized Loss
To mitigate the risk of losing, small companies must become incredibly disciplined about vetting new business opportunities against their target filter. The more selective you become about pursuing new business the greater your close rate will be. Don’t waste your time going after new business that isn’t a good fit and therefore you will have a low likelihood of winning.
Chamber of Commerce and Your Business
I had the pleasure of presenting a Whale Hunters workshop for the Academy Plus attendees at the annual training seminar hosted by the Western Alliance of Chamber Executives, headquartered in Sacramento, CA. These are experienced CEOs of local and regional Chambers of Commerce, dedicating time and energy to better serving their members and their communities. […]
Success is 90% Process
I circulated a new newsletter article today focused on how small companies can greatly improve their proposals–whether in response to RFPs or simply in their normal sales process–if they invest some time into documenting processes. My all-too-real world example comes from a current RFP that I am working on with a client. $900 million of […]