I’ve done my own unofficial and totally unscientific survey and have become “firmly convinced” that if you are selling you are failing. This is a recurring theme and with the downturn in confidence in the economy, it seems as though this will not go away any time soon. Yet, people keep “pushing information” on customers (that means advertising, selling, trying to convince). They are frantically trying to do more of what they used to do, back in the long gone, never to return economy. That dog don’t hunt!
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pull technology, push technology, Sales
I was speaking with a client yesterday and of course things turned to business. He offered that things were actually starting to “loosen up” for him and that his customers were actually starting to invest again. How that investment is going was of interest. His customers aren’t hiring full time employees. They are investing in productivity and cost reduction projects.
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Business, Management, Markets, Sales
From time-to-time it seems we do well to get back to some fundamentals when it comes to our businesses. Many in my network seem to be doing that these days, forced to do so by the economy. The question, popularized by many of the “management gurus” is, “If I were starting this business today, (a) would I? and if so (b) what would it look like?” This is not an easy question to answer, as so many of you know!
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Business, Marketing, Planning, Sales, Start up, Starting a business
Companies are gathering as much data as they can on the individual consumer. Companies that have that information are selling it or making it available often times in ways contrary to their promises. The consumer is figuring out how to fight back. Where is advertising going?
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Advertising, Communication, Marketing, Sales
My friends at Impact Hiring Solutions posted an article on their blog answering a question I hear a lot: “Why is it so hard to find great salespeople?” They are right it is hard, and I think we should listen to their solid understanding of how to properly hire a sales person. However, there is a trap waiting for you. It’s a pretty significant trap; and it’s this . . . .
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Hiring, Management, Sales
Most professional sports teams have scouts. These scouts are constantly on the lookout for talent. Most of the time these scouts are engaging potential talent long before they are ready for the big leagues. In fact, often long before they even need them.
The one thing that these teams and scouts know is that they will always need top talent if they want to win.
Who are your scouts? Are you engaging potential talent before you need them? Is this important for you to win?
Over the last few years I have asked hundreds of CEOs and key executives, “When do most companies start the hiring process?” Rarely do I hear anything other than, “When they need someone.” Then, how long does it take to hire a person? Most believe that can take between 2 and 4 months. At which point the hiring manager is so desperate that they are pretty much willing to take the proverbial, “Cream of the Crap.”
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hiring top talent, Interviewing, Retaining top talent, Sales, sourcing top talent
I’ve been looking at what’s going on with internet commerce these days and how folks are dealing with the explosion of websites, blogs and users. I’ve come to realize that for many practical reasons the cost of SEO (search engine optimization) has put it out of reach for many small businesses. It’s an overstatement to say that SEO is dead, but it is definitely dead as far as most small businesses are concerned. The good news is, we don’t need to do more than the basics SEO work to thrive because internet marketing has changed.
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Blogs, Communication, Marketing, Sales, SEO, Social Networks
I came across a recent article from a person who is a sales trainer (no names to avoid embarrassments and conflicts) and who seemed to have suddenly awoken to discover that consumers and businesses are no longer buying the way they used to buy. “Gosh,” I thought, “where the heck have you been?” On the other hand, the comments made the point that I and others have been making for over a year now – maybe close to two years, namely that things have changed and they aren’t coming back.
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Communication, Growing Edges, Leadership, Management, Sales
I’ve mentioned in several posts that the world of sales (for non-commodity products) has changed. The consumption minded market is not going to return any time soon. We need to build trust, and so the title for this post. Demonstrate that you are willing to work to generate new money or save me money before you gain from our relationship. Otherwise, it smells like “BS” and I’m not buying.
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Growing Edges, Leadership, Management, Sales
If you’ve been following the posts on this blog, you will recognize the similarity between the comments I have made about the art of networking with the comments made on the sales process. The sales skill ladder has four rungs: Product Base Selling, Solution Based Selling, Consultative Selling and finally Trust Based Selling. As I’ve mentioned with respect to sales, the first three rungs are salesperson oriented. The fourth rung is truly, genuinely, authentically client focused. We have the clients best interest at heart. It’s the same for networking!
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Communication, Growing Edges, Networking, Sales
