Sales Self-Sabotage

By Mark I LaRosa on July 11th, 2008 in Sales Strategy
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Juff Thull posted a great article on Sales Self-Sabotage on Sales Pro Magazine.

The best point in the article is what he describes as the “Dangling Insult.”  He says:

“Here is a typical example, you may have observed this. A salesperson introduces their solution by saying, “We save companies like yours from wasting hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost…” It sounds innocuous on the surface. Statements like this are standard sales-speak and are often true, but they also contain dangling insults. After all, if your salespeople tell a customer that she is wasting hundreds of thousands of dollars, aren’t they also suggesting that she hasn’t been doing her job very well?”

How to sell cow poop

By Mark I LaRosa on July 9th, 2008 in Sales Strategy
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A few weekends ago, I saw a truck come and deliver cow manure to two of my neighbors.  It started me on a thought process about packaging and how really, anything can be sold, when it is packaged correctly.

Think about cow crap.  I have no idea how large this market is, but I have to imagine it is pretty darn big.  And people sign up year after year to willingly let someone deliver a truck load of cow crap, dump it in a big pile on their driveway, and then they take this stuff in wheelbarrow loads and spread it all over their yard.

Good Meeting vs. Great Meeting

By Mark I LaRosa on June 24th, 2008 in Sales Strategy
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When I was a younger sales guy, I used to come back and say that I had a GREAT meeting with the customer.

In reality the only GREAT meetings are the ones that you leave with a signed order.  All other meetings are GOOD meetings.

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Two Ears, One Mouth… use them in that proportion

By Mark I LaRosa on May 29th, 2008 in Sales Strategy
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As I was relaxing last evening, I remembered an old adage that one of my mentors said to me.

You have two ears and one mouth for a reason.  You are meant to use them in that proportion.

What a simple phrase that says so much about sales.  Listen twice as much as you talk.  When you listen, you can craft your sale around what the prospect’s real pain is – why they would even think about buying your product.

Ask for the order

By Mark I LaRosa on May 12th, 2008 in Sales Strategy
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How simple and over stated is this basic premise of sales, yet how often is this the major issue with a salespersons performance?

If you are a sales person and you see that you are not crushing quota, ask yourself if you are asking for the order. With Web 2.0 sales, and other products with low cost trials, it’s way too easy to just have your prospect drag you out longer and longer and longer. And, if it’s a big prospect for you, it’s a scary proposition to have them not do business with you. But, I say, if they are not committing and are not willing to commit, then they aren’t doing business with you anyway and you need to move on.