Tuck in your shirt

By Mark I LaRosa on September 24th, 2008 in Sales Strategy
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At the risk of sounding old again, I’m going to rant on another “new way of doing business” topic that has been irking me, and one which I think has implications for salespeople.

I see a lot of entrepreneurs starting companies because I work with all of the investors that fund them:  VC’s and Angel Investors.

What boggles my mind, is that I see decent entrepreneurs who get their big chance to pitch in front of the best VC’s, or give a presentation in front of thousands of people.  Its their chance to make the best impression they can as to why someone should believe in them and why someone might give them millions of dollars.

Swingers make bad salespeople…

By Mark I LaRosa on September 5th, 2008 in Sales Strategy
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At the urging of some of my staff, I’ve recently signed up for Twitter and started following people on it – and attempted to use it every now and then. I’ve also gotten more and more into commenting on blogs and also on places like LinkedIn and other sites.

Perhaps I’m just too old and out of the loop on total transparancy, but I think there is a very distinct line between being transparent and using discretion in your comments.

All my competitors stink!

By Mark I LaRosa on August 28th, 2008 in Sales Strategy
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As the political landscape heats up here in the U.S., I am reminded about a classic sales mistake:  bashing the competition.

As I’m watching the election campaign heat up, I amazed at how many people feel the need to bash the competition in order to build themselves up.  Seriously, you can decide that a certain candidate is not the right choice - but I challenge anyone to find a candidate for president that wasn’t honestly thinking that they were not doing the right thing for the country – even if their method you oppose.  You may decide John McCain is the wrong choice, but regardless, he is a treasure to this country for his service and his drive in making this a better place.  Likewise, you can hate Obama’s need to raise taxes, but that doesn’t mean that he isn’t trying to better our country in his own way.  I’m proud to call both men my countrymen – even if I do have an opinion as to who would do a better job.

Do you find it hard to leave sales mode?

By Mark I LaRosa on August 17th, 2008 in Sales Strategy
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Recently, my boss told me that “I needed to just talk to him straight – and didn’t need to sell him.”  My wife often asks me to stop “selling” her.

Is it possible that after selling for my entire career, that I don’t know how to conduct a transaction that doesn’t involve selling?  Are all of my conversations conducted using my sales skills?

Anyone else have this issue?

Never vomit on your potential customers

By Mark I LaRosa on August 15th, 2008 in Sales Strategy
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While it may seem obvious that you should never vomit on your prospects, its a very common move that sales people make.

No.. I’m not referring to actually spewing your chewed Shakeshack burger onto your customer – but spewing WAY too much information.  

The easiest thing to do in a sales call is to just talk and talk and talk.  Yet – this rarely leads to a sale.  When you are more focused on getting all of your points out, and less on what the customer wants to hear – you are essentially losing lots of opportunities to learn what the customer needs – and responding to that need.

Words are words, excuses are excuses: performance is reality

By Mark I LaRosa on August 13th, 2008 in Sales Strategy
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I’ve been loving watching the Olympics this past week – which is new for me.  Usually, I’m fairly ho-hum on watching the Olympics, but this year I’ve really enjoyed it.  Not just the Americans, but everyone who is performing and trying their best.  In a discussion about the amazing run of golds by Michael Phelps, someone quoted a business book (they didn’t say which one) that had a quote:  “Words are words, excuses are excuses, but performance is reality”

What's In It For Them?

By Mark I LaRosa on August 7th, 2008 in Sales Strategy
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I also answered this question recently on LinkedIn and thought it made sense to add to the blog.

What is the best way to sell enterprise software?

What do you think are the pros and cons of each of these methods:

1) Promoting Features the client will find advantageous
2) Devising Operational Solutions to solve a business problem
3) Advancing Strategic Enablers to change the way the client does business

Are there appropriate situations for using one method over the others? What alternate approaches might be helpful in facilitating software sales?

My Answer: