The Customer Said…”Just Send Me a Quote”

Ask yourself “What response will really maximize my chance to win the deal?”
In a highly transactional, low price point situation, I think you probably have to send the quote pretty quickly as asked. Even still, I would try and uncover or emphasize known hot buttons, pinpoint the solution and sell on value.  Never just send [...]

Why does a sales person fail?

I am assuming the question relates to an individual sales person rather than an an entire team (a different discussion). I don’t think there is one “biggest” reason you could apply to all salespeople, but I think any individual fails for one or several of the following reasons:

Marketing Messages that Connect

I have observed two major trends that should be understood to develop messages for your audience:

First, broadcast messaging is losing its effectiveness. The rise of social media marketing speaks to this. Messaging in the social media markets is working (among other things) due to the extreme ability to target the distribution to a specific set of attributes. It’s not the only venue, but some valuable lessons can be learned from the uptake in social marketing.

Second, relevance and specificity rule the day. If you are going to target me specifically for your message, it had better be super relevant and specific to my role/objectives, and the venue I received the message in. Savvy marketing executives have long understood the importance of the “targeted message” but still fall short, in my opinion, of making the message perfectly relevant and specific to the recipient.

Getting to Decision Makers

To get the time and attention of a Senior Executive, you must talk and act like one. “C” execs don’t spend time with “vendors” and “sales people”, they spend time with “trusted advisers”. To become a trusted adviser to a senior executive, you must earn it. Earn it by doing research. Earn it by being worthy of engagement. Earn it by being different, provocative and strategic. Here is a strategy.