This was sent to me by Nicola d'Amato - superstar salesman in the Italian market - great info to share with y'all:
Not closing a sale "on time", is almost the same as losing
that sale.
You might think...
"Hey, if I closed the sale, that's great. It doesn't
really matter if I close it this month or next, as long
as it's for the same amount."
Well the truth is a sale delayed by days, weeks, or months
costs you.
It costs you because you have to expend extra selling time
and extra selling energy to close that deal. Energy that
could've gone into working other deals in your pipeline or
into prospecting for new deals. And also it costs you because you can't instantly replace
the revenue you expected to get from that deal.
Traditional selling mentality focuses on the need to "create
a sense of urgency" with your prospect.
Sometimes this can work. But it depends on the cause of the
delay.
If the delay is something beyond your ability to influence,
then doing things like cutting your bid don't speed up your
deal. All they do is tell your prospect that you are willing
to lower your bid, and then they'll demand it later when
they are ready to close.
The better approach is to shoot for an overflowing pipeline
of deals. If you have pipeline full of high quality prospects, with a
high likelihood of making a purchase from *you*, then you
don't have to worry when a deal or two gets delayed.
Now how do you get this pipeline of high quality prospects?
Well you have to be willing to do three things.
You have to be willing to spend more time prospecting than
you probably have in the past. You're going to need to make
more calls, send more letters, emails, LinkedInmails, gifts - whatever works.
You're going to need to sharpen your message so that you get
a higher hit-rate from your communications.
And you're going to need to throw away more weak leads.
You accomplish this by prospecting for pains that you can
solve, and by filtering the hits you do get through a
rigorous qualification process.
A high prospecting activity level focused on finding pains
you can solve combined with qualifying your leads against an
ideal customer profile will result over time in a pipeline
bursting with prospects inclined to purchase from you.
You'll be much more successful fixing your sales problems by
focusing on the decision of who to spend your sales time
with instead of worrying about how to create a sense of
urgency with a poor quality prospect.
Let's dial for dollars!
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Stay tuned....
No news .... no new blog?
What's going on?
Redoing the blog - and design.
That's what's going on!
Stay tuned for more....will be with you shortly
Thanks for your patience, happy selling,
stephan
What's going on?
Redoing the blog - and design.
That's what's going on!
Stay tuned for more....will be with you shortly
Thanks for your patience, happy selling,
stephan
Friday, January 16, 2009
Capital of capitalism: Finish Strong
A few things strike me about New York, and I thought it'd be fun to share:
It is January 2009. We are in the middle of the most severe financial crisis of the past one hundred years (!)
People are being laid off everywhere and December unemployment rates rose above 7% with 550,000 people losing their jobs in the past month. Restaurants, shops, bars, and many other businesses are struggling to keep their heads up. And yet the Americans I have spoken with are full of hope - not despair. The tone of voice used in news reports, papers, and blogs is still very positive, outside the messages stating the current facts.
I hope 2009 will be a strong year, in many ways, for everyone.
But I'd like to try and point out the reason why I think New York and America are so strong, so that we don't rely on hope, but realize that it's up to us to make it a great year.
Hope, and determination, perseverance, hard work, not expecting others to take out their wallets and provide a safetynet (although that's partly what the federal bank is doing for some of the large corps that are in trouble), are all part of American society, and have made this society the most successful sand productive nation in the world, with the highest GDP per person.
This very approach to success, and the desire and determination to be successful is what's specifically great about being in New York.
Whether there is an international economic downfall, or personal troubles such as finance issues, divorces, health issues - there is a lesson to be learned from the way people in New York deal with these times.
It strenghtens my confidence in mankind's flexibility and will to survive, but more specifically it strengthens my belief that people can make it happen if they stay positive and keep making it happen for themselves. If they keep believing in a positive outcome.
America will recover from this downfall and find yet another platform to present itself as the most productive country around the globe, because people hold themselves accountable for making that success happen.
As long as you believe that YOU are in the driver's seat to make things happen for yourself, and act upon it - you can make it happen.
If things are bad, your decisions will determine how you deal with the situation and your reaction will determine how results will be going forward.
I love the spirit shown in New York - and hope to make that part of my approach to life going forward. I have no doubt that New York will flex right back into 'success' at some point, and it will be a great experience being a personal witness.
From the inspiredlivingquotes blog:
THE
CHOICE IS YOURS: FINISH STRONG
"Life is 10 percent what you make it and 90 percent how you take it."
How do you take it?
How will you choose to respond to the challenge before you?
The choice is yours....
Always choose to FINISH STRONG !
"Most of us have far more courage than we ever dreamed we possessed."
At 13 she was attacked by a shark while surfing.Within 6 months she was surfing again competitively... and WINNING... with ONE ARM. -BETHANY HAMILTON, 2004 ESPN Comeback Athlete of the Year
"When I started the company I was 52 yearsold. I had diabetes, lost my gall bladderand most of my thyroid gland. But I wasconvinved that the best was ahead of me."
-Ray Kroc, Founder of McDonald's
BELIEF
"To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe."-Anatole France
"My mother taught me very early to believe Icould achieve any accomplishment I wanted to. The first was to wals without braces."
-Wilma Rudolph, the first American woman to win 3 gold medals in a single Olympics
Nearly killed in an auto accident that crushed his legs, he would struggle to walk for the rest of his life.. But, 16 months later he would win the US Open and ultimately 5 more major championships
-Ben Hogan
ATTITUDE
"How you respond to the challenge in the second half will determine what you becomeafter the game... whether you are a winner or loser."
-Lou Holtz
"It's not what happens to YOU, But how you react to it that matters."
PURPOSE
Nothing changes until something moves. How wil YOU choose to respond?
The CHOICE IS YOURS! FINISH STRONG!
It is January 2009. We are in the middle of the most severe financial crisis of the past one hundred years (!)
People are being laid off everywhere and December unemployment rates rose above 7% with 550,000 people losing their jobs in the past month. Restaurants, shops, bars, and many other businesses are struggling to keep their heads up. And yet the Americans I have spoken with are full of hope - not despair. The tone of voice used in news reports, papers, and blogs is still very positive, outside the messages stating the current facts.
I hope 2009 will be a strong year, in many ways, for everyone.
But I'd like to try and point out the reason why I think New York and America are so strong, so that we don't rely on hope, but realize that it's up to us to make it a great year.
Hope, and determination, perseverance, hard work, not expecting others to take out their wallets and provide a safetynet (although that's partly what the federal bank is doing for some of the large corps that are in trouble), are all part of American society, and have made this society the most successful sand productive nation in the world, with the highest GDP per person.
This very approach to success, and the desire and determination to be successful is what's specifically great about being in New York.
Whether there is an international economic downfall, or personal troubles such as finance issues, divorces, health issues - there is a lesson to be learned from the way people in New York deal with these times.
It strenghtens my confidence in mankind's flexibility and will to survive, but more specifically it strengthens my belief that people can make it happen if they stay positive and keep making it happen for themselves. If they keep believing in a positive outcome.
America will recover from this downfall and find yet another platform to present itself as the most productive country around the globe, because people hold themselves accountable for making that success happen.
As long as you believe that YOU are in the driver's seat to make things happen for yourself, and act upon it - you can make it happen.
If things are bad, your decisions will determine how you deal with the situation and your reaction will determine how results will be going forward.
I love the spirit shown in New York - and hope to make that part of my approach to life going forward. I have no doubt that New York will flex right back into 'success' at some point, and it will be a great experience being a personal witness.
From the inspiredlivingquotes blog:
THE
CHOICE IS YOURS: FINISH STRONG
"Life is 10 percent what you make it and 90 percent how you take it."
How do you take it?
How will you choose to respond to the challenge before you?
The choice is yours....
Always choose to FINISH STRONG !
"Most of us have far more courage than we ever dreamed we possessed."
At 13 she was attacked by a shark while surfing.Within 6 months she was surfing again competitively... and WINNING... with ONE ARM. -BETHANY HAMILTON, 2004 ESPN Comeback Athlete of the Year
"When I started the company I was 52 yearsold. I had diabetes, lost my gall bladderand most of my thyroid gland. But I wasconvinved that the best was ahead of me."
-Ray Kroc, Founder of McDonald's
BELIEF
"To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe."-Anatole France
"My mother taught me very early to believe Icould achieve any accomplishment I wanted to. The first was to wals without braces."
-Wilma Rudolph, the first American woman to win 3 gold medals in a single Olympics
Nearly killed in an auto accident that crushed his legs, he would struggle to walk for the rest of his life.. But, 16 months later he would win the US Open and ultimately 5 more major championships
-Ben Hogan
ATTITUDE
"How you respond to the challenge in the second half will determine what you becomeafter the game... whether you are a winner or loser."
-Lou Holtz
"It's not what happens to YOU, But how you react to it that matters."
PURPOSE
Nothing changes until something moves. How wil YOU choose to respond?
The CHOICE IS YOURS! FINISH STRONG!
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