TELL PEOPLE YOU’VE WON AN AWARD – Best Sales and Marketing Ideas #41

101 Best Sales and Marketing Ideas IDEA 41: TELL PEOPLE YOU’VE WON AN AWARD Given that any sales persons needs to build a case, and that one huge reason to buy is not normally going to persuade everyone, you need to produce a weight of a case that is irresistible. Your product may only have … Read more

SELL IN COLLABRATION WITH SOMEONE ELSE – Best Sales and Marketing Ideas #40

101 Best Sales and Marketing Ideas IDEA 40: SELL IN COLLABRATION WITH SOMEONE ELSE Sometimes there are significant problems in selling. One such is when the status quo is powerful. Customers are using something else that they find satisfactory, and it blinds them to the possibility that you are offering something different and better. However … Read more

LINE UP THE WHOLE TEAM BEHIND THE SALES PERSON – Best Sales and Marketing Ideas #39

101 Best Sales and Marketing Ideas IDEA 39: LINE UP THE WHOLE TEAM BEHIND THE SALES PERSON I once telephone the office of sales person I dealt with regularly for a while (in a plastics company from which I bought ring binders to use on training courses). Since he was usually out “on the road”, … Read more

WORK ROUND INHERENT PROBLEMS – Best Sales and Marketing Ideas #31

101 Best Sales and Marketing Ideas IDEA 31: WORK ROUND INHERENT PROBLEMS Sometimes there are problems that you make selling more difficult, yet by their nature they are seemingly impossible to change. This example, where the hindrance is physical fact, is taken from one particular industry. Because of the specific circumstance the solution is not … Read more

LET ONE CUSTOMER SELL TO ANOTHER – Best Sales and Marketing Ideas #30

101 Best Sales and Marketing Ideas IDEA 30: LET ONE CUSTOMER SELL TO ANOTHER Sometimes in selling you will face situation and objections that seem intractable, ones that need outside evidence to overcome. There’s no surprise there, you might say: aren’t many of the things that provide proof or evidence to enhance credibility external factors? … Read more

THINK OF A NUMBER – Best Sales and Marketing Ideas #29

101 Best Sales and Marketing Ideas IDEA 29: THINK OF A NUMBER Sales people need many skills, not simply because selling is itself a complex process, but also because it must often work in conjunction with other skill such as negotiation. A prime one is numeracy. It once heard of a salesman having rings run … Read more

CHALLENGE THE CUSTOMER’S CULTURE – Best Sales and Marketing Ideas #28

101 Best Sales and Marketing Ideas IDEA 28: CHALLENGE THE CUSTOMER’S CULTURE A number of the ideas described here effective not only because they are practical in one way or another, but also because they do something that customer’s find unexpected. This element alone is worth considering: it’s useful to have a few such ideas … Read more

TACKLE A NEW CATEGORY OF CUSTOMER – Best Sales and Marketing Ideas #27

101 Best Sales and Marketing Ideas IDEA 27: TACKLE A NEW CATEGORY OF CUSTOMER However experienced you are, you may find yourself faced with selling in circumstance where you have no experience, indeed no frame of reference, and where the nature of a business area and those in it are to a degree alien. It … Read more

STAND UP TO CUSTOMERS – Best Sales and Marketing Ideas #26

101 Best Sales and Marketing Ideas IDEA 26: STAND UP TO CUSTOMERS There is an old saying that if you appear to be like a doormat, you should expect people to walk all over you. Sometimes a customer relationship can feel like this. Some customers are not just demanding (aren’t they all?) but take extreme … Read more

ADOPT THE RIGHT ATTITUDE – Best Sales and Marketing Ideas #25

101 Best Sales and Marketing Ideas IDEA 25: ADOPT THE RIGHT ATTITUDE Sales people often ask me what the key to sales success is. Would that it was so simple! Success comes not from one thing, but is largely in the details: the approach, the techniques used- and the attitude that people take to it. … Read more

MAKE YOUR CUSTOMER IMPROVE YOUR PRODUCTIVITY – Best Sales and Marketing Ideas #24

101 Best Sales and Marketing Ideas IDEA 24: MAKE YOUR CUSTOMER IMPROVE YOUR PRODUCTIVITY For anyone selling, and certainly for a full –time sales person, sales productivity is vital. Only when you are face to face with a customer or prospect will you produce business, yet there is so much more to be done. Tasks … Read more

REMEMBER THAT IT IS A COMMERCIAL TRANSACTION – Best Sales and Marketing Ideas #23

Best Sales and Marketing Ideas IDEA 23: REMEMBER THAT IT IS A COMMERCIAL TRANSACTION Any sales person has a complex job to do. It may run from finding prospects to conversations, meetings, written proposals, and more, but the final stage is always the same –closing on profitable deal. But is there more to be done? … Read more

DIRECT THE MEETING – Best Sales and Marketing Ideas #22

101 Best Sales and Marketing Ideas IDEA 22: DIRECT THE MEETING It is without a doubt easiest to sell successfully if you are in the driving seat. Being too circumspect at the start can seem like a soft, comfortable approach, but it may only succeed in putting the customer in the driving seat. From there … Read more

SEND A CARD – Best Sales and Marketing Ideas #21

101 Best Sales and Marketing Ideas IDEA 21: SEND A CARD There is always a need to keep in touch, to remind customers and prospects of your continued existence, either because there is time ahead of an order or because you need to maintain contact between orders. In this electronic age the written message is … Read more

USE A SPOKEN LOGO – Best Sales and Marketing Ideas #20

101 Best Sales and Marketing Ideas IDEA 20: USE A SPOKEN LOGO There are many circumstances when it is advantageous to be able to describe to people what you do and what you sell briefly in sentence. Once common occasion is when you meet someone at a conference and they ask, “What do you do?” … Read more