Archive for November, 2008
Happy Turkey Day to everyone! Enjoy the time off work, spending the day with your families, and watching some stellar football games. Also, stay tuned for the return of “Sex as a Sales Model” tomorrow!
I haven’t actually received any responses to Wednesday’s post, so I’ll just explain my goals with the material.
In sales, most people like to brag about their accomplishments. They keep track of progress towards sales goals, margins, and the time it takes to close a sale. For the majority of salesmen, this information is only discussed with other members of the sales team (after all, it is confidential). There are a few salesmen, though, who will use their past success as a tool to close a new sale.
A client hesitates and questions a price. “Can’t you give me just another 2%? This is a very expensive software package …”
“Listen, I gave this same deal to your competitor last week, and they didn’t even hesitate to take the offer.”
Information about past sales is used to pressure customers into a purchase. Sometimes they’ll break, but it puts an incredible strain on the relationship. You don’t want any tools in your sales arsenal that will kill the potential for future sales!
Coming next …
Hiatus – Unfortunately, I will need to take a break for a while to clear out some other large projects on my to-do list. You can expect content to return November 28th (after Thanksgiving). Thank you in advance for your patience!
I’m not really a basketball fan, but when I found out the Portland Trailblazers would have the first pick in the 2007 NBA draft, I was excited. Here’s a team I loved as a kid, resented as a teenager, and just didn’t care about as an adult … now in the national spotlight. Everyone was following closely who the team would pick, and they finally settled on Greg Oden. Season tickets sold out before anyone realized it, and everyone was trilled for the new season with, allegedly, the best player in the game.