In a previous BrightTalk webinar, I surveyed the audience of sellers and asked, “What is your biggest challenge in prospecting?” I thought the results were extremely interesting – and they validated what I’m hearing from many businesses and sales pros about their challenges in new business development. Of the 120 live viewers, those that responded...Read More
How excited does your prospect get when they see your email pop into their inbox? Wouldn’t it be great if they had a Pavlovian response and immediately expected to see something cool, interesting, or insightful when they clicked on your message? Sadly, most “clicks” on sales messages – especially cold or following up – are...Read More
The stats on prospecting that have been quoted (me included!) for the past several years go something like this … 48% of salespeople never follow up with a prospect 25% of salespeople make a second contact and stop 12% of salespeople only make three contacts and stop Only 10% of salespeople make more than three...Read More
I remember a funny moment about 10 years ago when a client figuratively slammed the door on me. I had set my sights on this customer as an ideal prospect for my printing solution. I found the right contact, called, emailed, called, emailed, called, called, and one day she answered the phone and said, “Tell...Read More
Probably one of the most frustrating scenarios in sales is when you have a conversation or exchange with a prospective customer, follow up with a brilliant email containing a meeting request, information, or pricing, et cetera … and then, NOTHING. Your Follow-Up FLOPPED! • Why didn’t they respond? • Why haven’t they replied? • I...Read More
I will admit I’d like to see your face right now after reading this title. It wasn’t intentionally “click bait” but when sitting in a client’s office and discussing his sales process, he wrote on his whiteboard: “Prospecting: *Research *Call/Connect *FU” He immediately realized his abbreviation for “Follow Up” looked like a particularly nasty insult...Read More
You might be surprised to know where I find inspiration for these blog posts. Or, maybe not, considering you’re here. I bring a lot of everyday life into training and coaching conversations in sales. I find that general business jargon and “sales speak” make people want to take a nap or mentally check out. Telling...Read More
