Perspective-Taker vs. Empathizer

Posted on May 17, 2013 by

One of the things you’re taught early on in sales training is the need to understand how to think like the person you’re selling to.

In other words, it’s necessary to imagine the different goals and business decisions the prospect likely has to make in the course of their role and figure out where your solution naturally fits within that order…and there-within figure out how to prioritize the solution you’re selling.

This is called perspective-taking, and studies have pretty much proven the necessity of perspective-taking in the negotiation process. Perspective-taking can be defined as “the cognitive power to consider the world from someone else’s viewpoint”.

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Eliminating Confusion from SMB Sales

Posted on May 5, 2013 by

Successful sales people have one thing that the unsuccessful ones don’t:

A repeatable method from creating sales success!

Today we’re going to review the core principles that SMB salespeople need to understand in order to begin building a personal–repeatable–sales methodology.

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Indus, Enterprise Salespeople Are Already There…

Posted on May 2, 2013 by

This is very timely, based on our previous discussion regarding transactional selling.

Indus argues that the The Traditional Sales Model Can’t Sell Enterprise Software. And, as he describes the traditional sales model he’s not wrong.

What’s the problem?

The problem is with his description of “the traditional sales model”. Whereas it is perfectly accurate for describing the transactional sales model, it is entirely inaccurate for describing the sales model that is actually employed for selling enterprise software today, namely the Consultative (or Solution) sales model.

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Transactional Selling: The Basics

Posted on May 1, 2013 by

The transactional sale is almost invariably defined by a short sales cycle and a rather straight forward method of payment.

To describe the transactional (aka, SMB) sales process a bit more practically, once a prospect is engaged and talking all that stands in the way of the sale is usually some degree of persuasion, haggling and the payment method itself. This is a simplification, yes, but the visualization is important to keep in mind if you’re struggling with the SMB sale.

How do you get good?

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The ClickTale Optimization Forum - London - May 23rd

Posted on April 18, 2013 by

Reblogged from Joseph Fuerst - Lead Whisperer:

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I'm proud to use this space to promote a major Web Optimization industry event, being hosted by ClickTale in London on the 23rd of May.

ClickTale’s Optimization Forum will be an exclusive opportunity to network and learn from some of the optimization industry's premier thought leaders.

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Things not to say on a Phone Interview

Posted on April 18, 2013 by

Many companies and managers will use a phone interview to vet a prospective employee ahead of an actual in-person meeting. It’s very affective and saves everyone a lot of time.

This is particularly true of jobs in selling over the phone. In this instance, it is not merely an initial formality; it’s also a test that is used to gauge an individual’s phone presence.

It surprises me how often people flub this stage. My impression is that many interviewees see the phone call as a meaningless formality, mainly because they see it as a “call” and not an “interview”. But, make no mistake about it however chatty the banter may be, the pressure is on.

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The Reason Sales Stars Often Become Poor Sales Managers

Posted on April 10, 2013 by

You can’t put a shark on land and expect it to act like a lion.

Not all sales stars make good sales managers. Not all sales managers need to have ever been real sales stars.

The knowledge and skills that go into hunting and leading are entirely different.

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The ClickTale Optimization Forum – London – May 23rd

Posted on April 10, 2013 by

I’m proud to use this space to promote a major Web Optimization industry event, being hosted by ClickTale in London on the 23rd of May.

ClickTale Optimization forum

ClickTale’s Optimization Forum will be an exclusive opportunity to network and learn from some of the optimization industry’s premier thought leaders.

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The 4 Keys to Profiling a Resume

Posted on April 9, 2013 by

…so, a friend sends you their resume for an opening at your company…and you’re not sure whether they’d be a good fit for the role…what do you do?

Indeed…what do you do?

The cold hard truth is that referring someone for a job where you work should be taken very seriously.

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Aristotle’s 5 Canons of Persuasive Selling

Posted on April 5, 2013 by

Believe it or not Aristotle had some excellent advice for salespeople!

Now, this advice wasn’t directed towards salespeople per se, it was intended for the public speakers and writers of his age, in order to help them become more persuasive.

Aristotle’s work–The Rhetoric–was so groundbreaking that it is to this day considered the “the most important single work on persuasion ever written.”

Salespeople…get the idea?? Aristotle can help you become more persuasive!!

The fundamentals of his work break down into in several principles referred to as “The 5 Cannons of Rhetoric”.

With a bit of a twist for salespeople, here are “Aristotle’s 5 Canons of Persuasive Selling”:

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