Posts Tagged ‘Marketing’
Stop competing with yourself!
Posted by Rick McPartlin on July 26th, 2011
As a fledgling salesperson, I believed product knowledge, excellent communication and hard work would lead to success.
With a few years under my belt, I believed that the additional processes and skills I learned through training would allow me to achieve even greater success.
Yet when I became a professional salesperson, I discovered a painful truth: no matter how good I was, how hard I worked, or what I tried, I would never be more successful than my organization allowed me to be.
My most difficult competitor was MY OWN COMPANY!
Your sales team shouldn’t be doing road repair!
Posted by Rick McPartlin on May 3rd, 2011
When you’re launching a new offer, everyone is fired up and sees a clear road to success. “The product is great. The market is huge. This will sell itself, and we’ll get top dollar, too. We just have to be ready to meet huge market demand.” So the organization busies itself preparing for huge demand and profits to suddenly appear.
Interestingly, salespeople often don’t see the same easy road the rest of the organization sees. (This fact surprises most of the executives we work with.) A sales team sees gold at the end of a road, but the road they see is long, twisty, challenging and uncertain. It will have potholes, dead trees and dead ends. They also know that they will probably have to build or repair that road if they want to get new deals to close at the end.
The Opportunity Cost of that Special Deal
Posted by Rick McPartlin on August 3rd, 2010
Based on the conversations I’ve been having recently, I know you’ll recognize this scenario. Your star sales rep has uncovered an interesting revenue opportunity, but it’s off strategy for your company. It might require more customization than you typically provide. Perhaps it’s a new industry for you, or you’ll need to hire new people with different skill sets in order to fulfill it. It may also be a test program with promises of future business if the stars are aligned.
Whatever the case, during difficult times, a CEO is more likely to say yes to these kinds of deals — typically called “bluebirds” because they’re beautiful but very troublesome. After all, it’s revenue, right? Absolutely, and revenue is precious right now. Perhaps this bluebird is really a symbol of a real market trend, so you have to pay attention.
8 Ways to Listen to Your Market
Posted by Jane Adamson on July 6th, 2010
Look OUT, not IN! If you’re following our CEO Challenge articles, speaking or consulting work, you’ve heard this mantra a lot. More often than not, answers to your most important business questions aren’t inside your organization; the answers lie out there with your customers. What problems are they facing? How is your firm REALLY doing at solving those problems? How do they make decisions? What’s the image they have of your firm versus your competitors? How much value do you really bring? How consistent and predictable is your service? Do you know what your customers wish you did better? But how can you gather this research? This action plan provides 8 ways to listen without breaking the bank.
