Wednesday, February 15th, 2012
Today’s newsletter article, How to Turn a Sales Conversation into a Shared Story is the third in a series outlining Ditch the Pitch Habits.
This article focuses on one of the most important principles of ditching the pitch: If your customer doesn’t want to hear your sales pitch, how do you get the customer to understand your story, and find it compelling?
These Ditch the Pitch Habits can help you whether you are selling widgets, selling ideas, raising money, convincing bosses, renting office space … etc. … anytime you need to persuade someone, you’re better off ditching the pitch!
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Wednesday, January 18th, 2012
In my last newsletter article I described the Seven Ditch the Pitch Habits. In today’s issue, How to Start a Sales Conversation I focus on the first two of those habits, Be alert to be quick on your feet, and Size up the scene.
Everyone can ditch the pitch and learn to be more persuasive, whether you are a sales star, a sales neophyte, or someone who is not in a sales job but needs to persuade people to do things or agree with you. These two habits lay the foundation for great sales conversations. Start using them now!
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Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012
Improvising sales conversations – ditching the pitch – isn’t difficult, if you form the right habits. In today’s newsletter, The Seven Ditch the Pitch Habits, I share an overview of those habits.
Like the rest of our lives, practice and continued use is the key to creating great habits. The best time to start practicing these habits? Now!
Read the newsletter: The Seven Ditch the Pitch Habits
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Tuesday, September 20th, 2011
Does it irritate you when a sales person talks too much? (It irritates me!)
Doesn’t it make him or her less effective? (I think so!)
Today’s newsletter, Say Less. Sell More., focuses on this key principle of selling: Talk less.
Posted in Conversation, Ditch the Pitch, Sales - Ditch the Pitch | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, September 6th, 2011
Sales people are often too smart for their own good. They quickly figure out exactly what their customer needs, and then tell the customer everything … all at once.
Today’s newsletter, Sales Tip: Don’t Load the Slingshot, talks about this pitfall, and how to avoid it.
Don’t load the slingshot!
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Wednesday, July 20th, 2011
I was speaking with a very busy non-profit executive the other day, discussing how he’s juggling all of the demands on his time.
“How much time are you spending on fundraising?” I asked.
“Not enough,” he answered.
After a pause he added, “but too much.”
What about you? Are you spending not enough, but too much, time selling? See today’s newsletter.
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Tuesday, September 21st, 2010
Imagine you are in a conversation with a customer, and there is something you really want to say, but you can’t find a way to fit it in the conversation.
What should you do?
Change the subject so you can say it?
Raise your hand to get your customer’s attention?
Write it on your palm so you don’t forget it?
My answer: Leave it in your pocket. Don’t say it, because your customer won’t hear it anyway.
Have a look at today’s newsletter, Sales tip – Leave things in your pocket.
Posted in Conversation, Customer Encounters, Ditch the Pitch | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010
Yes, tear up your elevator pitch. Tear it into little pieces. Want to know what to do with the little pieces? Read today’s newsletter, Tear up your elevator pitch.
Posted in Sales - Ditch the Pitch | 2 Comments »
Saturday, August 16th, 2008
One of my favorite lessons from writing We and studying customer relationships is that the best wisdom for business often comes from everyday life. A few weeks ago I wrote a post describing an inspiration from listening to a Joni Mitchell song when I was in Europe. Today, Joni’s plain wisdom inspired me once again.
Just now, at 33,000 feet on the way from Atlanta to Chicago, I was listening to her song Chelsea Morning and heard one of my favorite passages:
Woke up, it was a Chelsea morning and the first thing that I knew,
There was milk and toast and honey, and a bowl of oranges, too.
The sun poured in like butterscotch, and stuck to all my senses,
Won’t you stay, we’ll put on the day, and talk in present tenses?
One of the key components of a relationship-building encounter is that you and your customer need to both be fully present, engaged in the present moment. As I wrote in this recent post on tompeters.com, one of the easiest ways to kill a sales conversation is to be focused on the next step in the sales process, ignoring the opportunity to create an encounter RIGHT NOW, in the present moment.
When Joni wakes up into her Chelsea morning, she is fully engaged in the “what’s happening now.” What does she want to do? Talk in present tenses.
That’s profound. Even while you are in a discussion with your customer planning the future, or recapping the past, be sure that you are in the spirit of the present tense.
When you are engaged in dialogue with your customer, think, “Won’t you stay, we’ll put on the day, and talk in present tenses?”
Wow. Thanks again, Joni.
Posted in Customer Encounters, Wisdom from everyday life | 2 Comments »
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