Problem:  Marcia was a successful life insurance agent, but she suffered from insomnia every time she made a sale.  When we asked why, she replied that about 40% of the time, when she closed a deal, the new “client” would call her the next day (but usually not during working hours) and leave a voice mail backing out of the deal.  Typically, they would say that they had had second thoughts and decided, after all, that they really didn’t need the policy.

Diagnosis

Problem: Darrell sold complicated software solutions to manufacturing companies. His was a complex sale in that several fact-finding meetings were typically required and the presentation often was to a group of 4-5 senior company executives. Trying to get a commitment with so many involved was difficult. He always felt like he missed presenting some important information.

Diagnosis: Selling to groups or committees is more challenging than selling to an individual ...

Problem:  The majority of Pamela’s prospects were Fortune 1000 companies that were headquartered outside her geographic territory.  Unfortunately, most of the people who had final decision-making authority on her product were at headquarters and she often had to deal with local decision influencers who could not make the final decision.  She was frustrated by this situation and usually just made her presentation locally, hoping for the best.  As a result, her closing rates were in the 20% range and her sales cycle was exceedingly long.

Diagnosis:  Obviously, Pamela understood the importance of speaking directly to the final authority, but travel budgets and other considerations often prohibited that from happening.  However, the real problem was that she lacked an effective strategy to d ...

Problem:  One of the biggest challenges that salespeople face is getting appointments.  People are constantly bombarded by marketing messages via the media enticing them to purchase.  Prospects receive daily calls from salespeople who want to see them, so it’s no wonder that they treat most requests for meetings with skepticism and suspicion.  This unfortunate fact of life makes the salesperson’s job that much more difficult.

Diagnosis:  Basically, the prospect isn’t clear as to why she should see you.  She’s been promised so much from so many over the years, but the results have typically been less that promised.  You are viewed as an unwelcome intruder who must fight an uphill battle just to get the appointment.

&l ...

Problem: Larry was a salesperson with 3 years experience selling printing services. He was constantly busy doing proposals and following up on the many prospects who regularly called him for quotes. Clearly, he had developed great relationships with his prospects and customers. While his sales manager was happy with his efforts (the company measured salespeople partially on their pipeline, which was the number of proposals outstanding), he was concerned about Larry’s closing rate. To make matters worse, Larry seemed to have a severe time management problem and was just not able to find time to prospect for new business.

Diagnosis: Salespeople often think that they’ll be successful if they make lots of proposals. Of course, it’s difficult to get a sale without making a proposal, but a focus just on generating a large number of proposals typically causes one ...