Problem:  “I’m afraid that I’m not going to get a decision when I make my presentation to the fitness store owners next Monday,” Kelly lamented.  “I’ve put together a great proposal.  I think I’ve covered all the bases and have given them three terrific options for advertising in our newspaper.  Surely one will work for them.  But something tells me they won’t make a decision, and I don’t know why.”  Kelly was on target about one thing.  She didn’t get a decision.  The fitness storeowners thanked her for the proposal and told her they needed some time to “think it over.”

Problem:  The CFO was worried.  For the past six months the company’s margins had been dropping and now they were at the point where something had to be done.  Finance had researched the situation thoroughly and the finger was pointing directly at sales. 

Diagnosis:  Ron, the new sales manager, was brought in from outside the company to build sales volume.  Aggressive and optimistic, he was determined to make ...

Problem:  It was a gloomy day and had just started to rain when Rick left his second lousy appointment of the day.  “Man,” he thought to himself,  “it’s pouring down rain, my car is at the other end of the parking lot, and this appointment that I drove 40 miles to see was a total waste of time.  My grandmother is a better prospect than this guy.”  He put his head down and dejectedly trudged through the rain towards his car.  On his way back to the office he reflected on the appointments he had been on recently.  The majority of them had been similar to these two, a waste of time for the most part…nobody seemed interested in buying.  He was starting to feel like they were all bad pros ...

It’s official.  I have now turned off the radio.

I gave up watching network television news last year, CNN this year and now I have turned off the radio.

Ok, to be fair, not all radio.  I still enjoy the morning show hosts on the local news talk radio station and I still enjoy the classic hits of the 70’s.  It’s the conservative talk show hosts that forced me to push the off button.

At one time, I enjoyed the balance they brought to issues.  Now ...

Problem:  Tony was looking for advice on how to sell a high profile prospect who was constructing a large new distribution center in his territory.  Tony’s company sold and installed voice and data cabling and new construction was its primary market.  Tony related that the buyer insisted that the business would go to the vendor who had the best price, since they regarded voice and data cabling as a commodity.  Clearly, price would be the only real buying criteria.  That, unfortunately, would virtually eliminate Tony’s company since they were definitely not the low price alternative.  He said he had probed extensively for pain and found none.  The actual dollar value of the business was not gr ...

Problem: We blew it.  The prospect said “no.”  We worked like crazy to put together a great presentation and our hopes for their commitment to buy were high, but it just didn’t happen.  The result was a no…failure, and worse, now we don’t know where to go.  Do we just pack it up and leave?  There’s got to be a better exit strategy than that.

Diagnosis: We have to look back to the qualifying steps of the call.  We probably failed to accurately diagnose the prospect’s pain and as a result our prescription (or proposal) was off target.  But it’s too late now.  We need a strategy to get us back in the game.  Here ...

Problem:  Mark was a high tech salesperson, selling complex hardware and software solutions to distribution companies.  Relatively new to the job, his ability to close was frustratingly poor.  But he was in good company, as the other salespeople in the company suffered from the same problem.

Diagnosis:  Bernie was Mark’s sales manager, and was “old school.”  He was a disciple of J. Douglas Edwards who, along with Dale ...

Problem:  Salespeople have difficulty “breaking out” of their comfort zones.  Despite increased activity (usually in frantic spurts), trying new techniques and approaches, and resolving that things will be better next month, things somehow manage to stay pretty much the same, and results show little or no improvement.

Diagnosis:  What you see as “reality" is defined by your comfort zone.  Envisioning success beyond the bou ...

Problem:  When Sam, the salesperson, heard the familiar question from the other end of the phone, a shiver went through him as if he had scraped his fingernails on one of those old green blackboards.  He was taught that you had to push past the executive’s gatekeeper, giving little information because the person screening the call couldn’t buy from you, only get rid of you.  His typical response would be,“ My company is Powerful Services, Inc. and I would like to talk to Mr. Bigg about some concepts that will pay huge returns.”  He was usually put on hold for a second and then told that Mr. Bigg was in a meeting, followed by “Could I take a message or put you into his voicemail?”

Diagn ...

Problem:  Since closing rates are in the 15-20% range nationally, one of the biggest concerns that management and salespeople alike have is a desire to increase closing rates.  Although there are several reasons for this problem, one of the most overlooked is the tendency for salespeople to make proposals without knowing what will happen when the prospect gets the proposal.  This is like rolling the dice and hoping for the best.

Diagnosis