I received an email the other day from someone who had attended our Recession Busting Boot Camp and I thought you could relate to this situation:

After talking to a referral, I was able to get a contact name at a company that I wanted to prospect.  I called on the buyer and was able to quote on two products they use on a consistent basis. 

I sent quotes that I knew would beat their current supplier.  I am sure they will only give me the business if I am cheaper and I know I can deliver on the ...

Problem:  Lisa was angry.  It had happened too many times.  She recalled the old movie, “Network,” where the veteran news anchor said, “I’m mad as hell and I won’t take it any more!”

After submitting yet another proposal, she determined that she was just one of several vendors who were being used to satisfy the prospect’s need to obtain competitive bids.  They had already selected a vendor (often the incumbent), and Lisa’s numbers were just needed to fill in column B or C.  That way the prospect could say that they had gotten several competitive bids.  So that ...

Problem:  Jason was extremely excited when he finally got an appointment with one of the top prospects in his territory.  The first meeting went extremely well.  So well, in fact, that he felt that he was a lock to get the business.  He saw this prospect as his ticket to making his quota for this year and the next.  Finally, he’d be getting out of his sales manager’s “dog house” and even having a chance to make his company’s “Heavy Hitter’s Club.”  He told everyone who would listen about his good luck.  He was, to put it mildly, very attached to this piece of business.  He just had to get it.  However, it began to unravel and a competitor won the account.  Sound fam ...

Problem:  Marketing departments have a love/hate relationship with salespeople.  They “hate” them (sometimes) because they feel their products and services would sell more if the salespeople knew what they were doing, but they love ‘em because they are great consumers of all the product literature, brochures, fliers, etc. that marketing departments tend to crank out.  Let’s face it, salespeople still have a tendency to send information to prospects every chance they get.  When a prospect says, “Send me some literature,” most salespeople interpret this request as sincere interest and are optimistic that they’ve got a “live one.”  But rarely does mailing literature result in a positive outcome.  Prospec ...

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 ...