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Wednesday, March 31, 2010

"Thank You" letters

This morning I backed into a discussion about thank you or followup letters.

The crew agreed they are good, and then devolved into email or snail mail?

Who cares?

I think we were missing the real point.

I think the purpose of a followup letter is to give the recipient something they want or care about. I usually find that within a day of a meeting I see some information about a subject they mentioned, so I send it on.

I am sending something useful to them, instead of, "That was good for me, wanna buy now?"

What are you sending?

Talk Your Business

“Talk Your Business – How to make more and better sales right away!” is a one hour presentation that creates better sales on the spot.

“The brilliance of Dick Davies' TALK YOUR BUSINESS is its simplicity. Easy to learn. Easy to teach. Anyone can do it. But most won't because they get faked out by how easy it is. How can something so easy be so profitable? Good question. Better question is how fast can you implement what Dick teaches? Those who do will make more and better sales. Quickly.”
Theo Androus, 17-year Sales Lab Beneficiary and Aficionado 


“I think first attended Dick Davies’s Talk Your Business in 1993! And I’ve been “talking my business,” just the way he taught me ever since. Dick teaches a simple and straight forward approach on how to introduce yourself and how to tell an engaging story about your work. It is easy and you understand what to do immediately. Dick is a great coach, he makes it all very easy.”
Julie Perlmutter-founder of the Web Managers Roundtable 


“Talk Your Business is the best Economic Stimulus package Washington has seen. It has inspired new business start ups, led companies to unprecedented growth, and re-educates the unemployed.”
Bill Van Dyke, Paradigm Mortgage 


“I've known the Big D for more than a decade. He describes himself as a loud and frequent speaker. He surpasses that modest description by being engaging, informative, and motivating. His talks are thought provoking and rich in actionable takeaways. Be there!”
Gabe Goldberg 


To schedule your “Talk Your Business” please contact DickDavies@SalesLabDC.com 

You might also like:
The New Sales Management Is Leadership
“You manage things, you lead people” Peter Drucker

The End Of The Sales Funnel In Three Paragraphs

Status Meetings 

What Salesmen Do 

What Is The Difference Between A Customer And A Salesman?

Defining Sales Prospecting

Networking Checklist

Event Marketing 

Working The Back Of The Room

Monday, March 29, 2010

The New Prospecting

I was introducing myself to a local CEO when she said, “Oh, I know you, Dick. I read your blog posts. I’m a lurker.”

The World Changed Right Then!

First, she knows what I am writing about. Second, even if she doesn’t blog (yet) she knows the blogger term “lurker,” a person who reads but doesn’t comment.

We had a fabulous meeting.

What does this have to do with prospecting?

Theo was giving a talk about prospecting to a financial salesforce. He asked what I was thinking. So I started putting this together. His talk came and went, and we decided this wasn’t what his audience wanted to hear.

The textbook definition of prospecting is to assemble a list of prospects.

Well, that Nigerian Prince conclusively proved you can contact almost everyone by email. But he didn’t make many sales, and sure didn’t create happy relationships.

It’s not classic prospecting, but what is required today is making people predisposed to buy your offering. That takes communication.

One way is blogging. Another channel is events.

I use events three ways. I remember being introduced in a new territory and one of the top customers was remembering the long time gone local users group.

“I’d like to help you with that.”
“Well, you can’t come, it’s for customers only.”
“Fair enough. How about I drop off your projectors, handouts, and breakfast and then leave?”
“What about lunch?”
“I’ll get that too.”
“Well then, you might as well come to the meeting.”

That user group was very good to me.

I take a leadership role (usually starting in Membership) so I get to know everyone, AND they get to know me. Second, I’ve been called “A “Loud and Frequent Speaker.” Some wag wrote that and was surprised I won’t let it go.

A third use is getting my customers to speak. I’ve noticed I do better when my customer tells the story.

All of these are “pull” prospecting activities rather than interrupting people you don’t know when they are doing something else.

What's your most successful prospecting technique?

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Defining Sales Activity - What Salesmen Do


There are five areas that sales professionals need to be able to use successfully. This is based on what we see the very best salespeople doing, from organization to organization.

This does not include prospecting, which is covered here.

There are three arenas where you will work with people who are not committed to buy from you. They are:

Face-to-Face - How can you meet someone and have them want to buy your offering? You know people need this skill when they start complaining about a lack of Qualified Leads. One time I flew from Washington, DC to Chicago sitting next to a nun, who had never used a computer. By the end of the flight, she thanked me for talking with her and was going to get some COBOL at her first opportunity. She said COBOL had become a priority for her.

Phone/Web - With voice mail, the telephone has become asynchronous. You can have a constructive conversation and complete a task without ever being on the line with the other person. That means good phone calls are designed for completion through voicemail.

Events - When people get together, the two most valuable positions are leading the meeting or being in the audience. The best make the most of either opportunity.

There are also two excellent opportunities when someone wants to buy.

The first is the classic "presentation" request. Three things should happen.

You need to present your offer,
Develop a solution, and
Negotiate an agreement.

Whether that takes one meeting or twenty (and it can!) has a lot to do with how organized both sides are. Here is how you can organize your side.

Your final opportunity is after the sale. This opportunity is often missed because of time constraints or lack of confidence in the offering. There are four good things that happen after the sale:

Realize (Get it installed),
Reload (As long as we are putting one here, can we put one there?)
Refer (If you've ever seen a hapless salesman seeking referrals, THIS IS THE TIME!)
Recommend (What? You would rather make cold calls?)

How close is this model to what you are doing?

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