by David Cottrell | 2 Nov 2015 | Negotiation, News, Sales Skills
A few years ago I visited a major customer along with one of my sales team. The Buyer we were due to see set the tone for the meeting by keeping us waiting for 30 minutes. Once pleasantries had been exchanged we knuckled down and soon arrived at the heart of the...
by David Cottrell | 27 Oct 2015 | Customer Satisfaction, News, Sales Skills
Becoming a Buyer was what one did when all other career opportunities had been explored. The role was beefed up somewhat when they rebranded as ‘Purchasing’ but they were still only delivering other people’s plans. Recessionary pressures require...
by David Cottrell | 14 Aug 2015 | News, Sales Skills
Cold calling! Don’t you just hate it? Even ‘warm’ leads can be hard work on the phone. However the telephone still is one of the best ways to generate new business. You’ll have an even higher success rate if you follow this checklist: Do you...
by David Cottrell | 10 Aug 2015 | News, Sales Skills
This cartoon used to be shown at virtually every sales training I attended ‘back in the day’. You’d expect people to be more open nowadays but I was staggered recently while trying to speak to a particular person/company. I had attended a Food...
by David Cottrell | 27 Jul 2015 | Customer Satisfaction, News, Sales Skills
What is Market Segmentation? A market segment is simply a group of customers with common needs and values. That’s the easy part! How do you decide which ones to attack? Just answer these two critical questions: Why is this group of customers attractive to me and...
by David Cottrell | 23 Jul 2015 | Customer Satisfaction, News, Sales Skills
So you’ve been seeing this Customer for almost a year and feel you want to take the relationship to the next level? What do they say? They’re saying all the right things but don’t back it up with actions? Customers sometimes speak with forked...
by David Cottrell | 22 Jul 2015 | Negotiation, News, Sales Skills
At the end of a tough negotiation I could see the visiting sales team were really happy to be ‘escaping’ as we arrived back at our reception. “David, thanks for your time. We’ll get back to you about those outstanding issues.” This is...
by David Cottrell | 20 Jul 2015 | Customer Satisfaction, News, Sales Skills
What’s the single biggest reason customers switch business to one of your competitors? Price too high? A possibility but no. Poor quality/service? Could be but again no. Competitor undercutting your price? Not even close! Let me put you out of your misery (and...
by David Cottrell | 27 Nov 2014 | News, Sales Skills
Have you been working hard all year for little or no profit? Customers making more demands but unwilling to pay for them? It’s time to increase prices! “Are you crazy? Don’t you know that the economy is still very weak?” I hear you say....
by David Cottrell | 6 Nov 2014 | News, Sales Skills
We’ve all seen sales stories represented by people climbing ladders. Looking up (Still so far to go!). Looking down (Don’t look down!) What are the steps or rungs that we have to climb in order to get to the top of the ladder and deliver sales? The...
by David Cottrell | 27 Oct 2014 | News, Sales Skills
Amongst Salaried Salespeople the bonus or incentive scheme can often be misunderstood. How does your present plan correlate with the Corporate needs? “Top line growth at any cost vs profitable and sustainable growth”. Global selling into matrix-style...
by David Cottrell | 22 Sep 2014 | News, Sales Skills
1. Think In Ink Whatever plans you have to be the best sales person you can be, make sure you write them down! Not just some sketchy overview but detailed plans of what you want to achieve at each customer/target. There’s probably a number of people in each...
