There is work in netWORKing – the prologue

Charlotte Chamber of Commerce holds a monthly "after hours" network meeting great to meet loads of people, outside of normal working hours and not eating into prime time. In my last blog,  point number 6,  I suggested following up with people you meet regardless of how valuable a contact they seem. At an "after hours" last week an attendee, who was a grant writer, was there looking for work.  They had no business cards and a hefty resume, that did not reflec ... Read more

There is work in netWORKing

I am a real fan of face to face networking as a business development tool to compliment your Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Myspace social media network strategy.  Chambers of Commerce, local and national, and business community groups can be great places to network.  But you only get out of a network what you put in. So here are 6 tips  some of these are a BGO but they are good reminders: 1.  Get a list of people attending in advance, ... Read more

Is your sales message falling on deaf ears?

Some customers and prospects are very receptive to your ideas, questions and sales pitch some are not.  Have you ever wondered why? Four stages of learning There are four stages of competence we go through when we learn something: Stage 1. unconsciously incompetent Stage 2. consciously incompetent Stage 3. consciously competent Stage 4. unconsciously competent Learning to drive Stage 1.  Your teenager is reaching driving age, they look at your car wit ... Read more

Are you really dealing with the decsion maker?

In the current economic climate the ability of the "decision maker" to actually make a decision has to be seriously questioned by the seller.  When the cash is flowing the decision making moves down the organisation to management and even operation levels, when funds are tight decision making moves back up the organisation to the executive suite. In lean times, even with companies not necessarily experiencing financial difficulties, there is less latitude to waste, or even risk wasti ... Read more

Sale stalled? Is it a real deal?

Closing skills the number one request we get for sales training and coaching.  We engage with the client's sales people and quickly discover closing is not the problem.  The deals the sales people are trying to close are not "real deals" The sales person has created a need for the product, service or solution and has probably discussed time-scales for a decision with the prospect.  Great, but what's the business driver (something happening in the business that is forcing c ... Read more