At this past week’s #livesaleslab we talked about asking layered questions. It came up in nearly every conversation we had in the past week with new coaching clients so it was hard to ignore. I have always called it drill down questions, but I like layered better because drill down seems forced, and layers are more gentle and natural. Like cake, or even onions. There we go- buyers are like onions. Like Shrek.
Topics: sales techniques, sales coaching, sales questions, sales science
Over the last couple of weeks, we have been holding our Live Sales Labs every week. We don't normally do them that often, but with lots of people scrambling to close end of year deals- it seemed like a good way to help.
Topics: sales techniques, sales tactics, sales coach
When I was recently asked at a Hubspot focus group with their top managers what my single most favorite thing about Hubspot was, my answer was very simply "The people." I said this because I believe the success of any business is completely dependent on the people in it. People buy from people, not companies. Mark Roberge is one of those people I was fortunate to meet early on.
Topics: sales techniques, business growth, Startups
I know, so negative of me. Once upon a time, I would agree with you. People don't lie, at least not intentionally! They just change their mind. Sometimes, buyers either don't know what they need or how to buy it, or they don't think it makes them a bad person to use a salesperson to get a price and shop it around to get a better deal. They will still go to heaven, right?
Topics: sales techniques
This post has been sitting in draft since April. It was initially inspired by a fellow inbound marketer who asked me to help them with a start-up company prospect who they thought needed buyer persona profiles and a sales and marketing strategy. There were a number of other agencies on the call as a collaborative effort and was spearheaded by someone other than my referring colleague.
Topics: sales techniques, entrepreneur
Last Sunday night I played one of my favorite games that I call 'Twitter roulette', where I use my mobile twitter app and spin through the people I follow and randomly stop to see what comes up. If it's interesting, I explore further. If not, I spin the wheel again. This is how I discovered an event called #blogchat that happens every Sunday night on Twitter at 8pm CST.
Topics: sales techniques, inbound networkers
Rick Roberge recently asked his network of sales experts to offer their top traits of a sales rockstar (apparently this is what the kids are calling the best sales people these days). Although I don't consider myself an expert in anything, I always have 2 cents to add somewhere. Here were my top 3:
Topics: sales techniques, sales tactics, sales strategy
I was asked recently what my opinion of sales scripts are. I hesitated to say that I think they are a complete waste of time and create lazy salespeople, simply because many believe that they need them and I didn't want to chance offending the person asking. But the truth is, sales scripts allow sales people to turn their brains off and stop listening to their prospect. Sales scripts= sales zombies.
Topics: smarketing, sales techniques, sales strategy, sales coaching
The following is more of a disclaimer: marketing is not the answer. Inbound marketing is not the answer. Focusing on marketing is always going to be the easy answer. I know, it's says "Mahoney Internet Marketing" on the door. But think about it.
Topics: smarketing, sales techniques, sales tactics, sales strategy
