Sales

How Focusing on Your Customer’s Pain Helps Overcome Price Objections

October 12, 2009

(Last in a series on sales.)

When I was growing up in the late 60s and early 70s, my mom worked in a sock factory in North Carolina. On some days, she put labels on the socks identifying them as government orders to be shipped to soldiers in Vietnam. On other days, she ironed little bunny ears on the same socks – at three times the retail price – to be sold under the Playboy brand.

Mom was incredulous. Labels meant [...]

Read the full article →

The Secret of All Sales and Business Success – Do This and You Don’t Have to Worry About Closing the Sale Ever Again

October 5, 2009

 (Second in a series on sales success.)

Here’s the secret of successful businesses: Become a shrink.

I don’t mean you need a sheepskin, but you must learn to care about people’s problems and needs and effectively respond to them.

So how do you do this? You must ask each customer a series of questions to find out what their problem is.

Such as:

“How are things going in your business?”

“Where are things breaking down in the office?”

“What is that problem costing you now [...]

Read the full article →

Why You’re Not Selling as Much as You Would Like (Is Anyone?)

October 3, 2009

(First of a series on sales)

When Saturday Night Live spoofs former President Bill Clinton, they’ll frequently use one of his most famous lines, “I feel your pain.”

Recently I attended a workshop at my local Chamber on how to close a sale, which was a reminder in the importance of finding the customer’s pain.

You probably learned in Psychology 101 that everything we human do is motivated by two basic emotions: pain and pleasure. As Mickey Boyer of Sandler Training [...]

Read the full article →

Tone Up Your Small Business Sales Technique: Erica Robertson at BizFit

May 11, 2009

Tone Up Your Sales Technique: Erica Robertson at April BizFit from C. Gail Kent on Vimeo.

Free BizFit programs will help YOUR small business during this economic downturn. If you're near Newport News, Virginia, please be our guest!

Marketing for small businesses is the theme of the “lunch and learn” BizFit workshops from noon-1p.m. Thursday, May 21 in Oyster Point Park, Newport News, VA.

The event will be held at the Financial Security Management/Liz Moore & Associates Building on the corner of Thimble Shoals [...]

Read the full article →