Top Highlights

• Old-school selling, about which there are millions of books and training programs, is about identifying the customer’s major “pain points.” To do this, the method requires us to ask questions such as: “What is troubling you about the services that you currently have? Does your current consultant really listen to you?” Then, if the customer reveals ...
• avoid the hard sell. Only talk about your products and services after you’ve sought to genuinely understand your client’s or prospect’s needs, and only when people request information. Otherwise, you’re just going to bombard them with information that they don’t need or want.
• “Hey, we met at the Chamber event a couple of weeks ago. I’m really curious to learn more about the work that you do as an executive coach. I was wondering how you support your clients with energy and time management. I’m also in that field and I think we might have a lot in common. Why don’t we sit down and talk?” Now, that would have been a much ...
• We would make a call and say, “Hey, it looks like your contract with XYZ company is coming up. Can I drop off a proposal from our company so that you can compare it with what you have now?” That approach doesn’t usually result in new business. Why? Because no effort is given to building relationships. Not only that, this method forces the sales sta...
• be careful to choose wording that builds connection and trust. Avoid salesy words and employ language that is authentic and personal. Instead of pushing a sales pitch at the end of a meeting, say something like this: “What do we want to do with this?” or, “How do you see this service fitting into your company?” Leave the ball in the other person’s ...