Priceless: Seeing Your Clients In Person!

On Sunday, I flew from Kansas City to Los Angeles International airport and saw a client of mine in person.

We’ve partnered together since January of 2013.

Sunday night, the CEO of the company and his wife picked me up and we grabbed dinner on the Pier in Redondo Beach. We had a nice, relaxing, and unrushed dinner. I heard first hand how the CEO and his wife built the company from scratch and today they have over 100 employees. I shared with him how I’ve slowly but surely built my firm. Read more

Sales tip of the day – Discounting

Our neighbors across the street got their driveway redone back in 2011. A few years later it still looks great.

We asked them for the company’s contact info and they gave it to us.

We called the concrete company and they gave us a bid. It was right in line with what we were expecting to pay.

The owner came over last Wednesday to finalize paperwork and get the work started. Read more

Happy Memorial Day Weekend Everyone!

Hello everyone!

It’s Memorial Day Weekend pretty soon and I’m sure a lot of you have already checked out mentally and physically for the upcoming 3 day weekend.

I’ll be going on vacation to Hawaii from Sunday to Sunday.

I’ve either co-owned or owned my own firm since August 2006 and this will be probably be the first extended vacation I’ve taken since then. I’ve gone away on 3 or 4 day weekends but not this long.

It may be hard to disconnect and get my mind off work. Read more

2 Good Sales Questions To Ask For Inbound Leads

I’m currently consulting with a software company near Los Angeles, CA and acting as their Sales Vice President. They get an abundance of inbound leads and don’t have to cold call or prospect which is a good thing.

A very busy prospect:

1. Had problem

2. Stopped what they were doing

3. Visited this company’s website

4. Filled out form

5. Downloaded 30 day trial

(They came to them!) Read more

3 Sales Prospecting Tips from the book “Soar Selling”

I’m currently reading “Soar Selling” by authors Marhnelle and David Hibbard.

I tend to read a lot of sales, business, and entrepreneurship books on my Barnes and Noble Nook since I’m an avid reader.

I pulled 3 examples from the book that you can use while sales prospecting over the telephone or face to face.

If you sell for a living, chances are you get objections.

Here are 3 quick objections and 3 potential responses to try to extend the conversation.

Will they work all the time? Does any sales method? Read more

Sales Prospecting vs. Inbound Leads

Happy May to you!

I know I’m stating the obvious here but I’d rather have a warm, inbound lead over having to make a cold call or prospecting call.

I’m currently consulting with a software company in California on their lead generation strategy. They asked me to be a “secret shopper” and fill out an online form and see how long it takes to get a callback.

I filled out the form on January 3rd but didn’t get a response from a sales rep until January 10th.

7 days later!

Yikes! Read more

Connect 5000 Sales Prospecting Tip of the Day

Kansas City has been pounded by 2 heavy snowstorms the past few weeks. They’ve estimated that KC has gotten 20 to 25 inches of snow.

I started reading Aaron Ross’ book, “Predictable Revenue” last night. It’s an interesting read and I don’t agree with his opinion that cold calling is ineffective and doesn’t work.

If you’re doing it wrong, of course it’s ineffective. Read more

My Guest Post From The Rainmakers Jigsaw Conference

Last Monday through Wednesday, I attended the Rainmakers Jigsaw Conference in Las Vegas, NV.

This was my 2nd time attending the event.

One of the Jigsaw staff members asked me to write a guest blog which will go out to their 2M plus members so I said yes. Of course I had ulterior motives. If someone reads my post, looks up my profile and decides to use our services, I won’t object.

Below is what I submitted to Data.com: Read more

Sales Prospecting and Executive Leadership Changes

I reached out to the CEO of a technology firm based in Ohio. We chatted and she said there were some organizational changes going on internally. She planned to hire a new Sales Vice President who may use past resources for lead generation.

She said to follow up down the road which I did. I reached out to her and she emailed the new Sales Vice President and me.

To make a long story short, I engaged with the new executive and he recently became a new client of mine. Read more

Knowing Sales Prospecting vs. Doing Sales Prospecting

I came across this great illustration by Dan Miller:

Let me give you an example:  Imagine for a moment that your 3-yr old daughter slipped and fell into the pool while playing.  You’ve never had swimming lessons, you don’t know the tempurature of the water, you don’t know how deep the water is where she went in, and you aren’t sure that the suit you have on would withstand the effects of the chlorinated water.  Are you going to do some research on each of those issues before acting?  Of course not – you’re going to jump in immediately.  At that instant you know that doing is more important than knowing.

Source: http://www.48days.com/2013/01/22/dont-be-an-over-motivated-under-achiever/?utm_source=48+Days+Newsletter&utm_campaign=b79b95a968-Newsletter_Jan_18_2013&utm_medium=email

Same with sales prospecting! Start doing it immediately! You’ll make mistakes but you can tweak and refine it as you go along!