Are you making it hard on yourself by selling to difficult Markets?

Donald Cooper is a terrific business strategist. I receive his emails monthly and I thought this item was an interesting one for those of us who do business internationally:

The top 10 easiest countries in which to do business are...
1) Singapore
2) New Zealand
3) USA
4) Canada
5) Hong Kong
6) UK
7) Denmark
8) Australia
9) Norway
10) Ireland

He suggests that you check out the World Bank's "Ease of Doing Business Report" available on the web. I'm going to check it out today myself!

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen

Hi Everyone,

Today I received my copy of Top Dog sales Secrets. 50 Top Experts Show You Proven Ways to Skyrocket Your Sales . I love it!

The publisher selected excellent articles written by some of the best sales strategists I know including: Jill Konrath, Art Sobczak, Bill Brooks, Patricia Fripp and Jim Domanski.

Top Dog is a collection of over 80 articles are included on a wide variety of sales topics: prospecting, cold calling, phone skills, sales skills, questions, stalls, presentations, sales skills, strategies, value, closing and negotiating.

If you're looking for ideas & insights, you won't be disappointed. Check out Top Dog Sales Secrets now. P.S. 2 of my articles are in it, including several of my favorites: Winning the Negotiation Game and Are you teaching your customers to mistreat you.

BONUS! I have 1 extra copy in my office and the first person to post a comment on this blog posting telling me why they need the book....will receive it free of charge!

Dedicated to increasing yoursales,

Colleen

Enough is Enough!

Hi Everyone,

In the last 48 hours I have been witness to some of the worst sales behaviour ever.

The other night a telemarketer called our house, I answered, and she asked me if she could "speak to the lady of the house". I was at a loss for words so I just hung up. My husband told me I should have responded "there is no lady in this house!" To that he received a dirty look and a punch in the shoulder.

Today I was left a voice mail from a company that sells applicant tracking systems for staffing companies. Her voice mail said "I'm following up to see what type of applicant tracking system you use." If she had taken 2 moments to check out my website she could tell that I am not a staffing company nor a target client. Instead she wasted her time and my voice mail space.

Last week a specialty meat company called and left me a message asking how I "enjoyed the free sample they sent me". Of course, there was never a free sample. Am I really stupid enough to believe that they would send a raw steak in the mail in the middle of summer?

Horrific sales calls like these three are proof that sales people don't spend time preparing for their calls. Here are three simple things to prepare for each time you make a call:

1) Know who you are calling and be able to ask for them by name.

2) Research the company you are prospecting in order to have a relevant discussion about their business, AND

3) Develop an honest sales technique to engage with prospects. (For more on this, and the basis for the work I do in Honesty in Sales do see my partner www.stevengaffney.com)

Sales people say to me that my sales techniques are simplistic, the basics, and not Rocket Science. To that I respond "You're darned toot'n they're the basics!" Why? Because I get calls like this everyday where the basics (Be Nice, Stay Foced and Get to Work!) are getting ignored and sales people are losing business. Until we get the basics right, and are using them 100% of the time, we have no business trying to implement advanced techniques.

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen

Puppy Pictures as Promised

Hi everyone,

You will notice if you look at my calender that this summer I am sticking close to home. That's because I have a puppy on the way. We pick him up as soon as I return from the NSA conference in San Diego. (By the way if you are attending this conference, or if you live in the San Diego area I would love to meet you!)

Here are some recent pictures of little Conrad. He is 7 weeks old.....

And one with Conrad playing with his Dad "Bud"

I am looking forward to working on a few projects close to home this summer to enjoy puppy training. So..I promise to be active on the blog, web classess and email tips. Let me know if you have a particularly vexing sales question....this is the season for me to tackle it!

Cheers Colleen