If you think a sales cycle is something you pedal to get to your next client meeting, think again. Having a step-by-step process will help you stay on track and keep control of the sales call. Sales are won and lost on transitions. It’s the number one reason you need a clearly-defined sales process. It…
Don’t be too quick to hop on your sales cycle and pedal over to meet with that “hot prospect.” Understanding the consumer buying process will save you time and energy. Determining exactly where people are in the buying cycle can save you a lot of frustration and grief. It makes no sense to dress yourself in the appropriate…
According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, what’s been labeled “The Great Recession” officially ended in June 2009—at least in the U.S. Unfortunately, a lot of your clients and prospects may have missed that memo. To many, the recovery still feels like a recession. Read more at SitePoint >> Image credit
Still struggling to sell your services? Clients telling you that your price is too high? Here’s everything you need to know to overcome price objections. Is $500 a lot of money? You can’t answer that outside the context of what you’re getting in return, can you? As a freelancer or business person trying to sell…
Proposal-writing is a common practice in many industries, but is it possible that you might never have to write another one to win business? Imagine instead a world where you didn’t have to write a proposal to close a deal. What if you could close the deal on a verbal agreement, and then write up…
Sometimes, “selling” is a dirty word to the those of us in the professional services industry, and we do everything we can to avoid appearing like that’s what we’re doing. … I would do anything to avoid directly asking for the sale—especially if it meant I had to quote a price. Instead, I took the…
Like it or not, you’ve already branded yourself in the minds of your customers. That can be a good thing or a bad thing… When we think about commercial brands, we tend to think of a name, logo, or slogan … anything that is used to identify and distinguish a specific product, service, or…
Sometimes that “client from hell” is of our own making. Here’s two things you can do to prevent miscommunication and misunderstandings. If prospects are the honeymoon, then clients are the marriage. And wherever fallible human beings are involved, assumptions and misunderstandings are sure to follow. So how do you prevent the relationship, much less the…
Do higher prices mean less business? Or can increasing your rates actually bring in more business? Last week, I explored the idea that raising prices can actually increase business. To many business owners, this is counter-intuitive. Most believe higher prices means less people will do business with them. But is that really the case? Some people…
Do you have more business than you can handle? If so, is that a good thing? Here’s how to keep from being overwhelmed by too many customers. “I already have more business than I can handle” is one of the most common blow-offs you’ll hear when prospecting. The trouble is discerning if it’s really a…