Craig M. Jamieson, Author at NetWorks! Boise Valley

Sales Tip – Treat Your Prospects As Though They Are Already Your Clients

Quickly! Who do people buy from? They buy from those who they like and who they trust. Who do they like and trust? They like and trust those who treat them with respect and who they feel are looking out for their best interests. End of post:)

Today I wanted to discuss two aspects of the title of this article …

How we might integrate this concept into the selling process and …
Our overall mindset while dealing with prospective clients

The Selling Process –

Treating your prospects as if they are already your clients, and doing so during the selling process, is a teachable and learned behavior. Much of this hinges on your choice of language used and a great deal of this is very subtle. What is the difference between these to statements? Continue reading

Sales 101 – Two Of My Best Email Tips

As impersonal as they may be, emails remain a great way to keep in touch with your clients. I particularly like email for one specific reason and that is to let know clients that I am ALWAYS working for them! I’m going to provide you with two of my favorite strategies. Before I do that, I must stress that you must be responsive, and proactive, with your email communications to start with! For those of you who are too busy to return emails, don’t even think about asking me to buy from you … ever! Couldn’t help myself. Pet peeve 🙂

Away we go …

Clients like to be included in correspondence that relates to them – This is particularly effective when you are working to resolve an issue that will involve soliciting the assistance other parties and especially when said parties are in your organization. Certainly, it can just as easily apply to things like project coordination, seeking bids from third parties, the list goes on and on. The premise is that, when I tell a customer that I am going to work on something for them, I want them to see how hard I am working it. It goes like this … Continue reading “Sales 101 – Two Of My Best Email Tips”

Sales 101 – Always Finish Your Meeting By Scheduling The Next One

You have just finished the best sales presentation of your life yet, you are walking out that door without an order. To make matters worse, the last words out of your prospect’s mouth were “I’ll get back to you.” Maybe they will. More likely they won’t. What are you going to do? Your only reason to go back is to ask if they are ready to buy and you can do that via email or by phone. Dohhhhh!

Never, NEVER leave a meeting without scheduling the next one. How and why are you going to do that? The simple answer is, always have a valid reason to go back and that reason had better include the necessity for a face-to-face meeting. By that I mean, your next meeting can not be accomplished via a phone call, a fax, the postal service, or an email.

What are some very valid reasons for setting another meeting? Continue reading “Sales 101 – Always Finish Your Meeting By Scheduling The Next One”

When An Order Close Is Not A Close

Because it is …. a trial close. I’m flat out terrible at traditional order closing statements and I know a bunch of them. You name it … everything from the “Ben Franklin” to the “Japanese Origami Folding Paper Close”. The really good news is that I never need to bend arms to get the order. I am pretty good at doing the other things right before we even get to that point and I am extremely adept at the art of the trial close.

You’ve maybe seen this acronym … “ABC – Always Be Closing”. For me, that’s a little blunt and a little too old-school. I prefer … “ABTC – Always Be Trial Closing”. So, what’s the difference?

A Close requests an action. An example would be … “Please sign this agreement and there are 10 pages so press hard.” Continue reading “When An Order Close Is Not A Close”

Uncovering A Prospect’s Budget

File this under … Qualifying 101. The simple fact is, unless your prospect has the money needed to invest in your product or service … they ain’t much of a prospect. On top of this, you may have several product/service options available and, while everybody wants champagne, some can only afford beer.

I have consistently found two challenges associated with the budget discussion …

Salespeople are loath to even ask the question
Prospects are even less excited about sharing the answer

In many cases, salesperson fear is due to the fact that talking about money might be uncomfortable for both them and the prospect. Maybe it seems too forward. Perhaps the question is too early in the sales process. The prospect might say “No”. And, your point is … what? Without that budget you will often find yourself spinning those proverbial wheels. Continue reading “Uncovering A Prospect’s Budget”

Sales Tip – Clarify and Confirm

This will be the first of, hopefully, a weekly post devoted to short and simple sales tips. Where appropriate, we will also sneak in references to how this will apply in social selling situations. Thanks for visiting!

We’ve all been here. You ask a salesperson a question and before you have even gotten that question completely out, they are already off to the races answering … something that was not even related to your question. Then they merrily move along to the next part of their pitch. Now, be honest about this. How many of us will stop that person and raise the issue that this was not even remotely related to the question that you posed? The answer is … damn few. More likely, we just walk away and try to find someone who does listen. For our salesperson, this results in an immediate, and unnecessary sales loss. Continue reading “Sales Tip – Clarify and Confirm”

WANTED! New Members For NetWorks! Boise Valley – $50 REWARD!

We are actively looking for new members for NetWorks! Boise Valley and here is your chance to cash in on our need! NetWorks! Boise Valley is a B2B networking group that meets weekly for lunch in the Boise area. Our group is limited to one member per industry classification only. Our members are very serious about networking and we provide them with the tools and the atmosphere needed to maximize their return on investment!

There are two ways to claim your $50 reward …

Refer somebody you know to our group and, if we have an opening and they actually join and submit their first quarter dues, you will get $50 by cash or by check.
Turn yourself in and become a member and we will apply that $50 to your first quarter dues or we can give you $50 by cash or by check after you have paid your first quarter dues.

Continue reading “WANTED! New Members For NetWorks! Boise Valley – $50 REWARD!”