Getting Inside the Black Box: Harsh Realities of Selling to a Committee

“Committees” are the mysterious black boxes of the sales universe. Sellers often assume they know what’s inside the box only to find that it was not at all what they suspected.  The word “committee” is often used to cloak a buying process in secrecy.  One individual’s “committee” is another’s team or group.  When executives are […]

Lost & Found: Finding Who Cares & Who Pays

As buying processes become more complex, sellers find it increasingly difficult to identify all of the stakeholders and buying influences.  There are two over-riding reasons.  First, the seller never bothered to “map” the buying process in the target organization.  Without that vital information, it’s difficult to appreciate how multi-layered a buying process can become.  Often […]

Customer Retention: The Holy Grail of Sales!

Every sales executive and sales representative needs to make an annual revenue goal. It’s no secret that the easiest path to “making your number” is to keep your existing business and sell more to an existing account. Why?  The easiest customer to sell to is one that already buys from you. Current accounts know your […]

Sales Leader, It’s Time for Mid-Year Checkup!

Well it’s mid-year…so if you want to make your annual sales quota it’s time for a checkup and perhaps even some adjustments.  As you review or revise your sales plan for the balance of the year, consider taking a close look at the following seven “areas” and determine what value they may bring to your […]

Hospital Sales 101: I Never Saw It Coming!

It’s the 27th of June and the hospital’s fiscal year ends at the end of December. You have completed the trial and the product worked flawlessly. All the clinicians loved it and the feedback from all three shifts was better than expected. Another plus is that you have critical support from all of the key […]

Sales Call Check List: What Every Seller Should Consider Before a Call!

Skilled and successful sales professionals recognize the importance of call planning in conducting an effective sales meeting. How many times have you left a meeting only to realize that you didn’t get the information, commitment or action anticipated? Today’s buying influences expect sellers to be professionals who can manage a meeting, focus on the buyer’s […]

Do You Take a “Posse” to Sales Calls?

As we discuss call planning and execution with sales professionals we often come across organizations that send several company personnel on a sales call. This selling approach is much like dispatching a  “posse”–a metaphor from the frontier era–when a band of citizens, led by a sheriff, chased down and cornered a bandit. Sales calls can […]

How Well Do You Know Your Buyer?

Buyers begin each purchasing process with varied degrees of knowledge.  Some may have direct experience with products and solutions, while others may have read blogs and industry reports or had conversations with former buyers.   That perspective includes information, data, experiences and feelings.  Some knowledge may be firmly grounded in direct experiences while other aspects […]

Lesson Learned from a Sales Autopsy

Recently we had an interesting conversation with Ben, a very frustrated medical device sales representative. Ben has been a top 5% performer for his firm (Origin) in each of the last five years. He has exceeded quotas every year and consistently outsold his competitors. Origin competes against several companies that offer similar services. Further, Origin […]

Partnering with Procurement: Five Steps to Building Buy-Sell Collaboration

All too often sellers view Procurement staff as the dark forces that obstruct the selling process.  They are the “black hats” that delay or stop sales. They are the commandoes of commoditization.  Some sellers subscribe to the belief that Procurement is obsessed with price discounts and turns a “blind eye” to obvious product value.  Consider […]