Your client calls up frantic with a problem he wants resolved immediately. What do you do? Your likely reaction is to ask questions about the problem. Right instinct, but, if you have more than two or three questions, you risk the client becoming impatient and annoyed with you. Tweak Your Instinct To avoid that, preface …
One way to deal with price pressure (there are others) “Persist — with Justification.” If you can justify your terms, it is not necessary to change them. Example: WEAK: Seller: That will be $1500. Buyer: You must be joking! I will only pay $1000. Seller: How about $1200 BETTER Seller: $1500 is a very fair …
Which of these do you do when your desk is a mess and you can’t deal with everything on it anymore? Freeze? Leave? I bet you ultimately re-arrange things into more manageable piles. Why? Because your brain becomes frazzled and momentarily short circuits. It cannot absorb so many seemingly equally important stimuli demanding your attention, …
How often does this happen? You did your due diligence, you had a series of great meetings, your presentation went well, the prospect seemed enthusiastic and then—radio silence. You call, you write, you email, you text, you call again—and still nothing. You wish they would just tell you “No” rather than leave you hanging. What …
“Only the right diagnosis can lead to the right treatment” is both the premise of a fascinating new Netflix show called “Diagnosis” and a timeless principle for sales and presentation success as well. While the show leverages the reach of the internet to find the right diagnoses for people with seemingly untreatable diseases to get …
I had a surprising online experience that just stopped me in my tracks. First, I thought it was funny. Then, I realized it was brilliant.* I was having problems with some email software that I pay for and, like many of us, found the FAQs in the Help section to be totally useless. So, I selected …
Potentially revolutionary, article in The Wall Street Journal today has a direct parallel to sales success. Apparently, The Business Roundtable, leaders of some of America’s largest companies, changed its statement of decision making purpose from being based solely on achieving the highest profits for shareholders (investors) to now taking into account “all stakeholders” – employees, …
As different sides argue the causes of gun violence in America, one graph destroys the one that says videos are the cause, proving once again that a picture is worth a thousand words. Click here to see the article from Vox with the compelling chart from the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation that proves …
In the world of comedy, when a joke flops, they say the comedian “died” on stage. In business, when a presentation flops, the presenter can be said to have “died” as well, if not on stage, at least in the meeting. The best way to avoid such an embarrassing (and costly death) is to master …
Riddle: Three frogs are sitting on a log. Two decide to jump off. How many are left on the log? Answer: Three, because deciding to do something is not the same as actually doing it. Everyone feeling good at the end of a meeting is not by itself advancing to a next step. Closure only …
You wouldn’t knowingly shoot yourself in the foot. Yet, inadvertently, that is what many sellers and presenters do in their meetings with clients when they use “waffle” language, words and phrases that undermine credibility. Do you use any of this “waffle” language? If you do, try the alternatives below. Words Matter Just as in I just wanted …