As with all things in life, the quality of the preparation affects the final outcome and this is certainly true when it comes to planning and preparing a presentation.

I have experimented with a number of methods over the years but I do believe that the simplest are usually the best.

The Collection:
Over a period of time think all round the subject and note down on a large sheet of paper or indeed several sheets, everything that comes into your head about the subject of your presentation. This is rather like a personal brain storming session and should be done roughly, in the order in which the thoughts occur; do not attempt to write a speech at this stage

The Central Theme:
This second method requires you to decide on the exact message you want to get across and writing it down in one simple sentence. Then you think all around the sentence, scribbling down the ideas as they come to you – this method is almost identical to ‘mind-mapping

Before selecting or rejecting any idea, it is important to decide:-

• Who are my audience?

• How much do they know already?

• How much time will I be allowed?

Having taken account of the answers to those three key questions, it should be possible to answer one further one -

• What do I want to say?

This is the stage at which you can decide your headings and sub-headings and put them into a logical order. Your structure then begins to take shape. Essentially you go back to the notes you made during the ‘ideas’ stage and select which ones you wish to use – and then put them in the right order.

Remember you probably will not have time to tell your audience all you know about your subject – after all this is not an ‘information dump’ Use only what is relevant and what can be dealt with in the time at your disposal – this may involve a ruthless reduction exercise.

It is suggested that if possible leave the speech, once written, for 24 hours. Then re-read and revise, removing any jargon or unnecessarily flowery phases or faulty reasoning.

The actual notes that you speak from can be the final draft of the speech but this will normally cause you to read most or all of the presentation and the audience will find this dull.

It is much better, therefore, to read the final draft and put it to one side. Then, without referring to it, write short, key-word notes or, if you are very experienced, headings only, on to numbered post-cards.(Numbering your cards will prove to be an invaluable exercise in the unlikely event you drop them half way through your presentation!)

You can now re-look at the final draft to check that you have included all the major ideas on the cards, but be careful, the chances are that if you forgot that idea when making out the cards, you will forget it when you make the presentation.

And Finally -Final Notes:
Unless you are a very good actor with a phenomenal memory, do not dispense with notes by memorising a speech ‘parrot-fashion’. Unless your audience are ornithologists, they do not want to listen to a parrot! Also, it is easy to lose your way when giving a memorised presentation and easier still to lose an audience.

Today’s News: I really hope you are going to join Jill Konrath, Kendra Lee and myself today for an open webinar, that is going to provide you with a wealth of advice and ideas for surviving and succeeding within the current turbulent marketplace. That is 1pm Eastern/6pm GMT – and it is FREE to register here

A couple of excellent blog posts for you, both focusing on a downturn economy:

From fellow Parisien Christian Maurer – “Lifeline For Sales Executives”  and here, Charlie Green is discussing “The Trust Recession”

Tomorrow:I am delighted to welcome back, Leslie Buterin to The JF Guest Author Spot

Closing a sale has always been the most difficult stage for inexperienced sales professionals – this is usually down to a lack of confidence and the fear of rejection. Here is some advice that will get you to those three magical words: “Yes, I’ll buy” – more easily.

Unless the person you are influencing offers an unconditional yes to your proposals you will need to do or say something that will generate a positive decision.

Here are two steps you can take towards getting a decision:

Step One:
. Ask yourself ‘How does this person normally go about making decisions?’ Most people usually have a preferred way of making up their mind. Some people take their time to decide, others are happy to make snap decisions. You can sometimes push the latter, but will need to tread more carefully with the former.

Step Two:
. Have a variety of ways in which you can stimulate a decision.

Spot The Signals – Verbal And Non-Verbal

Knowing when to ask for a decision can be critical. Ask too soon and you may frighten the other person off. Ask too late and you may miss your best chance. Watch for signals that suggest the other person is ready to decide:

• Leaning forward, seeming more interested and involved
• Head up, good eye contact
• Stoking chin thoughtfully
• Nodding or smiling in agreement with you
• Upward infection in voice tone
• Requesting more information
• Asking you to repeat some points you made earlier
• Making notes
• Asking ‘What if …’ or ‘Suppose …’ questions
• Checking guarantees, support, follow-up plans
• Picking up your written proposal and double checking aspects
• Discussing implementation details

Dealing With Ditherers

A good way of avoiding a decision is to say ‘I want to think about it.’

Sometimes people do want time to think things through. But, very often, this can be an excuse or a put-off.

Ask:
• ‘What exactly do you want to think through? (Whatever you do – don’t pause here!) Is it the implementation schedule? Is the bottom line? Is it the timing?’

Once you have isolated the real reason, you are much better placed to respond to the objection.

Going For “Yes”

• ‘If you agree, shall we go ahead right away?’

Its very directness appeals to the Driver or Expressive personalities.

If the answer is “no”, ask : ‘What’s preventing you from going ahead?’

The Alternative Choice Question

This is less direct because you enable people to make a choice between two possible options.

• ‘When would you like to start – Friday or shall we wait until Monday?’
• ‘Which of these two do you prefer?’
• ‘Which support contract is most appropriate for you – this one, or that one?’

The Minor Decision

Here, you ask people to make a decision about a relatively unimportant aspect of the proposal. If they give the go-ahead, the assumption is that they agree to the whole idea.

• ‘Where do you want your logo to appear – at the top of the form or do you think it would look better in the bottom right hand corner?’
• ‘By the way, how do you intend to resource the project?’
• ‘How should we deal with the Southern branches?’

The Assumptive Question/Statement

This question/statement works well with Amiables and Expressives, both of whom need a continuous nudge towards decisions. (Be careful with Analyticals  who dislikes presumption.)

• ‘After we start, I assume you’ll want a monthly update?’
• ‘You’ll notice significant improvements immediately after we start.’

And Finally: The Benefit Summary

Some people like to hear a review of the benefits they will receive if they agree to your ideas. A quick list followed by a decision question often does the trick.

• ‘Ok – let’s summarise. After we’ve made the alterations you will notice that you have extra time available for other things, you’ll start to save on budget and you’ll have a happier work force. So, shall we go ahead?’

Please note: To understand and read more about the four personality types mentioned in this article, go here:  “How To Relate To And Influence The Four Personality Types”

Today’s News: Well done America – thank God for sense and sensibility! Be assured that if Europe had been allowed to vote, it really would have been a landslide. Now we can get some sleep.

Just seven days to go, and there are still places left - we anticipate more than 500 front-line sales professionals will be registering – so do reserve your FREE place today and take part in this innovative and highly relevant event – it’s for YOU – just click on the banner below.

Over at Business Expert Webinars, the very bright Terri Dunevant is presenting:

The Staircase Principle Applied to the Salesperson
11/5/08 5:30pm EASTERN TIME
Details Here

Tomorrow: On The JF Guest Author Spot, is the man himself, Jeffrey Gitomer

During the 1970s and 1980s, it was common for large corporations such as Hewlett Packard (Compaq) and IBM to put their new sales recruits through a twelve to eighteen-month training programme. I know, because I went through one myself, before designing the next generation.

Today, salespeople consider themselves “lucky” if they get an initial two weeks of training.

Have companies discovered that training doesn’t really pay off?

On the contrary! Training appears to be even more important today than years ago and it is getting more important all the time.

This extract from one of my favourite books ‘All Together Now’ by Sir John Harvey-Jones articulates the last point perfectly.

“There is practically no area of business where the difference between rhetoric and actuality is greater than in the handling of people. Every businessman will always claim that it is the people in his organisation who are the key to its success. Indeed it is difficult to argue anything else. A company consists of money (which can ebb and flow almost with the speed of light), of fixed investments (which by definition are obsolescent from the very moment that they have been made), and a range of products – and hopefully a market position – which are under continual attack from competitors who are trying to produce better and more desirable products for less costs.

What a company does have, and handled rightly can maintain, is the commitment, skills and abilities of its people. This is constantly attested to by the statements in company annual reports – I cannot remember the last time I failed to see the chairman’s last sentence paying tribute to his people. Yet despite all these facts our skills at enabling our people to give their best, and continuously beat the best that come against them, are remarkably tenuous. Moreover, this area of activity is seldom subject to the sort of analysis, debate and experimentation so readily devoted to fields such as production or marketing.

Even though we are all welded to the concept of continuous improvement, when did you last see an improvement plan for the management of your people? If you have seen one, I would bet long money that the plan referred to reduction of administration costs or overheads, rather than being a plan consciously adopted to enable more of our people to contribute more.”

In 1990, I had dinner with Sir John, and I was able to clarify a number of points with him face to face: He remains one of my most significant mentors.

Less Training With Higher Expectations
So, what’s going on here? How should a Sales Director reconcile the fact that many corporations today provide less upfront training for their sales staff than in years past, yet attach increasing importance to staff development?

This is hardly a surprise, because the current stock market ethos creates a powerful dis-incentive for firms to invest in their people. A firm’s investment of human capital, in the form of training and other forms of education of staff, is not separable from the general expenditure of a corporation. It therefore appears as a cost on the corporate balance sheet.

Difficult Times
Alas, many Sales Directors, having concluded that their best strategy is to cut back on training, look instead to hire people who already possess all the talent and skills needed to do the job and send them out into the field armed with what they know. But many Sales Directors know how difficult it is to find skilled salespeople. And anyway it is not possible to equate experience or seniority with success.

Huge Demands On Salespeople
The fact is that selling in today’s climate is both an art and a science. Selling is a profession that demands a far wider range of skills than ever before – skills that require continual fine-tuning and constant practice.

Lack Of Ongoing Reinforcement And Development
The operative word here is “ongoing”. Even if salespeople have undergone progressive sales training, there’s no guarantee that they will be successful. It is common knowledge that skills grow rusty over time and salespeople are prone to pick-up bad habits along the way or to simply skip steps and take shortcuts that can lead to long-term trouble. Perhaps even more important these days, is the fact that markets, competition, technologies, and customer preferences are all in a constant and accelerating state of change.

This fact requires that salespeople are able and willing to rethink their sales strategy and approach frequently and receive a regular top-up of skills and motivational coaching.

The key word here is frequent – long gone are the days, when professional salespeople could attend a “one-size fits all” program, and consider themselves qualified for life, that mentality, as I say often enough, is being relegated to the annals of selling history.

Today’s top performers, the “Top 5% Players” wake up and smell the coffee every day, before the majority have even stirred from their slumbers. 

Today’s News: Is again scarce, as I am still with clients in the “Heart Of England” – but I’ll make it up to you tomorrow.

I will just mention, that I made a decision with this client to introduce in a number of trusted and highly respected friends, all internationally renowned sales experts: The experiment is working superbly.

Last month, Leslie Buterin brilliantly addressed a small group of young sales professionals on “cold calling techniques” and today it was the turn of Paul McCord, to coach a group of more senior sales team members on “referral selling”

Despite the fact that he already had a mentoring appointment at 7.30am CT with his own client, he delivered a two hour session at 5am CT, to my group here in the UK. That is really quite an incredible thing to do, and indicates why Paul is another member of my “inner sanctum” of high commitment, high intelligence, high profile and high integrity friends, who will form the nucleus of something very special, which is due to launch very shortly – The Global Sales Council – a small, unique, band of brothers and sisters, with a “big-picture” international focus. More soon, I promise.

Oh, and the feedback from Paul’s session? – “Superb” “Extremely useful advice” “Excellent, thoroughly enjoyed it” ”Brilliant, what a really great presentation” “What a pleasure to listen to a master” 

I have another treat in store for the team tomorrow – Nigel Edelshain will be giving them an overview of the implications of Sales 2.0 - yep, I do spoil them.

Tomorrow: I have a real surprise for you on The JF Guest Author Spot – you will enjoy it!

The JF Guest Author Spot 

Email is so much easier to use for prospecting than the phone. You can write it at any time day or night. You don’t have to worry about being hung up on and you won’t catch your client “at a bad time.” But it’s also easily deleted with no response. When you put yourself into your email, your chances of getting prospects to respond escalate. You stand apart from the other sellers who blend together as Inbox clutter.

Sound hard? It doesn’t have to be.

You know that it’s your personality and message that distinguish you on the phone. But, when you write, you have to be really careful that the words you choose let your personality shine through. If your prospect can’t feel your personality, you’re no different than any other seller trying to get time on his calendar.

Here’s the story of two sellers I’ve been working with and their very different email prospecting results: Eric, who follows the email prospecting rules perfectly, and Mae, who breaks the rules and allows her personality to shine.

Eric sells IT maintenance services. He does most of his prospecting via email because he doesn’t like to cold call. He has an outstanding value proposition including impressive financial results clients have received in reducing unplanned IT expenditures.

Eric adapts his value proposition to the group he’s targeting and follows all the email prospecting best practices.

* Limits the length to 4-5 sentences

* Uses only 1 link

* Includes a tag line in his signature

* Provides his phone and contact information

* Includes an offer his prospect can respond to if interested

* Writes a compelling subject line

Eric has utilized best-practices tactics for email, but even quoting impressive financial results and a client testimonial, he only gets replies from 10% of his prospects. Look at how Mae both uses those tactics and then goes beyond the norm to ensure her personality helps her make stronger connections.

Mae sells IT software and servers. She does most of her prospecting via email because she sees how easy it is to grab prospects’ interest and for them to click reply. She identifies a small group of prospects to target, uses a value proposition like Eric’s, then breaks the prospecting rules by:

Mentioning something about herself in every email, from running in an upcoming marathon to the kids being out on fall break in two weeks

Consistently following up over the course of a month, gently pushing for a connection. Each time Mae forwards the previous emails with a general, but personal, note about the prospect: how busy they must be now that it’s fourth quarter; or, are the leaves turning?

Including a simple  emoticon in her third or forth email to reinforce something personal she’s written if it suits the content: Go Broncos!! 

Writing a personal subject line, such as: Can we talk?, or Checking your availability Tuesday at 3:00

Mae’s emails let her interest in talking with her prospect – and her personality – shine through. She becomes a real person who sat down at her PC to email this specific prospect. Her emails let prospects she’s never met know it’s her sending the email, not some marketing system, and in turn, as they realize it, they reply. As Mae continues to email them, a whopping 85% of prospects reply!

So how do you let your personality out and get 85% of your prospects to hit reply?

Mention a tidbit about yourself. One time I emailed a bunch of prospects during my birthday month and told them all it was my birthday that month! I got nearly a 100% reply rate and started a conversation with every one.

Picture your prospect and write as if you already know him. You know what job your prospect has, so talk about something he can relate to.

Make it easy to reply by suggesting a couple of times to talk. You’ve been friendly and now you’re eliminating the work in scheduling a time to talk. Of course he’s going to respond because you’ve given him a valuable reason to take you up on your offer.

As your prospect gets to know you through your emails, he will respond as he would to anyone else he knows personally. After an email conversation he’ll want to talk to you because he knows you, likes you, and feels comfortable with you. By combining best practices with your personality, your emails will become a productive prospecting tool – instead of a shot into the Inbox abyss.

Kendra Lee is author of “Selling Against the Goal” and president of KLA Group. Specializing in the IT industry, KLA Group helps companies rapidly penetrate new markets, break into new accounts and shorten time to revenue with new products in the Small & Midmarket Business (SMB) segment. Ms. Lee is a frequent speaker at national sales meetings and association events. For more information, contact the company at +1 303.741.6636 or info@klagroup.com or visit www.klagroup.com.

For more articles like this one, visit www.klagroup.com . Click here to sign up for the free KLA Group Strategic View e-newsletter.

Today’s News: I am onsite with clients, so you know what that means – news is brief: I did sign up today, to do a webinar for Landslide with Jill Konrath on November 12th – it’s FREE, and I’ll give you all the details in a couple of days.

Tomorrow: “Some Salespeople Have Ten Year’s Selling Experience; Most Have One Year’s Experience Ten Times” a brief extract……..

“During the 1970s and 1980s, it was common for large corporations such as Hewlett Packard and IBM to put their new sales recruits through a twelve to eighteen-month training programme.

Today, salespeople consider themselves “lucky” if they get an initial two weeks of training.

Have companies discovered that training doesn’t really pay off? On the contrary! Training appears to be even more important today than years ago and it is getting more important all the time.”………. more tomorrow.

When was the last time you were introduced to a professional salesperson and when asked what they did for a living, they said openly and honestly: “Oh, I sell?”

No, rather most salespeople prefer to disguise themselves behind euphemisms such as: “Sales Engineer”, “Account Executive”, “Technical Consultant” etc. But nowadays we have to accept that we all sell everyday – doctors, lawyers, estate agents, architects and politicians. The fact remains that anyone who is in business has to sell themselves and their products – and the so called “Captains of Industry” – Branson, Roddick, Marshall, Hanson, Gates, Dell and Co. are thought to be amongst the best salespeople in the world.

It therefore follows that the quality and success of our salespeople will ultimately determine the success of our business: Certainly the world has become more competitive and in order to survive and prosper we need to continually expand and develop the skill sets of our sales teams.

Sir John Harvey-Jones said “Most companies fail not in their attempts to be innovative or creative. In this country most of them fail because they undervalue the importance of professional selling”

Unfortunately, the task of selling never becomes any easier and as competition continues to intensify, sales people will face issues that can be extremely difficult to deal with e.g. decreased product uniqueness, increased competition within ‘safe’ markets, longer sales cycles and shorter product life spans. Every organisation that intends to survive in the re-engineered environment, which arrived with the new millennium, must, in my view, respond to those realities.

In summary: Our commercial functions, particularly the sales team, represent our forward line, if they are not scoring regularly we cannot possibly achieve our overall commercial objectives – i.e. nothing happens until somebody sells something and all  that investment in costly accounting software, new office equipment, expensive IT systems etc. will count for nothing. We can therefore say with complete confidence, that selling really is the key factor in the total marketing process.

Today’s News: This is going to be a particularly busy week; to kick-off:

On September 17th there is a no-charge webinar, being hosted by JigSaw, that will have an audience of 1,000+ entrepreneurs, business leaders, and sales & marketing professionals looking for an edge or unfair advantage in sales.

During this 30 minute webinar Craig Elias will prove that there is a Silver Bullet in sales. Just click on the banner below for full details.

A great article from Paul McCord was this week’s worthy winner over at Top 10 Sales Articles - be sure to check it out.

Tomorrow: My guest is CEO of The Sandler Institute and fellow Top Sales Expert Steve Kraner, so do join us.

Nobody seems to remember who first coined the term elevator pitch, or elevator speech, but I know it’s been around a long time, and I am often asked to help design such speeches for clients.

An elevator pitch is a short presentation that you could deliver to someone in an elevator as it travels from top to bottom, or vice versa. It must be compelling as well as descriptive. It should contain such punch that the other person would love to buy from you. Of course, you can present such a speech in places other than an elevator!

When cold calling in person, it is a good idea to have your pitch ready. When the buyer meets you in the reception area, deliver the elevator pitch with enthusiasm, and he or she is much more likely to agree to allocate time to you. On the phone, you can use this method to obtain an appointment. You may even want to use it in a sales letter where you introduce your company to the prospect.

For those who work trade shows, have your elevator speech ready for people as they approach your booth.

I use my elevator pitch as a networking tool, and I deliver it by way of an introduction of myself and my companies.

The Main Components of the Pitch

An elevator speech should meet the following criteria:

• Keep it brief – long enough to convince, but short enough to hold the other person’s attention.

• Be articulate – use the right tone and speed so that you don’t rush the message.

• Make it sincere – the buyer must feel that you’re a credible source (which of course you are).

• Be enthusiastic. Use appropriate excitement when telling your story. Buyers take their leads from salespeople. Enthusiasm is infectious, and if you are not enthusiastic about your products/services or your company, change jobs!

Your elevator speech should answer these questions: Who are we? What do we do? To whom do we sell? What makes us unique? How do we bring value to our customers?

Do remember that knowing what you want to say and rehearsing it will make this sound natural. This may be the first time the buyer has heard it – but you don’t want it to be the first time you deliver it.

Used effectively, the elevator pitch can be a good salesperson’s foot in the door. Once you get your break, it’s up to you to finish the deal.

Today’s News: I recently completed a couple of interviews with one of my favourite article community sites, Eyes On Sales, and you can listen to the first one by simply clicking on the banner below:

I am often asked if the Top Sales Experts team collaborate much on joint projects – the answer is a resounding YES WE DO. Obviously, if you are going to expose your clients to another consultant, there has to be a very high level of trust, but this week was a typical situation: One of my favourite clients has a small team who needed some specific coaching on how to reach the decision maker via cold calling, so I immediately turned to Leslie Buterin, who is after all, one of the world’s leading gurus in this area.

Leslie delivered a two hour online coaching session. Result? They were bowled over by her and are already reaping the results of her pearls of wisdom. This is where relevant, specific mentoring comes into it’s own and proves the point that I evangelise about so often – “One size fits all” sales team development no longer works, it really has been consigned to the annals of history.

Would you hire the local handyman if you had serious structural problems with your house? I hope you would not! You can catch up with Leslie here

Finally, I tried to find you another good blogpost today, but in vain – I’ll keep searching over the w/e.

I need to thank you for your patience with delayed posts this week and also with the technical issues we experienced with The JF Journal – I have to hope that patience was rewarded.

Tomorrow: My last few days in the UK, so I am getting together with two of my children for some “bonding” - so wherever you are, have a great w/e and be sure to make it back next week – JF

Having worked with hundreds of organisations during my career, where I have helped, supported, and developed sales leaders, I am aware that many of those sales leaders were promoted into their role because they were top performing sales people. Yet, the role of sales person and sales leader has so many differences, which frequently result in the newly promoted sales leader feeling out of their depth and overwhelmed by their newly acquired responsibilities.

In 2004, a significant piece of research was conducted involving 2663 organisations: The report highlighted the fact that a major barrier to sales success was a failure to select and develop a sales leadership team capable of nurturing and fully developing their sales people’s potential.

The majority of sales leaders, new and experienced alike, say they do not have sufficient time or the resources to train and develop their sales teams. They are so focused on sales results, and so accustomed to achieving success through their personal pursuit of those results, that they overlook their greatest potential source of power – the power to achieve optimum performance levels from their teams.

I believe that the future trend for producing world-class standards in sales leadership will be achieved not by traditional classroom-based training alone. Until sales leaders are equipped with the resources, competence and motivation to want to accept the mantle of developing their own sales teams, any training is likely to be a tactical ‘one-off’ fix, born out of desperation to ‘hit that target’ rather than a sustainable planned approach that can be weaved seamlessly into the sales leader’s role.

Sustainable shifts in behaviour will only ever be realised when sales leaders have the skills and capabilities to provide coaching ‘in the moment’. The greatest value will be created by investing in building coaching capability and providing resources for support rather than endless programmes that rarely have impact longer than a three-month period.

As the whole sales profession continues to evolve, methods of the past become old-fashioned and redundant, overtaken by new exciting ways to boost sales in today’s global competitive marketplace. Yet, this in turn can be confusing and costly because how can a sales leader choose a method from the thousands of methods available with complete peace of mind?

Sales leaders are busy people with a huge variety of development requirements which means that the option to source development and knowledge based on what each individual wants, when they want it, can best be provided through a type of online sales library, where learning is categorised into key areas for speed of reference and provided in bite-sized chunks for easier implementation.

This is why we are adding a brand new dedicated section to the Resource Area at The JF Consultancy in October

The Zone will be a place where sales leaders can ‘pick and mix’ what they want, according to their own requirements. From sales team development sessions and sales team health checks to online sales leader competency profiling and essential techniques for sales leaders, It can be likened to a sales leadership encyclopaedia – it is an absolute “must go to” for time-strapped sales leaders everywhere and it will be FREE!

Today’s News: The very last of Jill Konrath’s FREE pre-SheBang teleseminars is running today, so be sure to register by clicking on the banner below.

Very interesting post from Dave Stein, which confirms much of what I have been evangelising about for the past two years – certainly a wake-up call for ”traditional” sales trainers: “iPhones And (Sales) Education”

Tomorrow: Fellow Top Sales Expert, Linda Richardson is my guest, which is timely as I am currently reading her latest book – “Perfect Selling – Open The Door, Close The Deal” – and I will be reviewing it for you in a couple of weeks.

Creativity is problem solving. That’s the essence of successful selling.

The foremost function of the mind is problem solving; we solve problems with our imagination and imagination is a function of our creative ability. A creative salesperson is a problem-solver.

The basics of the selling process:
• Determine desire
• Present the product to satisfy desire
• Help the prospect find the right reasons for a favourable decision

Selling is nothing more than an exercise in problem solving. By constantly keeping your imagination and creativity at work, you will develop the best attitude for problem solving. You will build an unending source of ideas. You will become an idea producer and this will be your source of “value add” that will differentiate you from your competitor.

Differentiate Between Activity and Accomplishment
Activity relates to being busy but accomplishment equates to getting meaningful things done. It takes energy to fail. The successful salesperson channels their energy into creative, productive channels leading to pre-defined goals.

Accomplishment is measured by the amount of creativity involved.

And Finally: Value Added Asks:
“What service or benefit can I add to what I give my customer, other than my product?”

Not just service in the sense of speedy delivery, prompt follow-up and personal attention, which are normal adjuncts of any real sale…but a real plus idea, something extra of value to him beyond the immediate transaction…that goes beyond the nine dots of your job…

Value Add, through idea giving, is the ingredient that earns you the right to ask for the order, and to expect it!

Today’s News: Good blog posts? You will find this very interesting: “The viral spiral… people buy based on info from other people”  and this from Christian Maurer: “Can sales 3.5 capture the “self directed buyer?”

Tomorrow: It’s Kevin Dwyer on The JF Guest Author Spot – one of the foremost leadership experts in the world.