31/08/2010 15:00:07
topic: B2B Sales Lead Generation - How, Where, When, Why RichardNolan Posts 68	Stu Schmidt's comments are excellent and well worth a view (who remembers the DEC Vax?). I have just completed a short cartoon animation myself, which show what can be achieved on a very low budget: Online Marketing Manager - The Video Which is linked to my 'personal brand' (which I'm working on): Online Marketing Manager All feedback very much appreciated.
	29/08/2010 11:51:32
topic: photocopier sales NeilWarren Posts 645	Hi VM Got a few questions for you actually... 1. Do you like office equipment in general, or photocopiers in particular? 2. Do you know anyone who buys or uses them? 3. Do you think there are any moves or changes in this industry or particular product line that are "exciting" and could bring about any changes in working practice that you would like to be a part of? 4. Are you aware of any differences between the current range of suppliers, such that you could point at the one (or two) that you would definitely be prepared to work for and (more importantly perhaps) the 5 or 6 that you imagine would only make your relationships with customers, prospects and suspects "difficult" and, therefore, your "new" selling life and career a "living hell"? It's not so much getting any sales job that's important, in other words, and particularly not waiting to see "if the industry likes me". Because, as soon as you have got one (and if you do, of course), you'll find that it's you that has to like/love your products, believe in their efficiency and effectiveness absolutely, and prove to (often sceptical) buyers that spending time and money to solve a “photocopying problem” is what it’s all about. Hope that helps Kind regards - Neil
	28/08/2010 19:16:46
topic: Totally Random Bits of Motivation... NeilWarren Posts 645	Ah yes, that's definitely "add to favourites".... No arms, No legs...No worries - Nick Vujicic (YouTube - 4mins) ...with thanks to Gavin Ingham who pointed him out as "most inspiring person".
	28/08/2010 17:18:08
topic: B2B Sales Lead Generation - How, Where, When, Why NeilWarren Posts 645	Here's another 4 very useful tips and insights from Stu Schmidt, VP of Cisco WebEx... All Business - Interview with Stu Schmidt Vice President of Cisco WebEx (4 x 2min video clips)
	27/08/2010 15:40:28
topic: photocopier sales velvetmonkey Posts 1	hi everyone I have decided to give being a photocopier sales a try to see if the industry likes me. 1 Is there anyone on here who is in photocopier sales 2 is there any advice you would give 3 can i buy leads many thanks VM
	25/08/2010 10:49:05
topic: Laugh? I nearly bought a round! BillyBoy Posts 98	Top ten best jokes judged at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 1) Tim Vine - "I've just been on a once-in-a-lifetime holiday. I'll tell you what, never again." 2) David Gibson - "I'm currently dating a couple of anorexics. Two birds, one stone." 3) Emo Philips - "I picked up a hitchhiker. You've got to when you hit them." 4) Jack Whitehall - "I bought one of those anti-bullying wristbands when they first came out. I say 'bought', I actually stole it off a short, fat ginger kid." 5) Gary Delaney - "As a kid I was made to walk the plank. We couldn't afford a dog." 6) John Bishop - "Being an England supporter is like being the over-optimistic parents of the fat kid on sports day." 7) Bo Burnham - "What do you call a kid with no arms and an eyepatch? Names." 8) Gary Delaney - "Dave drowned. So at the funeral we got him a wreath in the shape of a lifebelt. Well, it's what he would have wanted." 9) Robert White - "For Vanessa Feltz, life is like a box of chocolates: empty." 10) Gareth Richards - "Wooden spoons are great. You can either use them to prepare food, or, if you can't be bothered with that, just write a number on one and walk into a pub…"
	25/08/2010 09:53:34
topic: Excellent commissions to be earnt KerryG Posts 1	Hi All, I am currently looking for experienced sales staff / resellers to sell advertising space on the UK's fastest growing search engine. Please contact me for further information. kerry.glover@searchers.co.uk Thanks Kerry
	21/08/2010 10:39:26
topic: Bad selling queers the pitch for all of us NeilWarren Posts 645	More good news from the spammers. According to my inbox this morning, the following people have all died in a plane crash... Jennifer Aniston, Kayne West, Alicia Keys, Jay-Z, Brad Pitt, Ronaldinho, David Beckham, Gwen Stafani, Cameron Diaz, Madonna, Nicole Kidman, Justin Timberlake, Bon Jovi, Miley Cyrus, Angelina Jolie and a host of others probably. All you had to do was open the attachment to find out more, but I’m thinking there must be a virus or some other terrible disease going around, unless the pilot was on a mission? And is s/he to be highly commended, either way?
	20/08/2010 14:59:00
topic: I'm the best sales person ever. They're all idiots Mr Bean Posts 82	Newbus - hear, hear! Should never have been allowed to get this far. A prima donna (by self-opinion) in the making! The parallel with The Apprentice is spot on. However, is interesting how most of the contestants on that show learn some humility, but not all! Maybe it's a case of 'the white coat syndrome' in that the contestants believe Siralun is god and hence take his advice to heart, whereas in this instance the individual clearly believes he is higher in the pecking order than his boss so can disregard his opinion. It's like canine/pack behaviour, the underlings need to know who's boss otherwise pack discipline breaks down and the result is chaos.
	20/08/2010 13:26:36
topic: I'm the best sales person ever. They're all idiots Newbus Posts 8	I am sure many of us in sales can recognize a little bit of ourselves in this description. I think all good sales people need to have a little aggression in them, because good sales people are winners. They hate losing and every time we do not get a sale, it is a loss. However, as we get a little older in the tooth we all realize that this alone will not make us the best. To be the best we need to make a transition to stop looking internally, as it’s not all about us and start looking and listening to those that we are selling too. They will tell us everything we need to know to sell them products. Throughout the post I see a huge amount of positive advise how to nurture and coach the best out of this young salesman and we should always nurture talent as this can drive our sales teams forward. However, when I read the initial description I was alarmed that this sort of out burst and negativity is tolerated. In a sales office particularly where much of the time is spent on the phone or in a mixed office with multiple sales people working together, this negativity spreads like poison. It distracts everyone else from their tasks as it’s a great big "look at me, give me attention" ploy so that the salesperson can gain positive reinforcement for their failings by passing the buck on to the buyer. Before you know it loads of energy is being spent on the distraction or just managing the salesman and all the time and effort from the salesman is just wasted. Within my internal sales and telemarketing teams I demand a professional approach to all prospects at all times, on or off the phone. I look to create a calm enrovoment so that only constructive energy is being deployed. This creates a culture that means we can execute our jobs to the best of our ability. Without being impacted by other’s selfish behavior. Is there anything wrong with advising the salesman that he is just plain wrong. That he needs to wind his neck in and that if he does not following the advice of those that know better that he can expect to be in for a bumpy ride and the wrong end of a B*&^%^&ing. Personally, I would look at the choices managers had taken to get to this point, where they have permitted the salesman to think that it is culturally acceptable in the first place to have such behavior and culturally acceptable to ignor clear and simple instruction. This is a simple case of self discipline, he either has it or he does not.
	19/08/2010 17:53:39
topic: Wave goodbye to Wave; Say hello to Chatter NeilWarren Posts 645	This was "funny" too... http://www.cracked.com/video_18209_google-wave-****ed-off-tutorial.html (Funny how, how am I funny? Do I make you laugh? You think I'm funny?...
	18/08/2010 18:14:15
topic: Doorless Cars Anyone? NeilWarren Posts 645	Wasn't sure if I should maybe put this on "Tales of the Unexpected", but it'll sure give your clients a bit of a shock... http://www.flixxy.com/high-tech-car-door.htm
	17/08/2010 13:54:51
topic: Changes in Selling & Sales Management - 2010 RichardNolan Posts 68	I’m not sure if anything has changed, the world is still made up of buyers and sellers. Yes Globalisation and the Emerging Economies, plus new technology are all having an impact, but I’m keen to hear how many people here have experienced significant change (for the better or worse) over the past two years. Did the people who feel they are worse off make the right sales, marketing and technology decisions? The world has always been changing at a rapid pace and it’s always been the companies who thrive on change that stand out, rather than risk having their market taken away from them by less complacent competitors (just look at what Google have achieved in quite a number of markets). People soon find out when there’s a problem with their sales model and for most it’s a relatively simple fix. An increasing number of forward thinking companies are now using technology to ensure their sales teams are in full alignment and running to maximum efficiency - and no I'm not talking about CRM
	17/08/2010 09:59:37
topic: Wave goodbye to Wave; Say hello to Chatter NeilWarren Posts 645	I was a bit disappointed to see that Google felt obliged to at least “park” their collaborative, sharing real-time communication option “Google Wave”, even if they are saying that it will probably come back round again in due course, possibly as a part of some other “app”. In the meantime, pretty well the same idea seems to be finding its uses as part of Salesforce.com, and it’d be interesting to know if anybody in the UK/EMEA can see the potential for this kind of thing… http://www.salesforce.com/chatter/gettingstarted/examples/05/ …?
	17/08/2010 08:46:28
topic: Changes in Selling & Sales Management - 2010 NeilWarren Posts 645	What’s Your take on all these Changes in Selling & Sales Management? After 25 years of involvement in publishing and providing other media and marketing/advertising services to suppliers to the (UK) sales profession, I can honestly say that I have never witnessed such a staggering amount of change around all that we do. It seems that everything from Recruitment & Training – and the education and learning that is required of raw recruits before that – through to Sales Processes and the IT Support that needs as well as our abilities to Define a Sales Role, Assess & Reward, Motivate & Manage Sales People to be the right people, doing the right things, are all up in the air. Do you agree that this is the case, firstly? And, secondly, if you do, what do you feel are the main causes of this? Is it, for example, the rapid shifts in global trade (buying & selling) with indicators like China moving up to second biggest economy (August 2010)? Or perhaps it’s the internet/email, adding to our traditional sales tools of telephone and motor car (to meet in the flesh), and with all types of buyers making increasing use of it to search, explore and discuss before they ask for “sales”? Or is it more local/domestic/national, and we’re simply failing too many of our youngsters so that not enough have “the right stuff” to be effective sellers any more? Or is something else more significant? It’s perhaps even a mixture of “all of the above”, of course, but are we in any event doing the best we can to adapt the support services and products that are now required?
	16/08/2010 13:00:27
topic: Reaching upper 'C' level decision makers NeilWarren Posts 645	Yes there was a lot of good stuff in there NewBus wasn’t there? One problem with re-opening old discussions though is that a lot of water will have passed under whatever bridge it might have been, over a year ago in this instance, and that’s practically a lifetime in our new, high-speed, digital world! However, in this instance, I can see that we do have some new information to hand which is extremely pertinent to where this discussion ended up, and regarding your new suggestions. We wanted to know, for example, how the C-Suite would like to be approached, as buyers, if methods like your “old fashioned” telemarketing are indeed “broken”. First up that I can suggest is this 2010 Buyersphere report looking not so much at what buyers say they want sellers to do, but analysing instead what the buyers of 503 different UK, B2B purchases, with an average value around the £350,000 mark actually did, with their “buying time”. http://www.b2bm.biz/Features/BUYERSPHERE-REPORT-Where-have-all-the-buyers-gone/ This includes as many “Senior Sales” acting as buyers as it does “Procurement Officer”, and the overwhelming analysis (page 6) is that they spent an average of 25 hours per month on online activities, compared to 12 offline. Arranging physical meetings after being telephoned (cold called), to be fair, is not specifically identified as part of the 12 hours of offline stuff, but I can’t see how it might still be deemed “the best” or dominant way to sell, to this lot anyway. And the second, more recent survey will be the 5th, annual TACK Buyers Survey, where the “telephone call from a sales person” is still there, at No 4 on the list, but really only looking good if it’s going to be integrated with the digital information they also want, for instance from your website and/or with an intelligent and timely response if they ask us to send something by email. Hope it helps - Neil
	16/08/2010 05:55:26
topic: I'm the best sales person ever. They're all idiots Sales Training Posts 2	Hmm... I recognise that "young sales guy" because 20 or so years ago, that was me. Too good to be taught anything (how wrong I was!). One of the best pieces of advice came to me from a customer back then... he said in a very patronising tone: "Look son, I've been buying a hell of a lot longer than you've been selling... as long as you remember that, you won't go wrong!". At the time I thought... "You cheeky ba....d!" On reflection it was the best advice I could have been given at the time, as we're all buyers first, and salespeople second. I'd remind him that his biggest educators are his customers, and that they HAVE been buying a hell of a lot longer than he's been selling. Ask him to consider that, and to consider if there is something that he might be able to learn from the very people he's selling to, rather than his peers. Get him to reframe his focus from competing with the best sellers (his current peers) to competing with the best buyers (I.E his potential customers) and to report back to you with how he can improve his already "GOD GIVEN" gifts (as he probably perceives them). What you're dealing with is an ego that most good young sales people will have and constantly need feeding, and a sense of challenge that constantly needs to be met. By setting him a challenge to compete with his best buyers, and learn from them, you'll open a never ending challenge for him, because there will ALWAYS be someone who's been buying a hell of a lot longer than he's been selling. It might help him put the limits of his own knowledge/skills into perspective.
	16/08/2010 05:32:39
topic: Star Players don’t Always Make the Best Managers Sales Training Posts 2	Very true Paul. Reminds me of the story of the guy and his hunting dog... heard it? Here it is (from memory): Tom meets Bill who owns a greyhound, and Bill tells Tom that his greyhound "Rep" is the best hunting dog Tom will ever set eyes on. So they go out hunting and sure enough within the hour, Rep has caught four rabbits. "Wow... I've gotta say... I'm really impressed... without a doubt, Rep's the best hunting dog I've ever laid eyes on... he's everything you said he was and more!" exclaims Tom. Tom thanks Bill for the privilege of being able to see "Rep" in action and they part their ways. A year passes, and one day by chance, their paths cross again... "Hey... aren't you..." Tom says, recognising Bill... "Yeah aren't you... Well I'll be damned... how the devil are you Tom?" Bill replies. "I'm great Bill... hey... isn't this a different hunting dog... what happened to what's-his-name... REP! Yeah "Rep" where's he, and how comes he's not with you?" Tom asks. "Bah! Don't ask... waste of time!" Bill sighs... "What do you mean waste of time? "Rep" was the best hunting dog I've ever laid eyes on? What happened?" Tom enquired "We changed his name to "Sales Manager" Bill said shaking his head... "And?" Tom asked, "How did that affect anything?" Bill shook his head... "Well... Now, all he does is sits on his arse and barks all day..." Hope it made you laugh as much as it did me, when I first heard the story many moons ago!
	15/08/2010 23:07:59
topic: Reaching upper 'C' level decision makers Newbus Posts 8	This thread has been a great read. With any product with a substantial value or strategic in nature, C level contacts are a must in the sales process and involving them as soon as possible increases the possibility of defining an opportunity. For my part, the best way to engage with these contacts is still plan and simple, but hard work requiring both time and dedication. Pick up the phone and ask for them ..... Sure you will encounter gatekeepers, voicemails etc but you will also end up speaking to the people you wish to do business with as well. Only this week I have spoken to 1 CEO, 7 Financial Directors and 7 Marketing Directors of companies with turnover in excess of £100 million. From this I have arranged 3 sales meetings for my clients. I know that telemarketing like this seems old fashioned, but still there is no other form of marketing that permits a true live 1 to 1 interaction with your prospect where you have the ability to speak about their needs, how you can assist and to agree the next sales actions. There are many other forms of marketing that you can deploy to help raise awareness of the brand and product and over time these will also have value, but none of them deal with the quandy that was originally posed. How to make contact with C Level contacts and engage them in a sales process. To do that you always need a conversation. Is it not better to take the initiative and drive the message to them then build marketing noise and hope they pick up the phone to you?
	11/08/2010 09:57:46
topic: rookie salesman cold calling old-time customers Newbus Posts 8	You touch on the first task with something like this "data cleansing. Before you do any type of telemarketing or marketing for that matter it is vital that you have a fit for purpose data set to work from. By this I mean that you have accurate information as to the company, in this case does it still exists, how to contact it (phone, email address) and who is the decision maker. From your description I would not rely on the information but use it as a guide to companies that are more likely than not to have an interest in your product. (We know that as they have bought in the past.) From then on you just approach them as anyone else, Put across the benefits they will get from the product, differentiate yourself from the competition and remember to close. You can also use the list to provide a model / specification of the type of companies that are likely to buy your products. This will provide you with the guidance to search wider than this list to uncover other potential prospects. Good Luck
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