http://www.modernselling.com/forum/recent.aspx - Recent Posts en-us http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Jitbit AspNetForum Thu, 09 Sep 2010 06:12:16 GMT Thu, 09 Sep 2010 06:12:16 GMT http://www.modernselling.com/forum/messages.aspx?TopicID=569
If you are a go getter and well networked in your part of the world, you are the one we are looking for. We do turn key projects of international call centers all over world and we are be looking for potential investors to invest in these projects, you are expected to find them for us for a fee as our business associate. To know more send a mail to nan@atworldsolutions.com .

Thanks

Nancy
Project consultant
www.atworldsolutions.com]]> Thu, 09 Sep 2010 06:12:16 GMT http://www.modernselling.com/forum/messages.aspx?TopicID=568 I have recently started a business to business company but I am struggling to reach my target market and find leads.

I was wondering if anyone here knows any business owners who have or may have a business loan worth over 50k?
My company specialise in obtaining compensation for business clients who have been mis-sold their business loan or a product such as life assurance in conjunction with their loan by the bank.
However not many people are aware of this potential mis-sale and are paying much higher premiums then they should be.
So my problem is as no one knows about the issue no one will be looking for us. So i need leads to contact them myself.

Our website is http://www.itsinthesmallprint.com
Any help would be much appreciated

Kind regards
Shelley]]> Tue, 07 Sep 2010 22:27:26 GMT http://www.modernselling.com/forum/messages.aspx?TopicID=466
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.]]> Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:00:07 GMT http://www.modernselling.com/forum/messages.aspx?TopicID=567
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]]> Sun, 29 Aug 2010 11:51:32 GMT http://www.modernselling.com/forum/messages.aspx?TopicID=286
No arms, No legs...No worries - Nick Vujicic (YouTube - 4mins)

...with thanks to Gavin Ingham who pointed him out as "most inspiring person".]]> Sat, 28 Aug 2010 19:16:46 GMT http://www.modernselling.com/forum/messages.aspx?TopicID=466
All Business - Interview with Stu Schmidt Vice President of Cisco WebEx (4 x 2min video clips)]]> Sat, 28 Aug 2010 17:18:08 GMT http://www.modernselling.com/forum/messages.aspx?TopicID=567 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]]> Fri, 27 Aug 2010 15:40:28 GMT http://www.modernselling.com/forum/messages.aspx?TopicID=17 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…"]]> Wed, 25 Aug 2010 10:49:05 GMT http://www.modernselling.com/forum/messages.aspx?TopicID=565
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]]> Wed, 25 Aug 2010 09:53:34 GMT http://www.modernselling.com/forum/messages.aspx?TopicID=79
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?

]]> Sat, 21 Aug 2010 10:39:26 GMT http://www.modernselling.com/forum/messages.aspx?TopicID=336 Fri, 20 Aug 2010 14:59:00 GMT http://www.modernselling.com/forum/messages.aspx?TopicID=336
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.]]> Fri, 20 Aug 2010 13:26:36 GMT http://www.modernselling.com/forum/messages.aspx?TopicID=562
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?...]]> Thu, 19 Aug 2010 17:53:39 GMT http://www.modernselling.com/forum/messages.aspx?TopicID=563
http://www.flixxy.com/high-tech-car-door.htm]]> Wed, 18 Aug 2010 18:14:15 GMT http://www.modernselling.com/forum/messages.aspx?TopicID=561
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 ]]> Tue, 17 Aug 2010 13:54:51 GMT http://www.modernselling.com/forum/messages.aspx?TopicID=562
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/

…?]]> Tue, 17 Aug 2010 09:59:37 GMT http://www.modernselling.com/forum/messages.aspx?TopicID=561 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?]]> Tue, 17 Aug 2010 08:46:28 GMT http://www.modernselling.com/forum/messages.aspx?TopicID=38
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]]> Mon, 16 Aug 2010 13:00:27 GMT http://www.modernselling.com/forum/messages.aspx?TopicID=336
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.]]> Mon, 16 Aug 2010 05:55:26 GMT http://www.modernselling.com/forum/messages.aspx?TopicID=545
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! ]]> Mon, 16 Aug 2010 05:32:39 GMT http://www.modernselling.com/forum/messages.aspx?TopicID=38
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?]]> Sun, 15 Aug 2010 23:07:59 GMT http://www.modernselling.com/forum/messages.aspx?TopicID=550 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]]> Wed, 11 Aug 2010 09:57:46 GMT http://www.modernselling.com/forum/messages.aspx?TopicID=560 telemarketing blog, b
ut it has far wider appeal and hope that people find it useful on here.

If I ever hear “no names policy again”……..I’ll screeeaaaaaammmmmm

If you were to believe the receptionists or as we tend to call them “gatekeepers” that we speak to every day you would be under the impression that companies are holding meetings with senior execs making decisions about whether they can release the name or not of the directors, which are already in the public domain, but the truth is there is rarely ever such a thing. Instead there is the receptionist making up the immaculate excuse to shift us telemarketers off the phone as quick as possible with an excuse that we cannot argue against.


So, if you want to proactively get ahead of your peers and develop proactive sales meetings from your target audience then you need to "put your body on the line". By this I mean get stuck into the calling and not allow any form of obstacle "gatekeepers" get in your way.


We know that before we speak with a senior exec it is likely that we will have to pass through reception & the PA. Both have the potential of presenting you with barriers that may appear difficult to overcome. Here are the most regular blocking techniques that we see everyday in our lead generation and our basic approach to them.

1. "No names policy" – Don’t waste time debating. Just ask for the CEO's PA. Then ask them the same question. You will be amazed how many time this works. If not call back every few days and ask again and again, and again. It is highly unlikely that this is "Company policy". It is most likely the personal choice of the person you are speaking too and they have to take holiday etc eventually. Then someone else will answers the phone and hey presto.

2. "Send me information and I'll pass it on. If they are interested I will call you back" - WE NEVER AGREE TO THIS. The moment that you release information gatekeepers can block you unilaterally. We call with the express intention of holding a business discussion. Stand your ground and call back another time without sending information. Otherwise you might as well have just had a direct mail campaign.

3. "They never take cold calls" - Ask / insist the gatekeeper attempts to put the call through. This works about 30% of the time. For the balance thank them and just call back and try again another day.

4. "Tell me what’s it about and I'll let you know who would be the best person" - DON'T DO IT. Again gatekeepers will never tell you that you intended to speak to the right person, and end up palming you off to a subordinate. Ultimately, this just sabotages your sales process. Just stand your ground and if necessary call back another day.


If telemarketing was easy companies would be overwhelmed with new business. The facts show it is not. You need to be dedicated, consistent and persistent.

If you are going improve any one skill, concentrate on getting past gatekeepers. It is the single biggest factor that will increase the number of meetings you create.

Basis lead generation stats show that for every 100 calls to a director of a £100million+ company you will speak to 10 people and then make 1 meeting. Speaking to just 2 extra people a day would increase the number of meeting you can make in a full working week from 5 to 6. Take a moment to calculate through what that would mean to your business based on sales value, margin and close ratio. Then you can see the impact it makes]]> Tue, 10 Aug 2010 14:06:06 GMT http://www.modernselling.com/forum/messages.aspx?TopicID=265
http://wimp.com/dolphinbubbles

...but I did!]]> Sat, 07 Aug 2010 21:55:56 GMT http://www.modernselling.com/forum/messages.aspx?TopicID=556 …continued

Finally, and absolutely key to the success of this, will be the mutually agreeable communication channels that either “side” can agree upon, which also have to carry the new burden now of containing that magic potion of “re-establishing trust” (both ways). Because any market place, from the souks of old to the digital-social-media “commercial centres” of the 21st Century, once they are filled with con-men, slave-traders or charlatans of either the “buyer” or “seller” variety, will not be an attractive place for “proper” people to go, to try and get some mutually beneficial trade going.

But so much of it, as ever, seems to be a consequence of B2C (big “advertising” and “marketing” money?) being in the driving seat with B2B being a mere passenger and therefore ending up on some very alien playing fields (market places) where equally distorted “rules” appear to apply. (E.g. if you are in “Procurement” and you want to consolidate the outrageous global expenditure on rubber bands, fair enough, but if you think the same rules apply to assessing the replacement 21st Century CRM/CMR/FSM/Social CRM/ERP system your 5,000 sales staff and the rest of the company are going to need – forget it!).

P.S. Or "Global Sales Training, Continuing Professional Development & Team Performance" - come to that!
edited by NeilWarren on 07/08/2010]]> Sat, 07 Aug 2010 13:49:23 GMT http://www.modernselling.com/forum/messages.aspx?TopicID=556
I’m watching (with barely disguised glee, I’m almost ashamed to say) as the majority of the “no names”, “no cold calls”, “no emails” Great-Wall-of-China players – particularly those that are heavily sales-leaning organisations – struggle to close the un-closable circle of why their prospects are treating them in the same way. For example, why their “command & control” production-line selling of pre-packed, price-effective “solutions” to the pre-conceived “problems” of their prospects, are only ever reaching a smaller and smaller percentage of the possible markets they could serve. And, only then, as part of some kind of cheap whore beauty parade - wearing £5-per-hour price tags round their necks (“plus 50% off if it’s really a quickie”) – and with no mention of whatever unmentionable diseases you might end up with as your real take-away!

The worst of the “sellers” who are still being successful are, indeed, the “commodity” sellers of things like banking or telecoms services where their various, numerous and inevitably “nasty” (if not downright illegal) after-the-event-bear-traps, make us all part of some theoretically inexhaustible supply of muppets, to be mugged and abused until at least The Board and shareholders can retire, with their fortunes intact – so what do they care for ongoing business relationships? Cold-calling, to make appointments, to deliver an elevator pitch, to a BANT (Budget Authority Need Timing) qualified “buyer” are but mild symptoms of the B2B version of this B2C world-flu, in my opinion. But yes, all too “systemic” in so much of UK PLC business life, as you say Richard – just maybe not always quite so blatant or deliberate.

The “World-is-Flat” (Thomas L Friedman) “connect & collaborate” buyers/sellers, on the other hand (no room for Great Walls in a Flat World – so let some light in for a bit of that “transparency” we all theoretically love), will continue to seek each other out, explore whatever fantastic opportunities the future might hold, agree they ways they can work together (including “how much?”, of course – but much more “for what – and why?”, beforehand), and leave the vultures to pick over the dinosaur bones left behind.

And I agree therefore with the general view of you all that any “buyer” who does not know, or care, about the “for what – and why?” bit does not deserve that role – or at least the company that puts him/her in that position, with that brief/job spec, deserves to end up being matched with the comparable “sellers”. (E.g. Who decided your “Preferred Supplier List” folks, when, and why? And has anything “changed” since then?)

continued…]]> Sat, 07 Aug 2010 13:48:52 GMT http://www.modernselling.com/forum/messages.aspx?TopicID=556
He suggests that buyers are polarising into one of two types - transactional and consultative. A transactional buyer has already designed his "solution", knows what he wants, and he's aiming to get the right quality of product at the right price. And price is one of his number 1 buying criteria. A consultative buyer needs the seller's expertise in order to design, develop and deploy the solution. I've written a blog post about it, here: http://cchangeuk.wordpress.com/2010/07/16/commoditisation-the-nature-of-selling/

If you can spare a little more time than that, it's well worth checking out some of Neil Rackham's videos on Youtube.]]> Fri, 06 Aug 2010 11:43:43 GMT http://www.modernselling.com/forum/messages.aspx?TopicID=556
It’s difficult to generalise but if we’re winning more than losing then most people are happy with the status quo, but there’s still room for improvement. If we’re losing more than we’re winning then there’s plenty of room for improvement. For sure there are lessons to be learnt; what did the winning organisation do to actually win the account? Why did they win and we lost? If it was all about price, then did we really lose?

I have to say I especially liked Jay’s point about the winning solution having to be re-engineered after the purchase, at additional cost. I thought this was only standard practice in government funded project s but worryingly this trend appears to be increasing with quite a number of B2B ‘market leaders’.

What does this say about ethics, confidence and above all trust?]]> Thu, 05 Aug 2010 10:09:15 GMT http://www.modernselling.com/forum/messages.aspx?TopicID=556
1. The buyer (in particular the procurement person) often doesn't understand the value brought by a particuar package, and focuses on price exclusively, and is often more influential than the Line of Business buyer, who is too scared to go out on a limb and say "This represents the best value", because if it doesn't work, it's their job on the line.

2. The procurement process is driven by silly timescales (again, set by procurement), which slip on the buyers side, leaving the seller to take up the slack, which inevitably results in less time to understand the clients needs, less quality response, and less time to convince the buyer of the value argument.

There is a lot we can do as sellers, but there are also things that the buyer can do to improve procurement outcomes, and insisting that sellers "give their best price on the first quote", is NOT improving buyer-seller engagement or procurement outcomes in practice (in my experience).

In summary, the point I should really have made is: In the TACK survey, the buyers' comments suggest to me that a) there are other things to focus on if the goal is to improve the value of the procurement to the buyer, and b) the focus suggested in the survey (which is in line with my experience), is actually COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE from the buyer's point of view.

So we could just go in with our "best offer" at our "best price", but in practice that is nearly always impossible because buyers are often not available enough to have quality conversations, and are too precious about insisting "it's all in the RFP", so determining the "best solution" is almost always impossible to do before the deal is sealed. The result is that either the solution is sub-optimal, or it ends up being re-engineered after the purchasing decision has been made. Buyers need to understand that this drives the wrong behaviours in sellers: namely that they try to "win at any price, then clean up the s*!t afterwards".

Conclusion: buyers' behaviour is directly or indirectly responsible for the seller behaviour they are complaining about.]]> Wed, 04 Aug 2010 14:59:30 GMT http://www.modernselling.com/forum/messages.aspx?TopicID=556 Wed, 04 Aug 2010 11:58:48 GMT