Ken is a veteran editor, writer, and author, who has been writing about sales for nearly 20 years. He has produced countless motivational films and has written dozens of books on management.
by Ken Dooley
The life force of sales is a strong pipeline that’s flowing with prospective customers. Without a pipeline of prospects, it’s difficult to have long-term growth or proper short-term results. Creating one is a two-step process.
It involves:
by Ken Dooley
Everyone can benefit from applying creativity.
Start by defining the problem you want to solve. This is your creative challenge, and it expresses where you want to end up. Like the picture of a finished jigsaw puzzle, the creative challenge will help you develop new ideas and improve existing ones.
by Ken Dooley
Those skilled at the art of customer negotiations have a wide range of behavioral profiles and are flexible in their approach.
But there are 13 beliefs they have in common:
by Ken Dooley
In selling, as in martial arts, there are times when being aggressive is the only way to close the deal. At other times, a softer approach is the way to go.
The difference is that in selling, our customers are not our enemies. The result of our interaction is that both parties should come out stronger in the end.
Closing the deal is just a matter of mastering the art of the soft sell and the hard sell, and then picking out the right approach for the prospect.
by Ken Dooley
Understanding what’s going on inside the customer’s head is more important than anything else you’re trying to accomplish. Thinking like a customer isn’t just an interesting option – it’s a requirement.
Here are eight mistakes that will keep you from understanding and responding to customer needs — and cost you sales, according to John Graham, sales consultant. Share them with your team — especially your salespeople:
by Ken Dooley
The more you understand about difficult customers, the faster you’ll sell to them.
Here are 10 truths that may help you avoid unnecessary difficulties:
by Ken Dooley
Even though it’s impossible to replicate what makes a top salesperson perform at such a high level, there are traits many superstars share that other salespeople can use to close more sales. Here are seven qualities successful closers have in common that other sales professionals can benefit from developing: A desire to build relationships. Because today’s…
by Ken Dooley
Ask any salesperson what part of selling they most dislike, and this will probably be their answer: cold-calling.
No matter how capably trained they are to be consultative and customer-focused, some salespeople resist creating a pipeline of prospects receptive to cold calls.
by Ken Dooley
It happens to every front-line sales or service rep sooner or later: The prospect may want and need your product or service, but isn’t willing to commit despite your best efforts.
There are three stalls in sales negotiation:
An impasse: when you disagree on a major issue and it threatens negotiations.
A stalemate: when you and the buyer are still talking, but you seem unable to make any progress toward a solution.
A deadlock: when the lack of progress has frustrated both sides so much that neither sees any point in talking to each other anymore.
by Ken Dooley
Salespeople usually try to pack lots of information into presentations to show their expertise and hit hot buttons. And sometimes they go overboard and confuse buyers.
Result: Only about 39% of customers remember a single feature or benefit the day after a sales presentation, according to one research study.
Almost half of the prospects “remember” something that wasn’t mentioned at all.
