Three Selling Diamonds

Mark Miller, Principal, Strategies for Success, recently presented “Break the Rules and Close More Sales” for a Sterling Bank meeting. Mark reminded us that listening is one of the most important sales skills. He likened cold calling to trying to find three large diamonds in a 5-gallon bucket of safety glass chips. Finding the diamonds is difficult, but worth it. And he related that the #1 cause of deal death is failure to set an up-front agenda with the prospect.

Pass or Fail

I had the wonderful opportunity this week to hear Ken Jones address a group of business professionals at the Greater Houston Parnership's Marketing Excellence program. Ken is a University of Houston professor and consultant who made me want to once again be a student. His definition of entrepreneurship is crystal clear: "one who understands that the outcome is up to me."

His distinction between the often misunderstood realities of marketing and sales was succinct and useful:

Marketing generates demand
Sales cultivates demand

Ken's reality check for students and others was perfect:
The real world is pass or fail. You don't get an 82% grade on a loan application. You are either approved or declined.

His remarkable advice is to view a company website as an "employee" hit home, as 93% of purchasers go first to a website.

One of Ken's most appropriate challenges was to determine what you would do: "If you had to compete against yourself and win".

He vividly reminded us that risk and reward are related. For each employee, regardless of job title, value contributed to the organization should be 3 times the employee's paycheck.

Ken shared 8 R's for success:
Revitalization
Retention
Reacquisition
Referrals
Regeneration
Rainmaking
Related Sales
Reputation Building

Finally, he reminded us to evaluate how others think. We often get caught in our own perspectives. We must evolve to understand how others think in order to meet their needs and expectations.