Archive for October, 2006

October 31st, 2006
Get Priority Notification of Podcasts

Now, you can be notified via EMAIL when there is a new Advanced Selling Podcast up and ready to go. This service is for our ...READ MORE

Get Priority Notification of Podcasts

Tuesday, October 31st, 2006

Now, you can be notified via EMAIL when there is a new Advanced Selling Podcast up and ready to go. This service is for our friends who have yet to figure out RSS subscriptions or can’t get the podcast through iTunes.

Sign up below. When you do so, you’ll get an EMAIL that will ask you to opt in to the list. You can cancel anytime. If you want to check out back episodes, go to The Advanced Selling Podcast and you can listen online or download.

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Posted in The Advanced Selling Podcast | No Comments »

October 26th, 2006
Your Value Is All You Have

(As sent out in our October New Rules Newsletter) Your Value Is All You Have--How Competent Are You At Expressing It? I was looking through some old ...READ MORE

Your Value Is All You Have

Thursday, October 26th, 2006

(As sent out in our October New Rules Newsletter)

Your Value Is All You Have–How Competent Are You At Expressing It?

I was looking through some old training handouts …  and came across one called “How To Express Your Value.”

Although I don’t have space here to review the entire module, there was one part that I thought you’d like to hear about. It had to do with how you get hold of your true value to your clients. It seems that every sales organization has a tough time communicating their value. One exercise we do when we begin working with a company is to have each person “write out” their expression of the value they bring to clients.

We usually have as many different expressions as we have ‘people in the room.’ That’s no good. So, this exercise is designed to help you know ‘where to go to get clear about your value.’

PROSPECT TRENDS. What are the trends that your prospect faces in the running of their business (department)? Trends cause pain. And you fix pain. So it pays to know trends. These trends could be macro/industry trends or trends within their company.

PROSPECT PAINS. What kinds of pains/problems do you help people solve? Do you have a list of those? No? Shame on you. How can you be a problem solver if you don’t even have a menu of the kind of problems you fix? Start that list today.

PROSPECT POSSIBILITIES. Selling is emotional. What’s more emotional than dreams? How can you help–through your service/product–create future possibilities for your prospect? Don’t laugh so quickly. If you sell a solution, then you solve problems. And if you solve problems, you advance your client to a new future. Shouldn’t you know what that might be?

STORIES. Most sales teams overlook case studies and stories. You have a wealth of those stories inside your company. But they don’t get accessed. Make a point in the next week to talk to 10 people in your company about a project that went well, or a customer that became overjoyed at your solution. That becomes a story you can tell as you talk about your value. 

PICTOGRAPHS. Those who are in our training get tired of this story, but I’ll tell it anyway (in case you forgot). I read a book once called The McKinsey Way (about McKinsey Consulting). In it, they revealed that when you first get to McKinsey, you are responsible for creating a graph/ picture/ drawing every day on something you worked on. You might say that’s absurd, but they understood something you should understand. That we are all VISUAL people. And pictures do represent thousands of words.  So if you can reduce your stories, examples and value to pictures, you’ll be helping your prospect “GET” your value at a deeper level.

Hope that’s not too much for today.

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Other Resources:

Advanced Selling Podcast: Thanks to your referrals, we’re up to over 7800 world-wide podcast subscribers.

Caskey Blog: We post when we see fit (and have time). Usually the topics come from training we have just done.

Same Game New Rules–E-Video Course (Free). Sign up for our 5 part course on the book, Same Game New Rules.

Regards
Bill Caskey and Bryan Neale

Tags: communicating value, sales teams, selling
Posted in Expression of Value, Mechanics of Selling | No Comments »

October 24th, 2006
The Pre Show

===OCTOBERR 24 ADVANCED SELLING PODCAST===  (16 Minutes)This is a special episode of The Advanced Selling Podcast.  During the recording of this episode, Bill accidently recorded ...READ MORE

The Pre Show

Tuesday, October 24th, 2006

===OCTOBERR 24 ADVANCED SELLING PODCAST===  (16 Minutes)This is a special episode of The Advanced Selling Podcast.  During the recording of this episode, Bill accidently recorded the pre planning part of the podcast, and forgot to record the actual podcast.  Don’t worry there is still so much to learn from this episode.

Bryan has just returned from England, and is here to denounce some of the myths about international sales, and the problems that international sellers have in communicating to their prospects. 

Bill and Bryan also discuss how important it is to have high intent toward your prospects and always keeping their best interests at heart, not yours.  This is a great episode with a lot of information (and more humor than usual).

Don’t miss it.

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Right Click on “Download” to Save ===>The Pre Show.mp3

If you’d like to subscribe to this podcast so that it’s delivered to your desktop every week, go to iTunes and do so.
 

Tags: podcast
Posted in The Advanced Selling Podcast | 1 Comment »

October 8th, 2006
Indicators There is Something Wrong With Your Business Life

We're producing a program called The Elite Seller on November 9-10 in Indianapolis. This is a post I did for our Faculty Resource Blog site. ...READ MORE

Indicators There is Something Wrong With Your Business Life

Sunday, October 8th, 2006

We’re producing a program called The Elite Seller on November 9-10 in Indianapolis. This is a post I did for our Faculty Resource Blog site. Thought it had appropriateness for all subscribers to this as well.

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Thoreau said “most men live lives of quiet desperation, and go to the grave with their song still in them.” Do you feel like you’re sleep-walking through life—doing the same thing over and over? If so, you are not at your creative best.

So “how do I know this is appropriate for me” is a relevant question. We’ve assembled this list of conditions that you might find yourself in. If you check more than 7 of these 14, then The Elite Seller Retreat is appropriate.

__  I have been doing the same thing in the same way for so long it seems like I’m in a rut. I feel like I could be leveraging my talents better.
__  I watch other people have a lot of success in my field, and I wonder “what do they know that I don’t know?”
__  The training I’ve attended leaves me cold and unmotivated. I feel like I could teach it better than the instructor.
__  I’m already working a lot of hours—I would like a way to be more effective in that time. I don’t want to work longer.
__  I feel like the prospect doesn’t get my value. Sometimes I feel like my message leaves them cold and unmotivated to take action. Therefore, selling cycles last too long—and it keeps me from calling on other prospects.
__   Even though I have a lot of experience in sales, my confidence sometimes slips back to where it was years ago.
__  I’m sometimes bored with my job. And occasionally I have this feeling of emptiness. Like what I do isn’t full of meaning and joy.
__  I feel like although my company supports me, I don’t always feel there are mentors inside the firm to take me to the next level.
__  I feel like I don’t have a good plan for my higher success. I sometimes feel like I just go “do” everyday without a good sense that I’m making progress on my personal goals.
__  It’s been years since I’ve worked ON myself and ON my business. Consequently, I’ve been  “doing” and not “thinking intelligently” about whether I’m doing the right things.
__  I feel like those around me are making progress and are using the latest tools and technology. I sometimes feel like  … I’m back in the stone age.
__  I sometimes wonder if my goals are big enough—meaningful enough—or achievable. And therefore I never know if I’m following the right path to get them accomplished.
__  I feel like the game of sales is changing around me—and I’m not sure I’m prepared for it. Not even sure if I’m using the latest sales strategy to acquire and keep customers.
__  I feel like for as long as I’ve been in the business, that prospects should be chasing me. But they aren’t. And I don’t know why.

Take a look again through those. These have come from actual people who have engaged us over the years with the intent of solving those exact problems. Hope this helps to decide if you have enough reason to come to the event.

Posted in Inner Game | No Comments »

October 5th, 2006
The Attributes of an Elite Seller

===OCTOBER 5 ADVANCED SELLING PODCAST===  (17 Minutes)There are many "good" sales people, but this episode is for the "best of the best" --the Elite Sellers. ...READ MORE

The Attributes of an Elite Seller

Thursday, October 5th, 2006

===OCTOBER 5 ADVANCED SELLING PODCAST===  (17 Minutes)There are many “good” sales people, but this episode is for the “best of the best” –the Elite Sellers. This week Bill Caskey discusses the attributes shared among Elite Sellers, and teaches you how to apply them to increase income/sales. Also, you’ll hear more about the Elite Seller Retreat on November 9-10 in Indianapolis.  It’s an opportunity to be a part of a conference with high achievers, where you can work on your business and on your self.

Jill Konrath (Selling to Large Companies) and Steven Van Yoder (Get Slightly Famous in Your Field, and Attract More Business) will be joining Bill at the Seminar. Between the three of them, you are sure to learn the truth about how professional selling is changing–and how you can to increase your sales effectiveness.

For more information visit www.TheEliteSellerBlog.com, or call 317-575-0075.

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Right Click on “Download” to Save ===>The Attribues of an Elite Seller.mp3 

 If you’d like to subscribe to this podcast so that it’s delivered to your desktop every week, go to iTunes and do so.
 

Tags: elite sellers, podcast, sales people
Posted in The Advanced Selling Podcast | No Comments »

October 2nd, 2006
Does Your Plate Runneth Over?

===OCTOBER 2 ADVANCED SELLING PODCAST===  (12 Minutes)Ever feel like you have too much going on? Almost so much that you can't concentrate? We've all been ...READ MORE

Does Your Plate Runneth Over?

Monday, October 2nd, 2006

===OCTOBER 2 ADVANCED SELLING PODCAST===  (12 Minutes)Ever feel like you have too much going on? Almost so much that you can’t concentrate? We’ve all been there before. Well, we’d like to give you a little relief, in the form of some tips on how to cope. 

This week, Bill Caskey and Bryan Neale address the notion of how to manage everything so that your sales skills remain as productive as possible.  They tell you how to plan your calls, e-mails, and other contact methods to ensure that your plate is never too full–and never too empty.  The Advanced Selling Podcast is a weekly business podcast to help sales professionals generate more revenue in their regions.

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Right Click on “Download” to Save ===>Does Your Plate Runneth Over?.mp3

If you’d like to subscribe to this podcast so that it’s delivered to your desktop every week, go to iTunes and do so.
 

Tags: podcast, sales skills
Posted in The Advanced Selling Podcast | No Comments »