From the category archives:

The Technical Sale

Do Lawyers Sell?

by Bill Caskey on June 25, 2008

Have had a few calls recently from law firms who feel the need to train their attorneys how to sell. The one hurdle they must get over is the word “selling” as it relates to that profession.In short, “yes” they do sell and for those that do it well, they prosper.An Antiquated Way of Thinking:  [...]

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Project Managers Sell, Too. Do They Need Sales Training?

by Bill Caskey on May 13, 2008

The world is full of project managers (PMs) who are responsible for executing something the sales/AE sold. They are the guts of the solution for most B2B deliverables.
But in many cases, the PM gets no sales training. Oh sure, they get plenty of training in their discipline of project management: time lines, resource allocation, problem [...]

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Call it What You Will, Accountants Do Sell

by Bill Caskey on March 15, 2008

Just finished a two year engagement with a group of CPAs here in Indy. The goal was to teach them how to sell services at a higher fee than other CPAs in their market.
Here are some lessons I learned in my work with them:
1. Accountants are a lot of fun to work with. Each meeting–even [...]

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The Best Sales People Might Not be the Sales People - So Who Are They?

by Bill Caskey on October 18, 2007

We work with a technology firm that has a 90-day selling cycle and a 90-day implementation cycle. They sell telecom/networking/convergence technology. But here’s the problem. The customer - at the point of sale, when the contract is signed - is ecstatic - full of excitement.
But by the time the implementation is over, the customer loses [...]

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The Mindset of the Entrepreneur

by Bill Caskey on October 11, 2007

A couple of weeks ago I had the chance to speak to the Greenville Chamber of Commerce to the NEXT Group, a subset of the Chamber specializing in emerging technology companies.   One of the challenges that entrepreneurs face in building their business is that they need to respect, revere and understand what “selling” is and [...]

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Do Project Managers Need Sales Training, Too?

by Bill Caskey on September 1, 2006

Well of course, you know the answer to that question before we start.
But I’d like to share some observations that may make it easier for you to train your PM’s in communication skills. It seems that companies are relying more and more on their PM’s to manage the client relationships and generate referrals so [...]

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Use Your Best Prospect As Your Standard

by Bill Caskey on June 1, 2006

We’ve all had that great prospect–the one that invites you in to his office, tells you all about the issues he has, expresses hope that you can help him, pays you what you ask, and faxes in the PO. Wouldn’t it be great if they were all like that. We’ll call that the IDEAL PROSPECT.
I [...]

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