Recent Articles From EvanCarmichael.com http://www.evancarmichael.com/ http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/3001/Cold-Calling-Isnt-the-Only-Way-to-Get-Prospects.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/3001/Cold-Calling-Isnt-the-Only-Way-to-Get-Prospects.html Not many sellers like cold calling. They may be forced into it but they go kicking and screaming, avoiding it with any excuse. Unfortunately, they think it’s the only approach to prospecting, but it doesn’t have to be that way. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/3001/When-Sales-Training-Isnt-Working.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/3001/When-Sales-Training-Isnt-Working.html Nothing is more frustrating than investing the time to identify the need, design, develop, and deliver great sales training and then discover that sellers aren’t implementing what they learned when they get back to the field. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/3001/Create-Email-Subject-Lines-That-Draw-Prospects-In.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/3001/Create-Email-Subject-Lines-That-Draw-Prospects-In.html Email is now the preferred prospecting tool, far surpassing the phone to the relief of many sellers who hate cold calling. Yet it hasn’t necessarily made prospecting any easier. Response rates are low and many sellers are discouraged by how difficult it is to engage contacts. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/3001/Fill-Your-Pipeline-by-Refining-Your-Referral-Requests.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/3001/Fill-Your-Pipeline-by-Refining-Your-Referral-Requests.html Lately I’ve heard a lot of people talking about how to get referrals. No doubt about it, they’re one of the quickest ways to fill your pipeline. They’re definitely easier and less stressful than cold calling. They’re more accessible, and there’s less competition to close the deal. Knowing this, more and more sellers are asking for referrals as a primary approach to filling their pipelines. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/3001/Mine-Proposals-for-Hidden-Gems-of-Opportunity.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/3001/Mine-Proposals-for-Hidden-Gems-of-Opportunity.html With the economy causing prospects and clients alike to clamp their wallets shut, we’re looking everywhere to fill our pipelines. One place you may not have examined recently is in your past proposals, yet they could be the quickest place to find new opportunities. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/3001/No-Socks-Day-An-Excuse-to-Prospect.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/3001/No-Socks-Day-An-Excuse-to-Prospect.html I’m always looking for a new reason to connect with a prospect that hasn’t yet responded to my emails. Clearly triggering events are the number one message to center on, but what if they haven’t responded? After 3 or 4 emails I find myself trying to establish my personality so the contact will begin to feel as if he knows me and want to reply. However, that’s hard if all I ever talk about are issues they might be facing and how I can help. It starts to sound repetitious and boring. If I don’t mix it up a bit, my email will hit the contact’s delete barrier before it’s ever opened! http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/3001/Attract-Prospects-with-Easy-Web-20-Techniques.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/3001/Attract-Prospects-with-Easy-Web-20-Techniques.html The Internet is my best friend for attracting new prospects. In a flash my name and an article I’ve authored have “gone viral”. I’m promoted all over the world and I’m suddenly the expert everyone wants to talk with. Leads start flowing in from people I’ve never met and new opportunities abound. Is it magic? No! It’s Web 2.0, and you can do it too with little investment other than your time. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/3001/Use-Testimonials-to-Attract-Prospects-and-Win-Sales.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/3001/Use-Testimonials-to-Attract-Prospects-and-Win-Sales.html In today’s economy you need every advantage in your sales kit. Prospects are scrutinizing all requests for their time and each purchase decision. You want to pass their piercing investigation but the sales tools you’ve used in recent years aren’t cutting it. You need something more, and testimonials are the answer. They can be the difference maker in not just winning opportunities but also in attracting attention in the first place. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/3001/Top-3-2009-Sales-Resolutions.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/3001/Top-3-2009-Sales-Resolutions.html It’s a new year, with a fresh sales quota and a new set of sales resolutions. I’m always looking for ways to improve and January consistently finds me evaluating my performance from the previous year then setting goals for the coming one. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/3001/Now-is-the-Time-to-Master-Financial-Conversations.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/3001/Now-is-the-Time-to-Master-Financial-Conversations.html While these are admittedly challenging times for many, I still see a lot of sales being made among the companies we are working with. The biggest difference in selling today is the amount of time it takes for sales to close, especially compared to the last few years. But some sellers aren’t feeling any pain – their sales aren’t taking longer in spite of the economy – and yours don’t have to either.