Recent Articles From EvanCarmichael.com http://www.evancarmichael.com/ http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/3126/Decisions-Are-Never-Emotional.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/3126/Decisions-Are-Never-Emotional.html Imagine if instead of believing that unexpected decisions are emotional, we assume they have a very specific reason, even if we don’t understand or agree. Then what? Is it just easier to believe the other person to be irrational? Do you remember, back in the day, when docs said that women suffering from PMS were hysterical and they needed to have a hysterectomy (that’s where the word ‘hysterical’ comes from btw)? They didn’t understand the physiology underlying the physical issues, and relegated the problem to emotions. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/3126/Be-The-GPS-For-Your-Buyer.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/3126/Be-The-GPS-For-Your-Buyer.html Buyers have two identifiable responsibilities: * maneuver through their internal, behind-the-scenes buy-in issues to ensure a trouble-free change process, and * choose a solution that will address their stakeholder's criteria for systems excellence while maintaining the integrity of the system. Sales addresses one of these jobs, but not the other. In fact, we've never been taught the skills to help with the off-line issues buyers address: as per the explanations and skills offered in my new book Dirty Little Secrets, helping buyers maneuver through their off-line buy-in issues requires a wholly different skill set. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/3126/Cold-Calling-Works--And-Its-Fun.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/3126/Cold-Calling-Works--And-Its-Fun.html I’m here to tell you that cold calling can be one of the most effective ways to meet new prospects. And a whole lotta fun. I know, I know. Most sellers eschew cold calling, preferring instead to network, get referrals, golf, meet face-to-face. Did you ever ask yourself why? http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/3126/Buying-Decisions-What-Happens-BehindTheScenes.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/3126/Buying-Decisions-What-Happens-BehindTheScenes.html For some reason, it's very difficult for sales people to think beyond 'need' and 'solution:' We tend to think that because the buyer's need matches our solution, and because we're professionals who 'care,' the only thing buyers need to do is choose our solution. But if it were that easy, buying decisions would get made more often in our favor. We certainly would not lose as many sales as we do. The problem is that the buying decision is so, so much more complex than we can imagine as we stand on the outside looking in. Sales mysteriously treats an Identified Problem (my word for 'need') as if it were an isolated event. But it's not. There are ramifications to any change, and the ramifications are ones only buyers can see from the inside and we will never be privy to. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/3126/Why-Open-Questions-Dont-Work.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/3126/Why-Open-Questions-Dont-Work.html For decades, if not centuries, we’ve written books about, lectured about, and trained about, the virtues of Open Questions. I’m here to denounce the myth that they are good in all instances: I actually believe they are used most effectively at the back end of the selling/buying cycle and have no role to play in the buying decision activity that occurs before buyers make their solution choice. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/3126/Sales-20-5-Things-You-Shouldnt-Expect.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/3126/Sales-20-5-Things-You-Shouldnt-Expect.html Here's the good news: Sales 2.0 is good for driving people to you. By simply offering a webinar, a free e-book, a White Paper, or some incentive, you can get folks to your site. If your material is good enough, they will Twitter about you, link to your site, write you up on their blog. You can gather their data, have some sort of passive or active follow up, use the names on an opt-in list, and get hundreds or thousands of new names on your database. If you want new names and a large database, Sales 2.0 is for you. I know many, many marketers pouring their hearts out to develop wonderful content to send out as bait to attract attention. And it works: after your event, you can follow people up with an email, or hire a telephone sales group to follow up with a phone call. Allegedly, SalesGenius has a dedicated phon http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/3126/Customers-Dont-Know-How-To-Buy--Or-Do-They.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/3126/Customers-Dont-Know-How-To-Buy--Or-Do-They.html A friend recently returned from the recent Sales 2.0 conference and told me of a complaint she heard several times from attendees: “Customers don’t know how to buy.” This, said by sellers blaming buyers for not behaving as sellers would prefer. Or not responding appropriately to seller’s selling patterns. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/3126/Selling-In-A-Gloomy-Economy.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/3126/Selling-In-A-Gloomy-Economy.html What is the difference between selling in a robust economy and selling in a failing economy? A lot. But not what you think. * Your product is the same * Your pitch/presentation is the same * The buyer’s need is the same What’s different is the decision making process the buyers need to go through. Do they have a problem that needs to be resolved now, and the economy has mitigated the types of solutions they seek? Do they have a problem that can be fixed with a partial, cheaper solution, or with internal resources that can be modified to create a solution? Do they wait until…. until they have some belief that their business won’t be at risk? http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/3126/FaceToFace-Vs-Phone-Sales-A-Case-Study.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/3126/FaceToFace-Vs-Phone-Sales-A-Case-Study.html I recently was halfway around the world, meeting a new business partner, and found myself in the midst of a seller’s nightmare: I had to do an in-person prospecting call on one of the world’s largest banks, with an unfamiliar business partner, with no idea of the reason behind the cold call, or the people who would be there. When I was picked up from the airport I was told of this meeting, and there was no one available to discuss anything with me until we were at the client site. Nightmare. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/3126/Why-Sales-Fail.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Sales/3126/Why-Sales-Fail.html Are your sales cycles longer than necessary? Are you losing business to the competition when you shouldn’t be? Are you having trouble differentiating yourself? Are you getting price objections when your product is clearly superior? If you face any of the above, it’s because you are using sales methods.