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When Talk Isn’t Cheap


By Dave Mattson

Whoever said talk is cheap didn’t know much about sales. Talk—too much talk, that is—can cost a lot.

This is a difficult lesson for many sales professionals to learn, and that’s understandable. People in sales tend to have outgoing personalities. They enjoy good conversation, and the longer they are in sales, the better they get at making small talk, establishing an emotional connection with the prospect, and driving a conversation toward the specific end of closing a sale. (more…)

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Posted in Adapting Sales Techniques, Behavior + Attitude, Customer Relationships | 2 Comments »

Don’t Tell Me What to Do!


By Dave Mattson

I don’t know about you, but I have never liked being told what to do. I don’t think I’ve ever met anybody who did respond well to that kind of instruction, even when the person in charge—a coach at sports, for example—clearly knew what he was doing if the message is delivered wrong.  It doesn’t matter if what you are saying is true, if it’s not delivered properly.  You can be the authority, but no one cares if you can’t deliver your message in a way that others can accept.  The fact that you have good prudent knowledge, the fact that you’re correct, doesn’t matter if not delivered properly. Sales professionals who forget this fact of human nature do so at their own peril. (more…)

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Is a Good Offense Always the Best Defense?


By Dave Mattson

It’s March Madness time, which I enjoy, but not always for the same reasons my friends do. Because I’m in sales, it’s fun just to watch the teams execute their strategies and then try to figure out how these strategies apply to my own profession.

And what stands out, season after season, is how predictable the plays have become and how easily they can be countered. (more…)

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Posted in Adapting Sales Techniques, Customer Relationships, Overcoming Obstacles | 1 Comment »

Too Much Product Knowledge Can Cost You


By Dave Mattson

If you’re like most sales professionals, you work hard to learn as much as you can about your product or service. You take pride in how much you know about your business. When you can answer any technical question that might come up in a call with a prospect, you feel confident. That’s only natural.

But as important as it is to be knowledgeable, your eagerness to display that knowledge can damage a relationship and cost you sales. (more…)

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Posted in Adapting Sales Techniques, Behavior + Attitude, Customer Relationships | 2 Comments »

Be Friendly with Your Customers, But Never Friends


By Dave Mattson

Hidden in the uproar over Mark McGwire’s admission that he used steroids was a lesson for sales professionals. You might remember the moment, which has been replayed over and over: When McGwire hit his record-breaking homerun, Sammy Sosa—one of the Cardinal slugger’s opponents—raced in from the outfield to hug him. It “looked great on TV,” one of Sosa’s Cubs teammates said recently, but the other Chicago players “didn’t appreciate it.” Sosa forgot an important rule of sports, of sales and of business generally: Your meter’s always running. (more…)

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Posted in Behavior + Attitude, Customer Relationships, Sales Development | 6 Comments »

How Sales Professionals Are Like Shrinks


By Dave Mattson

We don’t ordinarily think of sales as one of the “helping professions,” but maybe we should. People tell their problems to psychologists and clergymen. They pour out their hearts to their neighborhood bartender. But they tell their troubles to sales professionals, too, so we should develop our “helping profession” skills. (more…)

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Posted in Adapting Sales Techniques, Behavior + Attitude, Customer Relationships, Sales Development | 1 Comment »

How to Profit from Unsuccessful Sales Calls


By Dave Mattson

Planning on an economic rebound, companies in the U.S. and Canada are beginning to up their investments in new product and service introductions, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers survey released in August. Businesses are also investing more in information technology and in marketing and sales promotion.

That’s encouraging, especially since it should mean more purchases of the kinds of good and services high-level sales professionals represent.

(more…)

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Posted in Adapting Sales Techniques, Overcoming Obstacles | 3 Comments »

Turn Bad Times to Your Benefit


By Dave Mattson

The end of summer’s gloomy retail sales figures, coming after two months of modest gains, are giving rise to considerable pessimism among sales professionals. While understandable, this pessimism is also, I believe, completely unwarranted but not for the reasons you might think.
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Posted in Overcoming Obstacles, Product Positioning | 1 Comment »

With Economy Recovering, Sales Professionals Can Start Climbing Again


By Dave Mattson

When the economy took a nosedive, most sales professionals quickly responded in one of two ways.

(more…)

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Posted in Adapting Sales Techniques, Motivation, Overcoming Obstacles, Prospecting | No Comments »

Fear of Technological Change Can Help You Sell


By Dave Mattson

I’m going to let you in on a secret. There are hundreds of consultants out there that will tell you they fully understand Twitter and other trendy “social media” tools. They will also tell you exactly how they can help you use these tools—at a steep price, of course. (more…)

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Posted in Adapting Sales Techniques, Behavior + Attitude, Overcoming Obstacles, Prospecting | 4 Comments »

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