http://salesandmarketingtips.today.com Not just another sales trainer........... Fri, 12 Jun 2009 17:53:25 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en If you want a successful career in sales, you need to master the art of the open-ended question.  We'll start by taking a look at several keys that you need to remember about questioning throughout your sales process, which are especially applicable to the open-ended questions you'll use during the ... http://salesandmarketingtips.today.com/2009/04/22/successfully-using-open-ended-questions-to-power-your-sales-process/ Speaking in general terms, there are three types of questions that come into play during your sales process - yes/no questions, either/or questions, and open-ended questions.  Each has their own specific value during the time you spend with your prospect - and each also has their own potential downfalls.  Here's ... http://salesandmarketingtips.today.com/2009/04/21/start-your-investigation-the-three-types-of-questions/ The second step in our sales process is the investigation.  "Investigation" sounds kind of hardcore........but calling it "the step where we ask lots and lots of questions of varying types" seemed a bit unwieldy. Basically, in this step, we're going to create our "roadmap" to the sale.  Good questioning skills are ... http://salesandmarketingtips.today.com/2009/04/20/the-process-investigation/ We've discussed opening at length earlier in our journey together.  Here are the links to the posts so you can review them if you wish: http://salesandmarketingtips.today.com/2009/01/09/start-from-the-start/ http://salesandmarketingtips.today.com/2009/01/10/lets-go-win-game-1/ Basically, the opening is three main steps - the greeting, introduction, and transition to investigation. http://salesandmarketingtips.today.com/2009/04/15/the-sales-process-opening/ I hope all that celebrate the holiday enjoyed their Easter.  Now back to work. Just like when working the phones, a solid, repeatable system is required to keep the sales process on the right track.  But unlike the phones, the key here isn't a repeatable script, it's simply following the steps ... http://salesandmarketingtips.today.com/2009/04/13/the-processan-overview/ How do you find out what's going on in the world? Daily paper?  Internet?  TV?  Gossip? Well, gossip usually isn't the most effective,  but the other three have tremendous value, of course.  And they have one thing in common. News. Whatever the format,  you're getting your information from a news source. So......how will your customers ... http://salesandmarketingtips.today.com/2009/04/10/put-on-your-press-hat/ 3. Special occasion notes - In our last post we discussed the power of a handwritten thank you note when it comes to differentiating yourself from your competition. Don't put the pen away though.  Handwritten notes aren't just for thank you.  Fill out handwritten cards at holidays.  Not just the obvious Christmas.  ... http://salesandmarketingtips.today.com/2009/04/08/better-buy-some-pens/ 2. Thank you notes - Back when we talked about prospecting, we discussed the power of the thank you note here .  But that's not the only value of regularly sending thank you notes. Of course, as we remember, ALL thank you notes are to be hand-written.  Even if your company ... http://salesandmarketingtips.today.com/2009/04/07/more-thank-you-power/ The host site for this blog, Today.com, has instituted an advertising program.  At the same time that we are discussing marketing.  How convenient! Now, we are of course continuing with our discussion on personal marketing.  I don't neccessarily recommend a spot on this blog for that purpose - a blog of ... http://salesandmarketingtips.today.com/2009/04/06/an-off-topic-postalbeit-slightly-on-topic-at-the-same-time/ OK, so you've done plenty of soul-searching and created the perfect mission statement.  Now you know the type of message you want to send.  So how do we send it? Let us start to count the ways: 1. Personal website/blog - In our current age of instant information, a personal website or ... http://salesandmarketingtips.today.com/2009/04/05/begin-your-campaign-no-100000-a-plate-dinners-required/