Blog # 45 How Do You Jump Start a Sales Person? You Can’t.By First ApproachJuly 10, 20130 comments#blog Recently, I was chatting with a good friend of mine who is a partner in a law firm. The topic of discussion was his on-going frustration with a junior associate who just wasn’t measuring up. Specifically, while this individual was competent at doing work given to him, he ...Read more...
Blog #44 The Status Of The PipelineBy First ApproachJune 28, 20130 comments#blog Deals, deals, deals …. the single thing we covet the most. Deals are what we’re omni-focused on. Deals are what managers and management are obsessed with. Because of this, the professional sales person is usually focused on the back two thirds of the pipeline, that is ...Read more...
Blog #43 Falling Off The WagonBy First ApproachJune 12, 20130 comments#blog Yesterday, I read an interesting excerpt from an article in The Globe And Mail, a Canadian newspaper. It was authored by a guy named Wally Bock. His blog is called the Three Star Leadership. The subject was “First on to do list, unpleasant tasks”. This ...Read more...
Blog #42 Ear to Ear Or Eye To Eye?By First ApproachMay 30, 20130 comments#blog Recently, a client asked me why I was “so obsessed with web cams”. To give you context, he was challenging me on why I felt it was important to have a video link for our up-coming conference call. A lot of my work is done via video calls and interestingly, you would ...Read more...
Blog #41 The Gate Keeping ConspiracyBy First ApproachMay 17, 20130 comments#blog Any B2B sales professional that has spent anytime cold calling will have been confronted with the dreaded gate keeper. Usually, it’s the switchboard attendant or the target prospect’s assistant, and inevitably, they pose an impenetrable wall of resistance, curtness, and ...Read more...
Blog #40 Moral Persuasion vs ManipulationBy First ApproachMay 1, 20130 comments#blog Blog #40 Moral Persuasion vs Manipulation Did you ever hear this one? Question, How can you tell when a salesperson is lying? Answer, his lips are moving. All too often sales people are the butt of jokes that diminish the “brand” of the ...Read more...
Blog #39 You Don’t Always Have To Be The Big Rooster On The BlockBy First ApproachApril 25, 20130 comments#blog Cock-a-doodle-dooo. The cry of the rooster. The big guy on the block, all knowing, all powerful. The one with all the answers and best ideas. The rooster wants to dominate a room with their presence and knowledge. The rooster is always ready and eager to let anyone within earshot ...Read more...
Blog #38 The Difference Between Someone Listening And Someone Hearing.By First ApproachApril 18, 20130 comments#blog Blather, blather, blather, bla bla bla. Sound familiar? It’s the sound of a sales person. That’s right, a sales person. As a sales person myself but more importantly, an observer of sales people, this is what I would like to say. We are good at many things. Some ...Read more...
Blog #36 The Difference Between A Cold Call And A B2B CallBy First ApproachApril 10, 20130 comments#blog Do you still have a traditional phone at home, you know, the hard-wired type? If so, then you’re probably all too familiar with the dreaded cold call. Dinner time, or trying to relax after a long day, the phone rings and you answer it. Notwithstanding many governments “do ...Read more...
Blog #35 Falling On Your SwordBy First ApproachApril 3, 20130 comments#blog Followers of this blog may find the up-coming subject curious, as it doesn’t directly relate to prospecting or building new relationships in the world of B2B sales. That being said, those who are regular readers will know the primary focus of First Approach, and this thread, ...Read more...
Blog #34 Have You Built A Budget For Prospecting?By First ApproachMarch 27, 20130 comments#blog Blog #34 Have You Built A Budget For Prospecting? Budgets are a pervasive reality in any B2B sales professional’s life. We are required to budget for total sales. We are asked to budget for repeat business and, we are commonly asked to budget for margin, ...Read more...
Take Your Search for a Job OfflineBy First ApproachMarch 25, 20130 comments#blog online.wsj.com When Jessica Rodrigues moved to New York after four years of doing AIDS health work in Mozambique, she mostly relied on the Internet to look for work. She emailed her résumé in response to online job postings and waited. When that tack didn’t net ...Read more...
Blog #32 Prospecting is a process of moving through the various stages that lead up to the opportunity to do business.By First ApproachMarch 13, 20130 commentsThe online version of the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines prospecting as finding “a potential buyer or customer”. In the real world though, I think you’ll find that “prospecting” is generally thought of as finding a buyer or customer today. The “potential” ...Read more...
Blog #31 Ever Stopped To Think Why You Hate Cold Calling?By First ApproachMarch 7, 20130 comments#blog It’s interesting, sales people are never asked why they hate cold calling? They’re just asked or, forced to do it. The question isn’t if cold calling is effective, but rather the never ending need and pressure to prospect together with managements’ ...Read more...
Blog #30 Why Prospecting Is SeasonalBy First ApproachFebruary 28, 20130 comments#blog As I write this blog, it is towards the end of February. On February 18th, Americans observed Presidents Day, and in Canada most provinces celebrate Family Day. What possible relationship could these holidays have with prospecting in the B2B sales environment? With most business ...Read more...
Blog #29 Managing Existing RelationshipsBy First ApproachFebruary 20, 20130 comments#blog If you buy into the idea that relationships are a valuable currency in your business to business sales career, then you’ll not only want to build new relationships, but nurture and maintain existing relationships. A common myth that seems to pervade many sales organizations ...Read more...