Thomas A. Freese's Blog, page 20

Tom's *New Book,* Coming December, 2010

When Penguin Publishing offered up a $50K advance to publish my new book, "Sell Yourself First", my first thought was, "Cool enough!" The past nine months have since been hectic in preparation for the release of what essentially is a counter-cultural examination of how one's selling effectiveness is more dependent on the individual salesperson than ever before.

In short, the customer's perception of one salesperson's value over another's will likely be the tiebreaker in highly competitive markets moving forward.

Let's say you represent a viable company. So do your competitors. I'm guessing you also represent leading products and services. If you sell in a competitive environment, it should be assumed that your competition can produce similarly impressive marketing materials about the value of their offerings.

Thus, the thing your competition really lacks is YOU!

The new playing field in sales is your ability to demonstrate a host of highly intangible qualities like integrity, experience, thought leadership, vision, creativity, responsiveness, being forthright, clarity, helpfulness, competence, confidence, industry knowledge, understanding of the customer's goals and objectives, superior communication (questioning) skills, consistency, quality work, and mutual respect.

Just having good intentions is no longer enough in the competitive selling arena. Your ability to demonstrate these intangible qualities, more than the competition will likely determine your success moving forward.

To illustrate, chapter one in the book is appropriately titled, "The Elephant in the Room." What does that mean? In sales, the elephant in the room is customer skepticism. Most sellers just pretend it doesn't exist, and then gleefully proceed with some version of their sales pitch. However, if we inject even just a dose of reality into the equation, the salesperson's job becomes so much easier if they simply acknowledge what the customer is already thinking.

For example, a salesperson might say: "My customer, I know there are a number of other providers running around pitching various solutions, to the point where the industry has become a little 'used-car-ish'. What these folks are NOT talking about, however, is the fact that there is a problem in the world of (insert your industry). With so many vendors making contradictory claims, it has become very difficult for customers to know what their options really are, how their business would be impacted, and the associated costs. Would it be valuable for me to pull back the curtains and give you the straight scoop on this?"

Verbally acknowledging the 'elephant in the room' is very different than just being another walking, talking billboard schilling a product or service, don't you think?

2011 QBS Methodology Winter Summit: January 6-7

"Given the ongoing shifts that will continue to occur in the business marketplace, sellers must do everything possible to make themselves invaluable to their customers, colleagues, and company."         -T. Freese

We're happy to announce our upcoming QBS Summit! If you would like to renew your focus on increasing your own sales effectiveness, or give your entire sales team an unfair advantage over the competition, join us on January 6 - 7 for the 2011 Kick Off QBS Methodology Summit.

The boot-camp style event, featuring QBS Research founder Tom Freese in Atlanta and will be held on Thursday, January 6th and Friday, January 7th.

The learning environment will be highly interactive, with participants from a variety of industries including technology, financial services, healthcare, consulting, insurance, real estate, manufacturing, advertising, hospitality, and retail, and feedback from previous QBS Summit events has been "off the charts."

With limited seating, reserve your seats early since we are expecting a full house. You might also want to bring extra pencils and a stack of writing pads for note taking.

"Tom! I wanted to thank you for an amazing training two weeks ago-my head is still spinning from all of the great info. I met with our Regional Manager yesterday and he wants you to train the rest of our team. You will be hearing from us very soon…"    -Liz B., Michigan…your newest QBS groupie!

Click for Early Enrollment Discount &  SUMMIT DETAILS.

2011 QBS Methodology Kick Off Summit: January 6-7

"Given the ongoing shifts that will continue to occur in the business marketplace, sellers must do everything possible to make themselves invaluable to their customers, colleagues, and company."         -T. Freese

We're happy to announce our upcoming QBS Summit! If you would like to renew your focus on increasing your own sales effectiveness, or give your entire sales team an unfair advantage over the competition, join us on January 6 - 7 for the 2011 Kick Off QBS Methodology Summit.

The...

2010 QBS Methodology Fall Summit: October 7-8

"Given the ongoing shifts that will continue to occur in the business marketplace, sellers must do everything possible to make themselves invaluable to their customers, colleagues, and company."         -T. Freese

We're happy to announce our upcoming QBS Summit! If you would like to renew your focus on increasing your own sales effectiveness, or give your entire sales team an unfair advantage over the competition, join us on October 7 - 8 for the Fall 2010 QBS Methodology Summit, held in...

January Go Magazine: The Centerfold!

This month's issues of Go Magazine, Air Tran's in-flight publication, features a two page spread of yours truly. After training the sales tea of the magazine's publisher in London back in October, one thing led to another and now I get to watch other passengers read about me on my flight tomorrow to DC. Very cool, and hopefully informative. Check it out for yourself HERE.

3 Worst Marketing Buzzwords

Let me guess, the company you represent is the leading provider of blah, blah, blah, with a long-standing track record and a commitment to excellence that is second to none. If so, join the club, as competitors have been trying to out-describe each other for years.

Everyone claims to have the best products, REALLY. In fact, our offerings are not only BETTER than the competion, we TRULY are the leader in the industry. Especially if you like adjectives, these three (Really, Truly, & Better) have become staples of corporate mediocrity, to the point where these words are generally discounted by potential customers as hype and fluff.

ABC Company Press Release: Our products and services are truly the world's best. In fact, our new launch offers better features and experts say they will really change the way customers do business.

     …a few days later…

XYZ Company Press Release: Truly, we can now say that our products and services are the world's finest. Our product offerings are better and they really will change the way customers do business.

Other words and phrases that should be stricken from the sales vernacular include paradigm-shift, industry-leading, cutting-edge, groundbreaking, touching-base, game-changer, and "coffee is for closers."

The 3 Worst Marketing Words

Really! Truly! and Better! 

ABC Company Press Release: Our products and services are truly the world's best. In fact, our new launch offers better features and experts say they will really change the way customers do business.

     …a few days later…

XYZ Company Press Release: Truly, we can now say that our products and services are the world's finest. Our product offerings are better and they really will change the way customers do business.

Other words and phrases that should be stricken...

NEW: QBS Positioning Assessment

How can you succeed in winning a sale when it's a virtual tie? That's the new challenge facing companies in an increasingly competitive business marketplace. The answer is recalibrating the way your company's value proposition is being positioned.

If your company already enjoys a huge product advantage, you may not even need to think about sales strategy. It's more likely, however, that your value proposition sounds surprisingly similar to other competitive offerings, in which case, how your ...

2010 QBS Methodology Mid Year Summit: May 6-7

"Given the ongoing shifts that will continue to occur in the business marketplace, sellers must do everything possible to make themselves invaluable to their customers, colleagues, and company."         -T. Freese

If you would like to renew your focus on increasing your own sales effectiveness, or giving your entire sales team an unfair advantage over the competition, join us on May 6 - 7 for the Mid-Year QBS Methodology Summit, held in dual locations.

Simultaneous boot-camp style events...

Go Magazine: I'm the centerfold?

Check out the Jan issue of Go Magazine, Air Tran's in-flight publication. After training In Publishing's sales team (the magazine's publisher) in London back in October, one thing led to another and I am now being featured on a two page spread in the January issue on pages 90 – 91.

Tomorrow, I get to watch other passengers read about me on my flight to DC. Very cool, and hopefully informative. Check it out for yourself HERE.