Mark Jewell's Blog: Selling Energy, page 123

Going the Extra Mile on Follow-Up

I was recently asked about my favorite ways to follow-up with customers. Considering how many touches it takes to make a sale, it’s both a delicate and rigorous process. Statistics suggest it takes eight touches to get an initial meeting and an additional ten touches to close the deal.  So, 18 touches in all. Now let me ask you, would you assume that means making 18 phone calls in a row, asking the same things over and over?

What’s Your Affirmation?

Thanksgiving is as good a time as any to ask yourself, “What are my goals?” Things have drastically changed over the past year, and perhaps your priorities and goals have changed and shifted as well.

How to Host a Successful Webinar

As a subject matter expert and teacher, I’ve been hosting webinars for several years. Now that they have become a necessity due to social distancing, allow me to share some of the tips that make webinars successful.

PowerPoint Basics

The way people typically design PowerPoint slides is a joke, mostly due to outdated guidelines. PowerPoint practitioners used to say, "You shouldn't have more than five bullets on each slide, with no more than six words per bullet and one minute spent on each slide."

Making of a Manager

Regardless of what you do for a living, there are plenty of stories about “good managers” and “bad managers.”  But here’s the question... What exactly does a manager do anyway? Why is it a coveted position on the ladder? What does the job entail?

Weekly Recap, November 22, 2020

Here are our favorite sales-enhancing tips from this week's Selling Energy Blogs...

All It Takes Is Two Minutes

What if I told you that a two-minute habit could make all the difference with your work performance? According to this recent article on Inc., aerobic activity makes you more sharp and capable on the job. This isn’t just a suggestion, but a proven method that has been backed by science.

Sales Call Best Practices

Over the course of more than four decades of selling, I’ve steadfastly adhered to certain best practices for speaking with my prospects and clients. The following are a couple that I believe are relevant in every sales situation:

Selling During COVID-19

Being human and genuinely empathetic is key in today's economy. Our careers are being disrupted by all sorts of supply chain interruptions, cashflow shortages, and in some cases, unemployment.  But that’s not all. Everyone else is also adapting to these changes and effects.  That includes your prospects and customers. That should be top of mind in all of your communication: hosting a conference call, writing an email or text, or even just leaving a voicemail.

Overfilling Your Pipeline

Throughout my Selling in a Recession series, one of the phrases you’ll hear me repeat is “overfill your pipeline.”  What does that mean?  In short, it means that you need to be fully aware of your sales process, study it carefully, and make sure that even after you vigorously prune your existing pipeline and remove expected transactions that will either fall by the wayside or be delayed, you’ll still have a sufficient number of genuine prospects to attain your sales goals this year.