Mark Jewell's Blog: Selling Energy, page 2

30-Minute Morning Routine

Most of the advice I provide in Selling in 6 is related to business practices; however, many of those insights are useful in a personal context as well.

How to Present a Winning One-Page Proposal

Concise communication is a key ingredient in any winning sales process. For this reason, you need to make a thoughtfully drafted one-page proposal a no-exceptions best practice. That one-pager needs to focus on the “why” more than the “what,” “how,” “how much,” or “when.” It’s the document that gets your prospect motivated to move forward. I’m often asked what’s the best way to present that one-page proposal to your prospect. Should you deliver a hard copy in-person, walk the prospect through it, and offer to field questions and comments? What if social distancing (or just scheduling) makes it impractical to present your proposal in-person? Could you email the one-pager and then follow-up with a phone call to close the deal?

5 Tips to Leave the Perfect Sales Voicemail

The phone call is a valuable and powerful tool, ­especially in sales; however, it should be used with empathy and diligence. People don’t like being interrupted by the phone. It is the equivalent of someone showing up unexpected at your front door. Modern-day etiquette is to email first and set up a time to talk. Unless you know someone specifically prefers emails or text over voicemails, honor their preference. Particularly when confirming information, it is better to over-communicate. Voicemails and texts get ignored less often than email accidentally goes to spam.

How to Leverage Soft Selling

The last thing prospects want to experience during a sale is pressure or desperation. Sometimes it takes sensitivity and a gentle touch to foster the process. Being empathetic and keeping an open ear are good keys to success these days. People are dealing with all sorts of obstacles to moving forward, so be ready to hear some objections. For example, “Our CFO has frozen all non-essential spending.” If that is the case, you know that a transaction is not going to happen in the immediate future, so there’s no reason to make a hard sell.

Tactics of Following up Without Being Annoying

I often get 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 that on average it takes eight touches to get an initial meeting and an additional ten 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 thing over and over? In a word: no.

Displaying Quantitative Information

I’ve recommended several resources on this blog for presentation design (such as Duarte’s Resonate and Reynolds’ Presentation Zen). While these are both fantastic books, neither of them covers the complete scope of visual design best practices. 

Weekly Recap, March 17, 2024

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

10 Words of Wisdom from Bill Gates

We have all heard the phrase “choice of words,” usually as a compliment or a criticism. The words we use can make or break a conversation with someone, and when it comes to business, your livelihood is on the line. You can’t afford to make mistakes!

Do's and Do Nots for Presenting to the C-Suite

Whenever you prepare for a presentation, you have to keep in mind who your audience will be and what it is that they care about. Today, we’ll cover some “Do’s” and “Do Not’s” for presenting to the C-Suite (high-level executives like CEOs, CFOs and the like).

Why Do We Work?

During our Selling Energy Boot Camp, I often ask attendees to consider their own reasons for doing the work that they do: that is, to know their “why.” When people evaluate their reasons for work, they are more likely to be intentional and driven about succeeding. A TED talk by Barry Schwartz takes this idea of knowing your "why" a step further and poses the question of, “What kind of human nature do you want to help design?”