Mark Jewell's Blog: Selling Energy, page 38

Funding Efficiency Improvements, Part 2

Today, we’ll continue with several more ways to fund efficiency improvements. Once again, here are the six categories that will be discussed in the context of each of the funding methods: 

Will it appear on the balance sheet?
Will an initial payment be required?
Will there be ongoing payments?
Who will actually own the improvement?
Who will receive the tax benefits (if there are any)?
Who will own the performance risk?

Funding Efficiency Improvements, Part 1

There are lots of ways to pay for energy efficiency improvements. You should know not only the various methods of funding, but also how each of these methods affects your prospects so you can help them decide on the most appropriate one for their situation. When doing so, be sure to provide useful info; however, also be sure to disclaim responsibility for giving legal or tax advice. That should be provided by the appropriate legal or accounting professional. 

I’ve taken the liberty of breaking these funding methods down into six general categories and filling in my best impression as to what generally happens in each situation. Of course, any specific circumstance may vary greatly...

Never Lose a Customer Again

One of the topics I’m frequently asked about is how to follow-up with customers.  It takes careful planning, energy, and investment to find and court new prospects; however, businesses often miss the boat when it comes to maintaining a relationship with their customer after the sale is made.  In the long run these hard-fought victories can become swift losses! 

According to Joey Coleman, author of Never Lose a Customer Again, 20-70% of our repeat business is lost within 100 days after a sale.  Customers experience doubt, buyer’s remorse or don’t feel as appreciated once the money has left their bank account.  If there isn’t a relationship with the company providing them a product or service, what will ensure that they’ll buy from the company again?  What can you offer them to keep the door open and assuage their doubts? 

Weekly Recap, March 26, 2023

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

Staying Productive While Traveling for Business

Modern technology allows us to be more mobile than ever before. With the ability to get Internet access from virtually anywhere on our many different mobile devices, tasks that once had to be done in the office can now be done remotely. If your work does not require you to meet with people in-person on a regular basis, it can be tempting to pick up your laptop and smartphone and hit the road.

Expressing Gratitude Towards Your Contact

When it comes to the growth and sustainability of your enterprise, I recommend having a strong network of colleagues inside and outside your industry. Besides attending facilitated events such as meet-ups and conferences, going above and beyond to let your contact know the impression they made towards you is key to establishing stronger bonds. If you’re wondering what going above and beyond might look like, I encourage you to think about expressing gratitude towards your contact.

In an article published by the Harvard Business Review (HBR), being able to express gratitude towards others requires awareness and noticing. Often times, when we meet so many individuals at networking events, remembering and differentiating what each person said might be a little difficult. Keeping notes of what they care about will it make easier to show your gratitude later. 

12 Attitudes and Habits of Truly Successful Remote Sellers

Remote selling might be entirely new for some of us, but regardless of whether you’re a veteran of video conferencing or just starting up, here are 12 tips on how to excel at it!

1) Be responsive to incoming queries. According to a study from Harvard Business Review, 58% of 2,241 businesses didn’t respond to online queries, and only 15% had live chat available.  37% responded within an hour, 16% within 1-24 hours, 24% over 24 hours, and 23% didn’t bother to respond at all!

Overcoming Cold Call Resistance

The more you think of yourself as the connection between a product or service that is available and someone who needs it, the more effective a sales professional you’ll be. This shift in perspective can have an enormous impact on your performance across the board.

A attendee at one of our Selling Energy Boot Camps recommended a book called, “The Psychology of Sales Call Reluctance” by George W. Dudley and Shannon L. Goodson. It’s quite a thick tome… My first reaction upon seeing the book was that someone could delay making cold calls for a very long time if he or she elected to read it cover-to-cover rather than just picking up the phone! 

The Secret to Selling Efficiency: Don't Talk Tech

The following is a story I tell frequently in the context of our energy-focused professional sales trainings. If you’ve never heard the story, enjoy. And if you have, feel free to pass it along to any staff or colleagues who might benefit from being reminded that “CFO” does not stand for “Chief Fluorescent Officer.”

When I was a very young man selling efficiency solutions for the first time, I got very lucky and managed to land an appointment with the CFO of a Fortune 500 company. I knew that if I convinced this CFO to let us do lighting retrofits for his national portfolio of properties, it would be a game changer for my company.

The Art of Blitzscaling

When it comes to business, there’s nothing more fascinating than a success story about rapid, exponential growth.  Some may call it luck or overnight success, but the real question is how does something like that happen in the first place?

In Blitzscaling, entrepreneurs Reid Hoffman and Chris Yeh discuss how to foster the right ideas and circumstances for that growth.  The emphasis is on time and positioning yourself in the market. Moreover, these tactics can be used when the time is right and withdrawn when conditions change.