Mark Jewell's Blog: Selling Energy, page 59

Proposal Writing Tips

The way in which you frame your product or service in a proposal can mean the difference between a “yes” and a “no.” Here are eight tips to keep in mind when writing a proposal: 

Discover Your Internal Compass

The business world isn’t always known for its best examples.  Companies rise and fall when they are led by power-hungry and selfish leaders.  Employees work from day-to-day without a sense of loyalty or passion, proving that fear and intimidation can only take success so far.  The reason is simple: when the person (or people) in charge decide their own self-interests take precedence over the “why” of their business, they have lost their way. 

Weekly Recap, August 28, 2022

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

4 Tips to Better Manage Emails

Email is a great tool for business communication; however, it has the potential to be extremely detrimental to productivity when used inefficiently. Most people spend a good chunk of the workday reading and responding to emails. If you were to reduce the number of hours you spend emailing each week by just 25%, you'd probably end up with several extra hours of spare time.

Don't Be Afraid to Ask

When it comes to getting referrals, the only way to know if a former customer will give you one is to ask. Modesty and shyness will accomplish nothing. For instance, did you know that one of the best times to ask for a referral is when you're receiving a referral?

Reframing Your Motivation

No matter how much we love our jobs, there are times when work can seem tedious. Maybe we have to make a bunch of cold calls; maybe we have to enter a couple hundred business cards into our contact database; maybe we have to send out follow-up emails to all of our clients from the past month. Whatever the case may be, it all comes down to the way we frame these tasks in our own minds.

How to Follow Up After Sending a Proposal

In this time-sliced society, people are interested in action.  People start muttering under their breath if their web browser doesn't load in three seconds.  They’ll move to Firefox or Chrome if Safari doesn't work.  Similarly, if someone contacts a company and it takes 14 days for them to reply, they’ll be miffed.  Chances are they’ll move on to someone else who is more responsive.

How to Connect with a Decision-Maker

When it comes to getting face time with a decision maker, some companies are hard to penetrate. At times, you don’t know where to start because they may be large, complex and opaque when it comes to decision-making. Who should be approached first? The chief operating officer? The chief financial officer? A regional vice president? What about someone in charge of improvements or human resources? And once you pick a target to approach, what happens next?

Make a Bigger Impact by Saying Less

Blah blah blah… This is a state of mind that everyone is guilty of succumbing to from time to time, whether we’re on the giving or receiving end of the communication.  We’re overloaded with information every day – both visually in terms of graphics and ads, and verbally in all sorts of communications, from speeches to sound bites.  It’s not surprising that many of us feel as if our culture is developing a collective attention-deficit disorder.  Our attention spans are growing smaller, and our patience is waning. 

Weekly Recap, August 21, 2022

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