Mark Jewell's Blog: Selling Energy, page 95

Sales Professional as a Symphony Conductor

When planning your strategy for closing a complex sale, one of the first questions you need to ask is, “How many stakeholders will be involved in the buying process – either as an initiator, a gatekeeper, an influencer, a decision-maker, a procurement specialist, or an end user?” (Those six classifications are the subject of an insightful Harvard Business Review article called, “Major Sales: Who Really Does the Buying?”)

Making the Right Changes for Remote Selling

In spite of our current situation, industries are still producing, customers are still consuming, and many companies are sitting on piles of cash. Governments are providing more liquidity to the economy as well. In short: plenty of sales are still happening.

How to Overcome an Indecisive Prospect

An indecisive prospect will often tell you, “I need to think about it.” What do you do in this situation? All too many salespeople say, “Okay, why don’t you give it some thought, and we’ll talk again next week.”

Enough with the Fluff!

When you’re working on perfecting your elevator pitches, it’s important to check your verbiage to make sure you aren’t using any fluff words. What is a fluff word? Words like “pioneering”, “leading”, “established”, “finest”, “foremost”, and “original.” Do any of these words mean anything? No. They are about as meaningful as the word “natural” printed on a loaf of bread in the supermarket (as if the alternative were “supernatural”).

Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity

Being in charge is a coveted position, but when it comes to the nitty-gritty it isn’t the easiest place to be.  If you are in a leadership position – whether it’s a manager, president or one of the C-suite – one of your duties is facilitating your relationship with co-workers and employees as well as giving them feedback and advice.

Weekly Recap, August 29, 2021

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

Blocking Negative Thoughts

We live in a time that’s saturated with bad news, which is seemingly easier to find due to email subscriptions and social media. It dominates our conversations, filters through our thoughts, and is leading to collective anxiety among people around the world. I’ve read multiple articles recently on the perils of “doomscrolling” – reading your smartphone’s newsfeed addictively, even though virtually every story featured there is negative.

3 Dimensions for Finding the Right Contacts

There are many dimensions to finding the right prospects to approach. Here are three for starters.

Hypothetical Selling

Now is a good time to revisit lost proposals. Why? Because the circumstances are different now and your prospect might be willing to pick them up again. Capital costs are lower. The need for being more competitive, profitable, and valuable is higher than ever. And as with any sale you can find new ways to reframe the benefits, this time emphasizing the non-utility-cost financial and non-financial benefits rather than the utility-cost savings and rebates.

Tips for Better Sales Calls

Over the course of my 45 years as a sales professional, 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: