Rick Wong's Blog, page 2
May 8, 2025
Treat Everyone Like A Customer
“Treat everyone like a customer because you may need their help someday and everyone wins when they want to help you.” Lew Platt, former CEO, Hewlett-Packard
This was a key cultural component of The HP Way created by founders Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard. Platt often conveyed it, in his words. This culture was applied both internally and externally. Whether the person was a cafeteria worker, a customer engineer, or the CEO, we were taught to treat them like a customer. The same was true with ex...
Be sales-ready – Use these five checkpoints
In late January, I will be launching a book called Winning Lifelong Customers using The Five Abilities®. The book launch coincides with a demand generation push for The Five Abilities LLC. We’ll be updating our website, social media, consulting materials, and we’ll use The Five Abilities as our checkpoints to ensure we’re sales-ready on day one.
VISABILITY – We’ll start with 100 prospective clients all of whom I’ve done business with in previous corporate roles. Most are in the tech sector but t...
Feed homeless children by buying children’s music
This is a departure from The Five Abilities® but it’s very important to all of us. You can help homeless families have a warm holiday by buying children’s music.
We’re selling the album, The Little Things by Friends of the Family, through CD Baby and iTunes. All proceeds go to Vision House—a ministry that provides transitional housing and rapid rehousing to homeless families with kids. CDs cost $12.97—downloads cost $9.99. Retailers give us $9.00 for each album sold, all of which goes to Vision...
Customer Relationships: Being Dressed Down Can Dress You Up
No matter the strength of customer relationships, there will always be times when decision-makers are uncomfortable or unhappy about how things are going. Their unhappiness can be specific or just general discomfort. Sometimes, they just need to vent.
That venting can come in the form of complaints, or angry rants. Oftentimes the critique is unfiltered and can seem very personal. You might hear problems attributed to you—appropriate or not. No matter what you hear, the best you can do is to list...
Want more credibility? Do these three things.
Businesses don’t make decisions people do, and people make business decisions for personal reasons. Personal and professional credibility is at the core of addressing the personal reasons that drive decision-makers to choose you over your competition. Do three things to earn personal and professional credibility and lifelong customers.
Demonstrate – Basic credibility is earned by showing your customer how your offering will work for them. Even better, let them show themselves. Nothing communi...April 28, 2025
Three ADAPATION METHODS for INTROVERTS to be natural minglers and speakers
There are many stereotypes about sales people; some good and some bad. Aggressive and cutthroat are some bad things. Charming and entertaining speaker are some good things.
How about introverted? Most would not stereotype great sales people this way and yet there are many more of us than you think.
Merriam-Webster defines introvert as “a reserved or shy person.” Many believe people with these traits don’t belong in any job that requires people interaction, let alone sales. The problem is that 5...
April 8, 2025
5 Key Elements of a Winning Business Development Strategy
Whether you want to start a business or expand an existing one, you need one thing: a plan. An effective business development plan can make the difference between long-term success and just doing enough to keep the doors open.
However, with today’s dynamic market landscape, you are no longer limited to strategies and accompanying resources that drive companies such as Coca-Cola and Apple. Today, even small brands are recording millions...
Sales Strategy: How to Stay on the Path to Success
There’s much more to success in sales than just getting that deal closed. It’s easy to measure success in terms of deals closed, purchases made, or business won.
However, these metrics often fail to illuminate the journey on the way to success. It’s more holistic and beneficial to visualize success by really understanding the path that leads to those closed deals and purchases. It’s essential to consistently assess, aim, and acquire.
Assess ...How to Increase Sales and Keep Your Business Growing
Success for a business isn’t just about making that sale. Sustaining and growing sales is essential for any business aiming for long-term success. While you may not be able to control seasonal slowdowns such as what many businesses experience in summer, you can use the unique opportunities these challenges pose to grow your business.
We’ve found that slow seasons especially offer a great opportunity to refine internal strategies and strengthen ...
January 27, 2025
The Five Abilities Overview – Winning Lifelong Customers
Wikipedia Definition of “Selling”: “A systematic process of repetitive and measurable milestones, by which a salesman relates his or her offering of a product or service in return enabling the buyer to achieve their goal in an economic way.” Helping the buyer achieve their goals is what great sales people do, instinctively, and The Five Abilities
is the methodology they execute by habit.
Companies don’t make buying decisions, people do. When people consider whether or not to bet on you, your co...
