How much time do you spend thinking about this? I mean really studying customers and trying to figure out why they buy in general and why they buy from you? What makes a customer choose one product or supplier over another? What drives that decision? I have found that we often spend so much time […]
Groundbreaking Marketing Stories From The Past
Let’s have some fun! We’ve been pretty serious lately, delving into ways to be better and make our companies better and our customers love us. It’s time to loosen that proverbial tie (when is the last time you saw someone wear one of those?) and talk about some fun marketing stuff. I did my homework […]
Don’t Fall In Love With Your Marketing, Fall In Love With Your Customer
Don’t fall in love with your marketing, or your sales pitch, or your product, or your company. It doesn’t matter how much you love all of these things. It doesn’t matter if you think you have the best marketing in the world. It doesn’t matter if you think your advertising is cool. It doesn’t matter […]
Dare To Be Great
We all know it is hard out there right now. I have spent the past few weeks taking calls from salespeople who are more than a little discouraged, wondering what is going on. Everyone seems to be looking for answers as to why they aren’t making their numbers. Some of them blame China, some blame […]
11 More Ideas For Selling In Tough Times
A few weeks ago, I wrote a column about what to do if sales are slow or down. Since then, things have not gotten much better. I have to agree with what people are saying. Yes, as far as I can see, things have slowed down in terms of PCB sales. Not only here, but […]
Business The Elon Musk Way
I’m reading Walter Isaacson’s new biography of Elon Musk and I have to say it is great! It really gives an in-depth description of what the richest man in the world is really like. I strongly recommend that everyone read it. It is worth the time. Believe me. I’ll be doing a review on the […]
Stop Your Love Affair With Certainty
Sometimes standing still, doing nothing, is the most dangerous tactic you can take. I have found that most of the companies I work with who have got themselves in a jam have done so by not doing anything. They had seen their impending doom, but were too frozen in their fear of uncertainty to do […]
Clicks Are Not Sales
People who resort to counting clicks on their web site as an indication of the success of their marketing efforts and advertising campaigns really don’t have a good handle on what marketing truly is. In fact, taking any too narrow view of a campaign by focusing on just one aspect of the program is a […]
Don’t Sell The Product. Sell The Company
For a great long-term synergistic relationship – actually partnership – with your customers, it is much better to sell the company than just the product. Selling your company’s culture, getting your customers in love with doing business with you, is the very best way to develop relationships. We have all heard about companies that have […]
Leaving Those Voicemail Messages
Sales greatest secret, a great salesperson’s greatest challenge. Whenever I am working with salespeople, especially new salespeople, helping them with their cold calling to generate leads, one of the things that always comes up is the question, “What is the best voicemail message I can leave to make sure the customer calls me back?” Honestly, […]