Look I know getting business is hard. I know that you’re biggest problem is always having enough business and I certainly know that most of our customers pride themselves in buying the cheapest circuit board that money can buy. But still that is no excuse to give away your boards. You have got to make […]
Respect The Customer, No Matter What!
Times may have changed, but some things never do. The old adage that the customer is always right still stands. No matter how hard it is to accept, you have to live with that law if you want to stay in business. We all know that it is harder to respect the customer now than […]
Give Your Customer Your Very Best
Walk with the customer. Care about him. Make sure that you know what she needs and give it to her. Make sure that he knows that you care about what will make his life easier and provide it. Look, the hard sell is dead, if it ever was alive in the first place. Now we […]
Keep Treating Your Customers Like Prospects
I recently read a story about a man who died, and when he went to the Pearly Gates he was not met by St Peter but by a man who said “we have changed things around here, I am going to give you a tour of heaven and my counterpart is going to give you […]
Interviewing A Sales Person
The most difficult part of a sales manager’s job. Without a doubt the most challenging part of being a sales manager is finding the right sales people to make up your sales team. It’s vitally important to find the right people because as a sales manager you live and die with your team. If you […]
Sales Management: Focus On What Is Important
(Inspired by the book Sales Management Made Simple by Mike Weinberg) A sales manager should be doing everything she can to focus on her sales team. Getting them to perform at maximum proficiency at all times. Making sure that they are focused on all the right things. It is recommended that good sales managers spend […]
It Takes Patience To Be A Great Sales Manager
I once worked with a company president who hired a salesperson in a new territory on the Friday before Memorial Day weekend and fired him before the Fourth of July weekend. Befuddled, I asked him why. He told me, “Look, the guy had not brought in a single order.” I asked if he had brought […]
It’s Time To Rethink The Whole Rep Thing
For years now I have been working with reps acting as the liaison between them and the circuit board shops I work with. During that time I have seen the interest those reps have in working with board shops diminish as quickly as the market for fax machines. Most reps seem to have lost it […]
The Modern Salesperson
We’re not taking about your fathers’ salesperson, as they say. It’s a new world and the modern salesperson has to keep up or get run over. That’s just that way it is. I was talking to a young salesperson the other day. The first thing that struck me was how confident he was. This guy […]
Calling All PCB Sales People
Where are all the PCB sales people? A few years ago there were all kinds of sales people on the street. Good sales people; seasoned veterans with proven track records who had been victimized by the stream of mergers that left them high and dry when the conquering company went with their sales force and […]