The Sales Japan Series

What To Say When You Get A “No” In Sales

What are the chances of getting a “no” to your offer in sales?  Probably around 70% of the time, this is what we will get.  Given that type of frequency and…

When Is The Best Time To Call A Prospect In Japan?

Japan is merciless with salespeople.  When you call the client’s company everyone is doing their absolute best to make sure you don’t get to talk …

Sales Call Roadmap

Because the vast majority of people in sales have no idea what they are doing, they are making it up as they go along.  Wouldn’t it be better to have a roadmap to progress the ma…

Technical Salespeople Must Be Good Presenters Too

Knowledge of the specifications, functionality, inner workings are all fine and dandy but not enough anymore.  Increasingly technically specialised…

No Value, No Sale

We believe in our product and we are very knowledgeable about the facts, details, specs, etc.  We launch straight into our presentation of the details with the buyer.  They want t…

How To Handle “We Are Happy With Our Current Supplier” Pushback

Japan loves the Devil they know over the Angel they don’t know.  Change here is hard to achieve in any field, because of the inbuilt …

Selling In The Coming 5G World

The release of 5G or fifth generation mobile networks is only a few short years away, probably around 2020.  There is a lot of controversy at the moment about the rel…

Selling Yourself First

Selling yourself first can have two dimensions.  One is selling yourself on the product or service, so that the client feels your integrity when you recommend the purchase.  …

Lying Salespeople

Riffraff inhabit all corners of the business world, but the sales profession suffers more than many others. Bankers do all sorts of evil things with our money.  Stock brokers do a…

Client Need Clarity

Do we have a clear understanding of what the client’s needs are?  These can vary beyond the obvious of increased profitability.  It might be more important to gain market share,…

“Never Forget A Customer; Never Let A Customer Forget You”

This is an old saying in sales and one we forget at our cost.  We might have made the sale and then we keep moving forward.  We get wrappe…

Join The Conversation Going On In Your Prospect’s Mind

We have all had the experience of talking at cross purposes with someone.  We are both having a conversation that makes sense to ourselves, wh…

The Successful Salesman and Saleswoman Has A Plan

“We don’t plan to fail, we fail to plan”, is an old saw that is still true today.  Despite an avalanche of tools to help us plan well, we still man…

Forensic Sales Questioning Skills

The idea of asking questions of buyers during sales calls is actually ancient.  For at least eighty years, we have known this is the most effective way of getting …

Read The Air When Selling

There is a saying in Japan, Kuki wo Yomu, which means read the air or be aware of the atmosphere or subtexts in the meeting.  In sales, we need to be on high alert all the…

Building Expert Authority With Buyers

“You are who Google says you are” is a quote from Timbo Reid, the host of the “Small Business Big Marketing” podcast which I follow.  His point is people check…

Sales Poor Performers

Are you failing in sales or do you have sales staff who are not making their numbers?  Sales is a brutal, metrics based activity where there are no hiding places or at least n…

We Give Added Value. No You Don’t!

The chocolate on the pillow, the fruit bowl or the wine bottle and glasses in your hotel room are often cited as examples of good service, adding extra value to t…

“We Don’t Have Any Budget”. Yes You Do!

In the profession of sales, this is one of the most widespread pushbacks on our sterling offer. It also a false flag as well.  We should never believe it whe…