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How can you help steer the conversation and stay on message? Be a proactive passenger! When you do an interview with someone or engage in Q&A – it’s like traveling with that person in a car. Whoever is asking the questions is in the driver’s seat, with their foot on the gas pedal, pushing the journey forward. You’re the passenger. You’re a part of the journey but you don’t have as much control as the driver. When you simply answer questions without thought of bringing in your message, you’re like a passenger simply along for the ride. That’s because in the moment, when you’re nervous or unprepared, you’re more likely to see questions as obligations instead of opportunities. When you just answer questions, without thought of bringing in your message…who knows where you’ll wind up! But if you’re a proactive passenger that means you’re helping steer the conversation towards the message you want the audience to hear. Here are the two things you need to do to be a proactive passenger: Know …

Selling inkjet printing successfully is not a matter of understanding what a particular company within a vertical buys (i.e. their print needs) but rather what their challenges are (i.e. their business needs) and what you can do to solve them. Using this approach allows you to finish the sentence that starts, "The purpose of my call" with an idea, such as what's discussed below, rather than the words "to find out who buys your print." With that in mind, we offer the following selling opportunity… Once upon a time, long ago, it was standard operating procedure for banks to solicit new business by handing out gifts to anyone who opened an account. There were toasters and blenders and even crystal. When his brother got married, Bill opened so many accounts ($25 at a time), he was able to create a fantastic wedding gift (right after he learned what the word "crystal" meant).   Today, banks have upped their game.   According to the Wall Street Journal, in 2018 there were 15 banks in the …

While this is a great question to ask yourself anytime, it is especially relevant now as you wait and wait for the COVID-19 crisis to pass. Even during “normal” times, who doesn’t get sidetracked or distracted in this giant game of Whack-a-Mole called Sales? The goal is to make certain you are staying on track and making the most of your selling day. After all of the planning and preparation that goes into effective time management, the rubber eventually meets the road and a plan is engaged. The task that you choose to work on needs to be the best fit for that particular moment in order to achieve efficiency and productivity. So, when life got derailed by COVID-19, asking yourself this question was still apropos. The only thing that changed were the answers...and the sudden lack of urgency that usually motivates a rep to complete a task and move on to the next one. Gone are the calls with clients, voicemail attempts regarding new opportunities, and interaction with others in the …

Put yourself in the shoes of your customers for a second. Where you think they want to be once the re—starting gun goes off and the business world to start spinning again? Now is the time to get out ahead of that conversation and talk to your customers about how you can help. Trust us, your clients are going to want to get up and running again as fast as possible. There is certain to be an adjustment period, but the need to get the cash register ringing with sales again will be urgent. •        What marketing will they do? •        What will their message be? •        Do they know about your full capabilities? Too often, we are called in at the “quote stage of the job.” That’s where we are valued for our prices only. Moving up the food chain to the “design stage of the job” requires providing ideas and solutions and that’s where this week’s sales tip will bring you. Talking now about their upcoming needs makes you a part of the conversation and puts you in the drivers seat for …

Recognizing that businesses will need to rebuild post-COVID, and time and funding will be at a premium, thINK announced that thINK Ahead 2020 will shift from an in-person event to a LIVE, one-of-a-kind, dynamic, virtual learning event taking place on September 2, 2020. READ MORE   …