Comments on: My First Big Sale (…and the secret of how I did it)

By: Greg

Greg — Fri, 14 May 2010 18:52:02 +0000

Good moral.

Thanks, Frank.

- Greg

By: frank

frank — Fri, 14 May 2010 18:10:42 +0000

I remember being pressured to present the “big package” to an account that clearly wasn’t as ambitious in their objectives as what my publisher wanted to sell to him (and was being pressured to sell by his boss)-so after doing this big dog/pony show presentation and being asked to put together a proposal by the client I asked my publisher if we should also put in a more modest “plan B” which was clearly what the client was looking for. I was told unequivocably “no” and as a result sent out the proposal he wanted me to send to the client, not the one the client wanted to buy, with the predictable result that the business went to our competitor…

Moral of the story…LISTEN!

By: Greg

Greg — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 02:47:37 +0000

Marama,

I never heard the “make your client feel that you’re one of the employees” one. It’s very good!

Thanks.

- Greg

By: Marama Castle-Brown

Marama Castle-Brown — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 20:54:07 +0000

Hi Gregg

Wow! this brings back memories!

I have been in media sales for over 10 years and have had the good fortune to work with some very exciting brands. When I first stepped in to sales, my sales manager told me to “make the client feel that you’re one of his employees, and the good new is, you’re not on his payroll” I laughed at the time, but the seed was sown and that’s exactly what I set out to do! New reps always got the ‘COLD LIST’ of clients. Mine was made up of the disgruntled and budget-less! I started calling on those clients. Some were rude and merciless and I thought well I would not want to be their employee anyway. Most of my clients could not work out why I was bothering when they did not advertise with me. Some decided that if I was prepared to do this much for nothing, what could she do for money? I managed to convert 40% of the list back to active, and 1 of my clients became a top 10 spender in the company. I still smile when I think of those days.

No matter how far you’ve come, sometimes you need to be reminded of the simple basics of being good at what you do. Thanks Greg.

Marama

By: Greg

Greg — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 19:24:10 +0000

Anna,

Thanks. Same to you.

- Greg

By: Anna

Anna — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 19:18:05 +0000

Thanks for revealing your secret, Greg! Totally agree with your directions.
As Robert Miller said, people buy for Their Own reasons, not for those of a seller. Be in a customer-driven system, listen to him, find a match between his needs and your solutions, and if you fit, go ahead.
All the best in 2010!
Anna

By: Greg

Greg — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 03:46:54 +0000

Dee Dee,

Thanks for your comment, and I agree that marketing rules are useless. I even wrote a post about it

- Greg

By: Dee Dee

Dee Dee — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 23:50:53 +0000

Hello,
I really like your story, it’s very no nonsense and cut and dry. Most people in the sales and marketing world have a misconcept about the technical approach of dealing with consumers. However, it really is all about how you relate to people and if you can just follow simple directions of what the customer wants. Thanks for putting this out there, because I am so sick and tired of hearing about these stupid marketing techniques. And I do not believe in luck, sometimes it is all about simple economics of product supply and demand.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 20:11:11 +0000

Hi Ashok,
Please don’t laugh, if the URL is the name of the website – then the name of my website is : http://www.lisarobindesigns.com
Thanks – and please let me know what you think.
Lisa

By: Ashok

Ashok — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 17:34:28 +0000

Lisa, what is the name (URL) of your website?
Would like to have a look.