As I travel around the country, I often get asked what makes a great sales person. People want to know what the secret is to being successful in sales. Some of them tell me that they think it is much more difficult to sell today than it has ever been. Others tell me about customers […]
On Selling Contract Manufacturing Services
Contract manufacturing is a service not a product. As CEMs, we are actually building someone else’s product, someone else’s baby. Our customers are putting the fate of their companies in our hands. If we build the product incorrectly our customers will be the ones to pay. In the end they are the ones who have their name […]
Selling On Price Is How You Lose
If you prospect for price you are going to get price oriented customers. You are only going to “buy” your way into an account and yes, you are going to set the precedent for the life of that account. So says Mark Hunter in his great new book High-Profit Prospecting published by Amacom. And allow me to […]
Open-Minded Selling
Great sales people will try anything. There is a theory that goes, “Look at the way a person dresses today, and you can tell when he went to high school” Try it out, and you’ll see that most of the time it’s true. Khakis and button-down oxford cloth shirts? Pre-hippie days sixties. Gray haired ponytails? […]
Are Your Sales Prospects Really Just Sales Suspects?
Do you ever feel you are barking up that proverbial wrong tree? Do you keep seeing the same people and getting nowhere? Do you sometimes wonder if you are in the right state never mind the right company with the right person? Scary thoughts aren’t they? Especially if any of them apply to you. In […]
Sometimes You Just Get Lucky
An oldie worth repeating: “The harder you work, the luckier you get.” Being successful in sales takes a lot of hard work, dedication and downright stubbornness. It takes working long hours, and being prepared, after all nothing good just falls into your lap…or does it? I am about to tell you a true story. Yes, […]
No Willie Lomans Please!
Reinventing yourself Okay, you have been at this a long time, maybe too long, heck twenty, thirty, or even forty years, and now you’re getting a bit, shall we say, long in the tooth and somewhat tired. But you still love the business, and kind of, still like what you do. You like it enough […]
Contract Manufacturers Are Not Exempt From Needing Sales And Marketing
For many years now, too many that I want to count, I have been a real pain in the neck advocating that all board shops need marketing, they need to advertise, send out newsletters, hire and manage, measure, and motivate sales people, create forecasts, and account plans and pay attention to their customers’ needs. Interestingly […]
Stop Procrastinating And Start Prospecting
I know you hate to prospect and you hate to make cold calls, so this is what we have to talk about today. Whether you like it or not. To help us, there is a great book by Mark Hunter called High-Profit Prospecting a trade paperback published by Amacom. This book is a first rate […]
Getting The Most From Walking IPC Apex 2019!
With IPC Apex Expo 2019 coming up next week, I thought it would be a good idea to talk about some of my ideas for helping visitors who are not exhibiting, but are attending the show. Obviously, we have talked a great deal about how to get the most of your dollars when you exhibit […]