Think Pipeline - PipelineDeals CRM

How do sales people like this survive? (They probably don't.)

I spent the last two days at an ecommerce conference here in Philadelphia. This is a typical trade show that brings together an industry where there are sellers of services/technology and prospective buyers of said services/technology. It was amazing to me how much basic etiquette got lost as the poor buyers of services "swam with the sharks" on the trade show floor. For those of you selling out there a couple of pointers:

1) Do not grab somebody on the arm (lower bicep, right above the elbow - you know like Mom did when you were in trouble, as a way to start off a sales pitch. The sales rep is either really desperate or a complete imbecile.

2) Do not interrupt another vendors pitch in the other vendor's booth. This was flat out awkward - one vendor was walking us through some of the finer points of their technology when a second vendor came in and interrupted everyone. Big negative points and potentially a future deal killer.

I don't mind intelligent and aggressive sales reps - especially at a trade show. I go expecting to be sold to (and to do some selling myself). If you truly have a unique offering your natural desire is to shout it to the world. It is those companies or individuals who don't think about what they are doing and the negative fall out from their actions that leave a bad taste in my mouth.

JP Werlin

People Do Business with People They Like

Edward Golod is about as big as they come in the sales world. Mr. Golod has a great article today at Adotas here.

In the article Mr. Golod lays out 8 tenants about selling. He goes on to say that "...selling is hard work, especially in the online media world". This is the one comment I disagree with - at Pipelinedeals we talk to our customers about the challenges they face in real estate, consumer products and various service sectors everyday. The truth is selling is hard work period, no matter what sector you are in. By putting Mr. Golod's advice into action, your time spent selling can be more productive.

JP Werlin

Great Advice for Generating Sales

Kathy Donoghue at Freshbooks has a great blog post about how to get more business coming through your sales pipeline. Freshbooks is a superb web 2.0 application for managing your clients (invoicing and time tracking) post the sales process. Instead of regurgitating what Kathy said, please click here.

Cheers,
JP Werlin

Advice from a Friend

New found friends for us at PipelineDeals, DecisiveFlow, have a nice post today about how to promote your business in a classy way. The basic premise is to enlist the help of others in spreading the news about what you do and why someone should do a deal with you while promoting a sense of scarcity.

It is a fine line to walk when in sales: to share with the world what you do without coming across disingenuous. Successful business people are able to artfully weave into their daily interactions and conversations what they do without resorting to "the hard sell". The one thing to remember - especially when starting out - is that if you don't tell people about you, no one will ever know how great your product or service is!

Happy Selling!
JP Werlin

Also, Comparison Engines has a guest commentary from one of Pipelinedeals.com founders about the pros and cons of buying internet traffic from comparison shopping engines. You can read it here.