Life Is Combustion. Sometimes, that’s Good. Sometimes It’s Not.
When you light a fire (or a candle), that’s combustion. The process goes like this. Ignition: Heat starts the process. When enough heat is applied to a suitable fuel source and oxygen, the fuel and oxygen molecules get excited and start moving faster, increasing the likelihood of colliding with enough energy to react. The Bonds […]
Plan Like a Pessimist, Work Like An Optimist
We plan, prepare, work, worry, work some more, use our skills, and employ our tactics and strategies, all in service of bringing about a positive outcome. Myriad causes, conditions, and often competitors add to the soup of our intentions. We like to think we have some measure of control over how things will turn out, […]
Find The Causes and Conditions
People don’t just wake up one day with a need, with a desire to buy something. Something must happen. A “cause” must be added to our current “condition” to get our attention. It needs to have enough jolt to cause a reaction. The reaction must be big enough to generate a desire to do something […]
The Right to Say “No”
This may seem counterintuitive. Often, the best way to get to “yes” is to start with “no.” Here’s what I mean. Conventional sales wisdom says you want the other person to say “yes” a lot. It’s almost Pavlovian. Get them to say yes to lots of little things, and pretty soon, the only thing left […]
Eight Great Sales Tips
I love lists as much as the next person. A while ago, I decided to list what I thought a great salesperson did. The things that separate a true pro from the rest. Not a list of attributes or personal characteristics. Instead, I was interested in activities or steps. I tried to keep it as […]
Stay Connected in Conversation
One of the many small rules of selling is, “Don’t lose connection with the buyer when it is your turn to talk.” The best way is to talk about things that interest the buyer. You should know what those are if you’ve asked great questions. Remember, our favorite stories are “stories about me.” It’s also […]
New! Improved! Going Fast!
Great headlines sell. They do the hard work of getting you to stop, pay attention, and change your focus from over there to RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW! This is true for direct mail. It’s true for newspapers and magazines. It’s true for television (those scrolling chyrons on the bottom of your screen are headlines. It’s […]
Doritos Makes Transparent Mice
Here’s a headline that wasn’t on my bingo card Scientists use food dye found in Doritos to make see-through mice I think the writer thought this was a good thing. Apparently, you can see through mice if you rub something called “Tartrazine” on them. Not all the way through, but through their skin. Tartrazine is […]
Show Your Expertise in The Questions You Ask
A motivated fifth grader can memorize specifications and recite them on command. With a bit of practice, they can also translate those features into benefits (what’s in it for the buyer). Five minutes with your favorite search engine, and you won’t even need the fifth grader. I’m not trying to insult fifth graders. I’m just […]
Enter Slowly
At our local Zen Center, we don’t just enter the room. We stop, bow, and then enter. In some traditions, it’s a little bow. In others, it’s three bows going to the floor and back. Other spiritual traditions have similar practices. You don’t just enter the room. You don’t just do the next thing. There’s […]