I was reminded the other day that in many sales situations there are two levels of agreement you must pass in order to get the sale:
1. agreement that they will take action on their need, problem, or situation. That are actually going to buy from SOMEONE, and,
2. agreement that you will be the [...]

I’ve not yet seen the new movie, "The Goods: Live Hard, Sell," with Jeremy Piven as a hired gunwho comes in to turn around failing used car dealers. The reviews I’ve seen call it a tremendous waste of time, and an embarrassment for Piven. (Which means I’ll probably like it.)
Seems like people always ask me [...]

Speaking of the little things and returning phone calls, I had a little drain issue before I left Omaha a couple of weeks ago and had to call a plumber. It reminded of a great contrast in sales experiences I had two years ago with plumbers.
 
I arrived at my lake house I had at the [...]

I needed my home gutters cleaned, so I went to the classified section of the paper and called four of the advertisers and told each that "I needed my gutters cleaned."

I did NOT say I was shopping, or looking for  the lowest price.
Each gave me their price, then was silent.
The first one who asked for [...]

By 6 a.m. I had finished my morning workout at Lifetime Fitness (a wonderful facility, with every machine and amenity imaginable, except a golf course). I like to get my exercise out of the way very early—that  way I neither feel the pain, nor remember it, which is great for motivation.
 
As usual, I stopped at their Lifetime Cafe, where for a mere [...]

I’m on location in Cabo san Lucas, Mexico, searching for sales ideas.
Well, that wasn’t the purpose for coming here, but, of course I’m always on the lookout for sales situations we can learn from.
As I’ve written several times before over the years, this is a great place to observe and participate [...]

 I had the opportunity to attend a fundraising dinner as part of a celebrity golf tournament for Arizona youth baseball. Got to meet a few Hall of Fame Major League baseball players…very cool.

Also spent a small fortune on a rare Roberto Clemente autographed baseball I won at the oral auction. Oh well, it was [...]