Here’s more on dumb questions.
I was getting ready to whip up a nice dinner, and realized I forgot to get green onions. No problem. I hustled to the grocery produce section, took a plastic bag from the dispenser, and selected a nice bunch.
The high-school-aged checkout kid rang them up, gave me my change, handed [...]

I don’t care what anyone says: There are dumb questions.
My next several posts this week will give examples of dumb questions and I’ll make some sales lessons points. Also, please add your own comments or examples of dumb questions.
I called up my favorite local pizza joint to get my regular two-slice-and-a-drink lunch special. The guy [...]

Here’s a technique that can be either solid,  or sound cheesy, depending upon where it’s used on a call:
 
“What’s it going to take to get your business?”
 
I had a guy use this on me the other day. This  was the opening statement on a cold call.
 
Caller: "Hey, Art. Bill at Audio Duplicators. We  duplicate [...]

The longer I’m in sales, the simpler it seems. 
I’m talking about the things we need to do in order to be successful. There are a number of fundamentals, that when followed, will help us help more people buy.
Today, my friend and colleague Jim Meisenheimer shares one of these fundamentals, that when taken to heart [...]

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 [...]

An entire special section in the Wall Street Journal focused on businesses cutting costs.
A USA Today article discussed how more people are opting for credit cards that just don’t give airline or other travel points, both those that can cut mortgage payments, or reduce their monthly interest expenses.
And as you likely have experienced, buyers everywhere [...]

For the Platinum members of my Telesales Success Inner Circle we provide one-hour audio seminars every other month. Recently we did one with sales expert Jim Meisenheimer, titled “Screw the Recession: 17 Ways to Get Sales Up When the Economy is Down.”
Here is an excerpt of just one of the excellent points from that program.

Telesales Success Inner Circle Platinum Member, and recent Telesales College attendee, Brad Jones, sent in an interesting article about responding to questions.
The gist of the article deals with tossing the question back to the the questioner to get clarification, especially if you have no idea what the person is asking about. The author uses an [...]

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 [...]

The Wall Street Journal online edition posted a great article, along the lines of my posting below about asking direct and tough questions of doctors and other health care providers. See it at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123612654272124081.html
Thanks to Mike Lammers, of IT company Tricension, a friend and fellow cook on the barbecue circuit for sending this along.