Sales 2.0

Send Your Proposals to the DEA

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In general, I think “proposals suck!”

I was reminded of my (bad) attitude to proposals again a few weeks ago when I was co-opted into developing one. This one was of the typical kind that I have seen over three decades of working in B2B services companies. The kind that takes a salesperson, plus other members of the team, days to develop. The kind that takes a salesperson away from selling for a couple of days and turns them into some kind of Word (or PowerPoint) jockey, trying to find the perfect paragraph spacing or font.

My experience of this proposal development process (at several companies) has been one of colleagues obsessing over producing the perfect document where our business’s credentials shine so brightly and our layout and formatting are so perfect that the prospect will just sign on the dotted line as soon as they’ve read it…and yet, somehow, consistently, they don’t!

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Call low

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I used to do it.

I would get to the office extra early and I’d start dialing before 8AM.

I wanted to become a rock star sales dude and I was mentored by my boss that the trick was to call CIOs (Chief Information Officers) early in the morning.

At that time of day, the stressed out CIO would be in the office but his assistant would still be fighting their way through the New York subway.

Ingenious! [Read more…]

AI in Sales: Actually useful CRMs

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This is number 8 in a series of interviews I am conducting with subject matter experts and practitioners in the sales profession. I am examining where we are today with AI in sales and where we are going.

This interview is with Adam Rubenstein, CEO of Traq.ai. Traq.ai’s artificial intelligence helps analyze sales conversations to point out opportunities, risks, tasks, and other highlights, and guides users to do what works best for them and close more deals.

Here’s a summary of our conversation and below this summary is the full transcript of our interview.

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AI in Sales: A New Era of Selling

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This is number 7 in a series of interviews I am conducting with subject matter experts and practitioners in the sales profession. I am examining where we are today with AI in sales and where we are going.

This interview is with Heidi Messer Co-Founder of Collective[i]. Collective[i] provides the most comprehensive solution on the market for companies seeking to optimize revenue using AI, connections, and collaboration.

Here’s a summary of our conversation and below this summary is the full transcript of our interview.

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AI in Sales: More human selling

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This is the sixth in a series of interviews I am conducting with subject matter experts and practitioners in the sales profession. I am examining where we are today with AI in sales and where we are going.

This interview is with Dave Brock. Dave is CEO at Partners In Excellence, a consulting firm that helps its clients OutPerform and OutSell their competitors. Dave is also the author of the “Sales Manager Survival Guide.”​ 

Here’s a summary of our conversation and below this summary is the full transcript of our interview.

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Book Notes: Bullseye Marketing

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If you’re taking a new job in sales or marketing, read this book first. It could save you leaving your job within three to six months!

I love the “bullseye framework” developed by Louis Gudema and explained in his book Bullseye Marketing—just out this week in its second (updated) edition.

If you are not interested in anything else, it’s critical to your career survival in any marketing or sales role, to understand the basic framework. Here is in its simplest form.

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