Entrepreneurship

Great Salespeople Are Like Great Detectives

Here are 3 things that great detectives and great salespeople have in common. Can you think of some others?

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“Man, you’re like a kitten. You chase every ball of yarn that enters the room,” I told this business owner. He’s one of a long line of business owners who’ve heard me say that. I doubt he’ll be the last.

Does that describe how you live? Boy, I hope not. But in the past three plus decades I’ve encountered many business owners and leaders whose lives were characterized by pandemonium, chaos and constant movement. Commotion becomes a habit for some business owners.

Galatians 6:7 “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” It’s a biblical principle, but it has broad – secular – application. We build the life we want.

If your business is characterized by commotion, then you’ve behaved in ways to make it so. If you don’t want commotion to be the mantra of your business life, then change it. Behave differently.

But how?

There’s one thing you must do before any meaningful change can occur. Just one thing. I’ll warn you – it may not be easy for you. Many people find it tremendously difficult. Even so, dwell on this one thing. Embrace it. Most importantly, do it!

Hey, will you do me a favor? Leave me some feedback over at iTunes. I’d greatly appreciate it. In fact, it’d make my weekend!

Have a great weekend,
* Photo courtesy of MinkBlue

Just about every business I’ve ever helped had a foundational problem associated with getting new customers. We all need and want more leads. More is always better.

Lead generation is a top of the sales funnel problem. There is almost always another problem at the bottom of the funnel, too. Maybe you’ve not considered this problem as seriously as you should.

Minimalism, minimum viable product (Eric Ries, The Lean Startup), a WOW factor and the 37 Signals‘ approach to providing value…it’s all here in today’s show.

Quite frequently I find myself wanting less. But like you, I want what I want. Sometimes it’s hard to find. Case in point, Bible software for Mac. I’ve owned a variety of Bible software through the years and have been dissatisfied with everything built for the Mac. It’s overkill. I want simple, useful…valuable.

What about your career, or your business? Are you piling on features, all the while thinking you’re piling on the value?

Desperate businesses say YES when saying NO would be more profitable. It’s understandable though because cash is king.

Success demands that you learn to say NO to high-maintenance prospects (prospects are those people who haven’t yet bought anything from you, but you think they might).

The sooner you cut loose from the high-maintenance prospect the better. You’ll have more time and resources to focus on prospects who will be more ideally suited to you and your business.