Signals from the Field

The national sales closing rate is around 27% - WOW. When you think about all the time and money spent meeting with prospects, studying the prospect’s situation and developing proposals, to only convert slightly more than 1 out of 4 is a problem. Clearly, most salespeople aren’t adept in their closing skills.

Clearly one of the most challenging elements of sales is getting in front of qualified leads. A great salesperson with terrific selling skills won’t succeed without a steady diet of qualified prospects with whom to speak. One of the most often overlooked lead generation opportunities is your existing customers, and this article is about how to systematically identify qualified leads from your current customer base.

Imagine you are part of an experiment about human behavior to see how people react in unfamiliar circumstances. You are blindfolded, led to a car, put on a plane and flown to a city to which you had never been before. Upon arriving in this new place, you are driven to a street corner in the city and dropped off with instructions to remove your blindfold. What would you do first? Many people would look around for any familiar landmarks. Others would look for someone to ask where they are. Asking where you are is the first step to overcoming objections – also known as the trial close.

Business networking, whether it is online and/or in-person, is a very powerful way to increase your brand awareness and credibility especially if you are in the business of selling and marketing to other businesses. Besides knowing your business and your competitive advantages, it is important to set goals of what you want to achieve through business networking.

“How much money should I spend on paid search?” As someone who runs a lot of paid search campaigns, I hear this question a lot. The answer isn’t the same for everyone, and finding it can take a little work.

The Audience Overview report is the first page we see upon opening our Google Analytics. But what do all these numbers mean and why should we care?

In this installment of “Back to the Basics,” I want to share with you one of my absolute favorite features of Google Analytics: Advanced Segments. (I realize the irony in spotlighting a feature that uses the word “advanced” in a segment called “back to the basics” - just roll with me here).

In sales prospecting is a critical activity. You might be able to sell “ice to an Eskimo” but if you can’t get in front of qualified prospects, what does it matter? One of the most often applied tactics to prospecting is cold calling – “dialing for dollars” as many describe it. Most of us don’t like it but it’s an important activity.