Today’s screed isn’t about Joni Mitchell or her song from the late ’60’s. It’s about being an effective businessperson. I was going to write “negotiator” but as I’m thinking about it, this is really applicable to all areas of business – sales, relationships with other members of the team, – pretty much everything. As an aside, I think it’s one of the factors behind the gridlock in our political system but we don’t do that stuff in this space so just file that away. Quite simply, if you want to get to agreements on things, there’s one ability you must have and that’s our topic. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Sales
Believing In Your Product
One of the first things you learn in sales is to believe in your own product. Some folks call it eating your own dog food but the basic idea is two-fold. First, if you’re going to foist something on a customer you should be willing to be that customer yourself. Second, it’s a great way to do usability testing and in sales, it helps you discover selling points that may not even have been designed into the product plan.
I’m a big fan of the process and was really impressed when I read about what I consider to be the ultimate instance of belief in a product: one that literally puts your life on the line. Continue reading
Filed under Consulting, Helpful Hints
You vs. You
One of the big mistakes I have seen over and over during my business career has been executives negotiating against themselves. I’m not talking about simple role-playing to sort out how best to attack a problem. What I mean is a group of businesspeople sitting together to plan strategy or review a contract and talking themselves out of a deal point because they believe that the other side won’t go for it even though they’ve heard nothing from the other side. Dummies! Here’s what I think is a better approach. Continue reading
Filed under Consulting, Helpful Hints
Consult Keith 