Sales skills

You may have heard of the Pareto principle, where 80% of your revenues will come from 20% of your clients. I’m not sure how true that holds for consultants, but it’s always seemed pretty likely to me. While it’s good to find new customers, it’s a lot easier to build strong relationships with current clients […]

Via Shaun Brown comes this week’s Friday 5: a list of the top 5 sales pitch tips. He emphasizes the importance of audience participation: The more rapport you have with an individual or a group, the more receptive they will be to your message. Many consultants launch right into a sales pitch, instead of taking

Here’s this week’s Friday Five, a hand-selected top 5 list. This week, learn 5 ways to start writing winning proposals.* Chris notes: Provide references: Buyers may not take the time to contact your references, but providing them up front speaks leaps and bounds about how you believe in and back up your work. Make sure

Welcome to the Friday 5. I’ve decided to introduce a weekly top 5 list, as a way of lightening up Consultant Journal and introducing readers to other blogs. For the next few weeks, I’ll be running a Friday 5 — a top 5 list that I’ve discovered. I invite readers to submit their own top

Writing a sales proposal to win the hearts and minds of those evaluating it can be tricky. A key part of writing a winning sales proposal involves following the structure set out in the request for proposals (RFP). Pay careful attention to the details required for your proposal. Many RFPs specify the structure of your

Free selling skill course — that’s what the ads say. But just how good can a free selling skill course be? In most cases, if you sign up for a free selling skill course, you’re just going to be taking in a sales pitch for something else. Sure, the speakers or writers may talk about

Writing a good proposal can help you win new business. But, if you’re going to have a fighting chance, you need to meet the requirements of the request for proposals (RFP). How to meet the details of an RFP Read the request for proposals (RFP) document carefully. Note the intent, goals, organization,decision-makers and other background

Writing a proposal is something you’ll be called on to do many times in your consulting career. Once you’re established your proposal goal, you need to consider your audience. The audience for your proposal is the organization that called for the proposal. It’s important to consider the needs and requirements established in the request for

ComputerWorld’s write up on negotiation offers some pointers that can help consultants, not just IT jobseekers. The main ideas I gained from the piece include: Preconditioning the client Strategically selecting target clients Doing a self-assessment and filling in the gaps Learning the client’s industry Creating a great set of marketing tools As I’ve said before,

As I’ve noted in "Basic selling skills", one of the key steps in any sales model involves finding a fit between your services and the client’s needs. Once you’ve qualified a lead, you need to work on developing a proposal that will make the client hire you. During the "finding a fit" stage, you should