Effective Sales Question Answered by Dave Kahle

sales question answeredQ. I’ve seen you point out the question “Anything else?” as one of your “really good sales questions”. I see it as a close-ended question. Is “What else can I do?” as effective, or more or less effective?

A. What a great question. Let me applaud you for thinking this deeply about the language in the questions that you use. This “thinking about it before you do it” is one of my key commandments for success in sales. And this kind of thoughtful discussion brings out the best in all of us.

I’m sticking with “Anything else?” as a “Really Good Sales Question.”…

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3 Ways Small Businesses Can Compete With Bigger Names

competing with big businessBeing a small fry in an ocean of much larger fish is certainly not anyone’s idea of fun. And when you’re a small company who’s not only worried about the competition but also trying your best to just stay afloat amidst the strong currents of the business world, you feel overwhelmed and find it hard to cope.

Rather than being a drawback all the time, being small in a world of giants does have its advantages.…

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How to Build Your Competitive Advantage By Seeing What Does NOT Change

building a competitive business advantage

Have the requirements for leadership changed?

Is it true that “The time of the great leaders like Churchill, JFK, FDR, and Golda Meir, is over because the world is too complex for one individual to know everything”?

Is it true that  “One of the things that people need to master now is… not only to be like Reagan and Martin Luther King who were great speakers, but also to be a great listener”?

In  a recent video my colleague, Thomas Zweifel, argues “yes” to all these questions.   I disagree.

The Dangerous Myth of the “New.”

“Man does not live by bread alone, but also by the catch word.”

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Branding: Authenticity Is Key To Long-Term Success

branding keys to successWe hear story after story about organizations trying to reinvent themselves or wondering why they have lost market share or stakeholder support. Often times they are so close to the root challenge that they overlook it and try to advertise or promote their way out of slumping sales. A better approach: look deep to examine and refine your true brand essence and never loose sight of the essential emotional connection your brand must make to each guest, customer or stakeholder.

Over the years we have accepted the challenge of assessing and developing strategies to both launch and expand market share for operators and their suppliers in a multitude of industries.…

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High ROI Public Relations – Alive And Well

public relations marketing strategiesBy now, the predictions for 2010 have faded into the background and, for many, so have those business and personal New Years resolutions and top 10 lists.

So now that February is upon us and new products and technologies are on the horizon, here is a brief synopsis of things to do and avoid that will leverage your PR efforts.   These tips were created with the goal of a high ROI program that will support the sales process and the effectiveness of your company’s overall marketing efforts.…

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How Your Small Business Can Easily Stand Out

helping your business stand out in the crowdOne of the biggest challenges facing small business owners is “How do I distinguish myself from my competitors?”

The answer is simple, and so, there is no shortage of people toiling to make it complicated.

To stand out, dedicate yourself to your customers. Care more about helping them than you do about making money. The company that cares more will understand more. And the company that understands the customer’s world will think up ideas that will impact their world. In other words, they will stand out.

If you really care, you will even ask questions that risk making you look bad, because it serves the greater purpose of helping your customers.…

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Benchmarking Customer Expectations – What’s the Right Yardstick?

measuring customer expectationsSo you benchmark your company against others in your industry. Maybe you look at maximizing revenue per full-time employee, increasing first call resolution in your contact center or IT expense as a percent of revenue. How do you compare to your competitors? Is that the right comparison?

Your customers, whether they are consumers or businesses, rarely measure you against others in your industry. Think about it. When you pay your doctor bill, do you compare that process against other doctors, or do you think about being able to pay your credit card bill online? Health care organizations get compared by consumers to their auto insurance company, their bank and their cell phone companies.…

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Email Marketing Tips For A Valentine’s Day Sales Boost

valentine's day email marketing tipsValentine’s Day is rapidly approaching, and whether you personally view it as the most romantic day of the year, filled with love and hope, or an annual ordeal splashed with tacky red and pink décor, there’s no question it can have a positive effect on many small businesses.

One of the best ways to take advantage of this potential bump in profitability is through email marketing. Email is a very effective way to bring highly-tailored messages to specific audiences. And since many people are prone to read into the gifts they receive from a significant or semi-significant other, it gives you an opportunity to use Cupid’s arrows to target your customers and prospects in order to move them to action.…

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Four Secrets to Productivity When You’re Away from the Office

productivity tips for working away from the officeMaybe you’re working the tradeshow at the industry’s big annual convention for the next four days. Perhaps it’s a long-planned romantic vacation to an exotic resort in the Caribbean. Or maybe you’re just calling it a night and are heading home for the evening. No matter what your situation, there’s likely to be a time when you aren’t at the office, but you need to access something that’s on your office computer.

Thankfully, there are plenty of options for working and being productive even when you aren’t in the office-and none of them involves packing up your office computer and lugging it with you everywhere you go!  …

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Take A Look In The Mirror

A client recently asked me to help her analyze the overall state of her company. Her decision to conduct this productivity audit was prompted by an unexpected personal opportunity that would take her out of the country for the better part of a year. For continuity and efficiency reasons, and to make sure her managers had their marching orders throughout her absence, my client wanted to make sure she was “doing things” as well as possible.

conducting a business productivity audit

As it turns out, she wasn’t. She was doing great, no doubt; but she wasn’t operating as efficiently and productively as possible. The subject business, a relatively straightforward, mom-and-pop, retail operation, had just shy of two million dollars of annual sales.…

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