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Selling in the Contract Service World

Selling contract services is different.

Different because services are harder to get customers to understand. Different because the contract world requires coordinating buying and selling cycles – a difficult dance at best.

Here are a number of articles that can help make selling a little less painful, and hopefully more successful and enjoyable.

Buying On Emotion

by Chris Arlen

Traditional wisdom says, “People buy on emotion and justify with fact”. But which emotions exactly? Sales reps understand facts. They present them quantified (ROI), certified (ISO), and verified (references). But facts are [...]

click to continue → May 15, 2012

“Congratulations, you’ve got the sale – Now, about your offer…”

by Chris Arlen

Remember during your sales presentation when there were so many buying signals you needed an air traffic controller to navigate them? Then negotiations began. You were almost done but the customer began [...]

click to continue → April 30, 2012

Selling isn’t Telling – but it is Storytelling

by Chris Arlen

The first lesson in sales is that “selling isn’t telling” – you can talk at customers but that won’t get them to buy. However, this #1 sales directive doesn’t say what selling [...]

click to continue → April 23, 2012

The Most Damaging Sales Tip to Avoid

by Chris Arlen

ABC (Always Be Closing) has damaged more reputations and hurt the selling profession more than any other sales tip. Doubt that? Answer these truthfully: Do you ask for the sale right after [...]

click to continue → March 29, 2012

The Show

by Chris Arlen

Sometimes selling is not about how-to. Sometimes it’s about context. This is one of those times.  Besides, when will you find Shakespeare, Petronius, Laurence Olivier and Marlon Brando all together in the [...]

click to continue → March 22, 2012

Deconstructing Sales Referrals for More Juice

by Chris Arlen

All sales reps want referrals because they can lead to quick and easy sales. Yet referrals are hard to get. If we think of referrals as one thing entirely they become elusive. [...]

click to continue → March 14, 2012

The Quick Sales Funnel and Super 8

by Chris Arlen

Sales funnels work at their own pace. Yet there are times when a quick sale* is needed more than oxygen. When sales are at the bottom of a trough or stuck in [...]

click to continue → March 8, 2012

They’ll Come Back. Oh No They Won’t!

by Chris Arlen

As sellers, we’d like to think that customers eventually see the error of their ways. Customers, being the customer, have the right to make bad buys. And they do, whether it’s recessionary [...]

click to continue → February 27, 2012

Who Owns Your Prospects? You or Your Employer?

by Chris Arlen

This question has come up a number of times as sales reps consider changing jobs. Phrased differently you could ask: Who owns prospects’ info, their digital data, the relationship? Sales reps or [...]

click to continue → February 16, 2012

Winning Bids: What Your Competitors Don’t Want You to Know

by Chris Arlen

In response to last week’s post, Your Biggest Sales Challenges in 2012, Bill indicated “If you can’t speed up the sales cycle, how do you win more when contracts are put out [...]

click to continue → February 10, 2012

Questions are the Answer: Your Biggest Sales Challenge in 2012?

by Chris Arlen

What do your customers think? What’s important? Challenging? If you get these answers you sell more, so we ask customers. But their answers don’t help.

click to continue → February 2, 2012

Build Your Personal Brand on Service Quality

by Chris Arlen

Your personal brand helps you sell customers what they want and need. Your personal brand is: What you stand for How you want your customers to perceive you The promise you keep [...]

click to continue → January 27, 2012

Selling to the Shadow Side for Richer Results

by Chris Arlen

Customers buy solutions that help their companies survive and thrive. They also buy to make their own work day easier and less stressful. This is the shadow side of customers – they [...]

click to continue → January 18, 2012

Sales’ FOL

by Chris Arlen

“Grant me the serenity to accept sales’ facts of life (sFOL) – the courage to do the right selling work – and the wisdom to know the difference.” a Seller’s Prayer. Here [...]

click to continue → December 21, 2011

You Deserve More Money

by Chris Arlen

That’s right! You deserve more money IF you’re a top producing sales rep (in the top 20% of sales reps in your company). You also deserve more resources, and respect too. If [...]

click to continue → December 9, 2011

Looking for Customers in All the Wrong Places

by Chris Arlen

Hurry up and sell. Be seen working. Fire – ready – aim. Many sales reps don’t know who their customers are – don’t know where to find them. And if they don’t [...]

click to continue → November 11, 2011

Personal Positioning Statement

by Chris Arlen

“Hello, and you are…?” “Oh, uh, I’m Sara…and I uh…work for XYZ Corp…I’m a sales rep” First impressions. Priceless. All those intentional first meetings with prospects at association lunches, tradeshows, and sales [...]

click to continue → November 3, 2011

Sales Training or Learning Sales?

by Chris Arlen

There’s an ongoing debate in the education-HR world between training and learning. The difference is training is done to you, and learning is something you do. It’s about ownership. In the sales [...]

click to continue → September 21, 2011

The Next Best Thing – Referrals

by Chris Arlen

In sales, the best thing is a contract. The next best thing is a referral. But asking for a referral can be tricky. The time to ask for one varies. Some reps [...]

click to continue → September 16, 2011

Selling is Stuck

by Chris Arlen

The words used by sales reps show that selling is stuck in the 1960′s with I Love Lucy and fender fins. The words we choose dictate how we see, feel and behave. [...]

click to continue → September 7, 2011

Selling to Customers of the New School

by Chris Arlen

Customers and buying have changed. More than online reverse auctions, new school customers view suppliers and selling services differently than the old school. Remember back in the day when old school customers: [...]

click to continue → September 2, 2011

Don’t Miss the Win Window in the Sales Cycle

by Chris Arlen

There’s a time to do the sales work that wins. And it’s not when most sales reps think it is. Let’s look at a typical sales cycle, which includes milestones for a:

click to continue → August 30, 2011

The Top 5 Sales Traps to Avoid

by Chris Arlen

How many pitfalls are there to avoid when selling contract services? Too many to count, but here are the top five to navigate around. Misstep and kiss goodbye the mega contracts, annual [...]

click to continue → August 26, 2011

Selling in the Deep End of the Contract Service Pool

by Chris Arlen

This is the place you want to be – in the deep end. Where contract dollars are huge. Where the really attractive customers hang out. Where yearly goals are cleared in one [...]

click to continue → August 17, 2011

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