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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.

4 “BE”s for Selling in the Great Recession

by Chris Arlen

Economic news these days is a jumble of cries about double dip recession and the U.S. succumbing to a Japanese-style “lost decade” with multiple recessions. From the media’s perspective the economy is [...]

click to continue → August 5, 2010

Sales Training 101: POV

by Chris Arlen

If there’s one must-have, die-without sales training, it’s understanding Points of View (POV)…that are not one’s own. POV is the genesis of customers buying, contracting, managing, and changing suppliers. Of contractors selling, [...]

click to continue → July 24, 2010

6 Golden Keys to C-Speak

by Chris Arlen

“You talkin’ to me? You talkin’ to me? You talkin’ to me?” (Travis Bickle, Taxi Driver, 1976) Many sales people feel calling on prospects’ C-suite is like confronting Travis on a bad [...]

click to continue → July 13, 2010

Competing with Bigs, Mom-n-Pops & In-Betweens

by Chris Arlen

Facility service contracts don’t exist in a vacuum. There’s always competition. Those you know about, and those that come out of the woods at the 11th hour. Isn’t it tempting to tell [...]

click to continue → June 28, 2010

Who Cares What Sellers Want?

by Chris Arlen

Obviously we do if we’re selling or managing sales. But buyers (aka prospects or customers) have no reason to care. They receive no benefit by helping sales people. As dumb and basic [...]

click to continue → June 17, 2010

Millions Lost: Look at the Dark Side

by Chris Arlen

Service sales are odd, facility service sales even more so. Sales investments are often made on the beginning stages of the sales cycle, i.e. awareness, lead generation, relationships, etc. Most contractors budget [...]

click to continue → June 9, 2010

Using Personas for Prospect Profiles

by Chris Arlen

Better than shooting in the dark, prospect profiles (aka targets or ideal customers) make sales and marketing more successful. They screen out the undesirable and demote the mediocre, making efforts more effective, [...]

click to continue → June 3, 2010

The Point of Perfect Prospects

by Chris Arlen

Some suspects become prospects -and- some prospects become customers. But attaining customerhood isn’t the end. Not all customers are created equal. Some are toxic, some dribble in revenue or profit, and some [...]

click to continue → May 28, 2010

Selling in our Millennium

by Chris Arlen

The bathwater. The baby. New is better. Too frequently a “new” sales practice comes out that’s the next answer for every sales woe (and you should buy the book and attend the [...]

click to continue → May 12, 2010

4 Unbelievable Sales Beliefs

by Chris Arlen

Sales people have strange beliefs. Not you. Some of them though. They must have, judging by their actions with customers. Here are a few interesting ones. What do you think?

click to continue → May 3, 2010

Sales dots

by Chris Arlen

Business is simple. It can be hard, but it’s simple…to understand. Take selling service contracts. Or, managing those who sell them. Or, increasing sales. It all comes down to dots.

click to continue → April 20, 2010

Incremental Fruit & Crowbar Leverage

by Chris Arlen

There is no low hanging fruit. Not anymore. Only incremental improvements You’ve tackled the low hanging and enjoyed the returns. That leaves only incrementals. The good news is you have an infinity [...]

click to continue → April 9, 2010

First things first – sales effectiveness or efficiency?

by Chris Arlen

As a consultant, I’ve seen an unintentional decision playing out among large  service contractors (those with dedicated sales resources) and smaller firms as well. Most of these firms are committed to improving [...]

click to continue → March 19, 2010

Government Leveling Contractors Playing Field

by Chris Arlen

An article in today’s New York Times describes a possible change in the way federal contracts are awarded, and it specifically calls out facility service contracts. Plan to Seek Use of U.S. [...]

click to continue → February 26, 2010

Selling Sales Efforts

by Chris Arlen

Is the only benefit of sales personnel their ability to secure a signed contract? Consider this; you’re the one responsible for bringing on new business, you’re boss oversees your sales efforts as [...]

click to continue → February 18, 2010

RFPs to Nowhere?

by Chris Arlen

I asked a contractor-friend of mine what his biggest pain in contract sales was. His answer was “not getting the opportunity to make a presentation after submitting a proposal in response to [...]

click to continue → February 9, 2010

Estimates vs. Budgets

by Chris Arlen

Here’s a customer-contractor situation that, although it doesn’t happen too frequently, is extremely dicey when it does. Your customer wants a non-contract service from you, but the project isn’t in their budget. [...]

click to continue → February 1, 2010

A Frequent Buyer Program for Service Customers

by Chris Arlen

Frequent buyers are your existing customers, those already under a base contract for an on-going service. Base contracts provide revenue, non-contract services (aka project work, TAGs, etc.) provide profits. Customers under contract [...]

click to continue → January 25, 2010

The New Numbers Game

by Chris Arlen

The old game for selling throws lots against the wall and something sticks – numbers comparing thrown to stuck. And it’s still true, something sticks, eventually. Even one becomes the justification to [...]

click to continue → January 15, 2010

Conversions in Selling Services

by Chris Arlen

Service contractors can should learn a great deal from web marketers. Web marketers are data diligent and process aware. They’re  focused on “conversions” – points in their online process that are measurable, [...]

click to continue → January 7, 2010

Voice of the Customer in the Buying Cycle

by Chris Arlen

Last week’s post, The Greatest Sales Question, drew numerous reader responses. A number of them were around a common sales issue facing service contractors. Why aren’t customers more (open / responsive / [...]

click to continue → December 11, 2009

The Greatest Sales Question

by Chris Arlen

What’s important to you? Or put another way, what is your single most pressing challenge today? That pressing challenge is the one keeping you from getting or enjoying what’s important to you. [...]

click to continue → December 3, 2009

Do the Right Thing: Market or Sell

by Chris Arlen

They’re different; marketing and selling. However, they seem to get mixed up in the minds of many who’s job it is to bring in new business. You can see it in proposal [...]

click to continue → November 25, 2009

Lost Opportunity Cost

by Chris Arlen

Staying the same never is. We exist in a constant state of decision making. Not making a decision, is making a decision. Not taking action is making a decision. Healthcare reform is [...]

click to continue → November 19, 2009

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