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.

Sell Service as a Strategic Spend to Procurement

by Chris Arlen

Procurement is now recognized as the biggest, baddest buyer around. And one of the first things Procurement does before putting a service contract out for bid is to decide whether that spend [...]

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When Landing a Whale Swamps Sales Motivation

by Chris Arlen

We should all have such problems – the landing of one large contract that covers the year’s sales quota all in one go. If you’re the sales rep, you’ll think (quietly to [...]

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The 10-Minute Challenge for a Greater Personal Brand

by Chris Arlen

You are your brand – your actions define you. They accumulate into a personal brand promise – the promise you keep – not the one you speak. Your customers know this. So [...]

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Give Me A Break! Sales Training You Don’t Need

by Chris Arlen

Sales training is necessary, I provide it. But as a sales rep I learned a great deal of training out there isn’t needed. In fact it can be counterproductive. For example, the more [...]

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The Secret Subtext that Motivates Prospects

by Chris Arlen

There’s a communication that takes place when sellers talk with prospects. It’s implied, never spoken yet always present, just below the surface of every conversation. It’s the subtext of the sales conversation [...]

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The Sales Conversation All Prospects Want to Hear

by Chris Arlen

You’ve found a qualified prospect, you know how to reach her and you know what you want from that first conversation. You want to: Tell her your service is the best Get [...]

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In Position to Win It: 14 Sales Actions for Better Odds

by Chris Arlen

These 14 sales actions improve your chances for winning contract bids during the quiet phase – the period after the first meeting and before the contract is out for bid. These sales [...]

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Increase the Odds of Winning Sales Before the Bid Process

by Chris Arlen

Smart sellers increase their chances of winning contracts during the quiet phase of the buying cycle. That’s the phase after the first meeting with a prospect up to the moment the contract [...]

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23 Ways to Get a First Meeting with Prospects

by Chris Arlen

Getting that first meeting with prospects can feel like standing at the foot of Mt. Everest and looking up at where you have to go. It’s one of the first milestones for [...]

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Price without Value is Meaningless

by Chris Arlen

When sales reps say “buyers only look at price” they’re saying they sell a commodity. In essence they’ve given up and are rationalizing lost sales. That’s understandable. If it were true, who [...]

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