Top Secrets Of Promotional Products Sales

When your best clients talk to other people about you, what do they say? Do they say you’re creative? Do they say you’re responsive? Do they say you’re excellent at coming up with recommendations that make perfect sense for the objectives they’re trying to reach? What if they’re not saying anything about you at all? […]

One of the most important lessons I’ve ever learned in business, is that just because I’m capable of doing something — either well or poorly — doesn’t mean I should do it. And like most business lessons, I learned this one the hard way. In the early days of my career in the industry, I […]

It’s interesting to me that some people in our industry spend so much time talking about selling, thinking about selling and worrying about selling, that they rarely find the time to actually do any selling! The best salespeople I know are essentially machines when it comes to performing the most important and profitable tasks associated […]

In business and sales, we frequently talk about the importance of persistence. And it can certainly be a valuable trait… but only when we’re doing the right things. When we’re doing the wrong things, persistence can be harmful, detrimental or even deadly. One afternoon a few weeks ago, my wife noticed something strange going on […]

As a professional in our industry, you probably differentiate between your online activities, and your offline activities. You may further differentiate between your personal online activities and your business online activities. Or you may just find the whole thing a gigantic distraction. In any event, today I’d like to talk with you about why you […]

Every day in our lives, there are things that need to be done. Sometimes we feel like doing those things and sometimes we don’t. But one thing’s for certain. If you rely on discipline alone — forcing yourself to do things you don’t feel like doing to get them done — you’re probably making things […]

Most experienced salespeople are at least somewhat familiar with the idea of selling to a client’s needs. So how do you do that when prospects feel like they don’t have a need for promotional products? For decades, business owners and sales managers have encouraged their sales teams to sell to the prospect’s needs. Find a […]

I’ve had quite a few buying experiences recently that have left me feeling frustrated, annoyed and kind of sad. Frustrated that people can be so blasé about business, annoyed that I’ve spent money with people who really don’t seem to appreciate the business I’ve given them, and sad that as a society, we seem to […]

Some salespeople in our industry are very good at what they do, but they don’t get to do enough of it, so they don’t get to sell as much as they could, because they’re afraid of coming across as pushy. And that fear can slow them down or even stop them dead in their tracks. […]

We got some good feedback last week regarding our topic, How to Penetrate Large Accounts. In it, I provided a simple framework for using referrals to spread yourself throughout a large organization like a virus. This week, we’ll discuss three reasons why following this strategy and fully penetrating every large account you work with is […]

This week, a long time client asked me a question about penetrating large accounts. He was talking about how they’re currently working with one location, trying to penetrate a second and then realizing that there are actually many more locations. So the question is “what’s the best way to penetrate a large account?” Many of […]

Everyone knows that if you over-promise and under-deliver, it kills your credibility with clients. But what about the reverse? What if you under-promise and over-deliver — giving them more than they expected or were promised? Sounds like a good plan, right? But delivering more than what’s promised often comes with it’s own set of issues. […]

In our last episode, we discussed the fact that there are more ways to reach people now, than ever before. As a result, we’re all bombarded and it’s harder to get a response. In this episode, we’ll continue our discussion on Monetizing Your Message: Crafting Communication that Sells with a look at the direction of […]

One of the biggest issues that sales professionals are dealing with these days is the inability to get a response. “People aren’t answering their phones, people aren’t responding to my emails, people aren’t returning my phone calls, I waste lots of time on social media with nothing to show for it.” All of these issues […]

In our last episode, we talked about the fact that in sales, there are times when making more calls can actually do you more harm than good. Particularly, when we’re saying the wrong things, targeting the wrong businesses or approaching the wrong people. Each of these situations is symptomatic of the same problem: untrained or […]

“Sales is a numbers game,” they said. “Make more calls and you’ll make more money,” they said. “Keep smilin’ and dialin'” they said. They said a lot of things, but who are they, anyway? Is sales really a numbers game? Will making more calls always increase my sales? Here’s my take on it. Yes, sales […]

I’m here, I’m there, I’m everywhere! Just back from the PPAI Expo in Las Vegas and getting ready to conduct four training sessions later this week at the ASI Show in Dallas. If you’re coming to the show, I hope you’ll attend one or more of my sessions and be sure to stop by our […]

Welcome to this Special Government Shut-Down Issue. Today, I’m making the announcement that starting at 12 noon today, all non-essential personnel in my business are to be furloughed. Laid off. There will be no exceptions. Oh wait a second, all the people in my business are essential. Are yours? Every few years our federal government […]

It’s Expo Week. So if you’re in Las Vegas for the PPAI Expo, be sure to stop by Booth #3762 and pick up a free copy of my training program “How to Compete with Websites, Local Competitors and Price-Cutters.” And even if you’re NOT in Las Vegas, be sure to stick around for a few […]

It was great seeing so many familiar faces last week at the ASI Show in Orlando. What a nice way to start off the new year. The weather was colder than expected, but the training and the attendance were hot, hot, hot! I ran into a lot of people I’ve known for a long time […]