The Paradox of Notes

November 21st, 2011

True or False? What you'll remember from a meeting, without any other recall activity, is about ten percent of what is said. Here's the breakdown... Fifty percent of what gets said in a meeting is missed by one or more parties to start with. Eighty percent of what isn't missed will be forgotten in forty-eight hours Read More...

The Paradox of Planning

September 29th, 2011

My seven year old is studying geography. She endeavored, recently, to draw a map of the world with continents, poles, the equator and compass directions. The result? If you can accept each continent as an amoeba-like lump, she nailed it. Europe, as we live in France, is placed in the middle. Then, as I named them, she scribbled in the locations of the oceans Read More...

The gold standard – reasons to follow up

July 30th, 2011

It's the rare and beautiful first meeting with a new client when you actually walk out with a deal. More likely, many months of work have gone into developing a client relationship before a client chooses you and your company. Maybe you've demonstrated expertise in a niche where they have a need. They trust that you'll do what you say you'll do because you follow through Read More...

Expect Nothing. Do Something.

June 28th, 2011

In a previous career, as a commercial mortgage banker, potential clients were easy to identify. The tricky step wasn't locating the organizations, it was getting the right person in that organization to say yes to a request for a meeting. These days I offer a product that anyone might want to buy; my "product" is structured creativity, training and facilitation Read More...

Bar Talk

May 31st, 2011

"What's really valuable," I hear one salesperson after another tell me, "is getting together informally with sales colleagues and hearing the latest stories about what people are doing. What are their recent successes, big or small, and their recent embarrassing failures. These meetings, usually at a bar or over lunch, are informative, motivational and give me the feeling that we can help each other out Read More...

Hanging Around

April 30th, 2011

On the Ile de la Cite, just behind Notre Dame where the footbridge from Ile St. Louis connects the two islands, there is a small park. Just at the corner where the park meets the footbridge, there was - until last year - a mighty willow tree. Standing alone, its long sweeping branches hung out over the river Seine below, just as a willow tree's should Read More...

The When, Why and How of Credibility

March 16th, 2011

A sales meeting is most effective when your prospective client is willing to answer the questions you ask. If they think you're just another useless salesperson, you won't get there. Getting to the point where they are ready to answer your questions, is crossing the credibility threshold. Establishing your credibility usually requires you to do some talking Read More...

The 12 questions..a summary

February 12th, 2011

For the last 10 months at Selling With Creativity, we've been conducting an ongoing 'would you or would you not quiz'. Here's a summary of the 12 questions we asked and a summary of the response, whether we think it's a good idea to do these things at a first meeting with a prospective client. As barometer we assumed two general objectives for that first meeting Read More...

Referral anyone?

January 7th, 2011

The twelfth and final question in the Selling with Creativity would-you-or-would-you-not salesperson's quiz: Do you ask a client at the end of the meeting if they know anyone who might benefit from your product, service or expertise? For me, asking for a referral at the end of a meeting has never been entirely authentic Read More...