Meeting Participation Sucks!

While commuting this morning, I was listening to an editorial piece on the concerns about students not raising their hand during class at school. Apparently, a local school has decided to no longer have students raise their hands to offer an answer. They feel there’s an issue with only some students answering. Their solution was a simple one. Teachers will randomly choose students and ask for answers. On the surface it makes sense, I guess. Equal opportunity and all that. Unfortunately, I hate to tell them but it probably won’t work as I have experienced low meeting participation in the business world and calling on them randomly was a disaster.

voicemail

4 Tips for Killer Voicemail.

When left with no choice but to leave a message… Do you leave an impromptu message? Or even worse… Do you simply put the phone down and hang up, expecting to catch that prospect at a later time? If so… Why? Do you believe voicemail’s a waste of time? I have a question for you… Is it leaving a voicemail that’s a waste of time or could it be the voicemail you’re leaving? Let’s make sure it’s not the later.

decision maker

Get to the Decision Maker.

A salesman on my team was foot-blitzing one afternoon. Entering one of many small businesses that day he was greeted by a “lets get rid of this guy” employee. As my salesman was about to leave… a salesperson from their company pipes up and offers to meet with us. She asked who the decision maker was and called me. Her offer was to listen to our offering if we would listen to hers. I am truly impressed!

closing appointment

The Closing Appointment. Stop Lying to Yourself.

I was out on a closing appointment with a sales professional that had been in the industry for some time. As we were sitting across from the potential customer I noticed a competitors card sitting on his desk. My immediate gut feeling was that we were not going to win this deal after all. Chit chat and niceties prevailed but no one was getting to the point of this meeting. I couldn’t handle it anymore and simply asked the client if we were going to be awarded the deal. The customer unblinkingly said no. Looking at the salesman I could see shock and disbelief. Definitely an awkward moment.