Holiday season, tax season, vacation months are tough on sales professionals. Decision makers are more interested in their plans and monetary obligations. “Let’s revisit this solution after the holidays – tax season – vacation” is their mantra. What I have found, however, is that this can be a great time to prospect… with a strategy. Here are six fresh ideas that can help you with successful prospecting during any distracting season or holiday.
Early in my sales career I went to a seminar that was to “empower me” with sales body language. I was skeptical to say the least. It began as expected… “fold your arms in a group and before you know it everyone has their arms folded” routine. In other words you were in control by manipulation. The seminar went further however. If you swiped your hand to the left you were putting a negative influence out where to the right would be the opposite. I could mess with their brain, cool.
There is such a fine line between business profits and consumer savings. As a business owner, it is so easy to go down the egomaniac path of “win every deal at all costs”. Consumers typically don’t care if you make money and push for every dollar of savings adding to this dilemma. It really can become a race to zero and possibly a death knell for your business. So what do you do to stay in the game with reasonable profits for business continuity?
While most of us only fantasize about working from home I recently was able to make this dream come true. With the greater Seattle area housing so expensive there was just no way I could afford to live close to work. My commute consisted of either driving around the peninsula or taking the ferry. Both consumed 3 to 4 hours of my day regardless. And then there was the expense.
