Archive for the 'Opportunities' Category

17
Mar
10

Leveraging the Power of the platform

We completed day one of Mastering Boardroom Presentations, in Raleigh.  As I’ve said before, the presentation always seems to be the weak link in the sales call.  If you want to increase sales, perfect your message, and become the best at presenting in!  Some the key take aways from today’s participants were:

1. “Focus on assets, not products – this is what drives budgets”

2. “The most powerful objection handling technique is a customer success story.  Creating a great story takes some work and practice, but once mastered, will become one of the most valuable tools you have  to close business.  I don’t know why other sales courses don’t make more use of this.”

3. “I’ve never been through a sales training class that gives practical instruction on the mechanics of presenting to decision makers; how to present, where to stand, how to demonstrate confidence, etc.  This will change the way I sell and deliver proposals and recommendations.”

4. The most important thing I learned today was how to meet someone – how to leverage an introduction in a way that moves to a meeting.  I can see it takes practice, but I also see the tremendous potential in answering the question “What do you do?” with something other than, “I’m in sales”.

5. “I learned more in one day than I did in a week of Vendor sponsored training.”

15
Mar
10

Irresistible Justification

Don’t forget – this Friday is the first of the 2010 Teleseminar Series.  Assessments are one of the strongest motivators when considering budgets and what to buy.  Risk being the number one motivator when dealing with business decision makers.  Unfortunately this tool has been often misused and misunderstood.  I hear questions like; should we do this for free or charge?  How much do we charge? Who needs to be involved – what if we can’t get the economic buyer involved?

LEARN:

  • Three types of assessments – which one to sell if you want more business
  • Exactly what the buyer will want to see
  • How to justify the assessment – and how to justify the next step
  • How to price it and when to give it away
  • What to include in the deliverable and where the sales person must participate
  • What to include in the deliverable and what it should look like
  • How to turn it into an ongoing subscription service
  • How to present your findings to make sure they’re heard and to ensure you get budget to take the next step
  • How to move this to managed services

When complementary work is performed, the results are often wasted – delegated down to IT and operations people who may not take the time to read the report and will not have the ability to approve budgets.  All of these questions and more will be addressed in this weeks event!  Don’t miss it…this is the fastest way to build your pipeline for the coming quarter!

When:  this Friday at 11:30 am edt

Registration: http://www.stelzl.us/business_strategy_TeleS.asp

30
Jan
10

Day 3: The Perfect Greeting

Day three of the Father’s Conference is just coming to an end.  One of the topics covered today related directly to sales success so here it is – the Perfect Greeting.  I’ve said in many of my workshops, you have about six seconds to grab someone’s attention.  If you don’t succeed, you’ll spend the next thirty minutes trying to get back to something interesting.  But there’s more…

People sense what you are thinking when you greet them.  That initial first six seconds needs to be more than interesting, it has to be “interested”.  The speaker related this “interested comment” to wives; stop being interesting and start being interested…if you’re married you can see the connection.  How about your clients?  Are you trying harder to be interesting or interested?  When you meet people they can tell if you are genuinely interested in meeting them, or if you are just showing up for the meeting.  Are you looking down on them, thinking they’re not the decision maker, or critical of them in some way?  People sense this, and if you’re caught, you’re out.

Try this.  When you meet with someone, consider sales people who are not getting the meeting.  Every meeting has potential to either meet a decision maker or gather important information in preparation for an executive meeting (granted, some of these should be done by phone).  Whether this person will introduce you higher into the organization or not, be grateful for the meeting and make the most of it.  It is a waste of time not to.

After today, I believe I have even more great information to share with you about success factors in the 2010 Teleseminar Series, so if you missed the sign-up and you’re reading this on February 1, I’ll let you sign up with the January discount just this one day (Feb 1, 2010).  This is the last chance, so make sure you join us today at www.stelzl.us .  We have a great group – I’m looking forward to passing on great information that will help round out your 2010 business development strategy.

25
Jan
10

Building the Value Proposition in Boston

Working on the Value Proposition

Last week’s trip to Boston – we worked on messaging, presentation skills, and strategies for reaching higher into the organization where security really matters.  I had the privilate of spending the day with the Courion sales team, Gartner’s first choice in Access Assurance software, working through the concepts of Making Money with Security.   It was great seeing some snow given we’re at 50 degrees here in Charlotte.

© David Stelzl, 2010

14
Jan
10

Accelerating Sales in a “Still” dismal economy

08
Jan
10

mastering boardroom presentations

Have you ever been to a showcase?  Showcases are where speakers go to present their best to an audience of speakers, meeting planners, and other buyers of speaker services to show off their stuff.  Motivational speakers, humorists, trainers, and the like get just a few minutes to give it their best shot.  I attended one of these today…not as a speaker, but simply to observe.  Speaking is hard work!  Whether you’re in front of an audience of several hundred, or simply sharing your company value with a few executives; hopefully with buyer status.  Speaking is a profession to many, including myself, but needs to be more of a profession for sales people; this is where the deal often dies.

With this in mind, my latest workshop addresses this problem – Mastering Boardroom Presentations.  After six years of leading sales workshops on messaging, I am convinced that the presentation is the weak link.  Learn to speak – first get some great instruction and coaching so you know what to do, then join a club like Toastmasters to perfect it.  Read more on my site at:

http://www.stelzl.us/sales_development_present.asp

24
Dec
09

FREE House & Cloud Book for Christmas!

This information has been so helpful to so many people – I want everyone to have it.  On the right sidebar of my blog, www.davidstelzl.com you can now request a free electronic copy of the House & the Cloud.  It’s my gift to you this Christmas Season!  Please feel free to pass this link on to people you believe will benefit from hearing my message on selling security!

08
Dec
09

David Stelzl’s 2010 Teleseminar Series

Great news!  The 2010 teleseminar series has been posted online at http://www.stelzl.us/business_strategy_TeleS.asp – and I have some very steep discounts for people who would like to sign up for the year (10 highly focused, content rich sessions starting March 2010).  I am also sending a FREE Data@Risk book to the first 10 people registered…discounts apply through January.

March 19 – Irresistible Justification
Assessments can be one of the most compelling forms of justification when used correctly. In this session, I’ll be showing you how to use assessments (both technical and business level/complementary and fee based) to accelerate your sales cycle for projects and managed service deals!

April 16 – Strategies for Hiring Great People
In the past 20 years I have hired hundreds of people and coached many in the hiring process. I’ll show you how to differentiate good candidates from great candidates and how to know before hiring, who is worth their wages. Obviously this is meant for managers, however others may find this beneficial in discovering what makes for a great interview.

May 14 – Balancing Work and Family
Raising seven children and home schooling, while running a business is no easy task. Let’s face it, when things at home are stressed, the burden carries over to your work, and affects your performance. Put things into balance and you’ll find greater success. I’ll share with you some of the secrets of making this all work.

June 18 – Success through Character
Character matters! Whether you’re looking for personal success or building a team, character can make or break you. In fact, it would be hard to find a personnel problem that is not character related. Great character is at the root of great success, so whether you sell, implement, or run and manage a company of division, this may be the most important topic I cover in 2010.

July 16 – Stop wasting time,
There are lot’s of great books on time management, but who has time to read them? We’ll take a look at planning your day, focusing your time and energy, techniques for refreshment, and how to keep up with everything you have going on!

August 20 – Keys to Great Sales Management
If you used to sell or if you own a business, you may suddenly be called on to manage sales. It’s a hard job to keep sales people motivated, rewarded, and accountable. We’ll discuss compensation, motivation, hiring, managing, and a host of things that will help any manager succeed as they oversee sales. If you’re in sales, please join us to gain a better understanding of what makes a great employee.

September 17 – Personal Branding and Marketing
Marketing and branding are quickly changing. Learn what to stop doing, and where to begin. Use of social media, article servers, email, and effective messaging that will change the way people view you and your company.

October 15 – Winning Proposals
Deals don’t close simply by a great proposal, however a deal can go down quickly when a proposal is poorly structured and presented. Learn both what it takes in writing as well as in presentation to make a great proposal that will boost your sales.

November 19 – Financial Stability through Recurring Revenue
In our present economy, recurring revenue may be your only hope. Whether you already have it or are building it, I’ll show you how to keep it growing. This is a critical part of your companies success in the years to come.

December 17 – Vendor to Adviser
If you’ve not made the transition, be assured they are calling you a vendor behind your back. We’ll look at moving past gate keepers and blockers, demonstrating value in board rooms, and moving to a consultative selling model.

Go to http://www.stelzl.us/business_strategy_TeleS.asp  and select the appropriate price in the drop down box for 2010!

20
Nov
09

Today’s Teleseminar

If you did attend today’s session on “Lessons Learned while Making Money with Security”, there is a recording and it will be sent out shortly – probably over the weekend. Thanks for attending – initial feedback is that this was a very worthwhile session with updates to material you may have heard in earlier workshops as well as updates to the material printed in the book, The House & the Cloud.