First, don’t miss these two sessions online – this is my Christmas gift to you just for being a regular reader….

1. http://stelzlvendoradviser4.eventbrite.com/ – Setting Fees with Profit in Mind!

2. http://www.eventbrite.com/event/2571952780 – Secrets to Writing Winning Proposals (Including RFP responses)

Two areas I see even some of the most successful sales people missing on are fees and proposals.

Fees are tricky – sometimes your company sets this for you, but if you have any control over this, it’s one of the places you must master.  Too much, and the client looks at you like you’re a thief, too little and you leave money on the table or worse, discredit your own value.  I often hear the comment, “When we fix price, we lose money.”  Wow, that tells me you haven’t learned to estimate, but I will show you the secret of pricing on December 9th…there are two ways to calculate fixed price fees, then there are block time sales (which may be the thing that keeps you from really profiting the way you should be – and I’ll show you exactly why that is.)  And of course T&M, but there are two ways to do T&M, and one of them results in you taking all the risk.  I cover this in detail in my new book, From Vendor to Adviser, along with calculations and examples, so I won’t go into it here…but this is critical stuff!

Get the Book here:  www.stelzl.us/store.asp (Note: this is a preorder special – you’ll be one of the first to have it)

Then there is the proposal…I see many making one of several mistakes.  They execute the sales process perfectly, and then get to the proposal, and…well, all that effort turns into a big negotiation process, and maybe a visit to the chief purchasing officer (who, no doubt, has a degree in Negotiation Strategies!)  Who needs that at the end of a long sales cycle, and especially here at year end?  One thing  I can tell you, the meeting you have right before you write this proposal is the key to success – but there are at least eight secrets I give in my book to make this go much more smoothly.  I don’t know about you, but I don’t really like writing proposals – especially when they don’t close!

Here is that link again – I’ll see you on the 8th and hopefully on the 21st for the second one.  There is no cost to you, other than time, so don’t miss this.

Fees: http://stelzlvendoradviser4.eventbrite.com/

Proposals: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/2571952780

© 2011, David Stelzl