It can be frustrating to have a deal just sitting in the pipeline and not even know if there is still an opportunity. It is especially difficult when there is no ongoing dialogue because the customer is unresponsive. Understanding how to best approach a prospect who has gone dark requires examining the relationships between our organizations. Have you been working with one individual point of contact or have you and your team been able to position yourself at multiple levels i […]

I can be a bit obsessive when preparing documents and presentations. Not only do I worry about the content but I also fuss about the look of it as well. Everything from choice of font to formatting of tables contributes to the overall experience a reader will have when looking at the document or presentation. If I need to choose some method of formatting, why not choose one that's most usable for the reader?In my quest for perfecting the art and science of creating documents and p […]

This is the second in a series of posts on account planning -- by the end of which, you should be in a position to decide if your approach to key account planning can be enhanced by our thinking, or not.In my last post we talked about the "big ideas" around using an Account Plan. At Ninety Five 5 that refers to the tool we use to help us protect and grow key accounts. Today I'll cover some of the first four key elements of a good account plan from the list below […]

Quick thought this week. We often face barriers to overcome with our clients. Why?It's for one of two reasons: First, memory. They have some experience from their past that tells them it's safer if they erect a wall. And second, imagination.  They imagine something in their future is a threat and again they'll be safer with that wall.  If that wall keeps us from them we are associated with their negative past and/or their fears of the future.What can we […]

Ninety Five 5 and PLAYER MAP Offer Integrated Strategic and Tactical Sales ExpertiseCustomers Embrace the New Solution, Double Win Rates and Generate Higher Profit Margins.Bradenton, Fla., May 24, 2011 – Ninety Five 5, an execution-focused sales transformation platform, and PLAYER MAP, a strategic visual sales process, today announced that the complementary sales philosophies have been tightly integrated into Ninety Five 5's Sales Success System (S3), an innovative sales […]

When we are conducting a Structured Opportunity Conversation around the issues that are most important to the client, it is worthwhile to consider where we are in process of qualifying the opportunity and how we are positioned within the account so that we use the appropriate language.As we find out "the what" (what is important to a particular individual and what they value) directly from "the who" (the key stakeholder), we begin to see how opinions differ within t […]

Out of university my first job was as a computer programmer (we liked to call ourselves "software developers"). It was very satisfying work. I'd have a problem that needed to be solved, I would devise a solution, code it up and violà -- I created something that produced results.I came to realize that the first solution I came up with was not necessarily the best one. In fact, if I came up with two or three solutions before coding them it was usually the second […]

Sales leader Sam Lorimer has had his career ups and downs, but one area remains constant: Three emails for specific situations that always work. Always.Those three emails have also proved successful with everyone he's shared them with over the years. So much so, if fact, that he finally decided to share them with the rest of the selling world in his new ebook, "Click 'Send' and Sell! Three Unconventional Emails with Extraordinary Sales Results." (See the end of […]

John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing is a business partner we at Ninety Five 5 value and respect. He recently asked me to write a short response to the following topic:"I Hate Selling, So Now How Do I Convert Leads?"Here was my response:If you hate selling, don't do it.  Forget about it altogether.  Put it out of your mind.  Just focus on helping people be successful in a way you can both feel good about.  When you first talk with " […]

Have you ever lost a deal due to the customer's political environment? Ninety Five 5's Player Map helps us with political selling.  The term "politics" has taken on a lot of negative connotations over the years.  In sales, we need to understand how power is exercised in an organization to be in a better position to help our client succeed. Player Map is a visual sales plan that can help us win more business faster by helping us fo […]