More from my good friend and COSE (Cleveland’s Council of Smaller Enterprises) colleague Diane Helbig, from her popular book, ‘Lemonade Stand Selling’. Here are some of her thoughts on sales:
- ‘ … sales is really simple. It’s about you being you and sharing information about something that matters to someone else.’
- The goal of any marketing effort is to ‘ … peak the interest of your prospects so they want to learn more. It should be concise, pithy, intriguing and, most of all, it should speak to their interests – not to your interests.’
- ‘Sales is a combination of efforts that includes marketing, prospecting, educating and proposing.’
- The elements of a great elevator speech for use at networking events are: ‘Who you are? What you do? Who you do it for? Why it benefits them? It’s concise. clear and value-centered … and not cutesy.’
- ‘Successful selling begins with listening. Your job when you are in front of the prospect is to ask questions and then listen to the answers.’
‘Lemonade Stand Selling’, Diane Helbig, Sales Gravy Press, 2009.