Welcome to Landing The Deal, a discussion among sales men and women who are the rainmakers for their companies. If you know the exhiliration of bagging the elephant and bringing it in so the tribe can eat for a while longer, then we welcome you. If you know the heartbreak of spending months on a deal only to have it fall apart or worse, go to a competitor at the last minute, then come commiserate with us.
We will talk about negotiation strategies, commission structures, living on the road, how to prepare killer RFPs, dealing with expense accounts and per diems, and how to build a support team to help you bring in more business.
We will talk who is landing the big deals and who blew it. We will discuss who is hiring and how to protect yourself from unscrupulous companies who feast on your hard work and then get rid of you to avoid paying you the big check.
We seek to create a discussion and we hope that you will join us. We welcome you to Landing The Deal.
I'm a sales professional...been there in the trenches for 40 years and have the scars and ulcers to prove it. Everything from hearing aids to caskets, from across the kitchen table to across the oceans, I've sold things of all kinds. I've lost big deals that took months to develop and sold itty bitty things to people who didn't them. I've had deals stolen from under my nose and deals that fell into my lap without trying. You name it, I've been there. I'm a salesman. What does that all mean in the scheme of things? It means that I believe in myself above all else. I believe that in that one magic moment in time, I have connected the dots between need and satisfaction. I have convinced someone that they really need what I have and they won't be satisfied until they get it. That's all there is to it. The customer's sigh of relief after signing an order that is almost imperceptible to lay people and that only we seasoned pros can hear, is almost deafening. Listen for it, because when you can hear it, you know, you really know, that you can call yourself a salesman.
Posted by: Barb Johnston | August 15, 2006 11:39 AM | Permalink to Comment