Javelin Marketing Blog

I’ve noticed that people who sell have frequently been trained to sell to difficult prospects. They have learned lessons like “the sale doesn’t start until you hear ‘no’ six times” or “never take no for an answer.”
However, I’ve noticed that rich sales professionals don’t abide by these rules. Instead, they invest not more than 5 [...]

Frankly, most sales skills books are poor. They contain scripts from the 1950s or focus on “closing techniques.” What I’ve learned is that when a sales conversation is done correctly, you don’t need closing techniques; the prospect wants to buy. They also focus on objection handling and when the lessons from the books below are [...]

I just interviewed a candidate for a sales position. I asked him to sell me the product from his last employer. Here’s how the presentation went:
1. He opened by introducing himself with his name and company. (Do I as the buyer care? In fact, since I never heard his name or heard of his company [...]

You think that prospects care about your products but they don’t.
The financial press is flooded with discussions about wrap fee vs. commission accounts, services that investors can get on the Internet and how you can stay competitive. I see missing from all of these discussions the reason why investors do business with you—YOU. [...]

In the last post, I discussed the only three things that determine how much money you earn.

The quality of the prospects you speak to
The number of prospects you speak to
The quality of your presentation (to schedule an appointment)

This post is part three which focuses on setting appointments, filling your appointment calendar.
It’s likely that your first [...]

In the last post, I discussed the only three things that determine how much money you earn.

The quality of the prospects you speak to
The number of prospects you speak to
The quality of your presentation

This post is part two which focuses on getting enough inquiries–getting more prospects to talk with.
For most people involved in sales, the [...]

You don’t need a global search to increase your business. There are just three things on which to focus:

The quality of the prospects you speak to
The number of prospects you speak to
The quality of your presentation

Let’s take these in order over three posts.
The quality of the prospects you speak to is a direct [...]

Some financial professionals use prospecting methods that produce the wrong prospects (i.e.; bad sales leads). I define a wrong prospect as someone who is not really interested, not qualified or hard to deal with. In essence, someone who wastes your precious time and, if they do become a client, they consume so much of your [...]

How to Work Your Leads for Super Profits
Sales Lead Generation
Make an offer to your prospect that matches their agenda. Whether you use email, direct mail, newspaper advertising, it doesn’t matter. The goal is to put something in front of our prospect that matches their concern and not your concern. Here’s an example. If you want [...]

Some people in sales think a sales lead is a name from a list. That’s not correct. A name from a list is not a sales lead–it’s a suspect, a total stranger and it does not matter if they meet some criteria (e.g. age, occupation, net worth). A true sales lead meets your criteria AND [...]