DriveYourSucce$$

Why B2B Customers Use Objections, Stall Tactics and Roadblocks

Several salespeople are simply unable to handle customer objections. They immediately recoil once a customer puts up a roadblock. They back away, give ground, and become reactive, instead of proactive.  

Eventually, the customer assumes control and the result is a lost sale. However, this can change when you stop and understand why customers use stall tactics.

When B2B Customers Demand Lower Pricing and How to Handle It

If you’ve been here before, and have read some of my previous posts, then it’s more than likely that you’ve come across this subject already. However, it’s a critical part of succeeding in sales and should be revisited once again.

When a customer complains about your price what they are really worried about is how that price will impact their costs. If you can get them discussing how your product will reduce their costs, then you’ll get the sale.

Decluttering Production Shop Floors with Spaghetti Diagrams: Simplifying Work Flow

Sometimes increasing production throughput can be as simple as rearranging your production shop floor. When it comes to lowering production cycle times, few approaches are as powerful as using spaghetti diagrams.

You'll need your production employees to work alongside you for this project as their input is essential to success. 

Making those employees part of the solution will ensure they buy into the process.

Choosing the Right Social Media Strategy for Your Market and Customers

Not all social media is the same just as no two markets are the same. Unfortunately, this all-important term has been hijacked, or at the very least, misrepresented.

Ultimately, any digital media platform that simplifies sharing can be called social media. Understanding this will make it easier to match your social media strategy to your market, your customers, and your industry.

Overly Optimistic Salespeople: Five Consequences of Being Too Enthusiastic

There is this prevailing view in sales management that a salesperson has to be enthusiastic about their product, enthralled about the opportunities around them, and highly motivated to continually push past “no” until the customer finally relents and makes a purchase.

Persistence is an adjective all salespeople like to use, and rightfully so. Unfortunately, there are direct consequences to salespeople being overly optimistic and they’re ones most companies don’t see until it’s too late.

By the time the company has realized that its salesperson isn't actually listening to what customers actually want, they've already lost out on a number of opportunities. 

Click Cannibalization Excel Sheet: Paid Search vs Organic Search

I've created a sample Excel sheet for those concerned with click cannibalization between organic and paid search. This is an ideal tool if you already have a high PageRank for a keyword and still want to drive more traffic to your website but are concerned with your pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns stealing clicks from your high organic ranking. 

While some say you should never run a PPC campaign when already ranking high, others say driving more traffic to your site is always the best strategy. This Excel sheet will help you put this argument to rest. 

A/B Split Test Excel Sheet: Increase CTR on Email Campaigns, PPC Campaigns, Websites & Blogs

This sample Excel sheet outlines a straightforward process for completing an A/B split test to increase click-through rates (CTR). Split testing is a simple tool that can improve the performance of your email marketing campaigns and online pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns. It's a tool that can be used across all your digital marketing initiatives.

You can use split testing to increase conversion rates on your website's traffic or to improve your revenue as an online publisher. 

Sample Excel Takt Board for Production Tracking and Manufacturing

Takt time is the actual available production time divided by the number of units that must be produced. A Takt board is a production tracking board that captures the variances between planned production and actual production.

This variance can be tracked by shift, by hour, by day or by work order. The board is often positioned on the shop floor in order to keep employees up-to-date on the company's progress.

Comments can be added to the Takt board any time production falls short of expected volumes. The comments are meant to outline the causes of work stoppages, delays and downtime.  

Are Internal Politics Costing Your Company Business? High Costs of Internal Strife

Can internal company politics cost a company revenue, business and long-established customer relationships? It most definitely can. In fact, it happens all the time.

However, it’s those forward-thinking companies who understand how to measure performance and have a plan for growth that are never held back by internal bickering. They won’t allow it.

These companies would never allow politics to stop them from achieving their goals and objectives. So, are internal politics stopping your company from winning business?

Top Five Don’ts of Inventory Management and Supply Chain Optimization

Some companies know exactly what they’re doing when it comes to managing their inventory. Their entire supply chain is geared towards benefiting from collaborative efforts.

Vendors are managed like partners, inventory strategies are aligned, stock outs and shortages are minimized, freight costs are under control and the company clearly defines its costs of holding inventory relative to the costs of not having inventory. Sounds pretty simple doesn't it? For some companies it is, for others it isn't.