Jeff Blackwell

Web 2.0 Journal By Tom Hopkins In business situations, when you are trying to reach the person who has the authority to make decisions regarding your product you are very likely to have to go through one or more people before reaching that person. For the sake of efficiency, there will likely be a receptionist and/or assistant who takes the initial calls for the decision-maker. It’s important that you realize most assistants are taught to protect decision-makers. Or, shall we say, screen calls so the decision-makers only speak with the [...] ... (more)

Marketing: Past, Present and Future

Marketing, in more the one way, is like juggling. This strange analogy will become crystal clear if we take a close look at it. Just like the juggler the marketer too has to do these things to thrive in his business: first, he has to hook his audience; gain their attention through several jazzy tricks; and then hold their attention by still more innovative juggling. All this he has to achieve without losing balance, focus or steadfastness in the art, the industry, in the marketer’s case. In short, marketing is all about alluring, attracting and holding a collection of customers f... (more)

Gain Your Prospect’s Attention

Web 2.0 Journal By Wendy Weiss On a cold call you have approximately 10-30 seconds to grab your prospects’ attention—and you won’t get a second chance. Read on to discover how to gain your prospects’ attention… I was eating lunch. The phone rang and thinking it might be a client calling (and also, let’s face it—I’m a little compulsive) I bolted to my desk and grabbed the receiver. Instead of my client, on the other end of the line was a perky person telling me that their company provides high-speed Internet [...] ... (more)

Is Your Vocabulary Costing You Money?

Web 2.0 Journal By Tom Hopkins When we give a presentation to a future client not only do our appearance, visual aids, and body language relay a message, but the words we use create pictures in their minds. When we hear a word, we often picture a symbol of what that word represents. We may even attach emotions to some of these words. For example, let’s consider the words, SPRING, SUMMER, AUTUMN, WINTER. Depending on your particular experience, each of those words can generate positive or negative emotions in [...] ... (more)

The Biggest False Assumption in Sales!

A discussion was recently started in the SalesPractice.com sales training forum titled, "How to shorten the sales cycle". Here is a copy of the original post: "For sake of discussion let's say that... ...the prospect trusts you, respects you and values the relationship. ...you are working with a prospect who has the authority, budget, want and need for your product or service. ...the prospect feels you have the most compelling value proposition. ...both you and the prospect understand how your solution will help him/her reach his/her desired outcome. ...the prospect has not voiced an o... (more)