Top Secrets of Marketing & Sales

Tired of having your presentations derailed? In this podcast, business growth expert David Blaise reveals his simple, three-step RPR method to regain control of the sales process. As salespeople, we all know that if we want to be effective, we need to maintain control of the sales process.  We also know that generally speaking, whoever is asking the questions, controls the conversation. But the wa...

Is it true that in business, everyone is replaceable? In this podcast, business growth expert David Blaise discusses the facts behind this uncomfortable truth.

It can be tempting to give in when clients beat us up over price. However, in this podcast, we'll explain why that is rarely a good idea.

“Sales is a numbers game,” they said. “Make more calls and you’ll make more money,” they said. “Keep smilin’ and dialin’,” they said. They said a lot of things, but who are they, anyway? Is sales truly a numbers game? If you make more calls, will it always increase your sales? Here’s my take on it. Yes, sales IS a numbers game, but it is...

If you’re not accomplishing everything you want in your business or sales career, take a look at your to-do list. If you’re like most people, you’ll find it’s not the things that are on there that create the problems. It’s the things you haven’t been able to get rid of.

Most businesses have a charitable side, and most charities have a business side -- at least if they want to remain in business. But there's a big difference between business and charity. In this podcast, we'll discuss some of the distinctions.

When your best clients talk to other people about you, what do they say? If you’re focused on getting referrals you’ll need a good answer to this. And you’ll need to do it proactively. Do they say you’re creative? That you’re responsive? Do they say you’re excellent at coming up with recommendations? The kind that make perfect sense for the objectives they&#8217...

One of the most important lessons I’ve ever learned in business is that just because we can do something — either well or poorly — doesn’t mean we should do it. After all, being capable of doing things is not the same as being required to do them. And like most business lessons, I learned this one the hard way. In the early days of my career in the industry, I tried to do e...

In business and sales, we frequently talk about the importance of persistence. And it can certainly be a valuable trait… but only when we’re doing the right things. In this podcast, David Blaise explains why, when we’re doing the wrong things, persistence can be harmful, detrimental or even deadly.

Most experienced salespeople are at least somewhat familiar with the idea of selling to a client’s needs. So how do you create a need when a prospect doesn’t already feel like they need the products and services you offer? For decades, business owners and sales managers encouraged their sales teams to sell to the prospect’s needs. “Find a need and fill it.” But in rea...

I had a buying experience or two recently that left me feeling frustrated, annoyed and kind of sad. It was frustrating that people could be so blasé about business. And it was annoying to spend money with people who really didn’t seem to appreciate the business I gave them. It’s also sad that as a society, we seem to have entered a phase where thoughtless, inconsiderate, sloppy service...

Some salespeople in our industry are very good at what they do, but they don’t get to do enough of it. They don’t get to sell as much as they could, because they’re afraid of coming across as pushy. And that fear can make them less confident, slow them down or even stop them dead in their tracks. I think we can all agree that no one likes a pushy salesperson. But if you’re...

As a professional in our industry, you probably differentiate between your online and offline activities. You may further differentiate between your personal online activities and your business online activities. Or you may just find the whole thing a gigantic distraction. In any event, today I’d like to talk with you about why you may want to use social media to lead your prospects and clie...

Some people in our industry spend so much time talking about selling, thinking about selling and worrying about selling, that they rarely find the time to actually sell! The best salespeople I know are essentially machines as they perform the most important and profitable tasks associated with selling. They focus, like a laser to identify new leads, quickly qualify them and convert the qualified l...

Success requires self-discipline. Every day in our lives, there are things we must do. Sometimes we feel like doing those things and sometimes we don’t. But one thing is certain. If you rely on discipline alone — forcing yourself to do things you don’t want to do — you’re probably making things harder on yourself than you have to. Being in business for yourself is not...

Would you believe that some people thought from last week’s episode that I was saying not to cold call? However did you get that impression?   🙂 As expected, I got a lot of passionate feedback about last week’s episode. Some were passionate about how right I was, some were passionate about how wrong I was, and some questioned how I could even SUGGEST that people not cold call. Well he...

Some people hate even the idea of cold calling. Other people swear by it. But generally, at least once a month, someone will either talk to me about the problems they’re having with their cold calling efforts, or ask me my thoughts on it. So today, here’s my two cents. Cold calling. Just saying the words makes the blood of some salespeople run cold. And there’s probably a lot of...

Can you really program clients to choose you? How many of the people in your market, who need the products and services you offer, can you pre-program to go directly to you, without considering any other options? Or perhaps more telling, let’s look at the flip side. How many people in your market can’t buy from you right now, because they don’t even know you’re alive? Just...

Quick question for you today: What if there were prospects in your market whose attention you absolutely HAD to get, in order to make your business as successful as it could possibly be? In fact, what if reaching them was so critical that NOT reaching them was no longer an option for you? Other than getting more referrals, what would you have to do better and differently? Because, guess what, peop...

Very often in business we know just where we want to go. We know just what we need to do. We have the tools, resources, supplies and know-how. But if you’re not yet moving in the direction of your goals to grow your business, it’s time to get an oar in the water! Imagine if you could get your business or sales career moving the same way you’d get a canoe or rowboat moving. Before...

When I say the word “predictable.” How does it make you feel? Is it a positive term or a negative term? Today I’d like to ask you a question about predictability, and the question is this: Are you predictable? Hi and welcome to the podcast, so today’s question is this… Are you predictable? To some, the idea of being predictable may sound dull, or routine, or boring! &...

If you’ve been in business for any length of time, you’ve run into your share of poor quality prospects. But who comes to mind when you think of your worst prospect ever? No matter what business you’re in, there are people who are qualified to do business with you and there are people who are just not qualified at all. Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference. so we end u...

Prospecting is not cold calling, and prospecting is not selling. When you realize that these are different functions, it allows you to treat them as such. Cold calling may be one method or one potential aspect of prospecting, but that’s not all there is to it. So when you think in terms of prospecting and bringing new clients through the door, it doesn’t have to mean cold calling. Just...

Sometimes in sales we like to hold out hope that just because someone hasn’t said “no” to us, they’ll eventually turn into a “yes.” And sometimes that happens. But in nearly every case, it’s probably better to get the hard no now, instead of taking “maybe” for an answer — for months or years — and never knowing if or when things wil...

No time, no money… When businesses are running into trouble, these are the two most common excuses they give for a lack of action. They don’t have time to address the problem. Often because they’re too busy doing the same things that got them into the problem situation to begin with. Or they don’t have money to fix the problem, because their time is being spent on activitie...