September 10, 2003
Reference customers built on relationships - Ottawa Business Journal
Terry Ledden is the managing partner for Sales aboutFACE Inc. His advice to companies looking for their first reference customer is to centre conversations with prospective customers on business issues with which the company or individual is dealing. A sales pitch will only turn off a prospective customer, whereas asking questions about business issues will create the relationship necessary to sign a deal.
"By getting the prospect to tell you what their problems are, the relationship will be much more collaborative, leading to potentially some co-development effort to finish the product design." (Read the whole article)
June 9, 2003
It's about sales stupid: Experts join debate about sales talent - Ottawa Business Journal
OBJ: How do you assess sales and marketing talent in Ottawa?
LEDDEN: I believe our local tech community is facing a challenge with respect to defining talent. There's no consistent or common context within which to assess talent. In the U.S. market, where many of our local tech firms compete, strategies have been shifting. Yesterday, U.S. players placed a heavy emphasis on having a better product or technology in order to win. Now, product superiority is no longer the name of the game. The highly competitive U.S. market "our battleground" has been shifting toward an approach to winning based on how they're selling, not just what they're selling. Our local talent tends to represent a cross-section of the traditional approach that typically relies on the need for some product, price or industry advantage in order to win. (Read the whole article)
January 1, 2001
Sandler Training has also helped our new hires become productive far more rapidly than what is considered the industry norm. Sandler's emphasis on questions skills and setting string up-front contracts has helped our entire sales team be more focused, resulting in increased productivity. Most importantly, the Sandler System has made the salespeople better advisors to Essilor's clients, the opticians and optometrists, on whom we rely to sell our products to their customers.
Stephen Shawler
Vice President and General Manager
Essilor Lenses ECP Group