I just finished a workshop at BCIT. They held a total of four workshops that ran concurrently with a networking opportunity afterwards. I was invited to speak about ‘Sales’. The workshop was called “How to Sell to Businesses from Cold Calling to Closing and Beyond”.
It was a very interesting morning. I started off by telling the group that I was not a professional sales trainer and that I planned on telling them how we sell and some of the good and bad techniques we use or have tried.
The topics covered were:
Reverse Sales – about my days as a debt collector
Cold Calling- how we do it, what works, and does not work (for us)
Follow up – what to do after the cold call
In the meeting – we discussed how we meet, the processes we follow
The art of NO – how to say no to a lead without loosing the deal
Asking for the sale – problems/successes we have when asking for the deal
Follow up – what comes after the sale
All in all it was a great morning. The class seemed to like the discussion. It is funny, the questions at the end of these sessions usually are the same. Everyone want to know how it is having a business partner and what kind of hours do we put in. It seems that entrepreneurs starting businesses or thinking about starting businesses always have the same questions/comments about those 2 subjects. My simple answer is, communication is the key to any relationship and the hours are long.