- This Week's Blog
- The Sales Challenge Blog Archives
- by Bill Farquharson
The Sales Challenge Blog
New blog articles by Bill Farquharson released every Tuesday. Search by topic below or read this week’s blog now.
Lazy New Business Selling
You’ve heard (and ignored) the advice regarding generating new business activity. It either goes in one ear and out the other, or you start to follow it but you don’t continue it. In this week’s blog, Bill Farquharson reminds you of the typical advice you’ve been given before, and then shares an activity to be done when all else fails.
A Little-Known LinkedIn Fail
Do you see the same people over and over again in your LinkedIn feed and wondered why that is? LinkedIn favors some members over others and its rule book both rewards and punishes. In his blog this week. Bill Farquharson shows you how to remove one factor that might be dragging you down.
Screw up. Own it. Be rewarded.
A waitress receives the biggest tip of her career despite the fact she completely forgot to enter the order for one diner at the table. You can benefit from her story in Bill Farquharson’s blog this week.
Life Through the Sales Lens
Your landlord raises the rent. A cop pulls you over. Your want ice cream at 4pm but your mom says no. Sales is more than just convincing someone to buy your goods and service. It’s everywhere. Learn to use a sales lens and you open up a new world of “yes!” Read Bill’s blog this week.
Email Faux Pas
You email a question to a customer. In responding, the client adds a name to the CC line. That’s not newsworthy, unless…Find out more in Bill Farquharson’s blog this week.
The Two Worst Selling Days
You are told not to make prospecting calls on Mondays. You are advised against Fridays as well. Bill Farquharson begs you to listen to this advice. In this week’s blog, find out why.
The Best Sales Management Question
When Bill Farquharson’s thumb started hurting, he visited a physical therapist. On their second visit, she asked him a question all sales managers need to apply to their sales meetings and one on ones. Learn more in this week’s blog.
Why You Should Disrespect Email
Bill Farquharson’s mom would send him an email and then call to make sure he got it. Find out why she was a genius for not trusting technology in this week’s blog.
The Benefit of Wasting Time
No one loves a good game of Solitaire better than Bill Farquharson, especially as part of good sales day. Find out how he gets away with that time-waster and still calls himself productive in this week’s blog.
Beware the “No Rush” Customer
A client calls and places a repeat order. You ask, “When do you need it?” and they respond, “No rush.” What you do next is the subject of Bill Farquharson’s blog this week.
Three Sales Fails
When a sales rep sizes up a potential customer on looks alone, bad things can happen. In this week’s blog, Bill Farquharson shares three true stories. Two are from years ago —the third one took place just weeks ago—that one stings.
What Sales/Production Needs to Say to Production/Sales
Sales and Production are on the same team, technically. But looking at the way they work together and hearing what they say about each other, that might not be obvious. So, let’s everyone just calm down, join hands, and read what Bill Farquharson has to say on the subject.
Go ahead. Be a rebel.
Phone call. Email. Phone call. Voice mail. Email….all prospecting approaches are the same. But inside you is a different message and in this week’s blog, Bill Farquharson encourages you to listen to your inner John Keating and let it out.
How to Avoid the Price Objection With Clients
Since when is an 80% failure rate a good thing? Since even poor results like that will keep you commanding top pricing with your existing client base. Read more in this week’s blog by Bill Farquharson.
The Longest 30 Seconds of My Life
When a client challenges your price, you have two choices: Justify or lower. In this week’s blog, Bill Farquharson exemplifies that statement with a story about a client who asked him to cut his price in half.
How to Handle the Charity Request
They come in weekly and sometimes daily. Non-profits want free stuff and, hey, you don’t get if you don’t ask. In this week’s blog, Bill Farquharson offers up an idea for dealing with the requests while still being kind and accommodating.
An Important LinkedIn Nuance
LinkedIn’s algorithms are closely-guarded secrets. They don’t want you to know how to get your Post listed first. What they don’t hide are the rules to get a Post punished. In this week’s blog, Bill Farquharson shares a key tip.
Big Little Things
A soccer coach hears his team grumble about a drill run in practice. “It doesn’t matter until it does,” he yells. The drill is run again and again. More grumbling. Then one day, in the biggest game of their life, it did. Read more in this week’s blog.
The No-Lesson Blog
We take a lot for granted today. Sending files around the world for production is commonplace. But in 1998, sitting in a Sydney, Australia hotel and managing an order that started in Denmark and ended up in Boston, well, that was something special. Bill Farquharson retells the story in this week’s blog.
Get Sales Lucky
When Bill Farquharson’s young daughters wanted lottery tickets, he saw an opportunity to teach them a lesson about luck. However, like sales itself, luck is a fickle thing. Read more in this week’s blog.
How to Sell and Parent Successfully
School’s back! That’s good news and bad. For parents who sell, it means running (not walking) a tightrope. Can you do both successfully? Absolutely! Bill Farquharson, the father and stepfather of 7, shares a few ideas on the subject.
A Common August Sales Objection
It’s August and it’s quiet. Too quiet. So, you decide to make some calls, only to hear a prospect say, “It’s August and it’s quiet.” You can accept that and promise to call back in September or you can take Bill Farquharson’s advice in this week’s blog.
Expanding the 1pm Appointment
When is midday sales appointment not a day-killer? When you take the advice of a guy who used to put 35,000 sales miles on his car every year without leaving the confines of eastern Massachusetts. Read Bill’s blog for more.
No One Drops You Off at the Top of the Mountain
You have a massive and seemingly impossible sales task before you. It is like a mountain. In order to make it to the top, take the advice Bill Farquharson learned when he was participating in a 108 mile bike ride.
The Vehicle Wrap Curse
Bill Farquharson sat at a stop sign behind a van with a beautiful vehicle wrap. In from of him was a car taking its sweet time before deciding what to do. What happened next is a lesson for all company drivers. Read about it in this week’s blog.