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Cross Link Consulting, LLC

Transforming Businesses through

             Strategic Management and Process Innovation

The Cross Link Communicator
Text Box: The most exciting element of any company is putting the business (new product, new service, etc.) together and making it work! But let’s face it… the average Entrepreneur doesn’t usually wake up one morning thinking, “Wow! I’m a really great manager. I should start my own business.” The inspiration for starting a business usually begins with an idea, a dream, or a concept of something to sell. Yet, depending on the source, research

K. Keith Drew,

Executive Consultant

Executive Consultant vs. a Business Coach

Vol. 1, Issue 1, July, 2008

Book Review: Hope Is not a Strategy

Technical Sales can be a challenge, especially in the fast–changing world of business in the 21st century.  In his book, Hope Is not a Strategy: The Six Keys to Winning the Complex Sale,1  Rick Page identifies that most technical sales today include multiple players from multiple perspectives, all of whom must be taken into account as a part of a successful sales strategy.  In fact, one of the biggest factors killing sales efforts today is not confronting the realities of a complex sale.  Focused on business-to-business

Linkage is the key

to effective sales
Text Box: One of the most successful sales persons in a multinational company used to always go around saying, “Round peg—round hole, baby.” What he was talking about was whether or not his customers were good fits for the products and services he sold. But the truth be told, while he had the “right stuff” to be successful, he first had learn what a round hole looked like so he could learn to act like a round peg himself.

HR Matching—Round Peg-Round Hole...and a lot more!

 

For a free one-hour

business review for

you or someone you know,

be sure to contact us today, at 770-378-6904,

OR,

email us at info@crosslinkconsulting.com
Text Box: Communicator Spotlight Text Box: (B2B) sales, the book looks at common errors made by sales people in not following through on the opportunities which are afforded them. These include not returning phone calls, no access to power, new requirements late in the buying process, analysis paralysis, rosy forecasts, blind spots, selling to unqualified prospects, and more.2 To combat this, the author walks the reader through the various stages and phases of a complex sale, along with the potential players and pitfalls. If I were to boil this book down to one word, it would be linkage. “The task of the consultative salesperson is to take the competitive advantages from the company, the product, and the solution and focus it on the business problems of the client. In addition, value and competitive advantages must be linked to the personal agendas of the right people, because