
3 T’s of Negotiating: Trust, Time, & Tactics
Successful negotiating requires you have a strategy. The clearer your strategy before negotiating, the more successful you will be. At the core of the strategy is what I refer to as the “3 Ts
Welcome to the Sales Gravy blog, where salespeople and sales leaders get better every week. We publish new sales training articles and podcast episodes three times a week, covering prospecting, cold calling, objections, negotiation, and leadership, written by Jeb Blount and the Sales Gravy trainer team.

Successful negotiating requires you have a strategy. The clearer your strategy before negotiating, the more successful you will be. At the core of the strategy is what I refer to as the “3 Ts

Have you prepared a presentation that could be delivered in 1 minute, 5 minutes or 15 minutes? With busy and unexpected schedules your planned hour meeting can get cut short. If your selling message

In the best of times, etiquette can give you the edge over your competition. In difficult times, manners will set you apart. There are any number of companies that can offer the same services

It only takes a minute to proof read your emails, and I’ll tell you now I’m always glad I did. I almost always make them better, and when I hit the send key I

Every so often, prospects will want to speak with someone who is using your products or services just to make sure they are making the right decision. And every so often prospects will use
Customers buy when they perceive that the value outweighs the cost of the investment. There are three components of value: economic, business and personal that all have an impact on the customer’s view of

Chances are you spend the first five to fifteen minutes of your sales presentation telling people why they should buy from you or giving them background on your company. This approach is one of

The best way to generate a positive ripple effect among your customers is to make a deliberate effort to increase the quality and quantity of the service you render. Unfortunately, shortsighted salespeople view customer

When was the last time you operated on the line, did the work of your assistant, or went back out to make sales? You may be amazed by what you could learn. Following are

The rich, the poor, the successful, the struggling – all manner of men and women the planet over are using this law or principle of being, and it has been this way since the
Granted, many purchasing agents do enjoy the thrill of securing a lower price, but that’s no different than you. As a salesperson, you enjoy the thrill of securing a new sale. Accept the fact

When it comes to your sales cycle the customer controls their sense of urgency of when they decide to purchase your products/services from you or your competitors. Our level of influence on their

When should you ask questions on a cold call? Questions come after you’ve earned the right, when you’re gathering information and qualifying, and they lead the conversation only when the prospect contacted you first.
To prospect for new clients, stop making random touches and run a consistent five-step system. Work this system every day and you gain control of your pipeline, along with the peace of mind that
Salespeople fail at cold calling for five common reasons. Fix them and the phone starts producing appointments again.
Email response rates are collapsing because decision maker inboxes are stuffed with automated, AI-written slop. This is exactly why the phone is more powerful today than it was ten years ago.
Quick Summary Cold calling anxiety is not a symptom of weakness. It’s human and natural to feel fear when you cold call. You are interrupting a stranger who was not expecting you, and everything
Fear of the phone is quietly draining sales pipelines, and the reps who win are the ones willing to stop hiding behind email and LinkedIn and simply make the call.
Salespeople seek a magic window that makes cold calling easy. When prospects answer happy, say yes without a fight, and book the meeting themselves. So, is there a best time to call?

Short Answer Yes, you can make cold calling fun, and it is worth doing, because the reps who enjoy the phone are the ones who stay on it. Fun is not a personality trait
Success in sales is paid for in advance with prospecting. If you are not willing to pay this price, get out now. Go do something else. Life is far too short to spend it

Leverage Friday afternoons for phone calls to people you haven’t been able to connect with or with prospects who are tied tightly to a competitor. It happens every summer. The number of sales appointments

What you want to do is offer value in your visit or demo, and then leave it up to your prospect to decide if it’s worth taking your call or visit any further after
On this episode of Sales Pipeline radio, Matt Heinz and Jeb Blount discuss emotional intelligence, Sales EQ, and Fanatical Prospecting. You’ll be surprised to hear Jeb’s opinion about how sales and marketing should work

It’s evident that time is a critical factor in completing sales, building and keeping the relationship. Given that, what strategy does your dealership have in place to shorten the time it takes to close

The only asset you have that is in limited supply is your own time. When a slow customer takes up too much of it, you lose. The time you’re spending with them is preventing
At the end of the day, you want to make things as easy as possible for the prospect, not turn them into your admin. Last week I received an email from a very friendly
The key to any sale is getting your prospect to tell you how to sell them. If you can do that, you’ll make your job much, much easier. Today it seems to be harder

Too often we get so focused on what we produce or deliver, that everyone in the company loses sight of the real value of the product or service. Aligning everyone in the company to answer one question can

Sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and others can be powerful tools to help you prospect more effectively. In my new book coming out this September, “High-Profit Prospecting,” I share insights every salesperson needs to

Working smarter with people entails three key activities: assigning the right number of people, identifying roles and planning compensation strategically. Sure-fire Ways to Work Smarter with People Your sales force is defined by the

Data can do more than tell you facts about your own business. It also can reveal important information about what’s going on with your competitors in the marketplace. How to Be Data Savvy In