Roger Willcocks - technology business, sales, marketing and strategy: July 2004

Recent articles:
Best practice e-commerce
Using search engines to increase sales
Hiring a good salesperson
Executive coaching
How to introduce yourself professionally
How to meet Bill Gates

Use my Sales Audit checklist to see how your salespeople are doing.

"City of Liars"
my first novel: an engaging thriller set in high tech and finance.

Sunday, July 25, 2004

The art of selling

Selling is the fine art of persuading other people to have your way.

Selling: random art vs. science

Most sales people are treated as unwholesome freaks who have been gifted with the gab. The truth is otherwise: the art of selling is about training, method, analysis and measurement.

Your vital organs

You were given two ears and one mouth for a reason. A good salesperson will use these organs in the god-given ratio (being 2:1).

Don't pitch too soon!

The poor salesman always pitches too soon. I'm reminded of this from a small conference I visited where the poor, unsuspecting punter innocently asks "so what do you do?" and gets bombarded with a 10 minute sales pitch. When you're approached in this way, have a prepared sequence of questions to help you qualify.

e.g. "What business are you in?" "How do you cope with XXX?" "What plans do you have for upgrading your XXXX?"

Good salesperson as seen by Valley of the Geeks

Good salesperson as seen by Valley of the Geeks Saw this drole piece on the high-tech salesperson, entitled Selling The Dream. Have we seen that or what?

Saturday, July 24, 2004

90% of a salesperson's time

Where does 90% of a salesperson's time get spent?Most answers I get are travelling or admin (you know, filling out sales forecasts). The real and most informative answer, of course, is a huge majority of his time is spent chasing business that is never won. Even if you manage a close ratio of 1 in 3 (exceptionally high), that's a full two-thirds.And the answer? A good salesperson will evaluate and qualify each situation realistically.

New website format

I've taken the plunge and gone for the big heave-ho: the official Roger Willcocks website has been converted into a weblog.

Commentary and articles about the technology business, sales, marketing and strategy.

Roger Willcocks runs Screen Pages, provider of ecommerce services to the retail, mail order home shopping businesses. Roger Willcocks has enjoyed 20+ years experience in the technology business, spending most of my time on strategy, sales, marketing & business development.

Roger Willcocks has pretty unique experience having founded a business (Intelligent Environments), taking it from early stage through to IPO. My roles included sales and marketing strategy and management, product development and project management, international marketing and channel/partner development, through to quoted company leadership as CEO.

Roger Willcocks has worked with a number of technology start-ups, helping them with business strategy, fund-raising, sales and marketing. I have a deep vision for software products and markets, coupled with strong sales and marketing savvy and creativity.

More about Roger Willcocks

Roger Willcocks - technology business, sales, marketing and strategy