I’ve been running a series of posts on dealing with the COVID 19 and related crises. They are the result of hundreds of conversations I am having with sales leaders and sales people.
The underlying theme is “how can we be most helpful?” Being helpful, creating value is at the core of high impact and high performance selling.
As sales people, we want to continue to work with our customers in these times of crises, helping them make sense of what they face and how they move forward.
As sales leaders, we want to be helpful within our own organizations and to our people. First making sure they and their families are safe, then helping them perform at the highest levels possible.
But in the conversations I was having with people from all over the world, I started wondering, “Am I being as helpful to sales leaders and managers as I can? Could I do more?”
When I have tough questions like this, one of the people I call is Jill Konrath (I think Jill feels sorry for me and coaches me as a charity case 😉
We spoke for a long time. Jill is doing a lot of really exciting things to be helpful and have an impact. But one was so simple and obvious, I immediately co-opted it.
One of the ways Jill is helping sales people is giving them resources that can help them sell more impactfully in these times. She is “giving away” the Kindle/eBook version of one of the best books I’ve read: Selling To Big Companies.
That stimulated an idea for me, I should do the same with Sales Manager Survival Guide. So, I’m “giving” the Kindle/eBook version of that away.
Collectively, Jill and I hope to have an impact on sales people and leaders, giving them resources to help within their own organizations and with their customers. And through this, we are hoping you can “pay it forward” in the leadership examples you set and in how you work with and engage your customers.
By working together and helping each other out is how we, collectively, will make progress, and make the world a better/safer place.
Now, the disclaimer. Amazon makes it a little difficult to “give” something away for anything but a short promotional period. So the cheapest we can “give away” the books is $0.99. We both wish it could be free, but that’s the best we can do.
Amazon gives us each $0.35 royalty on this. This gave Jill and I an additional idea for “being helpful.” We could take those royalties and buy gift cards from local businesses that are really struggling. Then we could take those gift cards and donate them to someone in need (I’m taking mine to Laura’s House.)
There is something wonderful about “being helpful.” There are tremendous multiplier effects. Jill and I want to be helpful to sales people and sales leaders. In turn, we hope that enables each of you to be helpful within your organizations and with your customers. And through Amazon’s “help,” we can also be helpful in our communities.
Being helpful snowballs. Being helpful, might just grow faster than this virus. Imagine what that could mean.
Please buy Selling To Big Companies and Sales Manager Survival Guide to help yourselves. We hope they enable you to pay it forward. Please consider buying them and giving them to others, so you can expand how you might help others.
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