sales
Managing the current torrent of sales leads can be a frustrating challenge for over-burdened builders, renovators and service techs. There are some practical ways to ease the strain, says industry marketing consultant, Brett Abbot, advice he shared on an Ask the Masters podcast this past August.
By early 2015, my folder of saved emails was stuffed with years' worth of questions people wanted me to answer about either their ponds or, as frequently, ponds in general. I decided at that time to answer a number of these inquiries in a video series I've called "Ask the Pond Digger." Most of the questions came from pond owners and do-it-yourselfers, but many others had come from
As a rule, I’ve resisted the temptation to cover books about sales in these columns. I’ve read a great many of those books through the years, and I’ve always tended to think of them as buffets where I pick up useful insights, wisdom or motivation – and ignore suggestions that don’t seem as useful. But no single book I’ve run into has proved to be so helpful that I’ve felt compelled to share it with you here. At last, however, I’ve found an exception – a wonderful book by emerging sales guru Jeffrey Gitomer called The Little Red Book of Selling (Bard Press, 2004). I picked up a copy of this compact 220-page volume two years ago at an airport bookstore (and have picked up a couple more since then), and I see why Gitomer is becoming one of the leading voices when it comes to sales. He may not have reached the same status as Zig Ziglar or Dale Carnegie (both of whom I admire greatly), but his star is
For many people in the watershaping trades, client relationships begin with selling and never really advance beyond that stage. For me, however, it's not about selling per se; instead, it's about creating a sense of collaboration and building a foundation of mutual trust and understanding. In fact, the work I do in establishing these creative relationships with my clients may well be the most important "detail" of all. In a sense, watershaping isn't a job to me. It's my passion, which explains why I'm so obsessed with
