The genesis of this article is recent research that has been done with interviews of salespeople in the tech field. Two elements stood out to me. The first is that the majority of those salespeople interviewed said that “sales is harder today than they were before.” The second and most disconcerting element was that salespeople […]
You know, I don’t normally write about sales-related topics. But I’ve always liked this story my dad told me when I first started out in AV/IT/automation over 20 years ago. It’s one of the many awesome #DadAdvice tidbits I got over the years as a second-generation entrepreneur. Though he was a pinstriper and signwriter and […]
If you’ve spent any time in sales in a professional setting, you’re likely to have had your boss ask you, “What do you have lined up?” In some work environments, it’s an informal check-in where your boss wants to know what you’re working on, to give him an idea of upcoming project scheduling and, more […]
In seven years of sharing practical insights on how to sell audiovisual (AV) to churches, we’ve posted over 70 articles focusing specifically on the opportunities and challenges of selling to buyers and influencers in the house of worship market. During that same time, the church AV market has gone from hundreds of millions of dollars […]
Focusing on effective sales growth can be either proactive or reactive. A proactive personal development plan (PDP) helps your salespeople self-assess their current capabilities and articulate a proposed set of growth areas for themselves. A reactive personal improvement plan (PIP), on the other hand, is not initiated by the salesperson but by their manager as […]
When does selling audiovisual technology shift away from the outdated features and benefits sales model and transform into something entirely different? Something so radically divergent that it actually makes sense to an AV industry in transition? 2018’s technology stack is here with the answer: when vendors leverage the social, marketing and sales technologies to go […]
When selling to churches long enough, a pattern becomes patently obvious: Some church volunteer teams are better than others, regardless of size or budget. Why is it that some church volunteer teams ‘just get it’ and/or are more effective than others? If you’ve sold to, trained or been involved with church AV volunteerism, chances are you’ve […]
Audiovisual (AV) vendors often see themselves as the expert and church buyers as wanting their expertise. This leads to the slippery slope of blurred differentiators, which reduces the vendor’s position as a solution provider down to a commodity sales provider amidst the mass of competing vendors. Instead, AV vendors who will be most successful in […]
When an audiovisual (AV) solution aligns perfectly with the needs of a potential client, the opportunity just about sells itself. In the house of worship market, local churches across the gamut of denominations have similar challenges and opportunities when it comes to AV technology. This should make selling a simple process for manufacturers and systems […]
