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This time of year is always tough. For some, it’s full of sadness and feelings of emptiness and loss – kids are back at school, summer is ending, relationships are changing… it’s easy to feel sad and down and get caught up in the turmoil of the season! And how do you keep your team motivated – need I remind you that Q3 is almost over already?!?

This song by Smashing Pumpkins evokes a ton of memories for me… and it seems to have some glimmers of hope in it! Let’s listen and try to collectively ease the pain as we see what the experts are saying this week.

When I Can, I Will

Are your sales reps focusing on the wrong things? I loved a recent post by Art Sobczak on LinkedIn. So much emphasis in sales is focused on getting a ‘meeting’ with your prospect. But what’s their preference? According to Art:

A prospect agreeing to a meeting is a result of them seeing some possible value in speaking with you further. Not in you wanting to “get 15 minutes on their calendar.”

Focus more on what is going on in their world that the RESULT of your product/ service might be able to address.

Do your research, craft your approach accordingly – personalized and customized of course – ask questions during the initial conversation, and then quality meetings are a result, IF they feel you might have something that can help them/their organization.

I totally agree with this – sales and prospecting success is not about what YOU want. We need to ensure that our prospecting is smart, focused, and not self-centered and generic. Try to understand that when you can show a prospect value, they will talk to you!

Hail Satin! (Yes, you read that right)

I mentioned the Foo Fighters album of Bee Gees covers a while back (it’s actually pretty good!). Well, I’ve got some more ’70s nostalgia-related news for you! You may have heard that the original members of ABBA announced a reunion recently.

They’ll be releasing an album of new material, and supporting it with some live-ish performances. On May 27, 2022, they’ll perform a digital concert in London – with the performances handled by ABBA avatars, each modeled after the members as they looked in 1979 (also a great Smashing Pumpkins song!).

All our time can’t be given back – but maybe this is a way for those aging bands that can’t tour physically anymore to stay in front of fans and still be relevant (and still look like we remember them from their prime)!

Is this the future of B2B events as well? Digital avatars and fancy light shows? Who knows – but it will definitely ensure life won’t be so, so dreary!

As always, don’t hesitate to call me to brainstorm or just say hello.

Looking forward,
Rick

Rick Endrulat, President | ricke@v-causeway.com | www.linkedin.com/in/rickendrulat