In a challenging economy, there tends to be an increase in RFP's or RFQ's. Companies who must spend money look to stretch their spending dollar. Conversely, organizations with declining revenues have a tendency to actively respond to these requests regardless of the relationship or the opportunity.

There is a perception that a great deal of work to build these proposals and seemingly little chance to actually win them. This is generally true. Sales Cooke discusses the key learning components for the effective and productive management of RFP related activities.

Dave Cooke, aka The Sales Cooke is Founder of the Strategic Resource Group, LLC -- an enterprise committed to the sustainable growth and development of American businesses.

When clients call with those special requests and end the call with the [bold:"I need it as soon as possible"] deadline, how are we to respond? The Sales Cooke talks about handling those requests with a simple, manageable, and customer centric approach.

This podcast is from The John Adam Show broadcast on December 26, 2008. The John Adam Show can be heard on 1510 KFNN Phoenix on Fridays from 9:00-10:00AM. Dave Cooke is Founder of the Strategic Resource Group, LLC -- an enterprise committed to the sustainable growth and development of American businesses.

The current economic turbulence has many people concerned. As we approach 2009, the Sales Cooke discusses, from his perspective, things we need to think about as we enter into a New Economy and welcome new leadership in Washington.

This podcast is from Clarissa Burts Talks broadcast on December 10, 2008. Clarissa Burt Talks can be heard on VoiceAmerica on Wednesdays from 2:00-3:00PM (AZ). Sales Cooke is Founder of the Strategic Resource Group, LLC -- an enterprise committed to the sustainable growth and development of American businesses.

What is all this chatter about social media? For many, this is a hot subject. Unfortunately, there are a lot of business owners who really do not know where to start, yet. In this podcast, The Sales Cooke talks about social media and demystifies some of the unknown as relates to the social media tools.

This podcast is from Clarissa Burts Talks broadcast on December 10, 2008. Clarissa Burt Talks can be heard on VoiceAmerica on Wednesdays from 2:00-3:00PM (AZ). Sales Cooke is Founder of the Strategic Resource Group, LLC -- an enterprise committed to the sustainable growth and development of American businesses.

Too much emphasis on chasing, making and closing deals have given salespeople a bad name. In this podcast, The Sales Cooke talks about the sales process that truly adds value and builds lasting business relationships.

This podcast is from Clarissa Burts Talks broadcast on December 10, 2008. Clarissa Burt Talks can be heard on VoiceAmerica on Wednesdays from 2:00-3:00PM (AZ). Sales Cooke is Founder of the Strategic Resource Group, LLC -- an enterprise committed to the sustainable growth and development of American businesses.

With all the emphasis on the results expected of the sales team, successful businesses recognize that sustainable revenue generation is linked to the customer relationship activities of the entire organization. According to The Sales Cooke, the sales activities of your sales team are simply one component of an effective and sustainable customer relationship. Attracting and retaining clients is an activity for the entire organization.

This podcast is from The John Adam Show broadcast on December 12, 2008. The John Adam Show can be heard on 1510 KFNN Phoenix on Fridays from 9:00-10:00AM. Sales Cooke is Founder of the Strategic Resource Group, LLC -- an enterprise committed to the sustainable growth and development of American businesses.

The Sales Cooke was invited to comment on the automotive bailout on KCBQ 1170-AM in San Diego. This is a tough call on the automotive industry. Who is to blame for the auto manufacturer's building these gas guzzling SUV's and Trucks. Sales Cooke says that the auto industry used selective hearing while developing these vehicles. They could have used their R&D dollars years ago to build high performing green vehicles. They cut corners and now they want our help? I think not.

Taken from the Rick Amato Show on Thursday, December 4, 2008. Sales Cooke is the founder of Strategic Resource Group, LLC, committed to the sustainable growth and development of American businesses.

The Sales Cooke was invited to comment on the automotive bailout on KCBQ 1170-AM in San Diego. Tough call on the automotive industry. The auto industry has been in this situation for several years and is unable to make the aggressive and painful decisions to fix their business. Now is not the time to give a badly managed industry a free pass.

Taken from the Rick Amato Show on Thursday, December 4, 2008. Sales Cooke is the founder of Strategic Resource Group, LLC, committed to the sustainable growth and development of American businesses.

The Holiday Season is officially here. The best way to avoid a slow start in 2009 is to start working the 2009 year now. With host John Adam, The Sales Cooke discusses the impact of not working on filling your 2009 calendar during this unusual period.

This podcast is from The John Adam Show broadcast on November 28, 2008. The John Adam Show can be heard on 1510 KFNN Phoenix on Fridays from 9:00-10:00AM and Saturdays 8:00-9:00AM. Sales Cooke is Founder of the Strategic Resource Group, LLC a business that enables him to pursue his passion to increase customer effectiveness, strengthen team relationships and integrate shareholder investment.

Want to know what a bad sales call looks like? Look at what the Auto guys did in Washington last week. With host John Adam, The Sales Cooke discusses the impact of not properly planning your sales call. This is best demonstrated by the fiasco in Washington, D.C. when the Automotive Execs showed up without a clear plan and being poorly prepared to provide Congress with the information they needed to make a decision. The key to avoiding this is preparing your call with a strategy and plan that meet the expectations of your clients.

This podcast is from The John Adam Show broadcast on November 21, 2008. The John Adam Show can be heard on 1510 KFNN Phoenix on Fridays from 9:00-10:00AM and Saturdays 8:00-9:00AM. Sales Cooke is Founder of the Strategic Resource Group, LLC a business that enables him to pursue his passion to increase customer effectiveness, strengthen team relationships and integrate shareholder investment.

With host John Adam, The Sales Cooke discuss the importance of getting in front of your customers now. In this challenging economy your most valued revenue stream are your existing clients. These customer conversations serve two purposes: 1) Thanking your customers for their businesses and acknowledging that you value the business relationship; 2) Collaborating, connecting, and communicating with your customers to find how you can help and support each other through challenging times. This is the time strengthen your relationships with your customers--gut busy.

This podcast is from The John Adam Show broadcast on November 14, 2008. The John Adam Show can be heard on 1510 KFNN Phoenix on Fridays from 9:00-10:00AM and Saturdays 8:00-9:00AM. Sales Cooke is Founder of the Strategic Resource Group, LLC a business that enables him to pursue his passion to increase customer effectiveness, strengthen team relationships and integrate shareholder investment.

The Sales Cooke and host John Adam discuss how YouTube videos cas assist businesses in the sales process. Sales Cooke has used his YouTube videos as a tool to educate and inform and promote. And, he is passionate that this tool can be a very productive sales format when used correctly.

This podcast is from The John Adam Show broadcast on November 7, 2008. The John Adam Show can be heard on 1510 KFNN Phoenix on Fridays from 9:00-10:00AM and Saturdays 8:00-9:00AM. Contact The Sales Cooke.

The Sales Cooke has become quite frustrated with the poor selling behaviors demonstrated in this campaign season. In a previous blogpost I ranted about this fact and discussed how we can learn from this behavior. Unfortunately, not everyone is listening or learning. From The John Adam Show host John Adam interviews Randy Pullen, head of the Republican Party in Phoenix. Sales Cooke uses this conversation to further demonstrate his point about the types of sales behaviors that can doom a candidacy as well as a potential sale. Taken from The John Adam Show broadcast on November 1, 2008.

The Sales Cooke and host John Adam discuss the power of Social Networking sites as a tool to generate revenue. Sales Cooke recommends three sites: LinkedIn.com, FastPitchNetworking.com, and MerchantCircle.com. Sales Cooke discloses that his social media activity is directly leading to new business opportunities. Taken from The John Adam Show broadcast on October 31, 2008.

The Sales Cooke and host John Adam discuss an excerpt from the book Cooked Up Sales where Sales Cooke writes that "winning in sales is all about attitude...In selling you must have a winning mindset." Taken from The John Adam Show broadcast on October 24, 2008.

From the latest edition of The John Adam Show, host John Adam and Dave Cooke, aka The Sales Cooke discuss excerpts from his book Cooked Up Sales. Today's discussion, the fact that marketing collateral in the sales process is a crutch for sales people who have not learned to communicated effectively.

On The John Adam Show business owner and sales strategist Dave Cooke, aka The Sales Cooke talks about the release of his book Cooked Up Sales which is available for purchase through Amazon.com.

Dave Cooke is Founder of Strategic Resource Group, LLC a company that specializes in developing and supporting high performing sales programs.

If the Presidential Campaign has taught us nothing else, it teaches us that talking negatively about your competition is not very attractive or effective. When solicited by a prospect your perspective on your competition, the answers you provide show a great deal about you, your values, and the confidence you have in your product and services. Choose your words carefully. They reflect a great deal about your professionalism.

The following was taken from The Sales Cooke segment of The John Adam Show.

The Sales Cooke discusses the importance of utilizing networking and leveraging referral partners to effectively grow business. More than ever, with this economy, strong referral partner relationships can be a key strategic component to effective sales growth.

This segment was taken from The John Adam Show featuring comments made by Doug Bruhnke, Growth Nation. For more information contact The Sales Cooke.

Too many times sales people open the sales meeting with the notion that they need to talk about their business and their product. The best way to open a sales call is to get your clients talking. Go into learn mode--ask a lot of great open ended questions and listen to the answers. That is how you know what you are supposed to talk about. Excerpt taken from The John Adam Show.

No matter how interested the client seems when they inquire about your products and services, remember your good selling behaviors. When the client is in control of the selling process is when bad sales results occur the most. Remember what you know works when it comes to sales and stay true to it.

This excerpt is taken from The John Adam Show on 9/12 featuring The Sales Cooke. For more information about the Sales Cooke go to the Strategic Resource Group, LLC website.

Very few people realize the impact that a quick glance at your buzzing blackberry or cell phone has in a sales meeting. Sales Cooke talks about this behavior with host John Adam in his weekly sales segment on The John Adam Show.

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The economy around you has shifted in many directions: the market is more competitive, your clients buying habits and behaviors have changed, and people are finding and selecting suppliers differently. With all these changes, business owners need to examine and adjust their selling processes, as well. The old and reliable sales methods may not be working in today's market.

Sales Cooke discusses some of the things to look at when evaluating the selling process in today's economy. Excerpts taken from The John Adam Show (KFNN 1510 Phoenix, www.TheJohnAdamShow.com).

Host John Adams of the John Adam Show (http://thejohnadamshow.com) talks with the Sales Cooke about decision making and qualifying tactics and how they are related. The bottom line to this discussion is that when salespeople take the time to qualify more effectively, they are more equipped to make a more compelling case for their product offering when closing. The more compelling the case, the easier it is to close the deal.

SalesCooke and John Adam discuss how salespeople go about understanding the client's decision making process. The process can be easily defined in two simple, direct questions:
1. Who, beside yourself, will be involved in the decision making process?
2. What is your decision making process?

This segment was taken from The John Adam Show on Friday 8/15. Dave Cooke, aka the Sales Cooke, is a regular cast member as the sales expert.

Sales Cooke and radio show host John Adams (The John Adam Show) discuss how to stay connected with your clients. Sales Cooke offers the advice that the key to being connected is making sure that the company through management and ownership interaction have established that "relationship" connection. To do that, businesses need to be connecting with all their clients at least four times a year. Larger clients, ofcourse, require more a different level of attention.

On The John Adam Show, host John Adam raves about the World Webinar Network (www.worldwebinarnetwork.ning.com) and commits that he will be attending the August 27, 2008 to "find out what is going [at WWN] as they obviously know what they are doing." With guest Dave Cooke, they talk about social media and how people are discovering the World Webinar Network, an online social media education community that supports all types of businesses and individuals in areas social media.

On The John Adam Show, Sales Cooke discusses why the sales model is so critical to a franchise. An effective franchise sales model directly impacts the customer experience. It also provides franchisees with the tools to help them hire, train and manage effective sales oriented employees.

On The John Adam Show, Sales Cooke discusses pricing strategies in a down economy. Key Concepts:
1. Adding value to your offering versus lowering prices to remain competitive.
2. Understanding what your clients a really purchasing from you - your value.

On the John Adam Show, Sales Cooke talks about the threats to your client base when a sales person leaves and how to strengthen your client relationships to minimize those threatd.

Sales Cooke discusses the concept of bringing innovation into the sale process on The John Adam Show.

Sales Cooke talks on The John Adam Show about what businesses need to focus on to improve their sales in a down economy.

Sales Cooke talks on The John Adam Show about the selling issues that network marketers face as they try to grow their business.

Sales Cooke talks on The John Adam Show about the obstacles sales people face in their daily activities.

The Sales Cooke is a featured guest on The John Adam Show. John Adam and Sales Cooke discuss the sales challenges business owners and sales managers face in developing their sales people.