The Simple Truths About Selling
It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma; but perhaps there is a key. ~ Winston Churchill. Complex B2B selling is not easy, but it is a lot simpler than some want you to believe. I think it makes sense to step back sometimes, and take a look at things through […]
Continue readingThe Untapped Power of Sales Discovery Skills
Some in the sales profession consider the act of discovering what is important to prospects or clients and understanding their challenges, opportunities, needs, and requirements to be the most basic skill in selling. After all, this is taught in every Sales 101-type course on the planet, right? By contrast, to true top producers, Sales Discovery […]
Continue readingFor Better Sales Coaching Results: RAM Your Reps!
Here is quick-hit post on sales coaching. Some Background There are multiple forms of coaching. I’ve often categorized them this way… directive coaching developmental coaching behavioral coaching personal effectiveness coaching (life coaching/executive coaching) … but I also don’t believe these distinctions are cut and dried. There is overlap and a great coach pulls out the […]
Continue readingStop Wasting Money on Sales Training
If I hear, “Sales training doesn’t work” one more time, I think I’ll scream. If done well, sales training works fine, for what it’s designed to do. This may spark a semantics debate, especially with my friends in the sales consulting space and others with a performance-orientation, but to me, training – in and of itself […]
Continue readingJudgment – The Superpower of Selling Skills
It sometimes surprises people to learn what separates the top 4% of sales producers from the rest. Judgment is one of those surprising skills. In fact, it’s such a differentiator, that I consider judgment to be one of the superpowers of selling. Part of the 22nd Century Selling Skills In my presentation on 22nd Century Selling […]
Continue readingSales Myth Buster: There ARE Limits to What You Can Achieve with Hard Work
I’ve been seeing a lot of motivational and inspirational quotes roll by in my various social streams lately. I really enjoy a lot of them and I imagine they help people. In my typical style, I also disagree with a few and find them unrealistic. I have always enjoyed and chuckled at Zig Ziglar’s well-known […]
Continue readingThe Path to Sales Growth through Customer Focus – Part 1
The journey toward sales growth starts and ends with our customers. If we want to grow our companies, marketing and sales must align with an unwavering focus on our customers, building everything around them. The need for customer focus goes beyond marketing and sales, of course, to include implementation, execution, and service delivery, but this […]
Continue readingThe Oversimplification of Sales Performance Work
The Oversimplification of Sales Performance Work Yes, you read that right. I’m worried about some of the things I’m reading and trends I’m seeing in the world of sales performance improvement. Simple is good. Oversimplified is not. If you’ve been reading my work for a while, you may remember that I define performance levers as […]
Continue readingTransforming Sales Results is Back
Ch-ch-ch-changes If you haven’t seen my social profile updates yet, change is afoot. Friday, March 7 was my final day at Richardson. Monday, March 10 is my first day at GE Capital. (Technically, I guess that means I’m unemployed this weekend. Hadn’t thought about that until this instant.) Past Can something be bittersweet and exciting […]
Continue readingImprove Your Sales Coaching with Two Simple Steps – Part 3
I guess it’s somewhat funny that a simple, two-step addition to sales coaching has taken a 3-part blog series to communicate. Hopefully, it’s been a good journey for those who have come along for the ride. In Part 1, I laid out the overall framework of the two-step addition, and explained Addressing the Right Issues, […]
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