Monthly Archives: August 2010

Are You In Group 1, 2, Or 3?

August 30, 2010 – 5:47 am

(Note:  If you happen to be a mentor or sales manager, please do your “mentee” or team a favor and pass this along.)
Sometimes, stating the obvious is nothing more than that; merely verbalizing what everybody in the audience already knows.  Sometimes, something is obvious to the speaker/writer, but is genuinely a novel concept for the [...]

By Todd Youngblood | Posted in Planning | Tagged , , , | Comments (2)

Think About It… Week of 8/29/10

August 29, 2010 – 10:09 am

“What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure.”  Samuel Johnson
Make the effort when you write an e-mail, a proposal, a meeting summary, whatever.  Writing is permanent.  It’s your reputation.  It’s your credibility.

By Todd Youngblood | Posted in Quick Thought | Tagged , | Comments (0)

The Weapon

August 26, 2010 – 7:54 pm

There is always a danger in focusing on the tools used to get a job done. (We all know the cliché about the six-year old with a chain saw…) That said however, a robust CRM system just might be the most powerful tool a sales team can have.
A highly functional CRM system [...]

By Todd Youngblood | Posted in Process Thinking | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

How many metrics does a sales manager need?

August 24, 2010 – 8:49 pm

As a group, sales managers are not big on “managing by the numbers.” Only a very few use more than a half-dozen or so measurements to monitor the quality and effectiveness of sales performance. Most rely on two, revenue and profit. They are the ultimate indicators of success, right? Why would [...]

By Todd Youngblood | Posted in Metrics | Tagged , | Comments (5)

It Frustrates You And Annoys The Pig

August 23, 2010 – 5:35 am

As a guy who helps organizations design, implement and execute a sales process, I hear it all the time; “Don’t tell me how to do my job.”  It’s a hoot to watch the reaction when I reply, “I have no intention of even trying to do so.”
There’s no way an outside consultant, or even a [...]

By Todd Youngblood | Posted in Process Thinking | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Think About It… Week of 8/22/10

August 22, 2010 – 9:41 am

Wisdom from a race care driver:  “If everything seems under control, you’re just not going fast enough.”  Mario Andretti

By Todd Youngblood | Posted in Think About It | Tagged | Comments (0)

What Does A Price Concession Really Mean?

August 21, 2010 – 12:44 pm

Scenario 1:
Sales Rep: “With a 3% price cut, they’ll buy.  Without it we lose.  It’s a $100,000 deal and we cannot risk losing it for a paltry $3,000 of the company’s take.  We must give them the price decrease they want.”
Sales Manager: “No.”
Sales Rep: (after leaving the manager’s office)  “That @%#&* idiot!  How can he [...]

By Todd Youngblood | Posted in Differentiation | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Forget One & You Fall Down

August 19, 2010 – 4:51 am

It’s quite instructive to examine the nature of offerings from the hordes of sales consulting and training firms.  The overwhelming majority of them are focused on developing sales skills.  Clearly, what sales managers are demanding is precisely that.
All well and good.  I’m the first to violently agree that selling skills are fundamentally and critically important.  [...]

By Todd Youngblood | Posted in Process Thinking | Tagged , , | Comments (1)

Your Numbers Might Be Off A Bit

August 17, 2010 – 8:10 am

This is the seventh post in a series about selling with Finance, the Universal Language of Business.

Part 1: Do you speak the universal language of business?
Part 2: Selling With A “Net Cash Flow” Approach
Part 3: Cumulative Cash Flow + Payback = Committed Customer
Part 4: ROI – For Pete’s Sake, Know What It Means!
Part 5: The [...]

By Todd Youngblood | Posted in Finance | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Risk vs. Calculated Risk

August 15, 2010 – 8:50 pm

This is a story about risk, but a bit of background is necessary, so please bear with me through the first paragraph.
Eleven years ago, when The YPS Group was launched, “we” made a strategic decision to focus on serving small to mid size customers, from $5 to $500 million in revenue.  “We” also decided to [...]

By Todd Youngblood | Posted in E-Rep | Tagged , , , | Comments (4)